1
00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:05,040
Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim

2
00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:06,520
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky.

3
00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:12,120
Speaker 2: Listener discretion advised. Quick reminder before we start. This episode

4
00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:14,720
Speaker 2: is part two of a two part series on the

5
00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,880
Speaker 2: Pozzi conspiracy, so if you haven't listened to last week's episode,

6
00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:26,880
Speaker 2: you should probably start there. The conspiracy to kill Lorenzo

7
00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,640
Speaker 2: de Medici and his brother Juliano was in full motion.

8
00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,000
Speaker 2: Girolimo Pozzi and Salviati had enlisted the help of the

9
00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:40,840
Speaker 2: Captain Monteseco, and once the Pope gave his tacit wink

10
00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:46,120
Speaker 2: of approval, things were moving ahead full speed, with the

11
00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:51,640
Speaker 2: men gathering troops and making their plans. Monteseco went to

12
00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:56,360
Speaker 2: Florence twice to help prepare for the assassination, first to

13
00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,480
Speaker 2: meet with Lorenzo, and then to meet with Yacopo de Pazzi,

14
00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,120
Speaker 2: the Pozzi family patriarch, to ensure that he was fully

15
00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,360
Speaker 2: on board. The problem with monte Seco meeting with Lorenzo

16
00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:14,280
Speaker 2: de Medici was that Medici was actually a very lovely host.

17
00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:19,880
Speaker 2: Monticeco found himself charmed by the humble and generous man

18
00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,600
Speaker 2: that he knew in a few short months he would

19
00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:29,040
Speaker 2: be tasked with sinking a dagger into like Monticecco had been.

20
00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:33,679
Speaker 2: Yacopo de Pazzi was hesitant at first when approached with

21
00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,600
Speaker 2: the plan to take down the Medici. He understood all

22
00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:42,080
Speaker 2: too well how powerful the Medici family was, how well

23
00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,280
Speaker 2: liked they were in Florence, how razor thin the margin

24
00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,720
Speaker 2: for error was in an assassination in which they would

25
00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:55,720
Speaker 2: need to kill both Lorenzo and Giuliano. The irony was

26
00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:02,160
Speaker 2: the Medici finances were precarious. Poe was almost certainly aware

27
00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,120
Speaker 2: that should they choose to wait him out, Lorenzo would

28
00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:11,160
Speaker 2: be vulnerable, possibly even over in a few years. But

29
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,239
Speaker 2: the thing about young men is they want the glamour

30
00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:20,160
Speaker 2: of violence and action. No one becomes a hero waiting

31
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:24,960
Speaker 2: for loans to default. So once the conspirator's minds had

32
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,640
Speaker 2: been made up that it would be a tyrant's death,

33
00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,640
Speaker 2: they were committed to their plan with a fervor that

34
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:37,280
Speaker 2: no logic or patience would penetrate. In the end, Yakopo

35
00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,679
Speaker 2: came around and promised to help with the plan when

36
00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,120
Speaker 2: the time came, probably because he understood that they were

37
00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,799
Speaker 2: going to do it whether or not he supported them

38
00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,919
Speaker 2: and if they failed, he and the entire Potzi family

39
00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:56,920
Speaker 2: would be ruined. Anyway, the stakes were high, and it

40
00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,960
Speaker 2: was time to pick a side for the Potzi They

41
00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:06,440
Speaker 2: were betting on themselves. I'm Danish Schwartz and this is

42
00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:18,080
Speaker 2: noble blood. The logistics of planning the dual assassination would

43
00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:22,920
Speaker 2: prove to be challenging because Lorenzo and Giuliano de Medici

44
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,720
Speaker 2: were rarely together in the same place, and when they were,

45
00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:31,280
Speaker 2: they were well guarded. But the conspirators had an idea.

