Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
Lorenzo was a patron of artists, scholars, and inventors including Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo. [Furtado: 1001 Days] "The Medici family rises to prominence in Florence [1434]. This ushers in a period of significance of the Medicis, such as bankers, popes, queens (regents) and dukes, throughout Europe (mainly Italy, especially the Florentine Republic), over the next three centuries." [Wikipedia: Timeline of Middle Ages]