The correct answer is the second option, patron. Cosimo di Giovanni de Medici, known as well as "the Elder" was an Italian banker and politician, who was the first member of the Medici dynasty which ruled of Florence during the Italian Renaissance.
Rather than being a dictator, his influence derived from his wealth as a banker, using his vast fortune to patron the arts and architecture as well as to sponsor series of artistic accomplishments such as orators, poets, and philosophers. Which contributed to the Medici dynasty’s control over the Florentine political system.
