Filippo Strozzi the Younger (1489 – December 18, 1538) was an Italian condottiero and banker, the most famous member of the Florentine Strozzi

Strozzi

Strozzi is the name of an ancient and noble Florentine family. Palla Strozzi played an important part in the public life of Florence, and founded the first public library in Florence in the monastery of Santa Trinita...

 family in the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

.

Biography

Born in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 as Giambattista Strozzi, he was rechristened by his mother with the name of his father Filippo Strozzi the Elder

Filippo Strozzi the Elder

Filippo Strozzi the Elder was an Italian banker and statesman, a member of the affluent Strozzi family of Florence....

, who had died two years after his birth.

Filippo Strozzi began his career as treasurer at Ferrara

Ferrara

Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...

 in 1513, and soon became a prominent figure in Florence's politics and economics. Although in natural competition with the other main family of the city, the Medici

Medici

The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...

, he managed to ally with them through his marriage when the Medici were living in exile. When the latter returned in Florence, Strozzi obtained important political and diplomatic positions. However, when Lorenzo was replaced by Leopoldo

Leopoldo de' Medici

Leopoldo de' Medici was an Italian cardinal, scholar, patron of the arts and Governor of Siena. He was the brother of Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.-Biography:...

 and Alessandro de' Medici, he and his son Piero

Piero Strozzi

Piero Strozzi was an Italian military leader. He was a member of the rich Florentine family of the Strozzi.-Biography:Piero Strozzi was the son of Filippo Strozzi the Younger and Clarice de' Medici....

 started to be looked as enemies by the new lords. Rumours about alleged Piero's (who was indeed son of a Medici) claims about the lordship of Florence reached Pope Clement VII

Pope Clement VII

Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:...

 who menaced the Strozzis of punishments. When Clarice died, the strain became unbearable: therefore Filippo and Piero self-exiled to Rome, in order to escape a likely attack from the ruthless Alessandro.

In Filippo's house in Rome Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....

, the future queen of France, and Lorenzino de' Medici

Lorenzino de' Medici

Lorenzino de' Medici , sometimes called Lorenzaccio de' Medici, was an Italian writer remembered primarily as the assassin of Alessandro de' Medici, duke and ruler of Florence.-Biography:...

 were educated. It is likely that Filippo himself prompted the latter to his assassination of the tyrannic Alessandro (1537). In the same year the Strozzi assembled an army, including numerous other Florentine exiled, and marched against Florence from France. the Strozzi army was first halted at Sestino by troops hastily mustered by the new Medici lord, the future Cosimo I. The decisive battle occurred on August 1, 1537 at Montemurlo. Cosimo's army, supported by Spanish troops, was victorious. Filippo Strozzi was imprisoned, while his sons escaped to Venice and then to France.

Detail over Strozzi's end are unclear. He died in the Fortress of San Giovanni Battista, in Florence, by suicide or killed by order of Cosimo de' Medici.

Filippo Strozzi had his famous Palazzo Strozzi

Palazzo Strozzi

Palazzo Strozzi is a palace in Florence, Italy.-History:The construction of the palace begun in 1489 by Benedetto da Maiano, for Filippo Strozzi the Elder, a rival of the Medici who had returned to the city in November 1466 and desired the most magnificent palace to assert his family's continued...

in Florence, begun by his father, completed in 1534.