[Music] for over a century one family had run the city of Florence they had carved their name into the heart of the Florentine Renaissance the Medici but at the height of their success they had been toppled by a sudden revolution now two cousins raised as brothers struggled to resurrect the supremacy of the family and regain control of Florence Giovanni and Giulio de Medici would aim for the ultimate power the papacy they would press into their service the greatest artists of all time Michelangelo Buonarroti would redefine all fields of artistic achievement but he would watch him fear as the Medici split the church in two and drove Florence Rome and Europe to the brink of collapse [Music] Florence 1501 home of the Italian Renaissance for nearly 200 years it is a city at the heart of an artistic revolution and now in a workshop behind the Cathedral an extraordinary work of art was beginning to take form a single 13 foot block of marble had stood for 35 years waiting for a sculptor brave enough to take on the challenge [Music] that sculptors name was Michelangelo Buonarroti Michelangelo lived for his work he was I think by any standards a workaholic he rarely ate he didn't sleep very much he would often set away in the dead of night with his hammer ringing away he didn't take his boots off apparently for months at a time so that when he did take them off on the skin came along with the boots the colossal project would take nearly three years to complete to guide his progress Michelangelo submerged a small wax model in water day by day he led the level drop and what Michelangelo saw emerging from the water a chiseled carefully from his marble block he also devised a constant shower of water to keep the dust down and his body cool the giant Michelangelo was creating would come to symbolize his struggles against the family he had once adored [Music] fifteen years earlier the sculptor had been adopted into the greatest family in Florence Michelangelo had moved in with the Medici [Music] the young artist was exposed to a world of artistic achievement [Music] the single dynasty had nurtured the greatest artists of the Florentine Renaissance but every work of art produced in their name served a greater purpose the promotion of the Medici brand their patronage declared the power of a family that controlled all of Florence [Music] Michelangelo was raised alongside the heirs to the Medici dynasty and he watched as Giovanni de Medici was prepared for life in the church Giovanni Lorenzo son was marked out for the church from the age of seven and his cousin Giulio is also marked out for the church the boys by Lorenzo and the two are as it were brought up together but peace in the Medici home would be short-lived [Music] a bloody civil war exploded in the streets of Florence sparked by resentment of Medici wealth and power Michelangelo remained in Florence while all traces of medici insignia were wiped from the streets [Music] in the airs too this one's great dynasty were cast into exile [Music] giulio the Medici had been ordained the priest and the prior [Music] one step ahead his cousin Giovanni was already a cardinal [Music] but their clerical connections meant little without the power base of Florence Florence is extremely important the Medici as Church dignitaries are really only that without Florence with Florence they're much more they carry much more clout but the city of Florence had placed the price on both their heads [Music] the cousins were forced to roam through Italy seeking the support of friends who could lead them on the path back to power [Music] in Florence Michelangelo had shrugged off his association with the exiled Medici and now his masterpiece was nearing completion the city would soon have a formidable symbol of Independence on the 25th of January 1504 Michelangelo felt ready to expose his work to the scrutiny of the outside world [Music] [Applause] [Music] the david started out as the commission for the Cathedral in Florence to be put far up on the top of the building that's why it's so big because it had to be visible from the ground well when he finished it the authorities came to look at it and everyone agreed that this was such a monumental step forward that it would be a shame to put it up there on top of the Cathedral because nobody would ever see it and what they decided was that it ought to be put outside the town hall but context determines meaning on a religious building it would have been primarily understood as David the Prophet the god-given hero in front of a public governmental building it became almost automatically a symbol of the city itself what Michelangelo had created became the ultimate symbol of resistance to the other bearing Medici the Republic wants that image it wants Florence to be David but it wants the Medici to be seen as Goliath so what Michelangelo creates is this amazing piece of Republican art it's to show Florence after the Medici slaying the Medici that's what David's all about [Music] even Michelangelo himself believed that medici ambition threaten the future of the city of Florence it was a source of great sadness to him that the people he had known as a young man the family around Lorenzo who had been so good to him and who he really knew very intimately from living in their household later turned out to be contrary to