Pierro de’Medici, Cosimo’s son and successor, dies…

Pierro de’Medici, Cosimo’s son and successor, dies in 1469; his twenty-year-old son Lorenzo succeeds him as the virtual despot of Florence.

Educated by the Platonic philosopher Marsilio Ficino, Lorenzo will create a brilliant court culture of painters, poets, and philosophers.

A poet of some note, Lorenzo’s literary circle includes, in addition to Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Poliziano, and Luigi Pulci.

Also a patron of Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Filippo Lippi, Michelangelo, and Andrea del Verrocchio, among other artists, he gains the nickname Lorenzo the Magnificent.

An autocratic but popular ruler, Lorenzo will use state money to recoup losses incurred through neglect of Medici business interests.