A Companion to Cosimo I de’ Medici begins with the editors’ promise to deliver something closer to a monograph than to a collection of studies. They have largely succeeded (but there are no transitions between chapters or attempts to cross-reference subjects among the chapters). The chapters progress according to a clear plan, starting with a chronological approach to Cosimo's life, followed by analyses of his capacity and achievements as ruler, and ending with interpretations of his life in his time and since.
The early chapters, on Cosimo's early life and its misrepresentations (Alessio Assonitis), Alessandro's legacy in reestablishing Medici power and Medici importance (Catherine Fletcher), the links between Cosimo and his in-laws (Fernando Loffredo), the relationship between Cosimo and Charles V (Nicholas Scott Baker), and the mutually useful lifelong connections with Catherine de’ Médici (Sheila ffolliott), paint a nuanced portrait of the duke. We learn of his childhood struggles, the successes from Alessandro's reign on which he built, and the difficult questions regarding his agency, particularly with respect to the interests of the Habsburg Empire.
A series of chapters dealing with Cosimo's relationships with local and European elites, and the ways in which he demonstrated his control over his dominion, follows. Marcello Simonetta examines the plot by the Strozzi (and allied exiles) against Cosimo. The duke's triumph, along with measures discussed by Maurizio Arfaioli (on military leadership) and Daniele Edigati (on the exercise of justice), made it possible for Cosimo to promote himself quite successfully as a ruler in full control. However, as Edigati argues, the duke's actions stemmed from a desire to protect his position (both his person and his power), limit corruption, standardize processes (and hierarchies) throughout the dominion, speed up the administration of law and order, and preserve his right to intervene or interfere with those processes. Thus, we should not see his actions as a path toward absolutism, or even as micromanaging.
The next subject is the economy. Stefano Calonacci examines Cosimo's enormous expenses, which led him to tap the resources of the state. He concludes that the duke blurred the line between family and state wealth but argues that these economic policies should be judged on their success in balancing private and public results, not on modern understandings of separate private and public interests. Among these results are the multiple public works, examined in the chapter by Oscar Schiavone, which promoted and were occasioned by the expansion of territory and estates under the control of the Medici. Bridges, roads, etc., while costly and time-consuming, not only protected the territory from hostile neighbors, but also provided economic growth for Cosimo's subjects.
Cultural issues follow, beginning with Jessica Maratsos's and Piergabriele Mancuso's chapters on heterodoxy and on Jewish residents of the region. Both chapters show that Cosimo acted with restraint against dissenters or adherents of other religions, while successfully projecting an image of orthodoxy. Andrea Gáldy analyzes the developing court culture and the transformation of the city of Florence from a minor position in European politics into one of emerging importance, looking at the efforts to establish “an appropriate corporate identity . . . and a massive marketing campaign” (455). Among the public projections of that image is the Neptune Fountain outside the Piazza della Signoria, explored in the next chapter by Henk Th. van Veen. This is a dramatic tale of competing egos. Sheila Barker then explicates not only the Medici family's interests in the natural sciences, natural history, astronomy, and engineering, but also the importance of these interests in the governance of the duchy.
The collection ends with two chapters assessing the life and legacy of the Second Duke of Florence. Carmen Menchini analyzes the competing traditions of pro-Cosimo and pro-Republican biographers through the beginning of the nineteenth century. Brendan Dooley continues with the period up to the present and asks whether it is possible to know the real Cosimo after all that has been written about him. As a conclusion to this series of intriguing and meticulously documented studies, we are thus still faced with the same questions as prior generations: was Cosimo a proto-absolutist? What was his relationship to the bureaucracy and to the court? How do we understand his methods of social control? What role did patronage play in his governance? How did he navigate religious issues? Was he a family man? Dooley concludes that “there are nearly as many Cosimos as there are consumers to consume him,” and thus refuses to commit to a single portrait.
Six chapters contain full-color plates of artwork and pages of archival documents. In addition, two chapters present proprietary figures. Each chapter has an impressive bibliography of secondary sources. Unfortunately, although primary sources are used throughout, they do not appear in the bibliographies. Another editorial criticism is the index, which is limited to names and places, rather than including concepts.
This is a fine collection of studies and should be read not only by those interested in Cosimo I (and his successors), but also by others interested in questions of leadership, patronage, family history, and science.
