Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence (Enterprise) [Paperback]

Tim Parks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2006 | Series: Enterprise

“A swift and brilliant synthesis of finance, politics, and history.”—Ben Sisario, New York Times Book Review

Before they achieved renown as patrons of the arts and de facto rulers of Florence, the Medici family earned their fortune in banking. But even at the height of the Renaissance, charging interest of any kind meant running afoul of the Catholic Church’s ban on usury. Tim Parks reveals how the legendary Medicis—Cosimo and Lorenzo “the Magnificent” in particular—used the diplomatic, military, and even metaphysical tools at hand, along with a healthy dose of intrigue and wit, to further their fortunes as well as their family’s standing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The Renaissance, so often seen as a clean break with the medieval past, was really an age of creative ambivalence and paradox. In this marvelously fresh addition to the Enterprise series, Parks, author of the Booker-listed Europa and a literary observer of modern Italian life, turns to Florence and to a particularly compelling contradiction. The spirit of capitalist enterprise that fostered cultural originality and underpinned patronage was accompanied by a Christian conviction that money was a source of evil and that usury was a damnable spiritual offense. In the space where this cultural conflict plays out, sometimes as stylized as one of Lorenzo Il Magnifico's tournaments, sometimes as life-threateningly fiery as Savonarola's sermons against worldly vanities, we find a world both akin to our own and almost incomprehensibly distant. Parks is a clear-eyed guide to the ambiguities of Florentine culture, equally attentive to the intricacies of international exchange rates, the spiritual neurosis about unearned income, the shocking bawdiness of Lorenzo's carnival songs and the realpolitik of 15th-century power. His prose is swift and economical, cutting to the chase. Like the Medici-commissioned funerary monument for the anti-Pope John XXIII, the effect is startlingly vibrant, resembling "those moments in Dante's Inferno when one of the damned ceases merely to represent this or that sin and becomes a man or woman with a complex story, someone we are interested in, sympathetic towards." (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Parks displays a keen observance of people's complexities and malleable motives in this account of the fabled Medici dynasty of Renaissance Florence spanning 1397-1494. The Medicis rise in banking and dissipate as succeeding generations neglect the ledger book and devote themselves to art and politics; indeed, one of the last Medicis, Lorenzo, dubbed the Magnificent, should have been called the Bankrupt. Parks effects a worldly, shoulder-shrugging tone to his descriptions of passing subterfuges as the Medicis maneuver through the snake-pit of fifteenth-century Italy. Their prime problem was the church's prohibition of usury, but the Medicis' acumen in circumventing sin created a second dilemma--warding off political poaching of their fortune, which they surmounted by taking over the Florentine republic through chicanery. As rulers, they inherit a third difficulty: Florence's survival in international politics. But the Medicis come to grief in a French invasion. Is there anything new under the sun when money mixes with politics and religion? Parks' marvelously entertaining history suggests there might be. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (May 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393328457
• ISBN-13: 978-0393328455
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-written history book (for a change)! February 7, 2006

By Nicholas Warren

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The focus of the book is the rise, and fall, of the Medici bank, rather than the Medici themselves. However, the former explains a lot about the latter. It takes you through the founding of the business, as a not-wholly reputable business conducted by merchants and sailing very close to the winds of usury, to the over-stretching of the bank and its demise. However, by this time, the Medici had become indispensible to the financing of wars, which had enabled them to become politically very powerful. Ironically, they could now afford to neglect the very business that had initially been responsible for their power and concentrate on dynastic marriages among the nobility of Europe (by the sixteenth century, Marie and then Catherine de Medici had become queens of France).

Along the way, the reader is introduced to the scions of the Medici family, including the two best known, Cosimo (also styled pater patriae) and Lorenzo (il magnifico) and something about their patronage of the arts at the time of the Italian renaissance. Concentrating on the running of the bank, the book has fascinating insights, such the significance of natural cash imbalances in different parts of the banking empire and what thet meant for the business when it was highly risky to physically transport gold coin from one location to another in Europe.