the best interests of Florence as he saw it and as a great many other people saw it after nine years in exile Giovanni and Giulio de Medici arrived in Rome [Music] they took their case to the highest level of the church [Music] pope julius ii was also from a powerful family fortunately he was sympathetic to the plight of the medici now he helped an assemble an army of their own which headed back for florence in the absence of the medici the city had embraced a new spirit of independence [Music] against the wishes of the church the artists of Florence were venturing into dangerous new ground they had begun to procure corpses from the city's hospitals for private research a pioneer of this controversial method was the city's most talked-about personality Leonardo da Vinci the great master carefully studied the complexity of the human body no detail was overlooked [Music] leonardo was famed throughout Europe as the greatest artist of his time but he knew there was another contender for his title Michelangelo and with a city and the threat of invasion the rival artists were brought face-to-face for an exercise in civic pride Leonardo and Michelangelo were each given a wall of the great council chamber to decorate with frescoes of famous Florentine battles it was a contest between two utterly contrasting characters Leonardo is the urbane sophisticated slightly dandy ish figure turns his hand to a bit of everything Michelangelo on the other hand is this untutored genius very difficult very fragile very bad-tempered and the clash is very very interesting two very very different styles leo Naruto conceived at the Battle of Anghiari as a visceral aneroid action scene no one had attempted such frenzied violence before [Music] by contrast Michelangelo's Battle of Cascina expressed panic on a very human scale [Music] the artist had caught the mood of an apprehensive City [Music] by 15 12 thousands of heavily armed soldiers were inside the borders of Tuscany and closing in on Florence they were shadowed by the Medici cousins determined to reclaim their city the people of Florence prepared for the onslaught to come but they knew there were hopelessly outnumbered the leaders of the city called on the chief advisor a political genius who had guided the Republic since the expulsion of the Medici his name was niccolò machiavelli Machiavelli was a single-minded patriot determined to defend the city from Medici dictatorship now he set to work mobilizing thousands of men from towns and villages all across duska nee Machiavelli assembled and equipped a national army [Music] the papal soldiers were carving a bloody path through Italy soon they reached prattle a fortified town just outside Florence [Music] witnesses recorded the devastation perpetrated in the name of the Medici they broke through the wall and began to race through the town where there was no longer any resistance but only cries violence blood and killing Machiavelli soldiers stood no chance the sack of Prato was a bloodbath Giovanni sent a progress report to his master the Pope in the capture of Prato so speedily and Crowley achieved although it has given me pain will at least serve as an example and a deterrent to the others the massacre of prattle had the intended effect just a few miles away in Florence the leaders of the Republic surrendered [Music] through violence and terror the Medici at one control of their city but not the loyalty of the people of Florence [Music] before long Giovanni received dramatic news his mentor a master pope julius ii was dead in time on a tradition the cardinals were all called to Rome it was their job to elect a new pope Cardinals would meet in the latrines to plot about who was going to be elected and I think there is a lot of that on one hand favors to be exchanged under the table plotting networking but there is also a higher level in more international level the Medici were definitely more welcomed as potentially new Pope's because of their already established international profile after a whole week of the liberation the Cardinals were still undecided but the reduction of the daily meal to a single unappetizing dish finally focused their thoughts and the most senior Cardinal Giovanni would cast the deciding vote and it was his privilege to announce the winner from now on Cardinal Giovanni de'medici would be known as Papa Leone Digimon okay oh the 10th Giovanni's accession to the papacy changed everything the city of Florence now welcome back its former enemy with open arms we should not forget that this is a deeply Christian culture and any city would have easily forgotten any guilt of any type and forgiven the person if this person would have occupied the position of the papacy it's a it's a kind of prestige and an honor for the city for the first time in history the leader of the Catholic Church had been born in Florence the Pope soon capitalized on his new status to strengthen the position of the Medici family when the Cardinal Giovanni de Medici becomes Pope within a month his cousin Giulio is made Archbishop of Florence and in the autumn he also becomes a cardinal so now you've got a Medici Pope and you've got a Medici Cardinal this is one of your examples of nepotism which all the Renaissance popes practiced [Applause] as part of the celebrations Leo had a young boy painted gold