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Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim

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Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised before we start,

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Speaker 1: just a quick announcement. Next summer, I will be leading

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Speaker 1: a trip to the English Cotswalds to walk, to write,

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Speaker 1: and to talk about my favorite book. Truly, I think

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Speaker 1: my favorite book The Remains of the Day by Kazu

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Speaker 1: Ishi Guru. If you haven't read The Remains of the Day,

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Speaker 1: even if you're not interested in this trip at all,

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Speaker 1: go read it immediately. It will change your life. It's

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Speaker 1: also a great movie, but the book is extraordinary. And

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Speaker 1: next July, with an amazing program called Common Ground, I

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Speaker 1: will be leading they called a pilgrimage, but what that

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Speaker 1: basically means is we all stay together in a beautiful

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Speaker 1: old mansion in the Cotswaltz. We meet every morning.

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Speaker 2: We talk about the book, we talk about our own writing,

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Speaker 2: and we go on long walks thinking about important questions

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Speaker 2: that the book raises. This is the third trip that

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Speaker 2: I've done with this program. It just is an incredible experience.

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Speaker 2: And so if this interests you at all, there's a

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Speaker 2: link in my Instagram bio, you should absolutely sign up.

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Speaker 2: I think there's still a few spots left. Go check

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Speaker 2: it out. I'm so excited to do that, So I

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Speaker 2: just wanted to let noble blood listeners know because it

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Speaker 2: seems like it might be up your alley. It was

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Speaker 2: a crisp morning in February fifteen forty eight when a

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Speaker 2: pale nobleman in his early thirties stepped out of a

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Speaker 2: church in Venice. Lorenzino de Medici was originally from Florence,

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Speaker 2: a member of the vastly powerful Medici family, but he

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Speaker 2: wasn't a stranger to the Venetian streets. He'd been living

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Speaker 2: in exile in Venice for years because back in Florence,

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino was a wanted murderer. As he strolled through the

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Speaker 2: bustle of the city with his uncle, Lorenzino repeatedly glanced

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Speaker 2: over his shoulder and his eyes flicked to the sudden

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Speaker 2: movements of passing merchants and paupers. Despite his uncle's assurances

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Speaker 2: that they were safe out in public, Lorenzino's habit was

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Speaker 2: hard to break. He was always wondering if retribution was

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Speaker 2: coming for the weighty crime he had committed eleven years earlier.

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Speaker 2: After all, his infamous murder had rattled the highest houses

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Speaker 2: of European power. Lorenzino had personally murdered his own cousin,

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Speaker 2: the first Duke of Florence, Alessandro de Medici. Lorenzino had

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Speaker 2: claimed that he had rid the realm of a tyrant.

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Speaker 2: But regardless of his possible intentions, this podcast has taught

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Speaker 2: us anything, it's that you can't avoid the consequences of

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Speaker 2: such a brazen act forever, and fate usually finds a

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Speaker 2: way of catching up with you. Sure enough, on the

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Speaker 2: morning of February twenty sixth, fifteen forty eight, Lorenzino's punishment

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Speaker 2: finally found him more than a decade after his crime.

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Speaker 2: He and his uncle were almost at the Santoma Bridge,

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Speaker 2: mere minutes from Lorenzino's home, when two assassins ambushed them.

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino was instantly incapacitated by a fierce blow to the head,

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Speaker 2: and then he was stabbed several more times to ensure

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Speaker 2: his imminent death. Lorenzino's uncle and the attackers fled as

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino lay bruised and bloodied. He didn't take his final

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Speaker 2: breath for another half an hour, but he couldn't speak,

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Speaker 2: not even as his own mother rushed out to his side.

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Speaker 2: It's likely that the blunt force of his mortal injuries

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Speaker 2: impeded much clarity of thought or reflection, but if any

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Speaker 2: any synapses were still firing, they certainly would have had

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Speaker 2: no shortage of questions regarding how exactly the assassination had

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Speaker 2: been carried out and why this brutal payback took so

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Speaker 2: long to arrive. Lorenzino would never know who had actually

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Speaker 2: been behind his own violent assassination, and for centuries neither

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Speaker 2: did anyone else. But today the question of who was

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Speaker 2: behind Lorenzino's murder is a mystery no more. It took

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Speaker 2: almost half a millennium, but that cold case was finally cracked.

