Speaker 1: Hey, this is Danish Wartz. Just a quick note before
Speaker 1: we begin a tiny bit of housekeeping. This summer in July,
Speaker 1: I am co leading a trip to the south of
Speaker 1: France to talk about Julia Child with an amazing program
Speaker 1: called common Ground Pilgrimages.
Speaker 2: This is the fourth trip that I'll.
Speaker 1: Be leading with them, and I keep begging them to
Speaker 1: let me come back because it's just it's amazing. You
Speaker 1: spend the better part of a week going on long
Speaker 1: walks and talking about writing and literature and big ideas.
Speaker 1: It always makes me miss college and I feel like
Speaker 1: as an adult, there are very few opportunities to talk
Speaker 1: about ideas and writing and literature in spaces like this,
Speaker 1: So the trips are just amazing. This one, like I said,
Speaker 1: we'll be talking about Julia Child and her writing. You
Speaker 1: don't need to read anything before you show up. We'll
Speaker 1: just be you know, assigning certain letters and reading them
Speaker 1: out loud. But if you're interested in signing up, it's
Speaker 1: through common Ground. I'll link to it in the show description.
Speaker 1: I'm very, very excited about it. And also I might
Speaker 1: have mentioned this once or twice before, but I have
Speaker 1: a new book coming out in May. It's called The
Speaker 1: Arcane Arts. I co wrote it with a friend of
Speaker 1: mine who's also a brilliant writer, and we used the
Speaker 1: pseudonym SD coverly because.
Speaker 2: This book is a little sexy.
Speaker 1: It's a little different than my other books. It was very,
Speaker 1: very fun to write. It's a dark, academic, erotic thriller, romanticy.
Speaker 1: If any of those words are exciting to you, absolutely please.
Speaker 2: Please pre order the book.
Speaker 1: Just to be totally honest, pre orders are kind of
Speaker 1: the most important thing you could do to help an author.
Speaker 1: They tell a publisher that books are even worth just
Speaker 1: putting in bookstores. I'm so excited about this book being
Speaker 1: out in the world. I'm so excited for readers, and
Speaker 1: so if this is a book that you were interested in,
Speaker 1: I would ask you just please pre order it. The
Speaker 1: Arcane Arts. Thank you so much. Let's get into the
Speaker 1: episode Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and
Speaker 1: Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 1: On November twenty fourth, fourteen ninety four, the nobility of
Speaker 1: Florence gathered for the funeral of Count Giovanni Pico de
Speaker 1: la Mirandola, an aristocrat and philosopher. When he was alive,
Speaker 1: he was a dazzling figure. Historian Paul Strathorne described him
Speaker 1: as a quote peacock at six feet tall, always cloaked
Speaker 1: in the trendiest fine wool doublets, with long auburn hair
Speaker 1: down to his shoulders, and Pico had the intellect to
Speaker 1: match his looks. He could recite Dante's Divine Comedy backwards
Speaker 1: by heart. At the age of twenty, he had already
Speaker 1: mastered Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, an Chaldean, and he went
Speaker 1: on to write pioneering works a few humanist philosophy. But
Speaker 1: in early November, when he was just thirty one years old,
Speaker 1: Pico de la Marendola had suddenly fallen ill. He suffered
Speaker 1: in bed for two weeks, alternating between lucidity and delirium
Speaker 1: as he grew more and more fatigued. Pico's illness raised
Speaker 1: red flags across Europe. Even the King of France, Charles
Speaker 1: the Seventh, who had diplomatic tensions with many of Pico's allies,
Speaker 1: sent over his personal physicians to try and heal the philosopher,
Speaker 1: but by the time the physicians had arrived, it was
Speaker 1: too late. Pico was on his deathbed in a placid,
Speaker 1: contemplative mood.
Speaker 2: Quote, he asked all.
Speaker 1: His servants forgiveness if he had ever before that day
Speaker 1: offended any of them, Thomas Moore wrote in fifteen o five.
Speaker 1: During his life, Pico had indulged in the pleasures of
Speaker 1: his aristocratic intellectual upbringing, enjoying life outside of Florence living
Speaker 1: with a mistress, but he had always flirted with a
Speaker 1: more austere godly path, expressing interest in becoming a Dominican monk.
Speaker 1: In his final days, he gave all of his possessions
Speaker 1: to the monastery at San Marco, and he pleaded with
Speaker 1: his friend, the powerful Dominican friar Hirolamo Savonarola, to accept
Speaker 1: him into the order. Savonarola complied, laying out a Dominican
Speaker 1: habit over Pico's body before Pico died on November seventeen.
