The sun shines through the clouds over a city. Florence italy aerial building.

The Medici family, also known as the House of Medici, first attained wealth and political power in Florence in the 13th century through its success in commerce and banking. The Medici first mentioned in 1230. A self-made man, Giovanni Medici was one of five sons of a poor widow. His success with the Medici bank branch in Rome made him the Capo of the Medici family. After Giovanni's death, his son Cosimo fought with the richest in Florence and jealous Albizzi family. Cosimo became the patron of the arts, commissioned Lippi, Donatello, Michelozzo and Gozzoli, financed the extraordinary Duomo and the Council of Florence. He is known as the Godfather of the Renaissance. His son Lorenzo foiled an ambush against his father, saved his family and secured the position of the Medici in Florence. Lorenzo’s was also the patron of genius artists, including Botticelli, Leonardo, and Michelangelo. Lorenzo's son Giovanni received the tonsure at seven years old and by thirteen and became the youngest cardinal in history. In 1513 he became the Pope Leo X, best-known for his failure to control Martin Luther. Giovanni's bastard brother Giuliano had a son named Giulio who was adopted by his uncle, Lorenzo. With cousin's death, Giulio became Pope under Clement VII name and dealt with Henry VIII’s divorce. The Medicis produced four popes (Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV and Leon XI), and their genes have been mixed into many of Europe’s royal families. Cosimo Medici got rid of Florence's republican government and became the King. His gentle son Ferdinand was standing up to the Pope, trying to protect his mentor and tutor, Galileo, but Intimidated by papal authority, Ferdinando was forced to withdrew his support from Galileo. Another prominent figure, Catherine Medici was orphaned at birth and raised by illegitimate cousins and papal uncles. She was threatened during the siege of Florence and handed to her new husband, the future King of France. After her husband death in hunting episode, she ruled France through her deranged and deviant sons. Her rule saw the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572. She was obsessed with the prophecies of Nostradamus and ruled her court through the whispers of her “flying squadron ladies“. The last Medici ruler died without a male heir in 1737, ending the family dynasty after almost three centuries.

People keep searching online for one question: "Where can I find free high-resolution stock images that are cleared to use without any copyright restrictions? Where to find images for blog posts or social media?" Almost every image created in the last 70 years is still protected by copyright, but you can find a public domain photo, an image that does not need attribution, or image that has copyright expired. First, it helps to understand some copyright-related terms before using any free images. Always read the terms and conditions of the site you try to use to download free images and photos, so you know if, when, and what type of attribution is required. What is Creative Commons? Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. There are various types of Creative Commons licenses that range from allowing any type of use with no attribution to allowing only certain uses and no changes. Most authors using Creative Commons require some sort of attribution. While relatively easy to use such free images in blogs, using such images for video might be problematic unless you create lengthy credits section. Even if you do, you still may breach the particular image Creative Commons license since it often requires backlinking. What is Public Domain? Works in the public domain are those whose copyrights have expired or never existed. The public domain status of official government works is sometimes difficult to determine but there are some easy cases: works of the United States federal government, for example, are not protected by copyright and are thus in the public domain. The same does not hold in general for the works of other governments or all 50 States of the United States. Determining whether a particular work of a particular government are in the public domain requires research and sometimes even legal advice. What is Royalty-Free? Most royalty-free images aren’t free. In most cases, you’ll have to pay a one-time fee to obtain the rights to use the image. Then you can use it as many times as you like. The term “free” in “royalty-free” means that you do not have to pay royalties to the owner of the image every time you use it. We've reviewed terms of few popular Free Image Websites below. 1. Unsplash Unsplash has its own license, which essentially lets you use the images for free, in any way you like, except for using them to create a competing website. 2. Pexels Pexels also has its own license, which states what you can and cannot do with the images. You can use and modify the images for free for both commercial and personal use without attribution. 3. Pixabay We love Pixabay. Images on Pixabay are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0), which means you can use the images without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist. Pixabay also explains tricky legal language such as "model release". 4. Gratisography Gratisography also has its own free photo license, which lets you do “almost anything you can think of”. While they have not too many images, many are high-quality images that I would use. 5. Flickr Flickr is where you can find images that can be used and modified for commercial purposes. Select “Commercial use & mods allowed” under the “Any license” filter to find those images, and remember to check the license for each image as they vary. Be careful with Flickr images since as far as we can see, many images are labeled public domain wrongfully or without much research. 6. Google Image Search Google Advanced Image Search is a method of finding free-to-use images through Google’s own search tools. It is 100% automated, so you can't blindly trust the license cited. Use it with caution. Same as Flickr, Google bears no responsibility. When using free online images, always do your research.