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Speaker 2: I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood. The ripple

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Speaker 2: effects of this tale of murder and betrayal are immensely

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Speaker 2: complicated and far reaching, but the simplest place to start

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Speaker 2: is with one key relationship that between our murderer turned

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Speaker 2: murder victim, Lorenzino de Medici and the cousin he had killed,

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Speaker 2: Duke Alessandro de Medici. And our story of their relationship

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Speaker 2: begins with a cheeky night out on the evening of

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Speaker 2: January sixth, fifteen thirty seven, twenty three year old Lorenzino

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Speaker 2: came to his powerful twenty six year old cousin with

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Speaker 2: an enticing pitch, a secret knight of pleasure with a

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Speaker 2: beautiful woman. If Alessandro could leave his royal escort, sneak

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Speaker 2: out of his apartment in the Palazzo Medici and slip

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Speaker 2: into Lorenzino's bedchamber, Lorenzino would bring the alluring Katerina Solderini

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Speaker 2: to join him. The careful secrecy was necessary to limit gossip,

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Speaker 2: especially since Katerina was married and also incidentally Lorenzino's aunt.

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Speaker 2: As instructed, Alessandro went out that evening with friends, and

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Speaker 2: then he excused himself. Upon returning to Piazza de San Marco. Slowly,

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Speaker 2: the duke approached the wing of the Medici complex where

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino resided. Lorenzino de Medici had little in common with

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Speaker 2: his namesake, the earlier Medician patriarch Lorenzo the Magnificent, or

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Speaker 2: with Lorenzino's many other ancestors of the same name who

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Speaker 2: had brought wealth and distinction to the family. Know for

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Speaker 2: as long as Alessandro had known his short, pallid and

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Speaker 2: introverted relative, Lorenzino or Little Lorenzo was a fitting nickname.

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Speaker 2: Since childhood, Lorenzino was known more for his studious nature

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Speaker 2: than any commanding bearing, and was far likelier to be

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Speaker 2: found immersed in a book, book or theater production, then

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Speaker 2: trying to climb the ranks of power. Back at Lorenzino's palace,

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Speaker 2: Alessandro slipped inside with quiet ease. Instead of wearing the

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Speaker 2: chainmail lined doublet he typically favored as protection against any

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Speaker 2: possible sneak attacks, He was decked out that night in

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Speaker 2: a Neapolitan silk cloak. Judging by those nocturnal fashion choices alone,

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Speaker 2: his desire for comfort and style clearly outweighed any cautious

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Speaker 2: instincts he might have had, and understandably so, this had

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Speaker 2: all the markings of another one of his trusted cousins

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Speaker 2: delightfully mischievous schemes. Through their early adult years, Lorenzino and

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Speaker 2: Alessandro had formed a bond that sparked numerous escapades. Lorenzino

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Speaker 2: had not only become a close adviser to his cousin

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Speaker 2: on political matters, he also facilit hated Alessandro's womanizing so

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Speaker 2: frequently that a few at court snidely referred to him

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Speaker 2: as the Duke's hymp long. A passionate writer, Lorenzino even

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Speaker 2: penned a whole irreverent comedy play for Alessandro's marriage to

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Speaker 2: a young bride from the prominent Habsburg family. So when

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Speaker 2: Alessandro entered Lorenzino's bedroom that night, it's unlikely he was

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Speaker 2: in a suspicious frame of mind at all. Lorenzino suggested

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Speaker 2: that his cousin stow his weapons under the bed to

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Speaker 2: set the right romantic tone. Alessandro acquiesced. Lorenzino had also

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Speaker 2: told him to make himself comfortable while he went to

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Speaker 2: fetch the beautiful cacherina. As Alessandro waited on his cousin's bed,

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Speaker 2: it's possible that he mulled over all of the red

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Speaker 2: flags cropping up in his path. After all, his cousin

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Speaker 2: occasionally seemed to show a slightly darker side. The serious,

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Speaker 2: melancholy demeanor Lorenzino exhibited as a boy unnerved some people,

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Speaker 2: and there was the bizarre story about how Lorenzino had

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Speaker 2: decapitated the heads of several ancient sculptures and statues in Rome.