Speaker 1: His austere funeral a week later was in keeping with
Speaker 1: his late in life turn to God. Rather than celebrating
Speaker 1: his intellect or honoring his aristocratic lineage, Savonarola dwelled on
Speaker 1: pico salvation. Savonarola told the audience quote, the soul of
Speaker 1: Pico could not go to heaven at once it was
Speaker 1: subject to a time in the flames of purgatory for
Speaker 1: certain sins. Those sins he failed to name, but he
Speaker 1: reassured the audience that Pico had appeared to him in
Speaker 1: a dream, saying that he would expiate his sins in purgatory.
Speaker 1: Pico was buried in San Marco in his habit, next
Speaker 1: to his friend and collaborator, A Hillo Pulitziano, another Italian
Speaker 1: classical scholar in Florence, and oddly enough, Pulitziano had died
Speaker 1: just a few weeks earlier under similar conditions. Just like Pico,
Speaker 1: Pulitziano suffered from a mysterious acute illness that killed him quickly.
Speaker 1: Their deaths seemed so abrupt and untimely that some suspected
Speaker 1: foul play. After all, Pico and Poliziano had no shortage
Speaker 1: of enemies. The ensuing investigation into who killed Pico della Mirandola,
Speaker 1: if he had been killed at all, would last over
Speaker 1: five hundred years. I'm Danish forts and this is noble blood.
Speaker 1: When twenty one year old Pico dela Marendola arrived in
Speaker 1: the Florentine court in fourteen eighty four, he had no
Speaker 1: idea that he would soon be at the center of
Speaker 1: a political crisis. He was already a celebrated intellectual across Europe,
Speaker 1: famous for his work connecting Christianity, Judaism, and the ancient
Speaker 1: Greek philosophers. One of his mentors brought him back to
Speaker 1: the court of Lorenzo de Medici, the leader of the
Speaker 1: Republic of Florence and Medici Bank. While in Florence, Pico
Speaker 1: met Angelo Poliziano, who was the Medici court poet at
Speaker 1: the time. Politiciano was dazzled by Pico, but it seems
Speaker 1: that everyone in Florence was particularly by Pico's writings on
Speaker 1: the Greek philosophers. Lorenzo da Medici, Politziano, and other Florentine
Speaker 1: intellectuals had become enamored with the works of Plato. They
Speaker 1: were particularly interested in how Plato emphasized virtue, love, and
Speaker 1: individual dignity, suggesting that cultivating these qualities in the earthly
Speaker 1: world could lead to divine truths. One member of this group,
Speaker 1: Marsilio Ficino, coined the term Platonic love, a term Plato
Speaker 1: himself never used to describe the ideal bond between specifically
Speaker 1: male friends. The Medici intellectuals sharing poetry and talking about
Speaker 1: love couldn't have been more different from the dominant intellectual
Speaker 1: tradition in schools across Europe at this time, scholastic Aristotelianism,
Speaker 1: where scholars spent their days writing rigorous, logical proofs of
Speaker 1: Christian theology. While the Florentine set embraced Pico as one
Speaker 1: of their own, they didn't know that he was not
Speaker 1: as hostile to scholastic Aristotelianism as he may have seemed.
Speaker 1: In fourteen eighty five, Pico wrote in a letter that
Speaker 1: he had come to Florence not as a quote deserter
Speaker 1: of academic tradition, but rather quote as a spy. Pico
Speaker 1: didn't want to be pinned down to any particular intellectual school.
Speaker 1: Behind the Medichi crowds. Back, Pico met up with an
Speaker 1: old acquaintance, Gilimo Savonarola, a Dominican friar who hated the
Speaker 1: Platonic Humanists and the Medici court. Savonarola thought that the humanists'
Speaker 1: encouragement of cultivating virtue and philosophical contemplation on an individual
Speaker 1: level would turn people away from the Church. Pico was
Speaker 1: not just well versed in the classics, but also had
Speaker 1: a deep theological knowledge he was able to pull from
Speaker 1: obscure Jewish and Christian texts alike. Savonarola and Pico spent
Speaker 1: long hours at the monastery of San Marco quote piously philosophizing.
Speaker 2: While these philosophical.
