The Medici Podcast
by Chad Denton
The Medici might not have the decadent drama of the Borgias, but they took center stage in the story of the formation of the modern Western world, from helping mold the Renaissance to trying to quell the Protestant Reformation to sponsoring and then trying to help shut up Galileo. This podcast looks at the story of the Medici and that of the fractured, tumultuous Italy they carved out a place in. Join us to see how a clan of middle-class bankers would up joining the ranks of European royalty and leaving a mark on the world.Website: https://medicipodcast.com/Venmo: @ Chad-Denton-15
Episodes
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The Queen Who Became a Professional Writer
Marguerite de Navarre is the sister and wife of kings. While coping with being an agent of her brother and navigating the religious turmoil , she still found the time to become a bestselling author and perhaps the "first modern woman." Sources: Cholakian, Patricia F. and Rouben C. Marguerite de...
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The Drop-Out Who Destroyed a Society
In 1519, Europeans made their first diplomatic contact with an urbanized empire in the Americas—and, within a few years, that empire will no longer exist, in no small part because of a failed law student from Spain.
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5/30 Update
Here is just a short update on the next episode and the state of the "Turning Modern" Patreon.
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Turning Modern: Martin Luther on Trial
Martin Luther braves persecution by the Church to come to the city of Worms to have his case heard by Emperor Charles V. In this contest between a reviled monk who is the son of a mine owner and a monarch whose empire spans an ocean, the victor is perhaps not the person one would normally…
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The "Journalist" Who Covered the Ottoman Invasion of Egypt
Writing in the years of 1516 and 1517, an inhabitant of Cairo likely witnessed firsthand a new era as Egypt lost its independence and was forcibly annexed by the Ottoman Empire. However, he not only observed the collapse of the old regime, but also the toll it took on the people. Sources: Finkel,...
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The Erotic Publication That Scandalized Renaissance Europe
The apprentice of a legendary artist, the first publisher in history to be sued over copyright, and a famous satirist team up to create a provocative work of erotica that enraged the Pope himself.Sources: Romano, Giulio; Raimondi, Marcantonio; Aretino, Pietro; and Waldeck, Count...
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The German Peasant Who (Almost) Started a Revolution
A young German herdsman draws crowds while preaching about the evils of the nobility and the clergy and a new world where goods and land are shared. In hindsight, he is offering the elites of the Holy Roman Empire a warning about the near future, but will they listen? Sources: The German…
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Turning Modern: The African King Who Had a Portuguese Name
The Kingdom of Kongo establishes a rare partnership with an up-and-coming European power, Portugal, to the point that the King of Kongo and his family embrace Christianity and take Portuguese royal names. However, this partnership will also be ground zero for one of the greatest atrocities in…
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Turning Modern: The First Book Banned By The Church
A genius prodigy sets out to change the world by resolving all philosophical and religious disputes with one book, his own 900 Theses, and a debate in Rome between Europe's brightest intellectual lights. And he will leave his mark on history, just not in the way he wants... Sources Cited:...
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Turning Modern: The Age of Anxiety Prelude
As the sixteenth century begins following plague, turmoil, traumatic defeats, and the discovery of new continents, people from all faiths feel that the end of history and salvation are at hand while others look to the past to find hope for the future.
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Turning Modern Introduction
What is Turning Modern, and why the "early modern West"?
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Episode 87: Finale
Anna Maria Luisa, the last representative of the main branch of the Medici, saves her family's legacy through an innovative agreement. Also we survey Tuscany's post-Medici future and the branches of the family that survived into the 21st century.
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Episode 86: Recluse and Reformer
At the age of 52, Gian Gastone comes to power as the opposite of his uptight, moralistic father in almost every possible way. But even as the Medici family fades, could Tuscany's future be getting brighter?
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Episode 85: Waiting For The Inevitable
The vultures surround Tuscany as the Medici begin to die out. The only thing left for Cosimo III is to try to guarantee Tuscany's independence in the future, even though most of the great powers of Europe are working against him. ERRATA: In this episode I said that King Philip V of Spain and...
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Episode 84: Too Few Heirs
The Medici family are approaching the brink of extinction. It's up to Cosimo III's three children to preserve the family, but even with the dynasty's survival on the line, the Medici cannot stop themselves from repeating the mistakes of the recent past.
