Photo: Workshop of Bronzino, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons¹⁰

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici

Italian banker (c. 1360–1429)

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (c. 1360 – February 1429) was an Italian banker and founder of the Medici Bank. While other members of the Medici family, such as Chiarissimo di Giambuono de' Medici, who served in the Signoria of Florence in 1401, and Salvestro de' Medici, who was implicated in the Ciompi Revolt of 1378, are of historical interest, it was Giovanni's founding of the family bank that truly initiated the family's rise to power in Florence.²

From Wikipedia’s article on Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1360, died Mar 1, 1429.¹

About

He was the father of Cosimo de' Medici and of Lorenzo the Elder; grandfather of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici; great-grandfather of Lorenzo de' Medici (the Magnificent); and the great-great-great-grandfather of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

From Wikipedia’s article on Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

Medici BankFounder⁹

Career

Occupation: banker.^{4 5}

Date not recordedFounded Medici Bank³

Personal life

Born1360, Florence^{5 6}
DiedMar 1, 1429, Florence^{5 7}
SpousePiccarda Bueri⁸

Politics

Political activity

Giovanni stayed at arms length from politics for much of his life, but he was urged to reluctantly accept various positions of high office throughout his life in the Signoria of Florence because of the prestige and universal popularity he enjoyed in the city. His attitude is exemplified in his writings to his son Cosimo, saying, "Do not make the government-house your work shop, but wait until you are called to it, then show your selves obedient." He served as a Priore in the Signoria in 1402, 1408, and 1411 and as a Gonfaloniere for the statutory two-month period in 1421. In 1407, he also served as the governor of the city of Pistoia.

In the sphere of politics, Giovanni stayed true to his reputation and the tradition of the Medici family as champions of the people and intractable opponents of the nobility of Florence. In 1426, he exerted his considerable personal influence in the Signoria to replace Florence's inequitable and oppressive poll tax with the Catasto. This was a particular property tax devised by Giovanni wherein the tax burden was shifted from the poorer classes in Florence, making it more difficult for the nobility to evade their share. The following year he once again wielded his personal authority and influence in the Signoria to block the passage of oligarchic reforms proposed by the nobility, which would have repealed the ban on nobles serving in the Signoria, and removed some of the lesser guilds from being represented there.