Book contents
- Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy
- Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I The Early Years
- Part II Between Republicanism and Princely Rule
- Part III Piero in Power
- 10 Lorenzo’s Death and Its Aftermath, 1492
- 11 Balancing Power in Italy, 1493
- 12 ‘The Viper with Its Tail in Florence’, 1493–1494
- 13 The Crux, 1494
- 14 The French Descent
- 15 Revolution in Florence
- Part IV Piero in Exile
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
12 - ‘The Viper with Its Tail in Florence’, 1493–1494
from Part III - Piero in Power
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2019
- Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy
- Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I The Early Years
- Part II Between Republicanism and Princely Rule
- Part III Piero in Power
- 10 Lorenzo’s Death and Its Aftermath, 1492
- 11 Balancing Power in Italy, 1493
- 12 ‘The Viper with Its Tail in Florence’, 1493–1494
- 13 The Crux, 1494
- 14 The French Descent
- 15 Revolution in Florence
- Part IV Piero in Exile
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
If the news Piero had received from Ricci and Lodovico Sforza in the summer of 1493 of Charles VIII’s threatened invasion of Italy was a bombshell, he received a second one, and one much closer to home, the following October when his cousins Lorenzo and Giovanni di Pierfrancesco were appointed French officials.1 A few weeks earlier, Piero Soderini had told Gentile Becchi, his fellow ambassador in France – alluding to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco’s emblem of a coiled snake – ‘this viper has its tail in Florence, and he’s not going to give it to you’.2 The brothers’ appointment was the first open challenge to Piero’s power and it provides the subtext of his downfall.
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- Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy , pp. 180 - 189Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020