What it was
The Medici were a Florentine banking family who became the effective rulers of Florence and among the greatest patrons of the Renaissance.
Role
Their bank made them the wealthiest family in 15th-century Europe. From Cosimo de’ Medici to Lorenzo the Magnificent they dominated Florence and funded artists and thinkers, and the family produced popes (Leo X, Clement VII) and two queens of France, later becoming hereditary Grand Dukes of Tuscany.
Fate
The main line ruled Tuscany until the dynasty died out in 1737. Their patronage helped make Florence the cradle of the Renaissance, a legacy still visible in the city’s art and architecture.