from head to toe it was pure propaganda implying the return of a golden age under the Medici the boy died shortly afterwards poisoned by the gold paint on his skin his death went unnoticed and the papal celebration went on for days the Pope occupies God's position on earth this is why Pope's are infallible this is why Pope's are above any earthly ruler this is why Pope's are supposed to approve and therefore legitimize any political authority it's a very very important spiritual position which is above any earthly power [Music] [Applause] Giovanni was a fun lover he loved drinking he loved hunting he's the moment he was made Pope he wrote a letter to one of his brothers saying God has given the papacy to us let us enjoy it Pope Leo the tenth hosted elaborate dinners night of the night one ambassador sent a breathless letter home the meal was exquisite there was an endless succession of dishes for we had 65 courses [Music] [Applause] Giovanni de'medici had risen higher than any of his ancestors and now the new pope inherited a fresh artistic legacy inside the Vatican itself for four years Michelangelo had toiled on a major commissioning room the late Pope Julius ii had commanded him to paint the ceiling of the papal Chapel inside the Vatican but the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was a thousand meter square [Music] Michelangelo was convinced he was doomed to fail he was forced into painting the Sistine Chapel he thought as a kind of conspiracy against him by enemies who didn't want to see him succeed in sculpture and so it's a great irony that you're the man that I I think we consider the greatest artists of all time the greatest painter of all time never actually thought of himself as a painter Michelangelo resented every minute II spent on the cappella Sistina this difficult position shows my stomach up to hang beneath my chin my loins have gone up into my belly and I cannot see where to put my feet and with it's nonstop dripping from above my brush makes my face a richly decorated floor he knew he was a genius he didn't suffer fools gladly and the word that was most often used to describe him was terrible eita which is terribleness in the literal sense of striking terror into other people working in secret a small group of long-suffering assistants helped Michelangelo with the most demanding work with fresco you have anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to create your masterpiece the word fresco means fresh and it refers to the plaster you're painting on fresh ie wet plaster and plaster especially on a hot day and Italy dries fairly quickly and so it really is a race against the clock [Music] fresco was regarded as the most difficult method of painting it was said that many painters could master painting in oil but only the very best could succeeded fresco after a number of years on the scaffold he was a true master a real virtuoso he was able to paint enormous scenes in a single day [Music] Michelangelo covered the ceiling with around 300 figures and stories from the Bible among them the flood the origin of the stars and the Creation of Adam Michelangelo's monumental figures were based on fragments of classical sculptures and inspired by the perfection and beauty of the ancient world out of reluctance and frustration Michelangelo had crafted brilliance arguably the greatest work of art of the Renaissance but could it shelter him from the wrath of the family he had deserted [Music] Michelangelo was always very fearful for his political life he would take to his heels at the faintest whiff gunpowder he was fearful of her prizes against him because he of course had found himself in with the regime that replaced the Medicis [Music] but the Medici saw power in Michelangelo's work and there were not in the business of squandering talent now they made him an offer he dared not refuse [Music] they ordered Michelangelo to build glorious tombs for their dead father's Lorenzo the Magnificent and Giuliano de Medici [Music] it was the most ambitious working marble Michelangelo had undertaken since the David but this time it was a sculpture honoring the Medici I think it would have been very difficult for him to refuse a commission like the Medici tombs number one he loved the family and he would have liked to help memorialize them in general number two these were friends of his that is the patrons were friends of his and number three the man is the Pope and it's not so easy to say no to the Pope [Music] the authority of Pope Leo the tenth was stamped across Florence everyone knew that their future lay in his hands even Machiavelli who had once defended Florence against the Medici now lobbied hard for a job inside Leo's regime [Music] [Music] unfortunately for Machiavelli he was promptly thrown into prison as an anti-government conspirator and tortured in the worst way that the the Florentine torturers could could it could inflict upon him Machiavelli was exiled from the city in disgrace trapped in his country villa he pondered on the life he had lost caught in the sway among the lice I wiped the mold from my brain and release my feeling of being ill-treated by fate with time on his hands Machiavelli began writing a handbook for aspiring dictators since love and fear can hardly exist together if we must choose between them it is far safer