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Speaker 2: The defilement was egregious enough to get Lorenzino expelled from

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Speaker 2: the city by the Pope even though the pope was

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Speaker 2: a close Medici relative. On the other hand, Lorenzino's childhood

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Speaker 2: seriousness and strangeness was not necessarily surprising, given that he

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Speaker 2: had lost his father at a young age, and his

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Speaker 2: statue shenanigans could have easily been brushed off as an

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Speaker 2: ill advised prank rather than the sign of some unhinged leaning.

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Speaker 2: But it's probably unlikely that Alessandro was seriously worried about

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Speaker 2: any risk while waiting on Lorenzino and Katerina. Alessandro actually

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Speaker 2: lay down and took a nap, but as you might

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Speaker 2: have guessed, Lorenzino had more than a little tryst planned

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Speaker 2: for his cousin. Upon leaving Alessandro in his bedchamber, Lorenzino

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Speaker 2: did not seek out Katerina. He instead went to his

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Speaker 2: loyal servant, Piero de Joannabate, nicknamed scorn Concolo. Lorenzino had

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Speaker 2: already gotten the thuggish man to agree to help enact

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Speaker 2: justice against an unnamed enemy that he would lock in

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Speaker 2: his bedchamber while ushering scorn Concolo back, though, Lorenzino had

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Speaker 2: to ensure that his accomplice was prepared to follow through

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Speaker 2: on his promise, regardless of the target's identity. In other words,

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Speaker 2: he told him, yes, they were going long after the

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Speaker 2: Duke of Florence, and as Lorenzino saw it, it was

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Speaker 2: a deed that needed to be done. Like Lorenzino, Alessandro's

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Speaker 2: early years were inauspicious, especially by Medicis standards. Alessandro was

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Speaker 2: actually born a bastard, son of a Medici ruler and

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Speaker 2: an enslaved woman. Alessandro also lost his father at a

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Speaker 2: young age, a death that, after years of strife and

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Speaker 2: maneuvering within the family, remarkably led Alessandro to be named

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Speaker 2: the first Duke of Florence. Especially following Alessandro's ascension and

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Speaker 2: Larenzino's return to Florence from Rome, the cousins outwardly appeared

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Speaker 2: to be inseparable. Alessandro was said to have greatly loved

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Speaker 2: his cousin, favoring Lorenzino's advice at court and benefiting from

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino's hearty enabling of his philander. But as Lorenzino apparently

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Speaker 2: felt at his core and would continue to argue for

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Speaker 2: years to come, Alissandro was a true monster, a man

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Speaker 2: obsessed with torturing and killing men for real or perceived slights,

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Speaker 2: A tyrant, how could he be allowed to continue to

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Speaker 2: live and rule Outside Lorenzino's bedchamber, scorn Concolo assured Lorenzino

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Speaker 2: that he would not spare their wicked foe, whether he

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Speaker 2: was the Duke or even Jesus himself. So Lorenzino called

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Speaker 2: out to check whether his cousin was asleep, and then

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Speaker 2: he and scorn Concolo entered through a different door. The

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Speaker 2: two attacked Alessandro, who jolted awake and fought desperately. Alessandro

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Speaker 2: even bit down on Lorenzo's hand in an attempt to

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Speaker 2: free himself. Finally, after a frenzied struggle, Alessandro fell still,

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Speaker 2: scorn Concolo's dagger planted in his throat. Lorenzino and scorn

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Speaker 2: Concolo immediately fled on horseback. As Lorenzino eventually arrived in Venice,

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Speaker 2: news of the Duke's sensational death was spreading like wildfire.

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Speaker 2: Word traveled through urgent missives, rumors, and through Lorenzino's own lips.

