Cosimo de' Medici Olivia Williams by Wyatt Linville

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Cosimo de' Medici Olivia Williams

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MADE BY: OLIVIA WILLIAMS

Cosimo de' Medici was born on 9-27-1389 in Florence Italy, where he lived and worked
Although for one year he was banished from Florence by the Albizzi family
Cosimo, and his family are famous for running The Medici Bank and its banking systems
Cosimo is also known for being an art patron and funding unusual people, like Brunelleschi

Photo by antonde

Cosimo succeeded his father Giovanni in 1429 and became director of the family's bank
The Medici Bank brought lots of wealth, making Florence wealthier with it
The bank was created in Florence because the Medici's lived there. It was created during the Renaissance because during the Renaissance people started to think of many new ideas, this being one of them
There were also branches of the bank in different parts of Europe. Branches that were added while Cosimo was in charge include: London, Geneva, Bruges, Avignon, Milan, and then later Geneva was transferred to Lyon

Having a banking system doesn't help you get to heaven
It instead helps you become rich, and it helped Florence's economy
Inventing the banking system showed that the Medici's wanted a better way than before. This shows that they rethought how things had been
They also did it to become rich, which shows them trying to 'live life to the fullest' instead of just getting to heaven

Cosimo believed in supporting the less-wealth, an idea he inherited from his family
Showed this by: being a patron to artists, and supporting Brunelleschi
He paid off prison guards because he wanted to keep living, a thought that people wouldn't think of in the Middle Ages
Also known to "reform taxation" so the wealthier had higher taxes than the poor. This caused the poor to support the Medici's even more

Photo by kyz

"Every painter paints himself" -Cosimo de' Medici
What it means: Painters use their personality to express themselves in their art
How it's humanistic: It shows that paintings don't always have something to do with religion, which is a humanistic characteristic of Renaissance art

Banks are still around today and are a big part of the global economy
Banks help people by: loaning them money, keeping their money safe for them, and giving them interest when they leave their money in their account
Most of the largest banks are located outside of the U.S.; the largest bank in the world is located in China and has 2.95 trillion dollars in assets