1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Hello everyone, it's Eves checking in here to let you 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: know that you're going to be hearing two different events 3 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: in history in this episode, one from me and one 4 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:09,720 Speaker 1: from Tracy V. Wilson. They're both good, if I do 5 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: say so myself. On with the show. Welcome to this 6 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: day in History Class from how Stuff Works dot com 7 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: and from the desk of Stuff You Missed in History Class. 8 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,120 Speaker 1: It's the show where we explore the past one day 9 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: at a time with a quick look at what happened 10 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: today in history. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 11 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson and it's January, one, Happy New Year. 12 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 1: Lorenzo de Medici was born on the Stay in fourteen 13 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: forty nine. The Medici family of Florence was rich and powerful. 14 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: They had come to Florence sometime in the twelfth century, 15 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 1: although they had started out as just simple Tuscan peasants, 16 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: but over a couple hundred years they became incredibly wealthy 17 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: and powerful. By the middle of the fourteenth century, they 18 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: were one of Florence's leading families, and they also had 19 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: a reputation for being extremely adept at negotiating in the 20 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: worlds of both politics and money, and This was through 21 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: legitimate means as well as through things like bribery. Lorenzo 22 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: de Medici was described as the most Medici of the Medici. 23 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:20,320 Speaker 1: He was nicknamed Lorenzo the Magnificent. He's been described as 24 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: the most powerful, the most famous, the most brilliant, the 25 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: most influential in the world of art thanks to his patronage, 26 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,040 Speaker 1: and the most ruthless. He came to power in Florence 27 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: along with his brother in fourteen sixty nine after the 28 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: death of their father, and the two of them were 29 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: ruling together, and nine years later there was a conspiracy 30 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: to assassinate both of them and to take control of 31 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: the Republic of Florence away from the Medici. This was 32 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: called the Pozzi conspiracy. The Pozzi and the Medici were 33 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: basically rival families within Florence. One of the things that 34 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: had led to this whole rivalry in the conspiracy was 35 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: that the Pozsi family had taken over the financial affairs 36 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: of the papacy, and that was taking business away from 37 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: the Medici, which the Medici did not appreciate. The ringleader 38 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: in this conspiracy was Francesco de Pazzi, and he wasn't 39 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: the patriarch of the Pozzi family, but he was the 40 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: one that was driving all of this. The assassination was 41 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: finally set to take place during Easter Mass in fourteen 42 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: seventy eight, and Lorenzo's brother Giuliano was killed, but Lorenzo escaped. Afterward, 43 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:37,639 Speaker 1: though Lorenzo sought retribution against all of his conspirators, there 44 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: was a lot of hanging people, a lot of throwing 45 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: them out windows, a lot of dismemberments. Overall, it was 46 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: very gruesome and there were more than seventy executions of 47 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: purported co conspirators. This whole incident, though, really shaped Lorenzo's future. 48 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: It meant that his brother was dead, so he was 49 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: on his own in terms of his leadership at their oppublic, 50 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: and it had also gotten rid of a lot of 51 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: their detractors, and it demonstrated the links that he would 52 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: go to. So after this whole conspiracy and the war 53 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: that followed, he really had the support of a lot 54 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: of the people of Florence. He ruled almost as a monarch, 55 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: although Lorenzo really liked to describe himself as just a 56 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: highly respectable citizen, not anything special. He and others in 57 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: the family also acted as patrons to writers and artists 58 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: and architects, including people like Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, 59 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: among many others. There was also, of course, Michelangelo, who 60 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: was brought up partially in the Medici household. Lorenzo de 61 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: Medici was also a collector of antiquities and of artwork. Basically, 62 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: what they were doing they couldn't really afford to pay 63 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: for the most extravagant, biggest name artwork, so they would 64 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: find lesser known, undiscovered talent and sort of cultivate them 65 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: by their work for cheap. It's not, however, totally accurate 66 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: to say that the Medici family singlehandedly paid for the Renaissance. 67 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: Sometimes they are described that way. Lorenzo was also a 68 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: poet himself, in addition to his patronage of other artists. 69 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: By the fourteen nineties, though Lorenzo's health was declining, the 70 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: city of Florence was also becoming less and less enamored 71 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,359 Speaker 1: with the lifestyle that he had enabled and encouraged. This 72 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: is a lifestyle that was just full of lavish festivals 73 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: and extravagance. He died at the age of only forty three. 