Piero di Cosimo de' Medici

Piero di Cosimo de' Medici was born in 1416 into the family that had turned banking into political dominance. He became de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence in 1464, inheriting power in a city that was technically not his to rule. The illness that defined him publicly — gout severe enough to earn him the epithet "il Gottoso" — didn't stop him from holding the machinery of Renaissance Florence together for five years. He died on 2 December 1469, passing the state to the next generation before the Medici grip could slip.