Florentine banker, ruler, and patron of Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo. He was known as "Lorenzo the Magnificent" for his political brilliance and enthusiastic patronage of art which furthered the cultural development of Florence.

Co-ruler of Florence alongside his brother, "Lorenzo the Magnificent." Giuliano was assassinated as part of the Pazzi Conspiracy to displace Medici rule.

Born Lodovico de' Medici, Giovanni assumed the name of his father, who had died shortly after his son was born. The younger Giovanni became the most distinguished soldier in the history of the Medici family, serving the Papal States, the French, and Emperor Charles V before returning to the French service against the Emperor. Giovanni died from a battle wound received in the War of the League of Cognac.

Nicknamed "the Moor" for his dark complexion, Alessandro was most likely the illegitimate son of Giulio de' Medici, born to a servant of African descent. As Pope Clement VII, Giulio selected Alessandro as the Duke of Florence. Alessandro ruled from 1532 until his assassination by a distant cousin in 1537. Although initially admired by his subjects, Alessandro became regarded as a corrupt figure due to his misuse of taxes and attempts to extend his power.

The Florentine Medici family rose to power on the tremendous wealth created through the family bank that, during the fifteenth century, was the largest bank in Europe. On that basis, they created a political dynasty that ruled Florence and Tuscany from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, yielding four popes and many marriages into powerful families across Europe.

An Italian revolutionary exiled to London for instigating insurrection. Founder of the journal Pensiero ed azione ("Thought and Action") and author of numerous essays and several pamphlets as well as Dei Doveri dell'uomo (1860).

A prominent Frankish monk, poet, and scholar whose work was so influential as to grant him the title of Praeceptor Germaniae ("Teacher of Germany").

Irish Protestant clergyman, Gothic romance novelist, and dramatist, best known for his Melmoth the Wanderer (1820), a novel considered among the last of the classic English Gothic romances.

A prolific Jacobean dramatist, frequent collaborator with John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, and others. Scholars tend to agree that Massinger wrote at least 15 plays independently and was a part of 23 collaborations. Many also believe that there may be upwards of a dozen of his works which have been lost. Among his many dramas, some of the more important include The Fatal Dowry (c. 1617-1619), Sir John van Olden Barnavelt (1619), The Custom of the Country (c. 1619), The Maid of Honour (c. 1621-1622), The Duke of Milan (c.

Italian painter, novelist, and statesman who campaigned for the consolidation of the fragmented Italian states into a centralized union. He was author of two historical novels, Ettore Fieramosca (1833) and Niccolò dei Lapi (1841).