We also saw how easy it is to get the Medicis mixed up. Lorenzo the Magnificent
is not the same as Lorenzo the Not-So Magnificent, to whom Machiavelli dedicated
the Prince.
The same is true of Cosimo de' Medici. The one we talked in class about died in 1464, five years before Machiavelli was born. He is the famous Cosimo (apart from Kramer). On the cover of my copy of the Prince, published by Oxford University Press, is a picture of ANOTHER Cosimo de' Medici, whom historians call Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-1574), who was Duke of Florence, and then the first Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569. Obviously, he has even less to do with Machiavelli than the original Cosimo, so his picture on the cover of my book is probably a mistake. It's easy to get mixed up. |