Medici Family Facts & Worksheets

Despite the fact the Medici family was not noble and therefore not entitled to rule, they became wealthy when astute members could exploit an advantageous situation. In a short period, the Medici family accumulated wealth laboring in the Mugello Valley, a remote region adjacent to Florence, and their ascent to power started.

See the fact file below for more information about the Medici Family, or you can download our 32-page Medici Family worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

WHO WAS THE MEDICI FAMILY?

• Italian bourgeois family, the Medici family, also known as the French Médicis, controlled Florence and later Tuscany for the majority of the years between 1434 and 1737, except for two brief periods (ranging from 1494 to 1512 and from 1527 to 1530). 
• It gave birth to four popes, namely Leo X, Clement VII, Leon XI, and Pius IV,  for the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, there were royal unions all across Europe, particularly in France, with Queens Catherine de’ Médici and Marie de’ Médici.
• Three Medici lineages consecutively ascended to or occupied positions of authority. Chiarissimo II’s family was unsuccessful in seizing control of Florence in the fourteenth century. 
• Line of Cosimo the Elder – They established an ancestral principate in Florence in the 15th century, but it had no legal standing and was therefore vulnerable to sudden overthrow. 
• Crowns, however, grew on the last branches of their family tree, as two of them held dukes’ titles outside Florence, their previous direct descendant, Catherine de Médicis, became queen of France, and their last child, Alessandro, became duke of Florence.
• A third branch in the 16th century abandoned republican ideals and imposed its despotism; its members established a dynasty of grand dukes in Tuscany.
• Given the exceptional longevity of inherited features in all Medici, the discrepancies between these three branch lines are primarily the result of external factors. 
• They were continuously facing their enemies with monetary bribes rather than with battalions of armed men since they weren’t soldiers in the first place. In addition, the early Medici steadfastly sought the favor of the city’s middle and lower classes, and this resolve to be famous (literally, “plebeian”) persisted for a very long time after them. 
• Finally, everyone became seized by a passion for literature, the arts, and construction. They were not only generous and showy patrons of the arts but also educated and undoubtedly the most incredible supporters of the skills the West has ever known.
• Line of Chiarissimo II – The Medici were originally from Cafaggiolo, a settlement in the Mugello, a valley of the Sieve north of Florence, and descended from Tuscan peasants. 
• Perhaps in the 12th century, some of these people learned about the new prospects provided by commerce and left for Florence. The Medici were among the wealthy notables there by the subsequent century. 
• However, they were ranked second behind the significant families of the city. These more influential houses were bankrupt after 1340 due to a generalized economic downturn in Europe. 
• The Medici, on the other hand, managed to avoid this fate and even used it to their advantage to rise to the top of the city’s elite. 
• However, the Medici family suffered severe setbacks for 50 years (1343–1993) due to their strategy of strengthening their power through political domination, carried out by the successors of Chiarissimo II (himself a grandson of the first known Medici).
• Salvestro, his grandson, continued his alliance-building strategy with the popolo minuto (the “common people”) and was chosen as the signoria’s gonfalonier in 1378. 
• Salvestro more or less actively incited a revolt of the comp, the lowest-class artisans, against his competitors and, following the rebellion’s triumph, was within reach of significant financial and judicial benefits.