46
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,480
Speaker 2: Pope Sixtus the Fourth had just appointed another of his nephews,

47
00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:41,280
Speaker 2: a seventeen year old named RAPHAELI, as a cardinal. The

48
00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,920
Speaker 2: new cardinal would need to be celebrated, and so, as

49
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,480
Speaker 2: a sign of false goodwill, a gesture of pretending to

50
00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,360
Speaker 2: mend fences between the Medici and the Pope, Geralimo wrote

51
00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:59,119
Speaker 2: to Lorenzo de Medici and suggested that Medici might want

52
00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,960
Speaker 2: to invite the young new cardinal to his estate and

53
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,000
Speaker 2: hold a banquet in his honor. The banquet would be

54
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,640
Speaker 2: a perfect cover because the dinner being in the young

55
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,400
Speaker 2: cardinal's honor meant that his retinue of papal loyalists and

56
00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:20,360
Speaker 2: family members would have an excuse to be there. Meanwhile,

57
00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,839
Speaker 2: men from Perusia and surrounding regions had begun to sneak

58
00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,920
Speaker 2: into Florence so that they would be ready to help

59
00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,719
Speaker 2: lead the revolutionary charge. When the assassinations had finally been

60
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,320
Speaker 2: carried out, the dinner was set up. Lorenzo was there,

61
00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,800
Speaker 2: unguarded and without armor, but something was wrong. The conspirators

62
00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:49,680
Speaker 2: looked around. Where's uh Giuliano, someone probably asked casually, Is

63
00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:50,760
Speaker 2: he coming soon?

64
00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:52,080
Speaker 1: No?

65
00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,240
Speaker 2: Giuliano would not be coming that evening. He was in

66
00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,640
Speaker 2: bed with an attack of sciatica, which meant that the

67
00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:03,320
Speaker 2: assas asassination was off. If they couldn't get both of

68
00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,880
Speaker 2: the Medicis in one fell swoop, it would never work.

69
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,080
Speaker 2: The conspirators met out on the back patio to come

70
00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:15,719
Speaker 2: up with an emergency contingency plan. Lorenzo would be hosting

71
00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,360
Speaker 2: a dinner the next night, but every minute they waited

72
00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,320
Speaker 2: was another minute that could compromise their plan. Their soldiers

73
00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:29,280
Speaker 2: were already infiltrating the city, and Medici's spies were everywhere.

74
00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,320
Speaker 2: Sooner or later the Medici would hear about the plot

75
00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:38,279
Speaker 2: to assassinate them and destroy them all Giuliano might not

76
00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:42,440
Speaker 2: even be at dinner the next night. Time was running

77
00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,120
Speaker 2: out and they needed to act quickly. It was too

78
00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:50,800
Speaker 2: late to back out, and tomorrow night might be too

79
00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:55,560
Speaker 2: late to carry out the assassinations. Instead, they would attack

80
00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:01,920
Speaker 2: tomorrow morning, April twenty sixth, forteen seventy eight. It was

81
00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:06,440
Speaker 2: a Sunday, the Sunday before Ascension Day, and Lorenzo and

82
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:11,039
Speaker 2: Giuliano would both be at Mass. It was a holy day,

83
00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,000
Speaker 2: and so there would be throngs of people there. The

84
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,120
Speaker 2: assassins would be able to squeeze their way through the

85
00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,279
Speaker 2: crowd and kill both brothers as they were praying in

86
00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:29,720
Speaker 2: the cathedral. At this point, Monteseco bulked. He had been

87
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:34,120
Speaker 2: hesitant from the beginning for logistical reasons, but now the

88
00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,279
Speaker 2: thought of stabbing a man on a holy day in

89
00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:42,640
Speaker 2: church was a bridge too far. It's also possible that

90
00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,680
Speaker 2: by this point he sort of liked Lorenzo de Medici,

91
00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,320
Speaker 2: and so he was out. He wasn't going to go

92
00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:54,200
Speaker 2: through with the assassination, and so they replaced him. Two

93
00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,840
Speaker 2: priests who didn't have monte Seco's Christian qualms were brought

94
00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:03,360
Speaker 2: in to do the deed in his place. The next morning,

