Messer Averardo’s son, Averardo II., was, in the crisscross nature of things, a man of stronger grit than his father.  He came to great honour as well as to great riches.  Elected Prior in 1304, he was chosen as Gonfaloniere di Giustizia in 1314, and, between these dates, in 1311, Ser Teghia de’ Sizi, his mother’s brother, made him his heir, and gave him, besides full money-bags, much valuable property and ecclesiastical patronage.  To his surname of Medici he added that of Sizi:  he was the wealthiest citizen of his day in Florence.  His wife, Donna Mandina di Filippo de’ Arrigucci of Fiesole, gave him six sons—­Giacopo, Giovenco, Francesco, Salvestro, Talento, and Conte.  All of them rose to eminence in the State, but of one only can the story be told here—­Salvestro.

Messer Salvestro de’ Medici—­who must not be confounded with his celebrated namesake and kinsman, the “Grand” Salvestro—­married Donna Lisa de’ Donati, of which union three sons were the issue—­Talento, Giovenco, and Averardo III.  Salvestro di Averardo II. bore another Christian name—­Chiarissimo—­the old-world cognomen of his family.  Possibly his father thought it wise to stand well with the world and parade his honesty; for whatever ill-gotten gains other bankers acquired, he, at least, was an upright man, and his profits were just!

Anyhow, Messer Salvestro became popular for rectitude in his private life, and for his unselfish discharge of public duties.  He was chosen to fill many responsible offices of State, and reached the goal of personal ambition as ambassador to Venice, in 1336.  His youngest son, Averardo III., acquired the sobriquet of “Bicci”—­the exact meaning of which is problematical—­it may mean a “worthless fellow” or “one who lives in a castle!” Nothing indeed is related of him, but, perhaps, like Brer Fox, of a later epoch, he was content “to lie low” and enjoy, without much exertion, the good things his ancestors had provided for him.

Messer Averardo married twice—­Giovanna de’ Cavallini and Giovanna de’ Spini.  By the first he became the father of one of the very greatest of the Medici—­Giovanni, the parent of a still more famous son—­Cosimo.

At this period Florence was ruled by Whalter von Brienne—­the so-called Duke of Athens—­sagacious, treacherous and depraved.  He sought to make himself Lord of Florence by skilfully playing the various political parties one against the other.  The Grandi he kept in check by the Popolo Minuto, but ignored the Popolo Grasso, to which the Medici belonged.  Under Giovanni de’ Medici, Guglielmo degli Altoviti, and Bernardo de’ Rucellai, the middle class rose against the usurper; but their plans miscarried, and the leaders were imprisoned and fined.

A Giovanni de’ Medici was beheaded in 1342—­the first recorded “Tragedy of the Medici.”  As to who this unfortunate man was, it is difficult to say.  He is called “the son of Bernardo de’ Medici,” but no such name appears in the early records of the family.  He was probably a descendant of Bonagiunto, a son of Ardingo de’ Medici, who was a violent enemy of the Ghibellines, and Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, in 1296 and 1307, and brother of Francesco, Captain of Pistoja in 1338, and one of the principal participants in the expulsion of the hated Duke.