Church and Politics in Renaissance Italy: The Life and Career of Cardinal Francesco Soderini (1453-1524).

The present volume follows Paula C. Clarke's The Soderini and the Medici: Power and Patronage in Fifteenth-Century Florence (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) and forms a natural complement to it. While Clarke's study concentrated on the life and career of Tommaso Soderini (1403-85), Lorenzo de' Medici's right-hand man, Lowe's work focuses on Tommaso's son, Francesco (1453-1524).

The Soderini were a self-made family in Florence. Tommaso's grandfather and namesake (d. 1402) had spent most of his life in Avignon, running a successful business that eventually allowed him to retire in comfort to his native Florence. His illegitimate son, Lorenzo (d. 1405) was executed for having forged documents in an unsuccessful attempt to prove that he was legitimate. His two orphan boys, Niccolo and Tommaso survived the socio-economic disaster of their father's execution (and illegitimacy) to become significant players in Florentine politics and commerce. While Niccolo chose to oppose the rising star of the Medici, and eventually suffered for it, his brother threw in his lot with Lorenzo and rose to be the second most important man in Florence. One of the ways in which Lorenzo de' Medici recognized the value of Tommaso's support was to foster the career of Tommaso's two sons, Piero (1451-1522) and Francesco. In particular, he recommended Francesco for the bishopric of Volterra, an appointment which marked the first step in an ecclesiastical career that would lead to the cardinalate and to an impressive political career in the Church.

Lowe's study of Francesco Soderini is divided into four sections. The first focuses on Francesco's youth, education, and early career (1453-1503). The second examines his extensive political influence as a cardinal and diplomat during the pontificates of Alexander VI Borgia and Julius II Della Rovere (1503-1513). The third covers the last years of Francesco's life (1513-1524), spent mostly as a disaffected cardinal with perceived anti-Medicean intentions in the service and at the mercy of the two powerful and dynastically-minded Medici popes, Leo X and Clement VII. The fourth and last section consists of eight chapters that focus on Francesco Soderini in order to illustrate "the lifestyle of a Renaissance cardinal." As the author acknowledges in the introduction, "by presenting a combination of narrative, thematic and case-study approaches, this book offers a model for showing how one life can be used to illuminate the renaissance as a whole" (4). And this it does, at least as far as the Florentine-Roman Renaissance of the Medicean period is concerned.

Soderini's longevity, not only in life but also in office, not to mention his extensive personal contacts throughout Italy and as far as France, be they political, artistic, or intellectual, make of him a compelling figure for such a study. While his brother Piero's political career in Florence, especially as gonfaloniere a vita, soon came to an end (Piero fled first to Ragusa and then sought refuge in Rome where Francesco had built up an extensive network of clients and property), his own political and financial savvy were such that he not only survived, bruised but alive, the vicissitudes of Florentine-Roman politics, but was eventually able to re-establish the Soderini clan in Florence.

Lowe's study of Francesco Soderini's life and career makes a significant contribution to several important areas of interest. It highlights the complex nature of the political and dynastic interests that colored Roman and Florentine politics in the years from Lorenzo de' Medici to Clement VII. It draws a fascinating picture of the life and interests of a Renaissance cardinal who saw himself in no uncertain terms as a prince of the Church. And it lets us glimpse, from the other side of the fence, the effectiveness of Medicean maneuvering both while in and out of power.

Konrad Eisenbichler VICTORIA COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO