Alison Brown is Emeritus Professor of History at Royal Holloway, University of London, having been a British Academy Exchange Fellow at the Newberry Library Chicago, and an Invited Visiting Professor and Fellow at the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at the Villa I Tatti Florence. She is the author of the biography Bartolomeo Scala 1430–97, Chancellor of Florence which won the Premio Arnolfo in Colle Val d'Elsa in 1979 and The Return of Lucretius to Renaissance Florence (2010).

'In this detailed, compelling biography, Piero de' Medici emerges as far more complex and subtle than historians have previously credited. Brown reveals his attempts to navigate an almost-impossible situation as emblematic of the wider transformation of political morality and culture in Italy provoked by the crisis of the 1490s.' Nicholas Scott Baker, Macquarie University, Sydney

• Introduction; Part I. The Early Years: 1. Piero's childhood; 2. Family backgrounds; 3. Education under Poliziano's tutelage; 4. Political tyro at home and abroad, 1484–86; 5. Marrying into the Roman aristocracy, 1487–88; 6. The choice of Hercules: between duty and pleasure, 1488–89; 7. Piero as Lorenzo's deputy, 1490–91; Part II. Between Republicanism and Princely Rule: 8. Cultural patronage and sportsmanship; 9. Ruling as patrons in Florence's dominium and beyond; Part III. Piero in Power: 10. Lorenzo's death and its aftermath, 1492; 11. Balancing power in Italy, 1493; 12. 'The Viper with its tail in Florence', 1493–94; 13. The crux: 1494; 14. The French Descent; 15. Revolution in Florence; Part IV. Piero in Exile: 16. Perambulating Italy, 1494–97; 17. 'Contamination in the labyrinth': networking in exile; 18. The last years, 1498–1503; 19. Piero's burial and legacy; Conclusion: 20. Power and legitimacy in Renaissance Italy.

Alison Brown is Emeritus Professor of History at Royal Holloway, University of London, having been a British Academy Exchange Fellow at the Newberry Library Chicago, and an Invited Visiting Professor and Fellow at the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at the Villa I Tatti Florence. She is the author of the biography Bartolomeo Scala 1430–97, Chancellor of Florence which won the Premio Arnolfo in Colle Val d'Elsa in 1979 and The Return of Lucretius to Renaissance Florence (2010).

'In this detailed, compelling biography, Piero de' Medici emerges as far more complex and subtle than historians have previously credited. Brown reveals his attempts to navigate an almost-impossible situation as emblematic of the wider transformation of political morality and culture in Italy provoked by the crisis of the 1490s.' Nicholas Scott Baker, Macquarie University, Sydney

• Introduction; Part I. The Early Years: 1. Piero's childhood; 2. Family backgrounds; 3. Education under Poliziano's tutelage; 4. Political tyro at home and abroad, 1484–86; 5. Marrying into the Roman aristocracy, 1487–88; 6. The choice of Hercules: between duty and pleasure, 1488–89; 7. Piero as Lorenzo's deputy, 1490–91; Part II. Between Republicanism and Princely Rule: 8. Cultural patronage and sportsmanship; 9. Ruling as patrons in Florence's dominium and beyond; Part III. Piero in Power: 10. Lorenzo's death and its aftermath, 1492; 11. Balancing power in Italy, 1493; 12. 'The Viper with its tail in Florence', 1493–94; 13. The crux: 1494; 14. The French Descent; 15. Revolution in Florence; Part IV. Piero in Exile: 16. Perambulating Italy, 1494–97; 17. 'Contamination in the labyrinth': networking in exile; 18. The last years, 1498–1503; 19. Piero's burial and legacy; Conclusion: 20. Power and legitimacy in Renaissance Italy.

Alison Brown is Emeritus Professor of History at Royal Holloway, University of London, having been a British Academy Exchange Fellow at the Newberry Library Chicago, and an Invited Visiting Professor and Fellow at the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at the Villa I Tatti Florence. She is the author of the biography Bartolomeo Scala 1430–97, Chancellor of Florence which won the Premio Arnolfo in Colle Val d'Elsa in 1979 and The Return of Lucretius to Renaissance Florence (2010).

'In this detailed, compelling biography, Piero de' Medici emerges as far more complex and subtle than historians have previously credited. Brown reveals his attempts to navigate an almost-impossible situation as emblematic of the wider transformation of political morality and culture in Italy provoked by the crisis of the 1490s.' Nicholas Scott Baker, Macquarie University, Sydney

• Introduction; Part I. The Early Years: 1. Piero's childhood; 2. Family backgrounds; 3. Education under Poliziano's tutelage; 4. Political tyro at home and abroad, 1484–86; 5. Marrying into the Roman aristocracy, 1487–88; 6. The choice of Hercules: between duty and pleasure, 1488–89; 7. Piero as Lorenzo's deputy, 1490–91; Part II. Between Republicanism and Princely Rule: 8. Cultural patronage and sportsmanship; 9. Ruling as patrons in Florence's dominium and beyond; Part III. Piero in Power: 10. Lorenzo's death and its aftermath, 1492; 11. Balancing power in Italy, 1493; 12. 'The Viper with its tail in Florence', 1493–94; 13. The crux: 1494; 14. The French Descent; 15. Revolution in Florence; Part IV. Piero in Exile: 16. Perambulating Italy, 1494–97; 17. 'Contamination in the labyrinth': networking in exile; 18. The last years, 1498–1503; 19. Piero's burial and legacy; Conclusion: 20. Power and legitimacy in Renaissance Italy.