Princely Citizen: Lorenzo de’ Medici and Renaissance Florence by Francis W. Kent (review)

Professor Bill Kent was a pioneer of Medieval and Early Modern Studies in Australia, and a foundation for some of the most substantial work on the area being done nowadays. His work on Florentine social history spans more than thirty-five years, and stands out by its scrupulous attention to historical detail and by its philological and archival zeal, including the historia minora or minima, and their role in the bigger picture. Much of his gigantic task involved a thorough revision not only of perceived ideas but also of method, and this posthumous volume is a valuable testament to that great legacy. All these qualities are brilliantly illustrated in the fourteen essays reprinted in this collection, and in the concluding chapter on ‘The Death of Lorenzo’, previously unpublished and available here for the first time.

This book deals with particular, isolated aspects of a man who strove to reveal very little about himself, cultivating instead an image that blurred the private and the public. In doing so, Lorenzo de’ Medici succeeded in becoming an indispensable leader and social mediator. Kent’s essays avoid assessments of Lorenzo based on praise or blame, and focus closely on the small print of the events, persons, and institutions that made him up. His writing puts together precious unknown materials around much-discussed issues, and sheds light on different aspects of Lorenzo’s leadership.

The collection starts with a number of chapters devoted to Lorenzo’s intellectual and personal upbringing, followed by an analysis of his political coming of age and public life, and his active interest in the arts, and also included are separate chapters on architecture, music, religious life, and the trade guilds. Of the first group, I have found particularly inspiring the pages dedicated to the women in Lorenzo’s life, and their influence in his political apprenticeship. The chapter dedicated to ‘Lorenzo de’ Medici at the Duomo’ is a joy to read: richly interwoven with contemporary correspondence and archival material, Kent’s expert handling of primary sources adds great depth to his fine historical analysis. There are also shorter pieces that illustrate concrete aspects of how Lorenzo’s role as a patron of the arts came hand in hand with his political craft and networking skills. Kent surveys and considers the scholarly tradition on these matters, but seldom accepts any commonplace ideas of judgements of value, preferring to offer the evidence in context to his readers, and let them decide for themselves. Other chapters deal with lineage matters, or studies on family history, and also include valuable appendices with letters from lesser-known members of the Medici family, or from servants and admirers of the house of Medici that throw a refreshing new light onto the bloody events following the murder of Giuliano de’ Medici, Lorenzo’s younger brother.

In its scope and detail, this book will serve as a wonderful complement to Kent’s previous Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), and a source of inspiration and practical advice for new researchers in the field. It will also be useful for those of us who look forward to the completion of the critical edition of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Lettere, a monumental collection of more than two thousand letters, and a long-term scholarly project that required not only the best philological and historical expertise, but also a clear-headed vision for the discipline, close scholarly cooperation, and strong institutional partnerships. Professor R. Rubinstein started the project, and Bill Kent contributed to it for several years as general editor before his untimely death. Lovingly edited by Carolyn James, this wonderful collection of essays will also help us chart our way through that wondrous sea of letters.