the Medici--Giovanni, the parent of a still more famous son--Cosimo.

At this period Florence was ruled by Whalter von Brienne--the so-called
Duke of Athens--sagacious, treacherous and depraved. He sought to make
himself Lord of Florence by skilfully playing the various political
parties one against the other. The _Grandi_ he kept in check by the
_Popolo Minuto_, but ignored the _Popolo Grasso_, to which the Medici
belonged. Under Giovanni de' Medici, Guglielmo degli Altoviti, and
Bernardo de' Rucellai, the middle class rose against the usurper; but
their plans miscarried, and the leaders were imprisoned and fined.

A Giovanni de' Medici was beheaded in 1342--the first recorded "Tragedy
of the Medici." As to who this unfortunate man was, it is difficult to
say. He is called "the son of Bernardo de' Medici," but no such name
appears in the early records of the family. He was probably a descendant
of Bonagiunto, a son of Ardingo de' Medici, who was a violent enemy of
the Ghibellines, and _Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_, in 1296 and 1307, and
brother of Francesco, Captain of Pistoja in 1338, and one of the
principal participants in the expulsion of the hated Duke.

The first of the "Grand" Medici was Salvestro, son of Alamanno, of the
line of Chiarissimo III., called "The German," because of his alien
Teutonic mother. Great-great-grandson of Ser Filippo, the last of the
doctor-apothecaries, Salvestro does not appear to have gone in for the
steady, unromantic life of a banker, but to have addressed his energies
to the profession of arms. Nevertheless, he was chosen Prior in 1318,
and contributed, during peace, to the advancement of his city's
interest. Upon the outbreak of war with the Visconti of Milan, in 1351,
he was appointed commander of the Florentine forces.