Lorenzo (The Magnificient) Medici

Lorenzo was the handsome, intelligent grandson of Cosimo Medici, who had set his family up as master manipulators of the renaissance Florentine republic.  The family's power base was in banking and the Medici bank, for a time, handled the money for the Catholic Church.  However when Lorenzo refused a loan to Pope Sixtus IV, the Pope initiated a conspiracy to kill Lorenzo and his younger brother, Juliano, successfully killing the later.  The Pope intended to send out the king of Naples to humble Florence after this failed attempt on Lorenzo's life but Lorenzo rode to Naples, risking his life to meet with the king, successfully pleading his case and saving the city.