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Episode 83: The Breakup
Cosimo and Marguerite-Louise's dysfunctional marriage hits its dramatic crescendo and falls apart. Will Marguerite-Louise escape back to her homeland, or will she remain a prisoner of her despised husband?
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Episode 82: His Royal Highness
Grand Duke Cosimo III sets out to make Tuscany great again with tariffs and religiosity. At the same time, Cosimo aims for royal glory, even at a time all of Italy is under the boot of the Hapsburgs.
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Episode 81: Love and Marriage
Ferdinando II had high hopes that marrying his introverted, overly devout son to a French princess would both loosen his son up and save the dynasty from extinction. Things wouldn't turn out quite like he wanted.
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Episode 80: The Scientist Grand Duke
Despite his unorthodox love life, Ferdinando II is well-liked for his genuine concern for his people and his scientific patronage. However, Tuscany is in decline, and the seeds for the dynasty's extinction have already been planted.
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Episode 79: The Judgment
Cosimo II finally dies after a prolonged illness. Meanwhile, the Church loses its patience with Galileo.
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Episode 78: Galileo's Revolution
Why was Galileo's scientific work considered both something worth celebrating and a threat to the status quo? Galileo himself must have pondered that question as his work, celebrated as it was by the Medici and even high-ranking members of the Church, nonetheless caught the attention of the Roman...
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Episode 77: The Contentious Scientist
The celebrity natural philosopher and writer Galileo rises out of a life of near-poverty to become a favorite at the Medici court. But when controversy rears its head, will the Medici actually protect the quarrelsome Galileo?
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Episode 76: The People's Grand Duke
After his brother's hands-off approach to ruling, Grand Duke Ferdinando I instead tends to the economic health of his state and his people.
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Episode 75: Day of the Dupes
Marie de' Medici believes she finally triumphed over her protege turned archenemy Richelieu and has secured her place as Louis XIII's benevolent advisor. As the proverb goes, though, pride goeth before a fall...
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Episode 74: Baroque Queen
Marie de' Medici goes to war against her own son. On a less violent front, she also oversees her most important legacy, a prime example of Baroque art. http://medicipodcast.com
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Episode 73: There Is No Middle Ground
Marie de' Medici's hope of staying in power by keeping her son in line indefinitely falls apart thanks to a love affair, and her friends pay a heavy price. Still, the Medici aren't known for accepting even the most devastating of defeats, and Marie is no exception.
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Episode 72: How to Raise a Teenage King
Even amidst challenges to her rule, the new queen regent Marie de' Medici is sure that she has her son, King Louis XIII, firmly in line, at least for now.
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Episode 71: Royal Dysfunction
Marie de' Medici finds herself in a turbulent domestic life with an adulterous husband and a troubled son. And history is going to repeat, propelling her toward a more dramatic role.
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Episode 70: Poor Little Rich Girl
We wrap up with the shoddy and bloody reign of Grand Duke Francesco and meet his daughter Maria, the lonely girl destined become the other Medici queen of France.
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Episode 69: A Deadly Scandal
The reign of Grand Duke Francesco was inflicted with multiple scandals, but none were worse than the fates of the Grand Duke's own sister and sister-in-law.
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Episode 68 - The Ghetto
Cosimo's legacy was to give Florence stability and prosperity it had not known in about half a century, but there is a much darker side to that legacy too.
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Episode 67: Making the Medici Legend
Besides being a political reformer, Cosimo was also a master at using art and literature to glorify not only himself, but his ancestors.
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Episode 66: The Conquest of Tuscany (Mostly)
Although kept on a leash by the Emperor Charles V, Cosimo I completes Florence's consolidation of the rest of Tuscany...except for one hold-out.
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Episode 65: Building a State
Now secure in his reign, Cosimo sets about building something like a modern state. But was he a reformer, a tyrant, or something in-between?
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Episode 64: The Medici Phoenix
In the wake of Alessandro de' Medici's assassination, the Medici family's country cousin Cosimo becomes the new duke. Right away, he has to fight for his throne and prove that he is no pawn.
