The Family Medici, by Mary Hollingsworth

Went a little bit off the beaten track this past week by going for a nonfiction about a time in history that I, frankly, don’t really know a lot about. I’ll continue being frank by saying I didn’t realize what I was getting into with this book. I know the Medici from The Assassin’s Creed series more than anything, so it never really dawned on me how long a shadow they cast over Italian and European history. But to be clear, it covers almost half a millennia.

I won’t go into the premise, as it’s given away pretty clearly by the title. The book starts VERY early in Medici history, starting when the first Medici immigrated to Florence in the 1200’s, taking advantage of the fall of Siena as the banking center in Italy. Though it touches on most of the family over time, it centers on certain key figures, beginning with Cosimo (who helped establish the Medici dynasty in Florence) to Lorenzo “the Magnificent” (who helped them rise to greatness and kicked off “the Medici myth”) and up through some of the other later Medici greats.

This culminates with several Medici Popes, Cosimo I being named the first Duke of Florence, and then Francesco I, the first Grand Duke of Italy. Unfortunately for the Medici, it’s a steep fall from there as the family collapses into decadence. Hollingsworth walks us through arranged marriage dramas, interfamily rivalry, and political turmoil in Europe between France, Spain, England, and the Holy Roman Empire. There’s religious turmoil as well, as the sale of religious indulgences under Leo X (the first Medici pope) led to the Protestant Reformation.

If it sounds like it covers a lot of European history, that’s because it absolutely does. Between the volume of material and the repetition of Medici and other European Royal names (how many kids can you name “Cosimo???”) it was easy to get lost. But Hollingsworth does a great job of not simply keeping the story straight for the reader, but making it compelling and interesting. Whenever I would find my attention wandering, something dramatic would bring me back. At one point, I was startled out of a trance by a story about a seeming serial killer strangling Medici brides-to-be in their beds. I won’t spoil how that goes, but it made me rewind the audiobook to relisten to the whole chapter.

I won’t dive into how the Medici rise to leadership and collapse into decadence mirrors anything happening in the real world right now. Hollingsworth doesn’t investigate it, and this is a review not an analysis. But it is interesting to think about. Give this a listen, it’s a fascinating story. Don’t be surprised if more Medici history books wind up on the site this year.