to be feared than loved Machiavelli called his book the prince in it he described the world in which politics was devoid of morality Machiavelli's political theory is the first time a thinker separates ethics from politics and this is something that had never happened before according to Machiavelli the prince should be a cynical ruler acting in terms of reason estate is the first one to acknowledge the non-ideal nature of politics which was exactly the case in his own time El Principe was inspired by and dedicated to the Medici but Machiavelli's plan backfired the Medici refused to employ him instead Machiavelli's name became a byword for ruthless and cynical politics and nowhere was the struggle for power more cutthroat than inside the Vatican in 1516 a group of Cardinals conspired to commit the ultimate crime the assassination of the Pope [Music] [Applause] [Music] but leo had been warned of the conspiracy to kill him and he would have the conspirators killed instead now the Medici cousins took steps to secure the loyalty of those around them it's putting people in positions of power and authority who are related to the family so brothers as well as cousins sons through marriage it's a complete infiltration it's a classic mafia move it's to take over every single sphere from top to bottom of how the papacy was run and the Medici are good at this they have a track record of doing it and this is precisely what they do with the papacy Leo created hundreds of new jobs in the Vatican and sold them to those he could trust and he needed the money because within just one year of his extravagant lifestyle he had emptied the papal coffers soon Lia the tenth owed money to every bank in Rome behind the scenes Giulio was pawning the papal jewels so Leo turned to the source of income only available to the Pope himself the sale of forgiveness he started selling what called papal indulgences these are basically pieces of paper which give you remission from sins so if you've been naughty in some respect the Pope would sell you an indulgence which would remit your sins it would cleanse your sins Leo wasn't the first pope to sell indulgences but he sold them on an unparalleled scale and his tariff was affordable to even the poorest man [Music] across Europe Leo found the ready market because one indulgence could mean freedom from an eternity in hell the church created the figure of the itinerant preacher of indulgences which would stop in the main Piazza of cities and towns and preach for a specific indulgence II and if people would buy an indulgence II they were released area a receipt the sale of salvation was a gold mine for the Pope [Music] [Music] [Music] unand ulzzangs could even be bought on behalf of the dead so that their soul might be sped on its journey to heaven profits from the sale of Absolution will lift in Pope Leo out of depth but for one man a German monk named Martin Luther they were a step too far Luther was absolutely horrified by what the church was doing and for him it symbolized everything that was corrupt and decadent about the Catholic Church [Music] in 1517 Martin Luther published an incendiary manifesto for change exploiting the latest technology it was printed reprinted circulated and translated no idea had ever traveled so far and so fast Luther's ninety-five theses was an indictment on the sale of salvation in the direct attack on the Pope the Pope is richer than Croesus he would do better to settle st. Peters and give the money to the poor when money clinks in the money chest it can only increase greed and avarice those who believe there can be certain of salvation because they have bought indulgences will be eternally damned [Music] no one had ever dared use such outspoken language against the might of the Catholic Church it was the start of a revolution Luther was trying to reform the church not destroy it but in the process things snowballed and went completely out of control [Music] before long Luther's manifesto made its way back to Leo but the complaints of a petulant monk mattered little to Pope Leo the tenth if you were to be Roman Pope umbilicus Mundi the navel of the world the most powerful earthly organization with money flowing through your Treasury like water through fountains an Augustinian monk in Wittenberg is nothing and after all Germany was the land of the barbarians a Barbary the the land of the Gothic style as opposed to the Renaissance so why caring about those primitives [Music] léo drop a standard document designed to silence heretics the bull of excommunication condemned Luther to hell the Pope is able to decide for the redemption of every human being so being excommunicated by a pope implies being denied access to heaven and if you are Christian I think you care a lot about that but Luther would not accept his punishment and his refusal to repent triggered a battle for the soul of Europe the Protestant Reformation was a revolution it's one of the most important things that happens in the Renaissance and it split the church in two and we still live with that division between Catholic and Protestant it's right with us today and it starts back in that period between Luther and Leo but the Pope would not live to fight his battle with Luther in 1521 Leo the tenth suddenly died the high-rolling Medici pontiff had been killed by a simple