95
00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:07,200
Speaker 2: Lorenzo de Medici arrived early to the Cathedral of Santa

96
00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,880
Speaker 2: Maria del Fiori, standing in the shadow of the magnificent

97
00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:17,400
Speaker 2: red brick dome, the miracle of engineering masterminded by Brunelleschi

98
00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,560
Speaker 2: only a few decades prior. At this point, it was

99
00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,920
Speaker 2: the largest dome since the Pantheon in Rome, which had

100
00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,320
Speaker 2: been constructed out of a concrete whose formula had been

101
00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:35,400
Speaker 2: long since lost to history. The final piece of Brunelleschi's dome,

102
00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,120
Speaker 2: a copper ball done by Verocchio to be placed atop

103
00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:43,120
Speaker 2: the lantern, had only been done in fourteen sixty nine,

104
00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,920
Speaker 2: less than a decade earlier. At this point, ever, the

105
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,640
Speaker 2: attentive host, when Lorenzo heard that the teenage cardinal, the

106
00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,520
Speaker 2: man of Honor, Cardinal Raphaeli, had actually come to his

107
00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:01,600
Speaker 2: home expecting them to go to Mass together, Lorenzo returned

108
00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,360
Speaker 2: home so that he and Cardinal Raphaeli could come back

109
00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,520
Speaker 2: to the cathedral together arm in arm. The delay gave

110
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,960
Speaker 2: the assassins the upper hand more time to establish the

111
00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:19,920
Speaker 2: scene and get into position. They were ready. Two priests

112
00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:25,240
Speaker 2: for Lorenzo and for Giuliano Francesco de Pazzi and another

113
00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:30,880
Speaker 2: assassin named Bandini. Archbishop Salviati would go to the palace

114
00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,000
Speaker 2: of the Signoria, the town hall now known as the

115
00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:38,760
Speaker 2: Palazzo Vecchio. Jacobod Pazzi would ride throughout the city to

116
00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:43,839
Speaker 2: try to rally Florentine citizens to their side. They were

117
00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,120
Speaker 2: ready for the moment of truth, but once again the

118
00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:53,800
Speaker 2: assassins found themselves looking around. Giuliano was nowhere to be found.

119
00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:58,880
Speaker 2: I'm sure Pozzi looked around, maybe tried to act casual

120
00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:05,760
Speaker 2: as he asked asked people around him, where's Giuliano. Giuliano

121
00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,280
Speaker 2: was still sick in bed. He wanted to come to

122
00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 2: Mass that morning, but he just didn't seem up to it.

123
00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:18,679
Speaker 2: Pozzi was determined to get him there. Frantic realizing that

124
00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:22,719
Speaker 2: time was running out, he raced the palace where Giuliano

125
00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,440
Speaker 2: was lying in bed. Pozzi begged him to come to

126
00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,800
Speaker 2: Mass that morning for the sake of their distinguished guest,

127
00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,440
Speaker 2: the young cardinal. I'll carry you if I have to,

128
00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:37,840
Speaker 2: he joked. He walked with Giuliano all the way back

129
00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:42,400
Speaker 2: to the cathedral, joking and smiling all the way. It

130
00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:47,320
Speaker 2: seems you've been eating well, Giuliano, Pozzi said, patting the

131
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:52,240
Speaker 2: Medici brother's stomach. Really, he was feeling to see if

132
00:09:52,320 --> 00:10:01,080
Speaker 2: Giuliano was wearing any protection. He wasn't. The cathedral was

133
00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,840
Speaker 2: crowded that day, and the assassins waited nervously for the

134
00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,959
Speaker 2: signal they had agreed upon. The two priests were behind

135
00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:14,000
Speaker 2: Lorenzo and Pozzi and the assassin Bandini were primed to

136
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:19,400
Speaker 2: take down Giuliano. Finally, a bell rang in the church,

137
00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:24,600
Speaker 2: signaling the elevation of the host. It was the signal.