Speaker 1: Differences may seem abstract or pedantic, they were slowly becoming
Speaker 1: more politically divisive. Savonarola had a cult like following for
Speaker 1: his sharp intellect and his commitment to ascetic life. One
Speaker 1: monk described that he had spent his nights weeping during
Speaker 1: the night long vigils and hours of f meditation, even
Speaker 1: with his eyes swollen from being up all night. He
Speaker 1: wrote quote, his teachings raised men's hearts above all human things.
Speaker 1: In Savonarola's weekly sermons across Florence, he railed against the
Speaker 1: Medici elite, arguing that the Mediici's sponsorship of Platonic philosophy,
Speaker 1: of Lavish festivals, and of classical art and poetry was
Speaker 1: evidence of the excesses of luxury and pagan moral decay.
Speaker 1: This struck a nerve Savonarola made the Neoplatonists seem elitist
Speaker 1: and out of touch, since the common people of Florence
Speaker 1: couldn't spend all day pursuing their own moral education, of course, not,
Speaker 1: They had to work. Worse, economic anxiety simmered underneath the
Speaker 1: Medicheese seeming abundance as taxes rows and wealth inequality intensified.
Speaker 1: Savonarola blamed the elite for this economic precarity, suggesting that
Speaker 1: God was punishing Florence for their sins and Pico was
Speaker 1: only making things harder for Lorenzo da Medici. In early
Speaker 1: fourteen eighty six, Pico had an affair with a young
Speaker 1: woman named Margarita. The problem was she already had a husband.
Speaker 1: When her husband died, her in laws compelled her to
Speaker 1: remarry a local tax official who was a distant relative
Speaker 1: of Lorenzo da Medici's. In May, Pico and twenty armed
Speaker 1: men set out towards Margherita's hometown, Arezzo, forty miles outside
Speaker 1: of Florence. They met up with Margarita at the city
Speaker 1: gate and.
Speaker 2: Rode off together.
Speaker 1: The local authorities chased them down, and a battle ensuite,
Speaker 1: killing fifteen men. Pico, his secretary, and Margherita all managed
Speaker 1: to escape, but another village detained them and threw them
Speaker 1: in prison. Lorenzo de Medici was not happy to have
Speaker 1: to bail Pico out of prison, especially since Pico had
Speaker 1: humiliated Margherita's fiancee, who was a member after all, of
Speaker 1: the Medici family. Lorenzo declared that Margherita had not been
Speaker 1: unfaithful and should be returned to her husband, and he
Speaker 1: ordered Pico to be released. He blamed the entire thing
Speaker 1: on Pico's secretary, but an even bigger scandal was yet
Speaker 1: to come. Pico had nearly completed his intellectual opus, nine
Speaker 1: hundred theses that he claimed answered every question in philosophy
Speaker 1: and theology. He combined ancient Egyptian, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew
Speaker 1: sources in in order to create a universal system of beliefs.
Speaker 1: Pico even mined alchemy, astrology, and mysticism for metaphysical truths
Speaker 1: alongside the traditional teachings of the Bible. He was particularly
Speaker 1: interested in the Jewish mysticism of the Kabbalah, writing quote,
Speaker 1: no science affords better evidence of Christ's divinity than magic
Speaker 1: and Kabbalistic practices. Pico arrived in Rome in November fourteen
Speaker 1: eighty six to publish his nine hundred theses and conduct
Speaker 1: a public debate, defending his work against any possible argument.
Speaker 1: He assumed that his work would be uncontroversial, maintaining that
Speaker 1: everything he had written would be quote approved by the
Speaker 1: Catholic Church and her chief Pastor, Innocent the Eighth end quote.
Speaker 1: As it turns out, Pope Innocent the Eighth was not
Speaker 1: a fan of Pico's project. He thought that Pico's unquestioning
Speaker 1: citations of the Kabbalah, which most Christians at the time
Speaker 1: considered heresy, was a direct threat to the Church and
Speaker 1: a challenge to his authority. Pope Innocent the Eighth shut
Speaker 1: down Pico's proposed public debate and decided that his nine
Speaker 1: hundred theses were quote heretical, rash, and likely to give
Speaker 1: scandal to the faithful. Pico was determined to defend himself,
Speaker 1: writing an apologia to back up his arguments and dedicating
Speaker 1: it to Lorenzo de Medici. But Pico's apologia only made
Speaker 1: things worse. In it, he proposed a reading of the
Speaker 1: Bible which suggested that humans had free will to pursue
Speaker 1: the lives of their choosing, which stood in direct contrast
Speaker 1: to the Church's insistence at the time that God was
Speaker 1: the ultimate authority. Pico escaped Rome and fled to France,
Speaker 1: and Innocent the Eighth called for his arrest. Authorities in
Speaker 1: France detained Pico for heresy and threw him in prison. Worse,
Speaker 1: it's unclear whether Pico had asked Lorenzo de Medici's permission
Speaker 1: to dedicate his apology to him, and so Lorenzo had
Speaker 1: been dragged into the scandal as well, possibly against his will.