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Episode 63: Anticlimax
The Wars of Religion reaches its crescendo with a three-way struggle, and Catherine watches as her most beloved child makes a horrific and bloody mistake that would prove too much for her to bear. Check out pictures, bibliographies, and more at http://www.medicipodcast.com. Support the podcast on...
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Episode 62: Misery and Worry
Henri tries to get comfortable as king surrounded by his minions and scholars while Catherine's problem son, François d'Alençon, helps cause the Wars of Religion to break out again. Check out pictures, bibliographies, and more at http://www.medicipodcast.com. Support the podcast on Patreon. You…
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Episode 61: The Favorite
With an atrocity between them, Catherine de' Medici's relationship with her son King Charles IX falls apart. She can take pride in her favorite son Henri's election as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, although unfortunately her beloved child decides he hates his new job.
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Episode 60: Massacre
Catherine de' Medici and King Charles IX lash out against perceived enemies only to release a horror beyond their control, one that will stain Catherine's image forever.
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Episode 59: Eve of an Atrocity
Catherine seems to have finally ended the religious civil war, a lasting peace that would be sealed with the marriage of her glamorous daughter Margot and the Protestant great hope Henri de Bourbon. But no one saw the storm that was coming... Check out pictures, bibliographies, and more at...
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Episode 58: Everyone's a Martyr
The war between Catholics and Protestants in France finally erupts in earnest. Catherine travels across France with Charles IX to try to calm the volcano, but her own patience with the increasingly desperate Protestants is wearing thin...
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Episode 57: Under Pressure
Catherine de' Medici takes the reins under the novel title of Governess of France. Just as she assumes power, a crisis that will overshadow the rest of her life begins to take shape.
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Episode 56: Queen Mother
Catherine de' Medici's chronically ill son is now King François II of France. Rather than getting to enjoy the perks of being a king's mother, she finds herself caught having to deal with not only the growing tensions between Catholic and Huguenot, but the feud between two powerful families, the...
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Episode 55: Ménage à trois
Now queen of France, Catherine de' Medici is forced to form a somewhat unorthodox household with her husband Henri and Diane de Poitiers. Meanwhile religious persecution and violence have been growing, and Henri prepares to once again face his and his father's nemesis, Emperor Charles V. Check…
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Episode 54: The Girl Has Come To Me Completely Naked
Far from a fairly tale life, to secure her future Catherine de' Medici must overcome snobbery at the royal court, anti-Italian racism, escalating religious and political tensions, her husband's bizarre love for his own surrogate mother Diane de Poitiers, and even her own body's seeming inability…
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Episode 53: No Girls Allowed
Catherine de' Medici has just married into the monarchy of France, arguably the oldest surviving Catholic Christian monarchy in Europe. So it's a good time to ask the question that would shape Catherine's life: how was it that a monarchy that barred women and their children from the crown also…
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Episode 52: The Little Duchess
From the start of her life, the orphaned Catherine's life was marred by politics. First, she was destined to be a figurehead for her great-uncle's territorial ambitions. Then she was a hostage blamed for the crimes of her family, and next a pawn on the royal marriage market. No one could have...
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Episode 51 - Family Feud
Duke Alessandro de' Medici enters a deadly contest with his cousin, Cardinal Ippolito. The real threat, however, may be closer to home. Check out pictures, bibliographies, and more at http://www.medicipodcast.com. Support the podcast on Patreon
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Episode 50 - How The Medici Did It
For our 50th episode, I give an overview of how the Medici went from being just one of several powerful banking families to joining the ranks of European royalty and high nobility. Check out pictures, bibliographies, and more at http://www.medicipodcast.com. Support the podcast on Patreon
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A Quick Update
Just a brief update on the latest way the Worst Summer Of My Life has messed with me and what that means for the podcast along with what's in store with future episodes.
About this show
The Medici might not have the decadent drama of the Borgias, but they took center stage in the story of the formation of the modern Western world, from helping mold the Renaissance to trying to quell the Protestant Reformation to sponsoring and then trying to help shut up Galileo. This podcast looks at the story of the Medici and that of the fractured, tumultuous Italy they carved out a place in. Join us to see how a clan of middle-class bankers would up joining the ranks of European royalty and leaving a mark on the world.Website: https://medicipodcast.com/Venmo: @ Chad-Denton-15
Hosted by
Chad Denton
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