winter chill his cousin julia was left to deal with the mounting problem and within two years Giulia de Medici was crowned Pope Clement the seventh the new pope inherited a continent in crisis the fallout from Luther's Reformation now brought furious armies to the gates of Rome itself Rome was the city of pilgrims was the city where st. Peter was buried was the seat of the Pope no one would have ever imagined in Western Christianity that anyone would have dared to consider pillaging and destroying room it was simply Cheeta sacra a sacred city and you don't suck a sacred city but the men surrounding Rome there was nothing that remains sacred about the Catholic Church many were followers of Luther now fueled by deep religious hatred most of the soldiers were of German origin and nationality therefore Lutheran's so they considered Rome as the new Babylon and the new city of sin which is the seat of the Antichrist [Music] in fear of his life Clement fled to the safety of the Castel Sant'Angelo [Music] and his fears were justified for the next day Rome was torn apart without mercy they break in and they ravaged the city they rape they hold people to ransom they destroy buildings they violate sacred buildings and the they keep Clement the seventh caged in to his Castel Sant'Angelo [Music] about 8,000 people died on the first day this was just massacre on an absolutely grand scale everything was destroyed doors were ripped off their hinges shops were looted women were raped people were casually mutilated and tortured it was absolutely horrific the sack of Rome is probably one of the blackest moments that takes place in the Renaissance [Music] [Music] after seven nuns on the siege Clement perfected his plan for escape changing his rows for rags he had the papal jewels removed from their settings and all the gold melted down [Music] with his treasures sewn into his clothes Clement bribed his way out of Rome and headed for the safety of Florence but news traveled faster than the Pope inspired by reports from Rome enemies of the Medici in Florence were already running riot they attack what symbolizes that regime and they are attacked the buildings which are the embodiments are that authority so for the Medici supporters in Florence that week was a week of total blind fury the rioters struck without discrimination [Music] it was a bench hurled from City Hall that did the damage to Michelangelo's David the city's greatest symbol all in defiance of the Medici [Music] in the wake of the chaos Pope Clement the seventh stood poised to attack Florence [Music] trapped inside the church of san lorenzo michelangelo coward beneath the tombs he had built for the Medici cousins I head in a tiny cell and doomed like the dead Medici above though hiding from a live one but the beleaguered City held one trump card captive inside Florence was the last legitimate heir to the Medici line clémence the seventh niece was 11 years old her name was Catherine de Medici Clement famously called her my pearl beyond price but he knew precisely what she was worth to the Medici family unfortunately for him so did the people of Florence they threatened to throw Katherine into a soldier's brothel unless Clement agreed to a truce and clement called off his troops for he had plans for Catherine de Medici [Music] Clement soon capitalized on Catherine's survival within a few years he married her off to the son of the French King she was only 14 the unrest which her uncle's had unleashed now travelled with her under the reign of Queen Catherine de Medici religious hate would soon infect France as well [Music] mocking Rome Clemence vii was now living on borrowed time desperate to make one last grand gesture he summoned the man had grown up with Michelangelo a massive fresco inside the Vatican would mark the completion of Michelangelo's work for the Medici Pope's but it would also reflect his mood towards his patrons over the altar of the Sistine Chapel Michelangelo chose to portray the Last Judgement [Music] [Music] the Magnificent fresco was a product of the agonies of its time [Music] this is one of the most tragic period for the history of Europe so art could not be anymore a mere representation of natural beauty at as it had been in the Renaissance because of the dramatic events which were typical of that time period the Last Judgement commissioned two Michelangelo probably expresses a lot of this feeling of oppression and anxiety which was typical of the time those are not happy people you see whose bodies are twisted and suffering and you cannot paint people who are happy and serene and smiling with beautiful landscapes in the background it's like the transition from Impressionism to Expressionism Impressionism is serenity flowers Beauty bucolic nature Expressionism is dramatic Expressionism is unbearably violent as an art but Clemen the seventh would not live to see the great work finished in 1534 exhausted by the turmoil of his reign Giulio de Medici died it was the end of an era [Music] the corrupt disastrous reign of the Medici Pope's was over [Music] [Music] but a single act of redemption would herald a magnificent new era for the Medici dynasty [Music] future generations would take the Renaissance beyond the realm of art and sculpture and change man's understanding of the universe forever [Music] [Music]