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Founded in 59 BC as Florentia, it later took the modernized name, Firenze. Under the early rule of the de Medicis, Florence played a leading role in the Renaissance. | |
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The information below on governing regimes in Florence is drawn largely from the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Webster's New Geographical Dictionary. | |
Middle Ages | Margraviate of Tuscany |
13th -14th centuries | members of wealthy guilds |
1434 - 1464 | Cosimo de Medici (Cosimo the Elder) unofficial ruler |
1469 - 1492 | Lorenzo de Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) unofficial ruler |
1494 - 1498 | Republic (under Savonarola) |
1512 - 1527 | the de Medicis, unofficial rulers |
1527 - 1530 | Emperor Charles V of Spain |
1530 - 1537 | the de Medicis, unofficial rulers |
1537 - 1574 | Cosimo I de Medici, official Duke of Florence; after 1569, Grand Duke of Tuscany |
1574 - 1737 | the de Medicis, official rulers |
1737 - 1824 | outside rulers: Austrian Empire, then Napoleonic Empire |
1824 - 1859 | outside rulers: Leopold II of Hapsburg |
1860 - 1946 | Monarchy of a united Italy |
1946 - | Republic |