Speaker 1: An international incident involving the Pope. Lorenzo now had to
Speaker 1: choose whether to let his friend Pico suffer the heresy charges,
Speaker 1: serious charges, since a common punishment for heretics was to
Speaker 1: burn them at the stake, or to save Pico and
Speaker 1: put his own reputation at risk. After days of deliberation,
Speaker 1: Lorenzo de Medici decided to try and rescue Pico. While
Speaker 1: this was diplomatically tricky, his friendship with Pope Innocent and
Speaker 1: the French regent slightly improved his chances. Lorenzo requested that
Speaker 1: Pico be freed, and both Pope Innocent the Eighth and
Speaker 1: the French royalty agreed. Lorenzo brought Pico back to Florence
Speaker 1: and set him up at a villa just north of
Speaker 1: the city. While innocent didn't prosecute Pico, he wasn't totally
Speaker 1: in the clear. The Pope refused to pardon Pico. Lorenzo
Speaker 1: was now worried that the rest of his intellectual squad
Speaker 1: of Neoplatonists could be convicted of heresy as well. Lorenzo
Speaker 1: realized he could be targeted by the Vatican for his irreverent,
Speaker 1: extravagant festivals and what historian Paul Strathen called quote his
Speaker 1: lax attitudes towards religion. Lorenzo asked Pico for advice. Pico
Speaker 1: suggested that he hire his old friend Savonarola to teach
Speaker 1: his son, Giovanni, which would signal to the Church that
Speaker 1: he Lorenzo, was taking Catholicism more seriously. In fourteen ninety,
Speaker 1: Savonarola agreed to the job, moving from Bologna back to
Speaker 1: the monastery in San Marco. After Pico's run in with
Speaker 1: the Church, he was quote somewhat beaten, as Savonarola put it.
Speaker 1: At the time, Savonarola convinced him to abandon his nine
Speaker 1: hundred theses and pursue a more godly life. Pico had
Speaker 1: given away his villa at Mirindola and flirted with joining
Speaker 1: in the footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi, walking barefoot
Speaker 1: across Italy. He even considered joining the Dominican Order of
Speaker 1: San Marco. But even as he spent hours our day
Speaker 1: arguing with Savonarola about theology, he couldn't quite bring himself
Speaker 1: to renounce his intellectual and worldly pleasures. But while Pico
Speaker 1: was still trying to endear himself to both Savonarola and
Speaker 1: Lorenzo de Medici, simultaneously their feud had intensified. Lorenzo had
Speaker 1: supported a rival of Savonarola's fra Mariano, in giving a
Speaker 1: sermon taking Savonarola down. Lorenzo Pulitziano, the poet, Pico, and
Speaker 1: the rest of the Medici intellectual scene attended that fateful
Speaker 1: sermon as Mariano lambasted Savonarola for being a false prophet
Speaker 1: aiming to stir the people of Florence into a rebellion.
Speaker 1: But Mariano took things a little too far, mocking Savonarola's accent,
Speaker 1: calling him quote a worm, a snake, a clown. He
Speaker 1: was ignorant of the Bible and an inept priest who
Speaker 1: was not even capable of conducting a mass in proper
Speaker 1: Latin end quote. Pico, Lorenzo and Politziano and the rest
Speaker 1: of the congregation were horrified at the vitriol. Three days later, Pico, Politziano,
Speaker 1: Lorenzo de Medici, and the other Florentine congregants reconvened to
Speaker 1: hear Savonarola's response. Unlike Mariano, Savonarola was calm and collected.
Speaker 1: He complimented Mariano's biblical interpretations and emphasized that they had
Speaker 1: been cordial in the past. He alleged that someone intervened
Speaker 1: and convinced Mariano to quote change his mind and attack him.
Speaker 1: Even though Savonarola kept things vague, everyone knew this culprit
Speaker 1: he was alluding to who had changed Mariano's mind and
Speaker 1: caused him to att attack Savonarola well Lorenzo de Medici.