• However, he was forced into exile in 1381 after the popular government was overthrown. 
• But in 1393, when the popolo magro (“lean people”) once more believed it was feasible to seize the signoria, his memory was still fresh. Vieri, Salvestro’s first cousin, was quickly sought after by the crowd but fled without a trace. This branch of the Medici was doomed to vanish from history with Vieri permanently.
• Line of Cosimo, the Elder – Averardo de’ Medici (or Bicci), whose descendants became the illustrious Medici of history, was a distant relative of Salvestro. 
• Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici (1360–1429), his son, regarded as the first of the great Medici, inherited the family company, which was centered on producing fabric and silk and banking activities and significantly increased the family’s wealth. 
• Cosimo (1389–1464) and Lorenzo (1394–1440), two of Giovanni’s sons who each earned the title “the Elder,” started the renowned Medici family lines.
• The oldest brother, Cosimo de’ Medici, built the family’s political foundation. He held many positions and participated in the Dieci (The Ten), the Florentine war council. His two sons were Giovanni (1424–63) and Piero (1416–69). 
• Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici upheld and bolstered the family’s political fortunes until he passed away before his father, who in death gained the title “Father of His Country.”
• Additionally, he had two sons; one of them, Giuliano (1453–78), was murdered. Lorenzo, the second son, lived from 1449 to 1492 and was known as Il Magnifico (literally, “The Magnificent”).
• With justification, Lorenzo de’ Medici has a revered place in the history of Florence and Italy. After inheriting his ancestors’ strong regard for the arts and language, he became a poet, art patron, and competent statesman. 
• His three children, Piero (1472–1503), Giovanni (1475–1521), who would become Pope Leo X, and Giuliano (1479–1516), each had a different impact on the development of the city. Piero, who succeeded Lorenzo as head of the family, alienated the Florentines by supporting the French. This act, viewed as a betrayal, forced the Medici family to leave Florence (1494). 
• Giovanni, a cardinal at the time, utilized his connections with Pope Julius II to restore the family to its former positions of authority. Giuliano, who was given the French title of Duc de Nemours, passed away very soon and in terrible condition.
• Catherine de’ Medici – The eldest child of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Piero, had one son, also named Lorenzo (1492–1519), who produced a daughter, Catherine (born 1519–89), who married Henry II and went on to have four sons, three of whom succeeded their mother as monarch of France. Pope Leo X was born Giovanni, the second child of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
• The family honored Giuliano and Lorenzo, who had passed away relatively young, by having Michelangelo finish the renowned Medici Tombs in Florence.
• The few years of this time are frequently regarded as the Medici age’s pinnacle. From 1513 to 1521, Leo X ruled over the arts and letters like his father, the Magnificent, and was too preoccupied with patronage to give Martin Luther enough attention. 
• This period has even been called “the century of Leo X.” 
• Five nephews and relatives that Leo X had named Cardinals gathered him. However, by the 1520s, Cosimo the Elder’s successors had decreased.  
• Pope Clement VII, the nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent, appointed Alessandro (1511–37), who was reportedly his illegitimate son, as the hereditary duke of Florence to guarantee that a Medici of the Cosimo dynasty would continue to rule Florence. Clement VII repealed the city’s previous constitution in the same year, 1532.
• Alessandro revealed himself to be a ruthlessly nasty autocrat. His reign lasted five years. He was murdered in 1537 by a friend who was also a relative.

