King Leopold I of Medici (1612 - 1654) is a character in New and Improved Medici and fiction by GMRE.
Painting of Leopold from 1636, when he was still the duke of Litore Torto.
Early career[]
He was born in 1612 and he became the duke of Litore Torto. In that position he was called Leopold IV.
According to contemporary sources, he was a psychotic and power-hungry man who wouldn't think much of lying and bribery to improve his position of power.
He became famous in 1637 when, as the legend goes, on september 32, he met the ancient godess Fiorella who spoke to him and gave him the Gladius Ex Virtute Magnifico (a supposedly magical sword). He declared himself a chosen one and started introducing himself as King Leopold I of Medici.
He then started the Second Civil War of Medici in which he conquered most of Medici and was involved in a possible act of god that ended the war in his favor.
As King of Medici[]
As of the end of the war in 1639, he was recognized as king by all of Medici.
Due to the circumstances of his ascent to supreme executive power and his public worshiping of ancient statues, he was often called by an additional title "Heretic", because most of Medici were catholics. This caused an increase in the popularity of the ancient religions and is perhaps the cause of some ancient altars still showing signs of recent activity today.
This fort-like structure was constructed by orders from King Leopold I, to commemorate the exact location from where Fiorella ascended.
He also ordered the calendar to be altered to include 32 days in september. This change was undone after the end of his rule.
For a few years things seemed to improve, because it was under his rule that Medici was first united into a single nation. This allowed a lot of money to be saved from the elimination of internal borders and redundant state offices and from smoothening the tax system.
However by mid 1640s it was becoming clear that he knew little to nothing about how to run the nation. He was often wasteful when ordering expensive and needless construction projects and insisted on running everything himself. It was common practice for him to dismiss any arguments, or unfavorable advice, by reminding people of his apparent demigodhood.
By the late 1640s he was relying ever more frequently on enforcing his regime through military might.
Downfall[]
By 1652 descent was wide spread, but nobody with any kind of power dared to defy the new unified Medici Military, even though military budget cuts had greatly reduced it since the war. The reason was that there were still many people around who had witnessed the destruction of the Albeto Pero fort and still feared the vengeful godess. It was at about that time when several noblemen and military officers began to plot against him. The conspiritors called their enterprise the Knights of Fiorella, to avoid scrutiny from the authorities, should anyone learn of them.
In 1654 the conspiritors managed to ambush and kill the king. They looted the Gladius Ex Virtute Magnifico from the dead body and its location is still unknown.
Legacy[]
The people and especially the merchants of Medici were happy that the "heretical tyrant" was dead, but the ancient temples are still visited by many.
Under his rule, Medici had been unified from a lose union of small city states, kingdoms and duchys to a single kingdom for the first time.
The noblemen agreed to turn Medici into a republic to still be able to benefit from a unified nation, with out the fear of another under-qualified and unquestioned ruler. Contemporary conspiracy theories suggest that Medici really only became a republic because the noblemen and wealthy merchants considered this the most lucrative option.
Trivia[]
- Unless someone would make a very old-timy prequel, this article only expands the lore of Medici.
- Leopold's painting is actually a painting of Portrait of Vincenzo Mosti.