Editing House of Medici (section)

====Medici popes====
{{stack|[[File:MEDICI TAPESTRY.jpg|thumb|The Medici Wedding Tapestry (1589).]]}}
The Medici briefly became leaders of [[Western Christendom]] through their two famous 16th century popes, [[Leo X]] and [[Clement VII]]. Both also served as ''[[de facto]]'' political rulers of Rome, Florence, and large swaths of Italy known as the [[Papal States]]. They were generous patrons of the arts who commissioned masterpieces such as [[Raphael]]'s ''[[Transfiguration (Raphael)|Transfiguration]]'' and [[Michelangelo]]'s ''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|The Last Judgment]]''; however, their reigns coincided with troubles for the [[Holy See|Vatican]], including [[Martin Luther]]'s [[Protestant Reformation]] and the infamous [[Sack of Rome (1527)|sack of Rome in 1527]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Leo X's fun-loving pontificate bankrupted Vatican coffers and accrued massive debts. From Leo's election as pope in 1513 to his death in 1521, Florence was overseen, in turn, by [[Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours]], [[Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino]], and Giulio de' Medici, the latter of whom became [[Pope Clement VII]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Clement VII's tumultuous pontificate was dominated by a rapid succession of political crises—many long in the making—that resulted in the [[Sack of Rome (1527)|sack of Rome]] by the armies of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman Emperor Charles V]] in 1527 and rise of the Salviati, Altoviti and Strozzi as the leading bankers of the [[Roman Curia]]. From the time of Clement's election as pope in 1523 until the sack of Rome, Florence was governed by the young [[Ippolito de' Medici]] (future cardinal and vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church), [[Alessandro de' Medici]] (future duke of Florence), and their guardians. In 1530, after allying himself with Charles V, Pope Clement VII succeeded in securing the engagement of Charles V's daughter [[Margaret of Parma|Margeret of Austria]] to his illegitimate nephew (reputedly his son) [[Alessandro de' Medici]]. Clement also convinced Charles V to name Alessandro as Duke of Florence. Thus began the reign of Medici monarchs in Florence, which lasted two centuries.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{stack|[[File:Cosimo-GDuke-BR.jpg|thumb|[[Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Cosimo I]], founder of the [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]].]]}}
After securing Alessandro de' Medici's dukedom, Pope Clement VII married off his first cousin, twice removed, [[Catherine de' Medici]], to the son of Emperor Charles V's arch-enemy, King [[Francis I of France]]—the future King [[Henry II of France|Henry II]]. This led to the transfer of Medici blood, through Catherine's daughters, to the royal family of Spain through [[Elisabeth of Valois]], and the [[House of Lorraine]] through [[Claude of Valois]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In 1534, following a lengthy illness, Pope Clement VII died—and with him the stability of the Medici's "senior" branch. In 1535, Ippolito Cardinal de' Medici died under mysterious circumstances. In 1536, Alessandro de' Medici married Charles V's daughter, Margaret of Austria; however, the following year he was assassinated by a resentful cousin, [[Lorenzino de' Medici]]. The deaths of Alessandro and Ippolito enabled the Medici's "junior" branch to lead Florence.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}