MEDICI FAMILY LEGACY

• Despite Alessandro’s passing, the Medici family still significantly influenced Florence. 
• Eventually, a younger family branch descended from Lorenzo, who had been Cosimo the Elder’s brother, sprung up. 
• Lorenzo’s great-great-grandson Cosimo de’ Medici (1519–74), who succeeded him as Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1569, founded a new dynasty that upheld the family’s long-standing esteem for the humanities. 
• The following prominent individuals were among Cosimo I’s descendants who exercised grand ducal control over Florence and Tuscany in the 1700s.
• Cosimo I’s son Francis (1541–87) was seen as a dubious ruler, a tax lord who nearly destroyed the country’s economy, and a deserving devotee of the arts and sciences. 
• His interest in science, notably chemistry, led to the construction of a Florentine porcelain factory, and he supported the goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini. 
• Francis’s daughter, Marie de’ Médici, who was Henry IV’s bride and afterward the queen of France, is famous throughout history.
• Francis’ younger brother Ferdinand I (1549–1609), a cardinal when he succeeded to the grand duchy, led Tuscany to greater heights of stability and wealth throughout his reign by administering with more skill and expertise. 
• He founded the Villa Medici in Rome and amassed several rare works of art, including the Niobe group and several other statues, which he later moved to Florence. 
• He wore the cardinal’s purple from his ascension up to the time of his marriage. He was much the antithesis of his brother.
• The reign of Cosimo II (1590–1621), Ferdinand I’s elder son, occurred when Europe was mostly at peace, and Tuscany’s copious harvests fed Europe and made Tuscany wealthy. But after that, there was a widespread decline. 
• Ferdinand II (1610–1670), the eldest son of Cosimo II, was replaced by his lone surviving son and heirs, Cosimo III (1642–1723), who in turn was succeeded by an only son, Gian Gastone (1671–1737), who died childless. 
• The grand duchy was given to the dukes of Lorraine, linked to the Austrian imperial dynasty, by the European powers in 1738.
• The earlier Medicean stance had typically upheld Florence’s citizens’ republican aspirations. 
• The younger line imposed an authoritarian system that had benefits and drawbacks.
• On the one hand, constitutional structures and democratic governance initiatives vanished. However, under the rule of Cosimo, the Elder’s heirs, Florence saw a level of stability that it had never before. 
• The descendants of Cosimo I married into the majority of the royal houses of Europe; to a greater or lesser extent, they upheld the family name and fortune.
• However, because they ruled primarily through military force, they appear to have diminished the city’s significance as a hub for innovative artistic endeavors and a cultural renaissance over time. 
• Cosimo III’s daughter, Anna Maria Luisa (1667–1743), who also served as the widow of elector palatine John William of Neuburg, ended the illustrious ducal dynasty. 
• She left the grand duchy and Florence all of the Medici family’s art collections. 
• The words Ultima della stirpe reale degli Medici (“Last of the Medici stirpe”) are engraved on her tomb at the Cappella dei Principi (“Last of the royal Medici line”). 

Medici Family Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about the Medici Family across 32 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about the Medici Family. In a short period, the Medici family accumulated wealth laboring in the Mugello Valley, a remote region adjacent to Florence, and their ascent to power started.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

1. Medici Family Facts
2. The Legacy
3. Famous Lineage
4. Myths and Facts
5. The Art and the Artist 
6. Word in a Puzzle
7. Coat of Arms
8. The Rise and Fall
9. Self-Reflect
10. Medici Family Today
11. Contemporary Medici 

Frequently Asked Questions

Who were the Medici family?

The Medici family was a wealthy and influential Italian family that rose to prominence in the city of Florence during the Renaissance. The family produced several influential leaders, including bankers, politicians, and patrons of the arts. They played a crucial role in supporting and fostering the cultural and artistic achievements of the Renaissance.

What was the primary source of the Medici family’s wealth?

The Medici family amassed their wealth primarily through banking. The family’s banking business, established by Cosimo de’ Medici in the 15th century, became one of the most powerful and successful in Europe. Their financial success allowed them to exert significant influence over the politics and culture of Florence.

How did the Medici family contribute to the Renaissance?

The Medici family played a crucial role in the Renaissance by becoming patrons of the arts and sciences. They supported and sponsored many of the era’s greatest artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Botticelli. Their patronage helped fuel the cultural flourishing of the Renaissance and contributed to the creation of masterpieces that are celebrated to this day.

Who were some notable members of the Medici family?

Some notable members of the Medici family include Cosimo de’ Medici, known as “Cosimo the Elder,” Lorenzo de’ Medici, also known as “Lorenzo the Magnificent,” and Catherine de’ Medici, who later became Queen of France. These figures, among others, played significant roles in the family’s legacy and the broader historical landscape.

What was the decline of the Medici family?

The decline of the Medici family began in the late 16th century. The last of the Medici grand dukes, Gian Gastone, died in 1737, marking the end of the family’s rule in Florence. Various factors contributed to their decline, including financial mismanagement, external pressures, and changes in political dynamics. However, their legacy continues through their contributions to art, culture, and the political history of Renaissance Italy.

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