This book introduces the history of five generations of the Medici family. It includes how the Medici family founded and operated banking business and accumulated a large amount of wealth; how the Catholic Church's ban on usury conflicted with the Medici family and promoted the Medici family's funding of art and promotion of the Renaissance; the detailed lives of Cosimo and Lorenzo, the core figures of the Medici family; and the entire process of this family from rise to prosperity to decline. Through the grand historical narrative and the microscopic rise and fall of the family, this book allows readers to see the origin and essence of the banking industry and even the financial industry, the social scene of the early Renaissance, and the influence and struggle of capital on the power system.
