Community Library Notes
“Inheritance of Power: The House of Medici” by Edward Charles is the story of Abbess Madonna Arcangelica and the new nun Maddelena, who has joined the convent at the request of Cosimo the Magnificent in the year 1457 in Tuscany.
The Abbess worries about money for repairs and maintenance of her convent. Everyone awaits the new nun. To their surprise, when Maddelena arrives, they see she is black. She, herself, is not enthusiastic about living within the strong walls. But she is charmed by her light and airy room, with a view to Cosimo’s fields in the valley. He has brought food supplies, books for the library, and a feast for their dinner.
Cosimo admits to Maddalena that only his grandson, Lorenzo, can save their ancient bank from ruin, to which his sons would surely lead it. So he entrusts Maddalena with the key to Lorenzo’s gold vault. Then the two of them fall onto the bed and lie together one more time before he leaves.
She has lived for four decades with the greatest family in Europe. Now she is saddened without all of them. Thirty years ago, Cosimo had brought her, as a free woman, home with him. Whom will he talk to now she is gone?
Later in the day, the Abbess comes up to Maddalena’s room. They talk about the journal the Abbess sees there. Maddalena says she is to report everything to Cosimo. The Abbess sees she and the convent are on trial. In return, Maddalena promises to tell the Abbess everything about the outside world which the Abbess has missed in the 50 years she has been at the convent.
Maddalena tells her about her son, Carlo, whose father is Cosimo. They meet in Maddalena’s room for privacy. Maddalena tells how she and Cosimo met, when she was 15 years old, being sold on the dock in Venice. Cosimo bought her and changed her life.
The Abbess wants to know what being with a man is like. Maddalena explains this and also the workings of the Medici Bank accounts. Author Charles lets the reader know about the Medici Bank. When she has returned to Florence with Cosimo, he sets her up in a room adjoining his office and teaches her everything about the bank. She is responsible for all accounts. In front of his family, in his wife’s house, they treat each other coldly. In the adjoining room, they make love.
The wife, Contessima, runs the house, and Cosimo runs the bank business. Maddalena tells the Abbess how Cosimo had been arrested and put into the tower in a cell, because of the jealousy of the other families. He is accused of treason. For this, there are two penalties: exile or death. Cosimo is terrified. His wife gives a bag of gold to a servant to do what he can do to save Cosimo. He is banished to Padua for ten years.
Cosimo’s two biological sons, Piero and Giovanni, also play a part in this story. Maddalena tells the Abbess that Cosimo’s biggest mistake was in marrying his son, Piero, to Lucrezia, not to Giovanni, who is the one Lucrezia truly loves. Cosimo tried to do what his father would have done and realized how important professional managers were to the system.
The Abbess asks her big question: What do men look like naked? Maddalena explains the act and the love that should be behind it. The Abbess is thrilled with this knowledge. After three years have passed, a letter comes from Cosimo to Maddalena instructing her about the gold buried under the convent.
Will Maddalena or the Abbess follow the directions to save the Bank of Medici and the convent from ruin? Find out in this humane telling of history in this interesting novel at your Mendocino Community Library.
The Mendocino Community Library is at the corner of William and Little Lake streets, Mendocino. Hours: Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Sundays and holidays, 707-937-5773.