No. 6 Francesco Guicciardini, The Greatness of Lorenzo de Medici.

Thesis: The greatness of Lorenzo de Medici was derived not only from his ambitious quest for power, nor the improvements which aided and bolstered the city of Florence, but his “infinite liberality” to the citizens of the cities.

· Perry begins with stating that Lorenzo was a man striving for his own glory and excellence.

o He despised those superior to him during games

o He had an obsessive need to ascend to the top of Florentine society.

· Nevertheless, Perry writes that Lorenzo’s ambitions, were not merely personal and vain, as he sought to make Florence the pride of the Italian city-states, all to his credit.

o Notable examples of this “positive release” of ambition are the University of Pisa (founded under his initiative), an increase of the study of the humanities, and artistic patronage.

· Perry makes a point that Lorenzo showed an unrestrained liberality toward men of talent.

o One notable example of this benevolence was his request for Lascaris to travel to Greece to find the best manuscripts for his new library.

o This generosity also resounded well with the other Italian princes,

§ Perry does note that Lorenzo would stop at nothing to ensure his popularity with the other noble heads of state.

o Nevertheless, this financial liberality, combined with poor knowledge of business dealing, led to poor profits.

o Contributing to the problems were poor sub administrators such as Lionetto de’Rossi.

§ At this time Lorenzo even hovered over bankruptcy, which according to Perry, forced him to give up the money of friends or the state.