Lorenzo the Elder

Lorenzo the Elder (c. 1395 – 23 September 1440) was an Italian banker of the House of Medici of Florence, the younger brother of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder and progenitor of the so-called "Popolani" ("populist, i.e. for the people") line of the family, named for a later generation whose members were supporters of the Florentine political activist Girolamo Savonarola. History Lorenzo was the son of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici and Piccarda Bueri. He was educated by Carlo Marsuppini. In 1416, he married Ginevra Cavalcanti. To celebrate their marriage, the Venetian humanist Francesco Barbaro wrote his treatise De Re Uxoria, an analysis of marriage that continued to be published for centuries. Lorenzo and Ginevra had two sons: Francesco, who was childless, and Pierfrancesco, who originated the Popolani line. Ginevra Cavalcanti was an aunt of the wife of the famous Italian merchant Giovanni Arnolfini. Lorenzo followed his brother Cosimo in his military maneuvers at Ferrara, Verona and Vicenza. In 1433 he tried to muster an army to free Cosimo from imprisonment when the latter was arrested under the charge of tyranny. Later, he joined him at Venice and returned with him in Florence triumphantly after Cosimo's rehabilitation.