The branch of Medici perpetuated from Charissimo (the
second) gave birth to many children. Though he gave birth to two sons, only one
of those sons, Filippo, married, giving birth to four sons, two of whom married,
producing five sons in total. That generation: Andrea, Bartolommeo, Salvestro,
Vieri, and Giovanni were part of the Florentine population during the middle
years of the 14th century. The two with confirmable dates, Salvestro
(1331-1338) and Vieri (1323-1395) would, given the average life expectancy of
men during this era was 50 years, allow for the theory that all the brothers
lived and died near to the same years. Could have…were it not for the upheavals
Florence—and the Medicis—underwent during those years.
Traveling along the Silk Road, it is believed the Black
Death originated in China and Central Asia, carried to other parts of the world
by virulent rodents. It reached its peak in the two year period of 1348-1350.
Known then as the Great Pestilence, the Great Plague, or the Great Mortality,
the Black Death as it now known (a moniker given by Dutch and Swedish
chroniclers of history) was
responsible for reducing the European population by
thirty to sixty percent, depending upon location. In Florence, the numbers are
narrowed to twenty-five to fifty percent. It can easily be theorized, then,
that one or more of these Medici sons for which there are no records fell to the
horrific disease.
But there were other powerful forces at work in Florence at
the time.
These five men, these sons of Medici, were the first to be
born during a recently established Renaissance, though they, like all of their
contemporaries, could not know what they were witnessing. They would have been
among the first to read the works of Dante and Petrarch as established masters
in literature…the first to see the works of Giotto, bringing painting into the
new realm of realism.
The Renaissance (thus named in the mid 16th
century by Giorgio Vasari in his work The
Lives of Artists) was an explosion of discovery and exploration, both in
the external world and in self-enlightenment, an explosion including a change
in sexual mores. In Daily Life in the
Renaissance, author Charles L. Mee, Jr. states, “Sex was not a taboo
subject, and sexiness, both female and male was widely admired in their lives
and in their art.” And though sodomy was an act punishable with death, it too
was explored like never before. Donatello’s feminine David is an example of the gender bending art of the age. It is
possible then that the lack of progeny from some of these five brothers could
be due to their sexual preferences.
Of the brothers Andreo and Bartolommeo, there is nothing of
record in the many book, studies, and programs on the Medici, other than
listing them as a brother to Salvestro. And while often confused with a later
(and greater) Giovanni de’ Medici, this particular offspring shows no discernible
contributions of note either.
Vieri de’ Medici, while not receiving the attention his
brother Savlestro does in history, might well have made the most important
contribution to the clan to date. Though many of his ancestors and
contemporaries became embroiled in conflicts and rebellions, Vieri kept himself
to irreproachable conduct, beginning the high esteem Florentines would feel
about the Medici, for the most part, for the duration of the family’s
existence. Additionally, Vieri was a prodigious businessman, amassing a great
fortune. There are morsels of fact left on the trail of history that indicate Vieri
established a structured banking system (the original and lasting source of the
Medici empire). Some sources, however, site that Vieri’s banking trade eventually
failed. It does seem conceivable, however, that he retained a fortune that would
allow succeeding generations (though not his own children, of which there is a
vague mention) to begin the true dynasty of the Medici.
As for Salvestro there exists a great deal of confusion,
perplexity stemming from the repetition of name in generation after generation
and among first cousins themselves. Charissimo (the first, one of two brothers
to immigrate from Mugello to Florence) would eventually have two, three-times
great-grandsons named Salvestro, one Salvestro di Alamanno de’ Medici, and one Salvestro
di Averado de’ Medici (the middle names indicating the names of their fathers).
While many ‘quick’ histories place Salvestro di Alamanno as the political
revolutionary involved in the Ciompi revolt
(see next post coming early September), it is the overwhelming consensus that
such a life belonged to Salvestro di Averado. Di Alamanno, however, did serve as
Gonfalonieri of Florence from 1370 to 1378. And, once again, there is mention
of a wife and children, though not confirmable by the rule of three.
It seems unlikely that if Vieri and Salvestro did have
children, that there would be no impression of them left on history, especially
in light of their cousins’ contributions, not only to Florence but to the
world, accomplishments so vast that they will have their own unique posts here…when
The Medici Series continues.