74 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: His son Giovanni later became Pope Leo the tenth. You 75 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: can learn more about this in the Stuff You Missed 76 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: in History Class episode Death at the Duomo The Pozzi 77 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: Conspiracy from March thirty one. Thanks to Casey Pegram and 78 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for their audio work on this show. You 79 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,159 Speaker 1: can subscribe to This Day in History Class on app podcasts, 80 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: Google podcast, the I Heart Radio app, and wherever else 81 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,359 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, and you can tune in tomorrow 82 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: for a Discovery kind of Hey, y'all, Happy New Year. 83 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: I'm still at home, but I am excited to bring 84 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: you the first episode of a new decade. Enjoy. The 85 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: day was January one, eighteen. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or the 86 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: Modern Prometheus was first published at a young age. Mary 87 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: had taken an interest in writing stories, but her childhood 88 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: and early adult years were tumultuous. Less than two weeks 89 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: after she was born, her mother, writer and women's rights 90 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: advocate Mary Wolston Craft, died of pure operal fever. When 91 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: Mary was sixteen years old, she eloped with the wealthy 92 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,720 Speaker 1: writer Percy bish Shelley, who abandoned his wife. She gave 93 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: to four children, but only one survived to adulthood, and 94 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 1: she miscarried during her fifth pregnancy. In eighteen sixteen, Mary's 95 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: sister Fanny Goodwin, as well as Percy's wife, Harriet Shelley, 96 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: died by suicide. Mary was inspired to write Frankenstein on 97 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: a rainy June night in eighteen sixteen. Eighteen sixteen is 98 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: known as the Year Without a Summer, since it was 99 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: marked by low temperatures, high rainfall, and crop failures around 100 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: the world attributed to the eruption of Mount tom Bora 101 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: in the Dutch East Indies. History of a Six Weeks Tour, 102 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 1: a travel narrative by Mary and Percy published in eighteen seventeen, 103 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 1: contains letters written during their time in Geneva during that summer. 104 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: In the letters, Mary writes about the dark and rainy 105 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 1: weather her journey through France and Switzerland provided the perfect 106 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:57,040 Speaker 1: setting for writing a Gothic story. Mary was in late Geneva, Switzerland, 107 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: with Percy, as well as poet Lord By And and 108 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: physician and writer John Paula Dorri. The group was reading 109 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:07,479 Speaker 1: a French translation of a German book of ghost stories 110 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: called Phantasmagoriana at the Villa Diodati, the house where they 111 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: would have spirited late night discussions When Byron suggested they 112 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: see who could write the best ghost story, they took 113 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: on the challenge. Paula Doori ended up writing The Vampire, 114 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: which was published three years later, but the competition also 115 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: marked the birth of Frankenstein. One night after one of 116 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: the group's philosophical discussions, Mary could not sleep. She later 117 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: wrote about the restless night, She said, quote, I saw 118 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: the pale student of the unhallowed arts, kneeling beside the 119 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm 120 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: of a man stretched out and then, on the working 121 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir 122 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be? 123 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: For supremely frightful would be the effect of any human 124 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the creator of 125 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: the world. It was the origin of her story, one 126 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: about a scientist named Victor Frankenstein who created an eight 127 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: foot tall creature made of the body parts of dead people. 128 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: Percy encouraged Mary to turn the story into a novel, 129 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: and she finished writing the book by May of eighteen seventeen. 130 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, was first published anonymously in 131 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: London as a three volume novel on January one, eighteen eighteen. 132 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: The book is a combination of a Gothic horror story 133 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: and science fiction. In it, Frankenstein's nameless monster turns into 134 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: a murderer who is tortured by loneliness and rejection. The 135 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: first edition of the novel contained a preface written by 136 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: Percy Shelley. In fact, when it was published, many people 137 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: thought that Percy Shelley had written it. Another edition of 138 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: the novel, credited to Mary Shelley and edited by her father, 139 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: was published several years later. In the first one volume 140 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: edition of the book was published. Shelley wrote several more novels, 141 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: but Frankenstein is her best known book. Frankenstein has since 142 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: become the inspiration for stories about morality, human hubrists, and 143 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: scientists and the implications of their creations. I'm Eves Jeff 144 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: Cote and hopefully you know a little more about history 145 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. Feel free to shoot us 146 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:30,119 Speaker 1: an email at this day at I heeart media dot com, 147 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: or if you prefer social media, hit us up on Instagram, 148 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter at t d I h C Podcast. 149 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening and we'll see you tomorrow. For 150 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 151 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.