138
00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:29,680
Speaker 2: Bandini was the first to stab, plunging his knife deep

139
00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:34,000
Speaker 2: into Giuliano. Pozzi began stabbing him in the chest once

140
00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:39,200
Speaker 2: he fell, so crazed with rage and adrenaline that Giuliano's

141
00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:45,440
Speaker 2: body would have nineteen total stab wounds. Allegedly, Potzi was

142
00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:49,880
Speaker 2: stabbing so frantically that he stabbed himself in the leg.

143
00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:55,880
Speaker 2: By mistake, Giuliano's servants, in their fear and confusion, had

144
00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:02,120
Speaker 2: abandoned him, scrambling away to safety. The two priests had

145
00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,520
Speaker 2: tried to stab Lorenzo, but they lacked the experience that

146
00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,640
Speaker 2: Monteseco would have brought. One of the assassins grabbed at

147
00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:15,240
Speaker 2: Lorenzo's sleeve, thinking that he would turn toward him. Instead,

148
00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,520
Speaker 2: Lorenzo spun around the other way, whirling his cape and

149
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:24,280
Speaker 2: drawing his own sword to fight off the assassins. The

150
00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:28,520
Speaker 2: assassin only managed to get a scratch on him before

151
00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:33,360
Speaker 2: Lorenzo's friends jumped into action behind him and helped protect

152
00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:37,720
Speaker 2: Lorenzo as he raced toward the security of the high altar.

153
00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,600
Speaker 2: One of Lorenzo's friends was stabbed fatally in the stomach.

154
00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:47,000
Speaker 2: As the assassins tried desperately in vain to follow their target,

155
00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,920
Speaker 2: it was chaos in the cathedral, screaming and shouting. Someone

156
00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,040
Speaker 2: cried that Bruno Leeshi's dome, that miracle of physics, was

157
00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:01,800
Speaker 2: collapsing above them. Lorenzo and a small group of his

158
00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:06,280
Speaker 2: friends managed to secure themselves behind the heavy bronze doors

159
00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,959
Speaker 2: of the sacristy. One of Lorenzo's friends began sucking at

160
00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:15,439
Speaker 2: the shallow wound the assassin had managed to make on Lorenzo,

161
00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,760
Speaker 2: sucking and then spitting the blood onto the floor in

162
00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:23,200
Speaker 2: case the assassin's blade had been poisoned. Where is Giuliano,

163
00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,000
Speaker 2: Lorenzo said, where is my brother? Is my brother safe?

164
00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:33,200
Speaker 2: Where is Juliano? No one answered. The people had stampeded

165
00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:37,800
Speaker 2: out of the cathedral, The room was silent. One member

166
00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,880
Speaker 2: of Lorenzo's group of friends was able to climb the

167
00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:43,800
Speaker 2: organ loft so that he could look down at the

168
00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,120
Speaker 2: scene to make sure that more enemies weren't waiting outside

169
00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:53,640
Speaker 2: the bronze doors. He saw Giuliano's body, covered in blood,

170
00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:59,400
Speaker 2: lying on the floor. Lorenzo's friends surrounded him a human

171
00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,840
Speaker 2: shield on their way out of the cathedral, not to

172
00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,880
Speaker 2: protect him from assassins, but so that Lorenzo wouldn't have

173
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:11,679
Speaker 2: to see the mangled body of his little brother. Meanwhile,

174
00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:16,480
Speaker 2: Archbishop Salviati and yakapod Pazzi were trying their best to

175
00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:20,960
Speaker 2: uphold their side of the revolution, attempting to take control

176
00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,920
Speaker 2: of the Palazzo Vecchio and rally the people. On a horse,

177
00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,760
Speaker 2: Yakapo de Pazzi rode through the streets trying to rally

178
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:32,760
Speaker 2: the people. People and liberty. He shouted, people and liberty.

179
00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,880
Speaker 2: He tried to start a chant, but the people of

180
00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:40,680
Speaker 2: Florence were silent. And then their answer came softly, a

181
00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:46,840
Speaker 2: murmur from the crowd that became a shout. Polly, They said, Polly.

