Cosimo de' Medici - Florence, city of the people
Returning from exile, Cosimo de' Medici found himself positioned to finally bring about his dream. With his former enemies in disarray and his supporters cheering his return, it was as if the stars had realign in his favour. For years the jealous families of Florence had tried to hold him back or remove him from power and yet now he had near unrestrictive control of the city and its expansive lands. It was not only a matter of appeasing the people of the city before he could do away with the restrictive republic and cement the Medici family as the penultimate rulers.
The year is 1444 A.D and Europe finds itself in grips of the last great Crusade. Headed by the powerful armies of Hungary and Poland, Catholic Europe is attempting to halt the ever expanding Ottomans and their Islamic armies. Closer to home, Milan and Venice are fighting a bloody war over the Po Valley. Amongst this turmoil, Florence finds itself well positioned to profit and remain safe from the distracted eyes of her larger neighbours. The Medici bank in Rome continues to profit from the Papal decadence and financial need to continue its crusade and the Italian Renaissance is in full swing. For Cosimo, it is a perfect moment to begin his final bid for power.
Cosimo knew how he could achieve this undertaking, but it required the reform of the Signoria, the ruling body of Florence. Only with the backing of the people of Florence would that be possible. The three major groups were the Popolo, the Artigiani and the Mercanti. These three groups represented the common people, artists and merchants respectfully and held the greatest power in the city and outlying towns. Fortunately for Cosimo they were not hard to please and their support would be won with coin and prestigious undertakings, not hard to acquire during the Renaissance.
As the year of 1444 was coming to an end, Cosimo had sent a diplomatic envoy to the Aragonese capital of Barcelona. Aragon and Naples were embroiled in a civil war and he had no plans to be dragged into it. So with bribes and gifts, he hoped to appease the Aragonese court and its king. Too the north, the Venetians and Milanese continued their war, for Cosimo it was an opportunity to send a good friend of his to meet the Doge of Venice. He hoped that the Venetians would be welcome to financial support and as the gate to the Orient for Europe, Venice would be a perfect place for the Medici banks to expand. Already the this years revenue from Rome had arrived.
By this time, Cosimo had also exerted full control over the small but effective army that protected Florence, but he needed an able lackey to oversee it and keep it from being used in coups on his reign. For that task he selected a man by the name of Cecco Alberti, a mercenary captain. While an inefficient leader, he was loyal and good at keeping his men in line. As long has he played his hand well, Cosimo doubted he would need his army for anything except keeping order and grand parades.
Little changed as the final months passed, except the canonization of a saint. the man was from Valdarno and the town was quickly becoming a pilgrimage site. Not missing an opportunity, Cosimo began to tax the pilgrims to the site and benefit from his connections with it. The new year of 1445 A.D saw the death of the previous Pope and the College of Cardinals was quickly called. They would elect Callistus III as the new Pope. For the Medici, it meant little, the new Pope kept the Medici bank in Rome.
The new year also saw a series of Palio games begin throughout the Italian region. Horse riding, archery and jousting were the biggest crowd drawers and the athletes from Florence participated well. Unfortunately while their athletes did well, the city lost a lot of coin in the betting and Cosimo was forced to take a loan to cover the costs. But the people were happy and the prestige of the games were well worth it.
Seeing the success of the Palio games in the other Italian cities, Cosimo quickly set about hosting his own. In Florence their sport of choice was Calcio, a traditional form of football and one of the most popular sports of Italy. While the expenses of hosting the grand tournament in Florence forced Cosimo to take out another loan, for weeks afterwards his name was chanted in the streets.
It was during the Calcio tournament that news arrived from Rome, Pope Callistus III had died, some suspected murder. Once again the College was called and a new Pope, Gregorius XIII.
By now, two years later, his diplomatic envoy had returned from Barcelona with promises from the Aragonese court that they would respect Cosimo's wishes. The diplomatic success was bolstered further when Cecco, the mercenary captain had sent a letter to Cosimo. It detailed how he had succeeded in gaining the promises of several mercenary companies to ally themselves with Cosimo, allowing him an even larger pool of soldiers to draw an army from, should he ever need it. Venice had also ended their participation in the crusade, it was becoming clear the Ottomans had the upper hand.
Fortunately, Cosimo's ambassador to Venice was able to secure the rights to open a bank in Venice. As an incredibly rich merchant city with grand ambitions, the Medici were set to milk Venice of its hard earned coin. It also brought the two cities closer together, a possible alliance set for the future.
A few months later, Milan and venice signed a white peace and an uneasy sense of peace befell the Italian region.
