The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-04
MANY MADE 18TH CENTURY
 GREAT EPOCH Saw Tremendous Produc- tion and Full of Great
 Names. SAW INVENTION
 OF PRINTER ART Influence of De Medicis Felt For Genera
 tions.

ldEO14lS CShIdiEs "lAiI :" SSA4N% ON-- answer be? And why? These are interesting questions. Each of the centuries is marked by special proni- nent features of development. Each has set it's own serious stones in the building of Time. The 18th century is not the writer's favorite century, bit it was a spacious epoch, of Ire mendous production, and thrii1nS with great names In the 18th cen tury, 14S4, the Medici family led by Cosimo de Medici (eleCted chief ruler in 142S) became prominent in Flor ence. Today, Oct 1, celebrates Cosimo's re-entry into Florence in I434, Cosimo the older, from exile. when he was received with cXuberap, demonstrations of joy. Now prime of the state! He was called pater patriae,
 It was the period Of the Great Re uaissance in Italy, the re-discoverl and renewal of Greek Literature. and Florence was the centre of the Renaissance It was the per-ca when Art and Architecture fiourishel when name after name arose like star-never to set; when the build ingS that we bow down to toda! scared against the blue Souther- noon. Venice was at her zenith, an, the locus or the commerce C4 E4E rope IL was the century of the Ii vention of Printing and of the burn ing at the stake of SavanaroIa; 1t was the century of the martyrdom of Jeanne d'Arc, and of the discovery of America; of the conquest of Granada, and the expulsion of the last Moorish king. It was a great period of Mo hammedan architecture in the East; and of the fall of COnstantinOpIe to Ottoman supremacy. The Medici family that ruled in Florence was il- lustrious not only for its statesmen, and the Popes which it gave to the Vatican, but for its magnificent pat ronage of letters and art The origin of the family seems buried in ob scurity. But the real founder of the Medicean greatness was Giovanni dei Medici who made an immense fortune by trade. CosimO the Elder was his son who biy h=5 financial ability realty increased the wealth of the eAeiIy. Banished to Venice through
 - jealousy of the oIigarchical party,
 have seen that he re-entered florence in triumph in 1434 Till his death in 1464 he was the uncrowned king of Florence
 Wisely and well did he direct her destinies; for it must be remembered that tt this era Italy was map work of separate and distinct repub- lies and the tide of jealous factions ran high from Sienna, and from Lucca, to the City on the Arno-Fie- sole, Florence the Lily. Though not a scholar himself, Cosimo de Med1ci had a profound love of letters and art. His agents visited the East ConstantinopIe, Greece, the Levant, to secure Mss. Of the Greek and Latin writers which were transcribed by his staff of copytsts, and made available for the use of scholars. Cosimo the Elder showed royal gen erosity in his expenditures for the prom otion of letters and the fine arts. He built the basilica of Fiesole, and of St Lorenzo, and enlarged the Church and Monastery of St. Mark. The artists of the period included the great names of DonateIIo, Brunei leschi, Luca del Rohbia. He founded the Platonic Academy in Florence which was to play an important role in the history of Italian philosophy and letters. Cosimo died at the age Of 75, while he was listening to one of the dialogues of Plato.
 Under his grandson Lorenzo, sur named the Magnificent" the splen- dor of Florence as the home of art and culture rose still higher. It gilt tered like a planet almost overladen with light Lorenzo was a great scholar. But though his ambitions were intense for Florence he had not the political shrewdness of his father Cosino, and was more dispos- < ed to tyranny. His immortality was MEcandaIous. Absolute lord of all. the more oppressive his measures grew
 
 cent seek to IuII the public by fes- tivities and sensual pleasures. It was right into the red core of this per petual rounde1ay of voluptuous feaste and gafetfes to stimulate tho senses that Savanaro1o struck. Against abuses in Church and State the i'm pass oned monk of San Marco plead ed till his breath was hushed at the stake.
 Let 1t always be remembered tha- Lorenzo's palace was not only the resort of illustrious men, but theil school of learning. In Lorenzo the Magnifcents royal abode Mtchae Angelo the young artist first essaye6 the strokes of his chiseI.
 The famous Catherine dei Medici wife of Henry IT., King of France and mother of Charles K, whs through his mothers master spirf <nd influence signed the edict for tht Massacre of St. Bartholomew, wa! the granddaughter of Lorenzo tn, Magnificent. A forcefu1, a danger ous, woman was the naughty ant powerful Catherine dei Medici. Dur ing the minority of her son Charle the reins of government were in he hands. This female member of tn, great Family of the Medici prove, that the blood of statesmen and die tatorS was in her veins.
 Marie de Medici. the daughter O Francis II. Of Tuscany, was marriet to Henry ". of France, in 1900, ou Henry of Nevarre.'' On the assas anatton of Henry she became regent but proved incompetent to rule. Tn vices and virtues and weaknesses o a great family will, freakishly ski over years and centuries, and com out again in strong or brittle descen dants.
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