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Speaker 2: You heard that right. Rather than refute his guilt, Lorenzino

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Speaker 2: confessed his crime to anyone and everyone who would listen,

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Speaker 2: as any fan of TV murder Mysteries or Agatha Christie

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Speaker 2: novels knows catching a killer is usually a tricky task

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Speaker 2: that takes cunning and exhaustive investigation. Only when faced with

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Speaker 2: irrefutable evidence and no foreseeable escape do murderers finally give

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Speaker 2: up and confess. Lorenzino would have made for an incredibly

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Speaker 2: unsatisfying novel. Not only did he openly admit he killed

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Speaker 2: Duke Alessandro, he wrote a whole, flowery, eloquent explanation of it,

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Speaker 2: called the Apology. Obviously, the Apology is about as subjective

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Speaker 2: of a statement as you'll find, but in many ways,

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Speaker 2: that's what makes it so fascinating, because it serves as

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Speaker 2: a window into Lorenzino's mind and motivations. Why did Lorenzino

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Speaker 2: murder Alessandro, especially when he had no plan in place

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Speaker 2: to usurp power himself or to aid another noble in

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Speaker 2: seizing it. His apology has been hailed by many as

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Speaker 2: a sparkling piece of rhetoric, but even his own arguments

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Speaker 2: got fairly tangled. First, Lorenzino emphasized his political reasons for

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Speaker 2: murdering Alessandro. Per the ancient the Roman ideals of republicanism

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Speaker 2: that Lorenzino studied and admired, he sought as his duty

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Speaker 2: to eliminate a tyrannical oppressor. As I touched on earlier,

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Speaker 2: he claimed that Alessandro was a fiend, a sadistic villain

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Speaker 2: whose cruel behavior made him worse than Caligula and Nero combined.

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Speaker 2: The way in which Lorenzino asserted his murderous responsibility essentially

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Speaker 2: implied that he thought of himself as the brutus of

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Speaker 2: his day. Republican and Florentine exiles living abroad soon echoed

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Speaker 2: that sentiment, comparing Alessandro's rule to Caesar's dictatorship and hailing

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino as their Tuscan brutus. In his apology, Lorenzino also

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Speaker 2: wades into a more philosophical branch of reasoning for killing

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Speaker 2: his cousin. Lorenzino debated the entire legitimacy of power wielded

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Speaker 2: by a hereditary ruler. Thus, in spite of the fact

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Speaker 2: that returning power to the people would require a brutal act,

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Speaker 2: in Lorenzino's mind, it was worth it. Niccolomachiavelli had written

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Speaker 2: his famous treatise The Prince only twenty years earlier, and,

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Speaker 2: in an ironic turn of history, actually dedicated it to

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Speaker 2: Alessandro's father, so again, being an avid reader, Lorenzino was

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Speaker 2: quite steeped in the idea that the end can justify

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Speaker 2: the means. Finally, the apology also reveals several personal reasons

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino wanted to kill his cousin. His writing conveys a

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Speaker 2: lingering sense of self righteousness about being a legitimate Medici's

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Speaker 2: son and not a bastard. The ways in which Lorenzino

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Speaker 2: calls attention to Alessandro's quote innate cruelty and savagery, and

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Speaker 2: his heritage as the son of a Moorish in see

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Speaker 2: slaved mother are worthy of note. A great deal of

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Speaker 2: scholarship has been written on the complexities of pre modern

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Speaker 2: ideas about race and the way they differ from our own,

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Speaker 2: but in general, it's absolutely worth questioning whether Lorenzino's biases

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Speaker 2: against his cousin's Moorish ancestry could have factored into both

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Speaker 2: his slang of his cousin and his subsequent appeal for

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Speaker 2: understanding from what he assumed to be a similarly biased

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Speaker 2: audience zooming out to view Lorenzino's crime and written apology together,

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Speaker 2: it's possible to trace an even more self absorbed arc.

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Speaker 2: As some historians have conjectured it's possible Lorenzino's driving motive

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Speaker 2: was simple. He wanted to be noticed. After all, he

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Speaker 2: was a Medici, but a fairly overlooked one, considering the

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Speaker 2: highly pre mediti nature of both the murder and confession,

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Speaker 2: the risks involved in all the new paths to fame

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Speaker 2: that the printing press had ushered in. Was this assassination

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Speaker 2: to some degree fueled by a desire to trade relative

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Speaker 2: obscurity for celebrity, to shed recollections of quote little Lorenzo's

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Speaker 2: meek childhood demeanor, of his embarrassing expulsion from Rome, of

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Speaker 2: his literally belittling moniker in order to fully enter the limelight.

