🔥The 9th Round of Easy Loan, Earn $40 Reward is in progress❗️ ⏰ Promotion Period: January 15th - Feburary 15th, 2025 👉 Register now and check more details at gate.io/campaigns/358

Director Alessio Assonitis gives opening remarks. How does sub-Saharan Africa appear in the archives and material culture of the Medici in the 16th c? Sporadically, in letters, avvisi, inventories, diagrams, maps, etc, brought by third parties. @KressFdn #mediciafrica #renhist

Scott Nethersole The Courtauld presents on depictions of Sts Cosmas and Damian and the miracle of the Black Leg as a possible reference to the unity of the Church and the Council of Florence #mediciafrica #Renaissanceart

Francesco Bruscoli discusses a possible voyage to Guinea funded by Tommaso Portinari, manager of the Medici bank in Bruges. #mediciafrica #renaissance #twitterhistorians #renhist

Suzanne Blier presents on Leo Africanus, a Berber Christian convert patronized by Leo X, and the areas of Africa that he described in the mid 16th century #mediciafrica #leoafricanus #italianliterature #renhist

Lizzy Currie presents on the presence of Ethiopian textiles in 16th century Tuscany! Influence in Ethiopian textiles can be traced to local traditions as well as India and the Ottoman Empire #mediciafrica #textile #renhist #twitterhistorian

Day two begins! Francesca Fiorani presents on maps of Africa at the Medici court, like the ones in Cosimo I’s cabinet of curiosities in Palazzo Vecchio #mediciafrica #cartography #renhist

Continuing with #maps, Brian Brege presents on Grand Ducal Tuscany’s perception of the Eastern shore of Africa, including the myth of Prester John #mediciafrica @KressFdn #twitterhistorians #renhist #history #renaissance

This session brought to you by: the guardaroba medicea, also known as “Cosimo’s Mancave” #guardarobamedicea #mancave #mediciafrica (And people say history isn’t relatable!)

Brian Sandburg discusses the African slave trade through the lens of “informal empire.” Unlike the official empires of Spain and France, the Medici were involved in sub Saharan Africa, albeit informally, as seen in 16th-17th c sources #mediciafrica #twitterhistorian

Justine Walden discusses how Black Africans in Renaissance Tuscany were exoticized, given Muslim/Eastern identities, even when not accurate to the reality. Many of these identifies are described in Tuscan galley rosters or depicted in artworks #mediciafrica #twitterhistorian

This may be because many African slaves came to the Medici court through Muslim routes

Paul Kaplan presents the final paper of our conference - and says he would love to speak from our little balcony, just like the one he’s presenting on at Palazzo Pitti #arthistory #mediciafrica #palazzopitti

This morning we are honoured to host the following information seminar at the The Medici Archive Project

Richard Ansell's paper “Reciprocal Mobility: An Anglo-Irish Family and the Medici as Travelers and Hosts (1666-1725)” on the links between Cosmo III, the Southwells, and the Percevals #twitterstorians #17thcentury #seventeenthcentury #travelhistory #historyoftravel

Second day of the conference on ‘The Medici on the Road’; Prof Angelo Cattaneo talks about 'Africa, Africans, Colonial Cities, and Slave Trade through Cosimo III’s “Carte di Castello”' #twitterstorians #17thcentury #seventeenthcentury #travelhistory #historyoftravel #slavery