182
00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:52,280
Speaker 2: They repeated it, and it became louder, Polly, Polly. It

183
00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:58,920
Speaker 2: drowned out yakapod Pazzi's words. Polly, Polly Pollay is ball

184
00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:04,720
Speaker 2: the simbull on the Medici sigil. In almost no time,

185
00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,880
Speaker 2: Lorenzo's men had the upper hand at the Palazzo Vecchio.

186
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:13,760
Speaker 2: The assassination attempt had succeeded in killing one out of

187
00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:17,200
Speaker 2: two of its targets, but this was an all or

188
00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:21,760
Speaker 2: nothing game. They had failed and there would be hell

189
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:32,600
Speaker 2: to pay. What the conspirators hadn't quite grasped was how

190
00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:37,680
Speaker 2: unpopular they were and how terribly their message would be received.

191
00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:42,480
Speaker 2: Lorenzo de Medici didn't even really need to do anything.

192
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:47,400
Speaker 2: The people of Florence were outraged at these foreign invaders,

193
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:51,760
Speaker 2: these traders who came in with thugs from foreign territories

194
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:57,240
Speaker 2: into their city, who killed their golden Prince, Giuliano. There

195
00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,320
Speaker 2: was outrage at Lorenzo and the media family at the time.

196
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:05,280
Speaker 2: There were people in Florence who saw them as tyrants.

197
00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:10,160
Speaker 2: But as historian Miles Unger wrote, quote, no matter how

198
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:16,080
Speaker 2: compelling the message, the Pazzi were the wrong messengers. These

199
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,960
Speaker 2: conspirators were mad at the Medici for their own selfish,

200
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:25,160
Speaker 2: petty reasons. They were the wrong harbingers of revolution. They

201
00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,200
Speaker 2: weren't there to free Florence from oppression. They were there

202
00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:31,760
Speaker 2: to get rid of a guy who had been thwarting

203
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:36,360
Speaker 2: their own personal political ambitions. And they were more loyal

204
00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:39,320
Speaker 2: to the Pope than they were to Florence. And the

205
00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,280
Speaker 2: people saw that there was a writer in Florence named

206
00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:48,520
Speaker 2: Alamano Renuccini. A year after the assassination attempt, he would

207
00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,280
Speaker 2: write a book called on Liberty, in which you would write, quote,

208
00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:56,120
Speaker 2: it shames me, indeed, who was born in this city

209
00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,560
Speaker 2: and in this age, to see the people who once

210
00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,480
Speaker 2: dominated most of Tuscany, as well as regions nearby, led

211
00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,880
Speaker 2: about in circles by the whim of this one youth

212
00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:11,560
Speaker 2: referring to Lorenzo de Medici. He was not a Medici fan.

213
00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,840
Speaker 2: He had been there during the assassination, and even he

214
00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,520
Speaker 2: preferred to protect his own neck rather than join in

215
00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaker 2: the Pozzi conspiracy. And the consequences of that failed conspiracy

216
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:31,360
Speaker 2: were incredibly grisly. The men captured at the Palazzo Vecchio

217
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:36,320
Speaker 2: were hanged from the window. Archbishop Salviati was still in

218
00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:42,040
Speaker 2: his vestimens. The mob took care of justice, quite literally,

219
00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,680
Speaker 2: ripping the Pozzi men to pieces and piling the body

220
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:51,080
Speaker 2: parts on Lorenzo's doorstep as a tribute, along with piles

221
00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,200
Speaker 2: of weapons and other provisions they gathered as a sign

222
00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:58,800
Speaker 2: of strength and solidarity Lorenzo. When he had recovered from

223
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,960
Speaker 2: his shock, Polo lightly greeted the Florentine citizenry and assured

224
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,680
Speaker 2: them that as grieved as he was for his brother,

225
00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:09,639
Speaker 2: he would be strong enough to carry on with state affairs.