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Speaker 2: Whatever his cocktail of motives, Lorenzino certainly gave the world

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Speaker 2: a taste of, as some might call it today, his

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Speaker 2: quote main character energy. He became famous and infamous almost overnight.

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Speaker 2: He gained tremendous support, especially in Venice, which was home

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Speaker 2: to many members of the Florentine Republic that had previously

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Speaker 2: failed against Medici's might. Exiles scattered across Europe celebrated Duke

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Speaker 2: Alessandro's death. Support and money poured in from France and Spain.

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Speaker 2: Commemorative medals were even produced depicting Lorenzino in Roman robes,

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Speaker 2: but Lorenzino had obviously also made himself a marked man.

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Speaker 2: The rest of the Medici family and its allies vehemently

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Speaker 2: decried his deplorable act and vowed to retaliate. Cosimo the

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Speaker 2: First de Medici was named the next Duke of Florence,

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Speaker 2: and he offered a handsome reward to anyone who would

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Speaker 2: avenge the murder of his predecessor, Alessandro. And yet for

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Speaker 2: eleven years no one followed through. Plots were hatched, attempts

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Speaker 2: were made, but for the most part, the new Duke

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Speaker 2: dragged his feet getting revenge. Despite promising swift action against

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Speaker 2: Alessandro's murderer and being repeatedly urged to follow through by

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Speaker 2: many in his political orbit, Cosimo the First basically tried

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Speaker 2: to ignore the issue. As Cosimo continued to delay his

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Speaker 2: plans of revenge, many contemporaries describe Lorenzino as a wretched

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Speaker 2: soul wrecked by anguish and guilt, but in fact, some

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Speaker 2: sources show that not only did he stay hopeful that

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Speaker 2: one day exiles would be able to return to Florence.

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Speaker 2: Over the years, he went on multiple diplomatic missions to Mirandola,

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Speaker 2: France and Constantinople to stoke support for his personal cause,

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Speaker 2: and so eleven years after he killed his cousin on

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Speaker 2: that chilly morning in Venice in fifteen forty eight, as

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino left church with his uncle, It's not it's unthinkable

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Speaker 2: that some part of him dared hope that he might

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Speaker 2: never actually have to pay the ultimate price for killing Alessandro.

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Speaker 2: His ambushing attackers, however, had other plans. They beat him,

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Speaker 2: stabbed him, and closed the homicidal loop. Those men's identities

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Speaker 2: were clear right away. Francesco Boboni and Bebeo de Volterra

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Speaker 2: soon went to collect their reward from Duke Cosimo, but

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Speaker 2: they were contracted killers, hired by somebody with more clout,

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Speaker 2: so who actually had ordered the hit. It wasn't until

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Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, a full four hundred and sixty seven years

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Speaker 2: after the fact, that definitive proof emerged. If this murder

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Speaker 2: mystery were a movie or a novel, a rmand detective

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Speaker 2: might have the benefit of interrogating prime suspects in a

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Speaker 2: nice contained location, say a cozy train or charming English

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Speaker 2: manor house. In reality, all of the main players here

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Speaker 2: were spread across Europe and then eventually all dead and gone.

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Speaker 2: But the detective at the core of this century spanning case,

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Speaker 2: the historian Stefano de Lallio, was delightfully dedicated in his investigation.

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Speaker 2: So let's don our sleuthing hats and puff thoughtfully on

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Speaker 2: our pipes and follow along with him in examining the

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Speaker 2: likely individuals and possible theories behind who was behind Lorenzina's execution.

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Speaker 2: The obvious first suspect was Costimo, the first di Medici,

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Speaker 2: the replacement Duke of Florence, who would have wanted to

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Speaker 2: avenge a death in the family and protect Medici power.

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Speaker 2: He offered the rear had multiple agents in Venice trying

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Speaker 2: to tie up loose ends, met with Lorenzino's two attackers beforehand,

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Speaker 2: and then gave them their promised reward afterward. Case closed right.