Speaker 1: Mariano was so devastated by his defeat in the popular
Speaker 1: forum that he fled to Rome. Meanwhile, Savonarola had never
Speaker 1: been more popular. He was elected prior to the monastery
Speaker 1: of San Marco because the Medici family built San Marco
Speaker 1: and even referred to it as their monastery. The newly
Speaker 1: elected Friar was expected to pay a visit to the
Speaker 1: Medici Palazzo, but Savonarola bulked at that request, saying to
Speaker 1: his fellow monks, quote, who made me prior God or Lorenzo.
Speaker 1: The monks responded God, and Savonarola said, quote, thus it
Speaker 1: is the Lord God who I will think, and he
Speaker 1: returned to his cell. Even when citizens and allies like
Speaker 1: Pico warned him about making such a powerful enemy, Savonarola
Speaker 1: refused to back down. He said, quote, although I am
Speaker 1: a mere stranger to this city, Lorenzo is the most
Speaker 1: powerful man in Florence. It is I who will remain here,
Speaker 1: and he who will depart. He will be gone long
Speaker 1: before me. The prophecy was well timed. Lorenzo's health had
Speaker 1: been failing as he suffered from congenital gout that left
Speaker 1: him weak and understandably cranky. It continued to worsen over
Speaker 1: the rest of the year, and he retired to a
Speaker 1: villa outside of Florence to convalesce. By spring of fourteen
Speaker 1: ninety two, it seemed the end was near. On April fifth,
Speaker 1: two of Florence's Lions, the city's mascots, had mauled each
Speaker 1: other to death in their cave, and later that night,
Speaker 1: a lightning bolt struck the Florence Cathedral, causing pieces of
Speaker 1: marble to call around the building. These events seemed like
Speaker 1: catastrophic omens, and even Lorenzo was not immune from superstition.
Speaker 1: When he heard of the cathedral's collapse, he said, it means.
Speaker 2: That I shall die.
Speaker 1: On his deathbed, Lorenzo de Medici had a surprising visitor, Savonarola.
Speaker 1: While it's unclear while Lorenzo had invited his frenemy over
Speaker 1: and even less clear why Savonarola accepted it, some historians
Speaker 1: suggest that Pico della Mirandola may have leveraged his friendship
Speaker 1: with both of them to arrange the meeting. Pico and
Speaker 1: his friend, the poet Politziano, were there for this fateful meeting.
Speaker 1: Politziano recalled that Savonarola asked him if he had faith
Speaker 1: in God and would be willing to renounce his ill
Speaker 1: gotten wealth and live a blameless life. Lorenzo Dope said yes.
Speaker 1: According to rumor, Lorenzo told Savonarola that his son Piero
Speaker 1: would rule over Florence after his death and begged Savonarola
Speaker 1: not to preach against him, Savonarola reluctantly agreed. At the
Speaker 1: end of his visit Wright, as Savonarola turned towards the
Speaker 1: door to leave, Lorenzo asked him to give him his benediction.
Speaker 2: And he did.
Speaker 1: Shortly thereafter, on April eighth, fourteen ninety two, Lorenzo died.
Speaker 1: Piero took over Florence, and true to his words, Savanarola
Speaker 1: did not undermine him in his sermons. But Savanarola considered
Speaker 1: capitalizing on the growing political instability for his own aims.
Speaker 1: Florence had fallen into financial chaos late in his life,
Speaker 1: Lorenzo attempted to increase taxes, a hugely unpopular mine move
Speaker 1: given the gulf between the Medichi's fabulous wealth and the
Speaker 1: wide spread poverty of the rest of the population. At
Speaker 1: the time, around thirty percent of the taxable population, which
Speaker 1: was almost ten thousand people, were so impoverished that they
Speaker 1: paid no tax at all, while fifty percent of the
Speaker 1: working population paid little more than a flora in each
Speaker 1: Savanarola bulked at the luxury of the Medichi lifestyle and
Speaker 1: wanted to bring a spirit of austerity to Florence. Pico
Speaker 1: was not on the same page. His heresy charges had
Speaker 1: been all but forgotten, so he returned to writing and
Speaker 1: even lived with a mistress, an evident sin. Even though
Speaker 1: some sources suggest that Savonarola knew about Pico's sex life,
Speaker 1: contrary to his doctrinaire and hard headed nature, it seems
Speaker 1: that Savonarola just looked the other way when it came
Speaker 1: to his friend. Savonarola wanted to use his brilliant friend
Speaker 1: Pico to spread his theological agenda. He had Pico write
Speaker 1: in anti astrology, screed with a jab that astrologers were
Speaker 1: so inept that they couldn't even predict the weather. Bullied
Speaker 1: by the Church and swayed by Savonarola, Pico had abandoned
Speaker 1: his more forward thinking Renaissance humanism and instead started promoting
Speaker 1: strict obedience to God's authority. Meanwhile, in Milan, a Duke
Speaker 1: Lorenzo Sforza was suffering a power struggle of his own
Speaker 1: as he fought with various aristocrats for control of the region.