Medici Money was well-written, easy to read and most enjoyable. Naturally, it was writen by an author, not a professional historian. Don't expect a dry, academic book with every statement footnoted to sources. Do expect the author to sometimes interject his opinions and to make statements without backing them up (we just have to trust that he has done his research thoroughly). That's a trade-off, of course, but one I would like to see occur more frequently.... The non-specialist reader may well learn more about history in this way and, most importantly, be encouraged to explore history further.

Bravo, Tim Parks! It's made me want to explore your novels. Read more ›

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging Read May 6, 2005

By Ladyness

Format:Hardcover

I've only read two of Tim Parks books: "Italian Neighbors" and "Italian Education". I loved both of them. I like his nonchalant style which takes the reader right to the point.

"Medici Money" was a good surprise. I had never read anything about the most famous family in Florence, so this book was a good introduction to the fortunes and misfortunes of the power and money hungry Medicis. Because I don't have a background in economics, some parts were a little more difficult to grasp for me, but otherwise it was a witty account of the Medici's bank rise and fall. I only wished it had more on the metaphysics aspect of Renaissance life and how it related to banking. I also think the book would benefit if it had more illustrations and a better genealogy table (some dates were different from the text). Overall it was a pleasant and informative read. I specially liked his suggestions in the bibliography. In sum, I enjoyed the book very much and if you're interested in learning a bit more about Renaissance and the Medici, it's a good start.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Medieval Financial Machinations February 6, 2006

By Rolf Dobelli HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

If your knowledge of the Medici family begins and ends with their patronage of Renaissance artists, sharp-penned writer Tim Parks has some revelations to share. True, the Medicis used the wealth they amassed from their bank to turn Florence, Italy, into the Mecca of fifteenth-century culture. Yet, the Medici clan also perfected the arts of vanquishing foes and allying with the rich and powerful to gain a stranglehold on political power - all in bold-faced defiance of Catholic Church doctrine. The Vatican held that paying or collecting so much as a penny of interest was a mortal sin. Parks' book shows you what the Medici made of that, and his arch, witty style is a joy to read. Perhaps the only caution is that this history is more a study of the spiritual and social history of Florence than a guide to the Medicis' business successes and failures. We recommend this history to anyone interested in the intersection of money, politics and religion.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative book that also makes for a good read July 25, 2006

By Lifelong Reader

Format:Hardcover

Parks' book encompasses the lives of the five heads of the Medici family, and simultaneously through the history of the city of Florence. Through the eyes of the city of Florence, we see Italy, and through slightly foggier lenses, all of Europe.

Parks clearly has a deep love and respect for the more medieval (as opposed to Renaissance) parts of his tale. If you are expecting a hagiographical account of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his great contributions to art, architecture and learning, this isn't the right book.

I picked this book up because I had an interest in the economic side of the Renaissance. For me, one of the more fun sides of history is following the dollars and cents to find an alternative rationale behind the traditional story. And in the first half of this book, Parks provides the goods.

Without talking down to the reader, he makes VERY complicated financial transactions seem simple enough that with a little extra care and attention, they are not only able to be followed, but able to be understood. The multiple types of profitable banking transations are complicated enough for a non-finance major, but when added to the necessity of covering their tracks to avoid falling afoul of Florentine law, Church law, the laws of England, Germany (and even Poland!), personal ethics and morals, and even the taxman, it is amazing that I finished the book, nonetheless enjoyed it and remember it.

The book is more or less chronological. He concentrates on five Medicis, and the chapters covering the first two, Giovanni and Cosimo, are by far the best. And if you are going to study the Medicis as bankers and politicians, rather than as art patrons, poets, and humanists, this makes sense; but it does mean that the book ends weakly.... It does read a bit like "The Rise and Fall of the Medici Family", and he spares little when describing the fall. Much of the blame is placed on Lorenzo's unwillingness to learn the family trade (banking), considering it almost beneath him.

A surprise bonus in this book is the detailed account of Florentine politics during these 100 years. Parks is almost as gifted describing the complicated nature of a republic illegally ruled by an autocratic family as he is a bank illegally profiting from interest bearing loans. He falters slightly when inserting his personal opinions and when unable to refrain from making occasional comparisons to modern politics, but all-in-all, his description of the political situation is just as fascinating (and complicated) as the economic portions. Read more ›