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Speaker 2: Many scholars accepted that narrative for centuries, but dal Aglio

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Speaker 2: found letters that proved Cosimo's agents were actually bear with

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Speaker 2: me in Venice to kill a different influential Florentine exile,

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Speaker 2: and Cosimo was not even the first noble to be

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Speaker 2: alerted once Lorenzino's murder was accomplished. John Francisco Ltini was

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Speaker 2: another likely culprit. Lotini was Duke Cosimo's secretary and a

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Speaker 2: guy with a history of violence. Several historians writing after

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Speaker 2: the event posited that Cosimo sent him to Venice, where

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Speaker 2: he then predominantly organized Laura or Enzeno's assassination, but there's

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Speaker 2: no direct evidence to support that theory, and in fact,

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Speaker 2: it was actually later discovered that nineteenth century historians who

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Speaker 2: posited it had actually misunderstood key archival documents. It was

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Speaker 2: also natural to wonder whether the assassins had simply acted

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Speaker 2: of their own accord. The reward was massive. On top

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Speaker 2: of the huge sum of four thousand gold ducats, which

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Speaker 2: would have been over one hundred times the annual salary

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Speaker 2: of many laborers and soldiers at the time, these successful

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Speaker 2: killers of Lorenzino would also be shielded from punishment and

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Speaker 2: even receive amnesty for any prior crimes. Still, even for

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Speaker 2: such a bounty, this theory doesn't make a ton of sense,

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Speaker 2: given the risks, the political clout of the main parties involved,

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Speaker 2: and the fact that after so long, any killer seriously

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Speaker 2: considering the job would want to go through the proper

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Speaker 2: channels to clear it with Cosimo beforehand to make sure

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Speaker 2: that they would still get paid. As the two killers did,

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Speaker 2: I mean, there was no guarantee that the reward was

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Speaker 2: still standing eleven years later. Margaret of Parma, Alessandro's grieving widow,

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Speaker 2: was another interesting suspect. The two had been married less

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Speaker 2: than a year before Lorenzino killed Alessandro. She was only

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Speaker 2: fourteen at the time and devastated to the point that

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Speaker 2: she signed her letters sad Margaret, she placed her own

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Speaker 2: bounty on Lorenzino's head. Although her most potent means of

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Speaker 2: instigating revenge wouldn't be from her own direct influence, it

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Speaker 2: would be from her ability to call on other power

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Speaker 2: powerful figures including Charles the Fifth, the Habsburg King of Spain,

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Speaker 2: the Archduke of Austria, and Holy Roman Emperor, a man

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Speaker 2: who ruled a conglomeration of realms so large some referred

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Speaker 2: to it as the empire on which the sun never sets.

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Speaker 2: Turns out, Charles had two big motives. First, Duke Alessandro

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Speaker 2: had been under his direct political protection, and two, Duke

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Speaker 2: Alessandro's wife, Margaret, was his daughter, so he was adamant that,

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Speaker 2: for reasons personal and political, his son in law must

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Speaker 2: be avenged. Our investigative historian del Alio had a hunch

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Speaker 2: that Charles the fifth was the mastermind pulling the strings.

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Speaker 2: But if so, why did he wait so long for

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Speaker 2: one thing? Letters showed that Charless felt that revenge should

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Speaker 2: come from Florence. Cosimo should be the one to enact

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Speaker 2: justice for a crime that was committed in his own state. Additionally,

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Speaker 2: Charles the fifth was really, really busy. He was off

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Speaker 2: at war with France and trying to staunch the spread

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Speaker 2: of Protestantism in Germany. Back in Florence, Cosimo had his

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Speaker 2: own reasons for procrastinating avenging his predecessor. On a basic level,

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Speaker 2: he actually wouldn't even be duke if Alessandro hadn't died,

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Speaker 2: so he wasn't too terribly upset about it. And furthermore,

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Speaker 2: he was more focused on consolidating power in Florence at

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Speaker 2: the time, on quelling more exile uprisings, ardently supporting the arts,

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Speaker 2: and actually being an unusually faithful husband. He had his

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Speaker 2: own life to lead. Cosimo eventually proved to be an

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Speaker 2: astute ruler who became the first Grand Duke of Ty

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Speaker 2: and he would have a substantial influence on Florentine culture

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Speaker 2: for years to come, even cementing a relatively successful working

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Speaker 2: relationship with Charles the Fifth. So ironically, if Lorenzino had

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Speaker 2: indeed been attempting to limit Medici power in Florence by

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Speaker 2: killing Duke Alessandro, it backfired. Nevertheless, as the years passed,

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Speaker 2: Charles the Fifth grew restless on that lingering, loose end

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Speaker 2: of Lorenzino. The timing of Lorenzino's murder ultimately coincided with

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Speaker 2: a period when Charles the Fifth's other conflicts abated and

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Speaker 2: he finally had time to focus on the Italian States.

