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Piero Soderini

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PIERO SODERINI (1450-1513), Florentine statesman, was elected gonfalonier for life in 1502 by the Florentines, who wished to give greater stability to their republican institutions, which had been restored after the expulsion of Piero de' Medici and the martyrdom of Savonarola. His rule proved moderate and wise, although he had not the qualities of a great statesman. He introduced a system of national militia in the place of foreign mercenaries, and during his government the long war with Pisa was brought to a close with the capture of that city by the Florentines in 1509. Grateful to France, who had assisted him, he always took the French side in Italian politics. But in 1512 the Medici with the help of a Spanish army returned to Florence, deposed Soderini and drove him into exile. He took refuge at Ragusa in Dalmatia, where he remained until the election of Pope Leo X., who summoned him to Rome and conferred many favours on him. Soderini lived in Rome, working for the good of Florence, to which he was never allowed to return, until his death.

See Razzi, Vita di Pier Soderini (Padua, 1737), also the articles Florence and Medici.

Sodertelge, a town of Sweden, in the district (ldn ) of Stockholm, 23 m. W.S.W. of Stockholm by rail. Pop. (1900), 8,207. It is beautifully situated on a bay of Lake Molar, which is here connected with the Baltic by the SOdertelge canal, ri m. in length, with a minimum depth of io ft. This is on the route followed by the Gdta Canal steamers between Stockholm and Gothenburg: it was opened in 1819, though a canal was begun here in the first half of the 15th century at the instigation of the patriot Engelbrecht. The town contains an ancient church, believed to date from c.iroo. Here and in the neighbourhood are the residences of many of the business class of Stockholm; and the town is in favour as a summer resort, having mineral springs and baths. There are engineering shops producing railway stock and motors, jute spinning and weaving mills, and match and joinery works.