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

This book examines the life of Cardinal Francesco Soderini (1453-1524) from a variety of perspectives and using a range of techniques.

It analyses the relationship between Machiavelli, Piero and Francesco Soderini, and reinstates the crucial role played by Rome and contacts with Rome in late fifteenth-century and early sixteenth-century Florentine politics.

Soderini's position as one of the chief powerbrokers of papal Rome, in opposition to the Medici, enables a reappraisal of political and ecclesiastical patronage and clientele systems.

The cardinal also encouraged cultural, intellectual and building activities.

Overall, through the book's collation of archival sources in and outside Italy, a new vision emerges of the lifestyle and activities of a learned and politically astute Italian cardinal.