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Speaker 2: His direct involvement makes sense, but historian del Alio needed

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Speaker 2: clear proof in order to connect the dots. Luckily, Charles

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Speaker 2: the Fifth left behind plenty of evidence. As de Laalio

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Speaker 2: himself said of his search, the most logical place to

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Speaker 2: look for a gun still smoking after five hundred years

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Speaker 2: was Charles the Fifth's own archives, which he founded during

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Speaker 2: this period to preserve his papers. Sure Enough, surprisingly, explicit

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Speaker 2: documents preserved there shed definitive light, specifically direct correspondent between

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Speaker 2: Charles the Fifth and his Venetian ambassador, which revealed the

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Speaker 2: emperor's adamant stance that Lorenzino's crime should never be forgiven.

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Speaker 2: The men contemplated the possible methods, logistics, and personnel that

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Speaker 2: would be needed to finally kill Lorenzino. Then, at long last,

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Speaker 2: on January eleventh, fifteen forty eight, a letter from Augsburg

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Speaker 2: arrived in Venice. Charles the Fifth personally ordered Lorenzino de

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Speaker 2: Medici's murder. Duke Cosimo had been generally informed of the plot,

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Speaker 2: particularly so that he could guarantee the payment of his

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Speaker 2: offered bounty, but when it came to bringing Lorenzino to justice,

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Speaker 2: Charles the Fifth, Charles the Fifth's ambassador, and the two

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Speaker 2: hired killers took the primary initiative. Accordingly, Charles the Fifth

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Speaker 2: was immediately notified of Lorenzino's death before any other ruler,

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Speaker 2: so that he could give instructions on how to proceed.

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Speaker 2: In hindsight, seeking out a repository of incredibly relevant and

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Speaker 2: conveniently kept information seems almost laughably obvious. The evidence was

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Speaker 2: right there. But revisiting such a case took the fortitude

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Speaker 2: to challenge long accepted wisdom, wisdom that seemed plausible enough,

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Speaker 2: and to form the right theories to know where to

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Speaker 2: look solving the mystery in this case also required that

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Speaker 2: the executioner, our big boss, Charles the Fifth, preserved his correspondence,

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Speaker 2: and why shouldn't he Why worry about anyone discovering a

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Speaker 2: little more blood on his hands? If anything, his feelings

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Speaker 2: were probably the opposite. Though this was only a small

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Speaker 2: chapter of his sizeable legacy, it's easy to imagine that

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Speaker 2: on some level he wanted it known for posterity that

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Speaker 2: if you come for a protected duke, a noble cousin,

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Speaker 2: the son in law of the most powerful man in Europe,

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Speaker 2: you don't walk free forever. If revenge is a dish

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Speaker 2: best served cold, then the final helping Charles served to

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino was truly ice. That's the story of Lorenzino de

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Speaker 2: Medici's turbulent life and murder. But stick around after a

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Speaker 2: brief sponsor to hear about an additional intriguing wrinkle in

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Speaker 2: Lorenzino's murderous legacy. After killing Lorenzino de Medici, one of

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Speaker 2: the hired assassins actually distributed his own written account of

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Speaker 2: his violent act. Far from exhibiting the eloquence and erudite

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Speaker 2: musings of Lorenzino's apology, Francesco Beiboni's cruder confession still completed,

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Speaker 2: a fitting sort of eleven year call and response, and

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Speaker 2: in its own way, this follow up statement amplified some

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Speaker 2: of Lorenzino's own morbid rationale, or, as author translator Tim

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Speaker 2: Parks put it, quote, the notion that saving oneself from

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Speaker 2: the oblivion of anonymity is sufficient justification for any atrocity.

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Speaker 2: Noble Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grim

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Speaker 2: and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by

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Speaker 2: me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick,

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Speaker 2: Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milani. The show is

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Speaker 2: edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima Ill

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Speaker 2: Kali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick.

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Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.