Medici

med'e-che, a noted Italian family. The Medici family ruled Florence for generations. Popes Leo X and Clement VII were Medici. The fame of Florence as a center of art and literature was achieved under the patronage, chiefly, of the Medici. The most noted man of the family was probably Lorenzo, known as the Magnificent. The most noted woman was Catharine de Medici, known in history as the queen mother of France. The prevailing characteristics of the family appear to have been ability, artistic proclivities, and lack of conscience. The last of the family died in 1743. See Florence; Machiavelli; Catharine