William J. Connel, James Hankins - THE ART OF NEGOZIO

Описание: THE ART OF NEGOZIO - 25 October 2024

The Medici: More Equal than Others?

Nearly a decade ago, the collection of essays “The Medici: Citizens and Masters”, reignited a debate between Philip Jones and Nicolai Rubinstein about the despotic versus republican nature of Medici political identity. This debate is still very much alive today, as democracies around the world are failing, and financial forces seem to take over entire states. Before officially seizing power in Florence, the Medici were for a long time the first citizens of the Florentine Republic without holding any office (primi inter pares). How did they control the city? Were they already behind-the-scenes tyrants? Or did the constitutional frameworks and institutional infrastructures in Quattrocento Florence provide systems of checks and balances in which any kind of “prince” was unlikely to gain political ascendancy? Did they act like a lobby? Did the depth and breadth of Medici financial gravitas in Florence and Italy allow them full control? Did they practice Virtue Politics? What was their role in building Statecraft versus Soulcraft in the Renaissance? This workshop, organized by The Art of Negozio Program at the Medici Archive Project and moderated by Marcello Simonetta and Alessio Assonitis, will feature William J. Connell (Seton Hall University) and James Hankins (Harvard University), who will address these questions, exploring the connections between Renaissance Florence and contemporary politics.