Book: Medici – Die Kunst der Intrige

Author: Matteo Strukul

Pages: 397

Dear reader,

I have come to the second book of the Medici quintet and this one proves to be as attracting as did the previous one. In the first book we followed the story of the 2nd generation of the Medici family, whereas in this book we will follow the story of the 4th generation, headed by the two brothers Lorenzo Il Magnifico (1449 – 1492) and Giuliano (1453 – 1478).

The book is broken down into the following chapters:

• February 1469
  • Chapter 1 – 5 (pg. 1 – 44)
• April 1469
  • Chapter 6 (pg. 45 – 52)
• June 1469
  • Chapter 7 – 8 (pg. 53 – 68)
• December 1469
  • Chapter 9 (pg. 69 – 78)
• April 1470
  • Chapter 10 – 12 (pg. 79 – 96)
• May 1471
  • Chapter 13 (pg. 97 – 106)
• December 1471
  • Chapter 14 – 17 (pg. 107 – 134)
• June 1472
  • Chapter 18 – 22 (pg. 135 – 166)
• October 1473
  • Chapter 23 – 26 (pg. 167 – 198)
• February 1474
  • Chapter 27 (pg. 199 – 210)
• April 1476
  • Chapter 28 – 35 (pg. 211 – 264)
• December 1476
  • Chapter 36 – 38 (pg. 265 – 280)
• November 1477
  • Chapter 39 – 40 (pg. 281 – 294)
• April 1478
  • Chapter 41 – 55 (pg. 295 – 388)
• September 1479
  • Chapter 56 – 57 (pg. 389 – 397)

Lorenzo is the first-born of the two brothers and is set to inherit his father’s responsibilities upon his retirement. He has his eyes set on a true beauty, Lucrezia Donati. However, his mother is not in favour of this marriage and instead has arranged a marriage to a Roman family, Clarice Orsini, due to their influence in Rome, as well as being of royal lineage. When their father dies much sooner than expected, Lorenzo is tasked to take over his father’s duties much sooner than expected and is married to Clarice. Lorenzo also has Leonardo da Vinci in his pay to develop everything and anything that he comes up with. He has already developed some ingenious inventions and is therefore happy to have the financial backing of a prominent family so he can focus all his attentions to inventions.

Another family from Florence has set their eyes on taking on a more powerful role in the republic, which would, however, require the Medici family to be gotten rid of. Their uncle manages to become the new pope of the Roman church and starts to make some changes. He re-assigns the banking duties of the church from the Medici to his own familial ties. Next, he helps one of his nephews to acquire a small duchy nearby Florence, which makes the Medici feel uneasy for being watched.

The Medici are not on too good terms with the local people currently. Only a few months ago did one of the vassal states to Florence rise up in rebellion for independence and Florence, under Lorenzo’s call, attacked them and reclaimed their state, at the high cost of blood. This has put Lorenzo in a bad spot and since this dreadful incident he and his family have undertaken to do more for the people of Florence to show their true regret.

Eventually, the other family decides on a day when they will take over the republic. They plan to assassinate the two Medici brother’s during a church sermon and afterwards take over all the important stations in the city to set their true claim. The plan slowly starts to take shape, but something goes wrong. They only manage to kill the brother Giuliano, who was in an ill condition, but not the brother Lorenzo. The attackers themselves are wasting more time and not following the plan, which results in them being killed by the citizens of Florence instead. Other families that are followers of the noble family that tried to take over the rulership are now being hunted down by citizens and killed as well.

After this catastrophic event, the republic eventually settles down once again and Lorenzo vows to rule the republic with more care and always with the objective of upholding the peace.

Summary:

From book 1 we were introduced to the life of one of the prominent families of the Italian peninsula during an age known as the Renaissance. In book 2 we continue with the fourth generation that faces the same (or similar) challenges that other generations have faced before. Assassinations, despise, power lust, wanting of love, shock, all of this and much more awaits the reader from this good novel 2 in the Medici series. The book will receive a rating of 3.7/5.

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