The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici by Christopher Hibbert Read Free Book Online Page B

nothing more; did he not always make sure that the Medici insignia were prominently displayed on any building that he had paid for? Why, he had emblazoned ‘even the monks’ privies with his balls’! One night in the early months of 1433 the doors of Cosimo’s palace were smeared with blood.
    Once again, as in the autumn of 1430 when he had gone to Verona, Cosimo withdrew from Florence, this time to his estate il Trebbio in the Mugello where he stayed for several months. 4 Meantime, he discreetly transferred huge sums of money from his bank in Florence to his branches in Rome and Naples, giving orders for bags of coins to be desposited for safe keeping with the Benedictine hermits of San Miniato al Monte and the Dominican friars of San Marco, where they would be safe from confiscation should the Albizzi move against him.
    While Cosimo was away in the country, Rinaldo degli Albizzi set about manipulating the elections to the new
Signoria
which was due to meet in September. He completed the work with unobtrusive skill. Of the nine
Priori
chosen, seven were definitely prepared to support him, while only two, Bartolommeo Spini and Jacopo Ber-linghieri, were believed to be possible Medici adherents. The man elected as
Gonfaloniere
was Bernardo Guadagni whose debts Rinaldo had settled in order to render him eligible for office. 5
    During the first week in September, Cosimo who was still in the Mugello, received an urgent summons from Guadagni to return to the city immediately. There were, he was told, ‘some important decisions to be made’. He decided to face them.
    Cosimo arrived back in Florence on 4 September 1433. That afternoon he went to the Palazzo della Signoria to see the
Gonfaloniere
, Bernardo Guadagni, who was evasive and uncommunicative: the ‘important decisions’ which had necessitated Cosimo’s return from the Mugello would be discussed when the
Signoria
met in council three days later; in the meantime there was no way of accounting for the rumours of impending trouble which had been circulating in the city for the past few days.
    After leaving the
Gonfaloniere
, Cosimo went to sec one of the
Priori
whom he believed to be a friend and from whom he received the same kind of vague reassurance. He then went to his bank, no doubt to arrange for the transfer of further sums from Florence. After that he could do nothing but await the imminent meeting of the
Signoria
.
    When he arrived at the Palazzo della Signoria on the morning of 7 September the session had already begun. As the captain of the guard escorted him up the stairs, he passed the shut door of the Council Chamber. Soon after being locked inside his little cell he was told that he had been ‘arrested on good grounds, as would be soon made clear’.
    Two days later, on 9 September, the huge
Vacca
boomed in the belfry above his head to call the citizens of Florence to a
Parlamento
in the Piazza. As the low, mooing notes of the bell sounded through the city, crowds of people began to converge upon the Piazza in response to its summons; but armed supporters of the Albizzi halted them at the entrances to the square and all those who were known to be, or suspected of being, Medici adherents were denied entry. Looking down from the window of his cell, Cosimo afterwards claimed to have counted no more than twenty-three heads in front of the
ringhiera
, the ground-floor stone terrace upon which the
Priori
were standing. In the name of the
Signoria
these few citizens were asked by the
Notaio delle Riformagioni
if they agreed to the establishment of a
Balìa
, a committee of two hundred members ‘to reform the city for the good of the people’. Obediently they gave their approval and a
Balìa
was accordingly appointed.
    Although Rinaldo degli Albizzi now seemed to be in full control of the government, the
Balìa
could not be persuaded to recommend the execution of Cosimo as he strongly urged it to do. Its discussions were apparently stormy and indecisive, some