Brian Jeffrey Maxson is Professor of History at East Tennessee State University, USA.

[Maxson] not only offers an interesting compendium but also opens up important historiographical avenues, demonstrating how Florentine Renaissance studies can still provide an extremely fertile ground for political, social, and cultural research, capable of captivating and challenging contemporary historians.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgements Introduction: The Birth of Florence, Origins to 1250 1. Late Medieval Florence, 1251-1378 2. Oligarchs in the Early Renaissance, 1379-1433 3. The Republic Contested, 1434-1465 4. The Medici Consolidated, 1464-1492 5. The End of the Republic, 1493-1530 6. Early Modern Florence and the Medici Duchy, 1531-1574 Epilogue, 1575-PresentBibliographyIndex

Brian Jeffrey Maxson is Professor of History at East Tennessee State University, USA.

[Maxson] not only offers an interesting compendium but also opens up important historiographical avenues, demonstrating how Florentine Renaissance studies can still provide an extremely fertile ground for political, social, and cultural research, capable of captivating and challenging contemporary historians.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgements Introduction: The Birth of Florence, Origins to 1250 1. Late Medieval Florence, 1251-1378 2. Oligarchs in the Early Renaissance, 1379-1433 3. The Republic Contested, 1434-1465 4. The Medici Consolidated, 1464-1492 5. The End of the Republic, 1493-1530 6. Early Modern Florence and the Medici Duchy, 1531-1574 Epilogue, 1575-PresentBibliographyIndex