Casimo de Medici

I watched a video blog about the Medici family for this week about the developing role of money in western politics. Created by Dr. Liam Atchison, this video post described the life of Casimo de Medici, one of the many heads of the Medici family throughout the centuries of Renaissance Europe. Casimo (born 1389) became the head of the family at the age of 40 following his father's death, and was quickly forced into exile by a rival family and forced to pay a massive fine to the city of Florence. What had not been anticipated by this rival family was the importance of the Medici family to the economy of their city state, and after a year of exile, Casimo was begged to by powerful land owners to return to the city. The Medici family, while starting out as farmers, had become one of the richest families in Europe through banking. They lent out money on interest to people attempting to start business ventures. This was incredibly important for the Florentine economy, and without the money of the Medici family, their economy quickly ran out of funding. Upon Casimo's return, he quickly exiled (permanently) the family who had attempted to exile him, and went on to become the de facto ruler of the city state.
At this point, Dr Atchison went on to talk about the impact that Casimo had on the city of Florence. While he was basically a king (in all but name) Casimo was a massive patron of the arts and worked to beautify the city, bringing in famous painters and architects and sculptors to help turn the city into a cultural center in Europe. The Dr talked about how Machiavelli himself had revered Casimo as a ruler, considering him to be the model prince.
He also talked about how Casimo used the weight of his economic importance to get favorable legislation passed. Comparing Casimo to the political initiatives of the 20th century, Dr Atchison said that while his actions might  be frowned upon today, they were quite beneficial to Florence and they helped to put the city, and the Medici family on the map.
This interested me because of the potential comparison between Casimo and an enlightened monarch. This is the most ideal sort of political ruler, one who is willing to make sacrifices so that his people and his country can progress, and while I am not sure whether or not Casimo's politics were beneficial to the people, his endorsement of the arts in Florence lead to its becoming one of the most important Italian cities during the Renaissance, an achievement that it is still famous for today.