byzantine empire – The Medici Podcast

Episode 16: How Cosimo United the Orthodox and Catholic Churches

With a combination of patience and political maneuvering, Cosimo turns the tables on his enemies and returns to Florence in triumph. His first major act is to host an attempt to reunify the long-divided Greek and Latin churches. It has rather mixed results, but it does make something clear to the rulers of Europe: Cosimo is no longer just a banker.

An image believed to be the Byzantine Emperor John VIII, taken from a cycle of frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli depicting the Magi’s visit to the infant Jesus Christ but with the likenesses of various participants in the Council of Florence (c. 1459). Source: Magi Chapel, Palazzo Medici Riccardi.

Pisanello’s sketches of the Byzantine delegation at the Council of Florence (c. 1439-1449).

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Transcript

Rinaldo may not have gotten away with killing his greatest threat, Cosimo de’ Medici, but he had seemingly neutralized him by exiling him and his biggest supporters in the fall of 1433. With two of the leading populist families, the Medici and the Alberti, cut down, the conservative regime was secure. At least, for the time being.

Tangent Episode #1: The Further Adventures of Liutprand of Cremona