226
00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:13,040
Speaker 2: He thanked them for their support and for his life,

227
00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,480
Speaker 2: and told them there was no need for violence. Quote.

228
00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,480
Speaker 2: I commend myself to you, he said from a second

229
00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:24,080
Speaker 2: story window. Control yourselves and let justice take its course.

230
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:28,080
Speaker 2: Do not harm the innocent. My wound is not serious.

231
00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:32,080
Speaker 2: End quote. It was a nice thought, but it didn't

232
00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,760
Speaker 2: do much to reign in the mob. Lorenzo de Medici

233
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,919
Speaker 2: was able to protect a Pozzi brother in law and

234
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,879
Speaker 2: have him merely banished from Florence, and he was able

235
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,360
Speaker 2: to protect the teenage Cardinal Rafaeli, who hadn't actually been

236
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:51,560
Speaker 2: involved in the plan at all, aside from being unwitting bait,

237
00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:57,320
Speaker 2: but for everyone else well. The historian Harold Acton describes

238
00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:04,480
Speaker 2: what happened next as a quote orgy of mutilation, bodies

239
00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:09,280
Speaker 2: hanged from windows like Christmas ornaments, heads bobbed down the

240
00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:13,440
Speaker 2: streets on pikes. One member of the Pozzi family tried

241
00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:16,080
Speaker 2: to escape the town dressed as a beggar, but he

242
00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:20,760
Speaker 2: was recognized and hanged. Old Yakapo da Pazzi, the patriarch

243
00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,280
Speaker 2: of the family, who knew all along it had been

244
00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,760
Speaker 2: a mistake, almost made it out, and when he was

245
00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,040
Speaker 2: captured by guards, he tried to bribe them with gold

246
00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,760
Speaker 2: to just kill him then and there. Once again, his

247
00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:38,280
Speaker 2: instincts were right, because the guards refused, and when they did,

248
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,000
Speaker 2: he was dragged naked by a horse through the square.

249
00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:47,439
Speaker 2: And after Yakapo da Pazzi was tortured and hanged, he

250
00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,080
Speaker 2: was buried. But then it started raining and people thought

251
00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:54,000
Speaker 2: that they were being punished for burying a trader on

252
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:58,359
Speaker 2: consequented ground, so he was dug up and buried again

253
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,800
Speaker 2: near the city wall. Then he was dug up again

254
00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:06,000
Speaker 2: by a group of boys who dragged his corpse around

255
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:09,520
Speaker 2: the city and tied his head to the doorbell of

256
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:13,920
Speaker 2: his former home, the old Potzi mansion, which of course

257
00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:18,520
Speaker 2: would be raised and looted. They sang dirty songs about

258
00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,200
Speaker 2: him and finally threw his body into the Arno River.

259
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:30,320
Speaker 2: It's difficult to imagine a plan to try to regain

260
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:37,320
Speaker 2: power going worse. The Patzis weren't just beaten, they were demolished.

261
00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,600
Speaker 2: All of the Potzi symbols were destroyed from the city,

262
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,919
Speaker 2: and any Potzi left were forced into exile or forced

263
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,800
Speaker 2: to change their names. Anyone even married to a Patzi

264
00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:55,760
Speaker 2: wouldn't be allowed to hold office. Eventually, every conspirator was

265
00:19:55,880 --> 00:20:00,320
Speaker 2: tracked down and killed, with the exception of Juralima, that

266
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,720
Speaker 2: Lord of Immola, the nephew of the Pope, who had

267
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,320
Speaker 2: made sure to keep himself actually out of physical harm's

268
00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:10,040
Speaker 2: way by not being in the city at the time

269
00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:14,119
Speaker 2: of the actual assassination. But even he would be killed

270
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:19,080
Speaker 2: a few years later in an apparently unrelated assassination scheme.

