Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/615

 Medieval Towns their Business and Buildings 523 lined with the palaces of the noble families to whose rivalries much of the continual disturbance was due. The lower stories of these build- ings are con- structed of great stones, like for- tresses, and their windows are barred like those of a prison (Fig. 195); yet within they were often furnished with the great- est taste and luxury. For in spite of the dis- order, against which the rich protected them- selves by mak- ing their houses half strongholds, the beautiful churches, noble public build- ings, and works of art which now fill the mu- seums indicate that mankind has never, per- haps, reached a higher degree of perfection in the arts of peace than amidst the turmoil of this restless town (see below, Figs. 203, 204). Fig. 195. The Palace of the Medici in Florence This was erected about 1435 ^Y Cosimo dei Medici, and in it Lorenzo the Magnificent conducted the government of Florence, and entertained the men of letters and artists with whom he liked best to as- sociate. It shows how fortresslike the lower por- tions of a Florentine palace were, in order to protect the owner from attack