271
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:24,320
Speaker 2: But everyone else was hunted down and eliminated. The two

272
00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,600
Speaker 2: bumbling priests who had botched lorenzo stabbing made it to

273
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,159
Speaker 2: a monastery, but eventually even the monks realized that they

274
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,800
Speaker 2: had to give them up in order to assuage the

275
00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:42,080
Speaker 2: mobs outside. When Montesecco was captured, he gave a full confession,

276
00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:46,000
Speaker 2: which might be why he got a slightly more dignified

277
00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 2: death than public hanging. He was beheaded in the courtyard

278
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,119
Speaker 2: of the Bargello, which had been a prison and is

279
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 2: now a lovely sculpture museum. The final conspirator caught was

280
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:04,600
Speaker 2: actually the one who made the first strike, Bandini, the

281
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:09,520
Speaker 2: assassin whose stab had taken down beautiful young Giuliano de Medici.

282
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:14,320
Speaker 2: Bandini had made it all the way to Constantinople, but

283
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:18,960
Speaker 2: even he couldn't escape his fate. He was arrested by

284
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:22,280
Speaker 2: Sultan Mohammed the Second and at the request of the

285
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 2: Florentine ambassador, who happened to be a Medici cousin, he

286
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,199
Speaker 2: was returned to Florence, where he was hanged from the

287
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:35,399
Speaker 2: window of the Bargello, still wearing his Turkish outfit. Why

288
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,640
Speaker 2: had they kept him in his costume, his cap and

289
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:44,000
Speaker 2: vest and turquoise jacket. Well, it sent a message, no

290
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:48,679
Speaker 2: matter how far you run, to Constantinople or beyond, you

291
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:53,320
Speaker 2: can't escape the Medici. After the dust had cleared and

292
00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:56,399
Speaker 2: the blood had been swept from the streets, there was

293
00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:00,400
Speaker 2: still the business of private mourning to be done. Lorenzo

294
00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:04,199
Speaker 2: was breathed at the loss of his brother Giuliano, But

295
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:08,359
Speaker 2: there was one small glimmer of hope and of joy.

296
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:14,399
Speaker 2: After Juliana's death, Lorenzo learned that his brother, ever the Playboy,

297
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 2: had actually fathered an illegitimate child just a few months old.

298
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,399
Speaker 2: Lorenzo would see that the child was educated alongside his

299
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,760
Speaker 2: own children, and while Giuliano had never been made a cardinal,

300
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 2: his son was, And that illegitimate son, whose father was

301
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,840
Speaker 2: killed with the tacit approval of the Pope, would eventually

302
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,120
Speaker 2: go on to become the Pope himself, Clement the seventh.

303
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,280
Speaker 2: That's the story of the Pazzi conspiracy. But if you

304
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,679
Speaker 2: want to hear a little bit more about one a

305
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,560
Speaker 2: list cameo in the saga, stick around after a brief

306
00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:09,440
Speaker 2: sponsor break. If you were interested in how we knew

307
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 2: so much about Bandini's hanging as in what exactly he

308
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,000
Speaker 2: was wearing, it's because there was an artist who just

309
00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 2: happened to be there taking notes. Though the artist did

310
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,320
Speaker 2: draw the hanging body, he seemed to be more interested

311
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 2: in the exotic constantinople clothing Bandini was wearing than the

312
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 2: grotesquery of the execution itself. The artist described in his

313
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 2: notes that Bandini wore a quote tawny cap, black satin vest,

314
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:44,199
Speaker 2: turquoise blue jacket lined with fox. The journal that the

315
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,240
Speaker 2: artist wrote in is still at the Louver. But the

316
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:51,640
Speaker 2: artist was actually from Florence, Well, he was from a

317
00:23:51,760 --> 00:24:09,679
Speaker 2: small town nearby Vinci. The artist's name was Leonardo. Noble

318
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 2: Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild

319
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:18,360
Speaker 2: from Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is created and hosted by

320
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 2: me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston,

321
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 2: Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The

322
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 2: show is edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and rima

323
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:39,320
Speaker 2: Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers

324
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:44,880
Speaker 2: Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts.

325
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 1: From iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

326
00:24:49,880 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.

327
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 2: Attatatatta