Speaker 1: Sforza asked for support from Charles the Eighth, the new
Speaker 1: young king of France and at that time the most
Speaker 1: powerful nation in Europe. In return, Sforza promised to back
Speaker 1: Charles if he chose to take control of Naples. Because
Speaker 1: Charles's grandmother's family had had control over the Napalese territory
Speaker 1: in twelve sixty six, he believed that Naples rightfully belonged
Speaker 1: to him. In fourteen ninety four, the King of Naples died,
Speaker 1: giving Charles the perfect opportunity to invade. With Sforza's backing,
Speaker 1: he led his army into Milan, aiming to take.
Speaker 2: Naples by force.
Speaker 1: Piero de Medici had initially decided to use Florence's resources
Speaker 1: to defend Naples against Charles, but Piero's reputation was beginning
Speaker 1: to fall apart. Piero had become infamous for being hot headed, arrogant, entitled,
Speaker 1: and dumb. Even his own late father had called him
Speaker 1: a fool. Various Florentine officials contrasted Piero with his cousin
Speaker 1: apologies another Lorenzo de Medici, who was more moderate and
Speaker 1: even keeled, deeply embedded in civic institutions and educated in
Speaker 1: humanist philosophy. This cousin, Lorenzo, had been in contact with
Speaker 1: the French army and promised to offer them safe passage.
Speaker 1: Even if Piero refused, and he even agreed to back
Speaker 1: Charles the Eighth's invasion financially, Piero, feeling that he had
Speaker 1: no choice because he was being undermined and possibly usurped
Speaker 1: by his cousin, decided to tacitly allow the invasion. At
Speaker 1: the end of August fourteen ninety four, Charles the Eighth
Speaker 1: and an army of forty thousand marched into Tuscany. By
Speaker 1: September twenty first, the citizens of Florence were terrified about
Speaker 1: the future of their city. Hundreds of people, including Picodela Marendola,
Speaker 1: crowded into the cathedral to hear Savonarola's latest sermon. While
Speaker 1: he never made a direct attack on Piero, Savonarola had
Speaker 1: apocalyptic warnings about Florence's future. He castigated the gamblers, blasphemers,
Speaker 1: and sodomites that would lead to Florence's downfall, saying that
Speaker 1: the quote scourge of God had arrived. Upon hearing those words,
Speaker 1: Pico della Mirandola began to shake as the rest of
Speaker 1: the crowd wept and moaned in hysterics. Just three days
Speaker 1: after that apocalyptic sermon, one of Pico Mirandola's closest friends,
Speaker 1: the poet and Glo Politziano died. He had suffered a
Speaker 1: mysterious illness that took his life in just two weeks.
Speaker 1: Pico had no idea how soon his own death would follow.
Speaker 1: While Poliziano's sudden death would normally have raised suspicions, the
Speaker 1: population of Florence was far too preoccupied with a potential
Speaker 1: French invasion to delve into an investigation.
Speaker 2: About the death of a poet.
Speaker 1: By the end of September fourteen ninety four, Piero felt trapped.
Speaker 1: Charles the Eighth's vast army was moving quickly, with advanced
Speaker 1: artillery that could easily destroy Florence's meager defenses. Moreover, all
Speaker 1: of Florence's allies were aligned with Charles the Eighth, but
Speaker 1: capitulating to the French would humiliate Florence and throw the
Speaker 1: city into an even deeper crisis. The end of October,
Speaker 1: Piero went to Charles's camp in Tuscany to negotiate with him,
Speaker 1: using the same diplomatic tactics that his father had pioneered.
Speaker 1: Figured that he could allow the French army to pass
Speaker 1: through Florence in the short term and regain control over
Speaker 1: the city after the fact. But he arrived at the
Speaker 1: camp realizing he was at a huge disadvantage. He had
Speaker 1: gone alone, with no army or political muscle to back
Speaker 1: him up. Charles had no interest in negotiating with Piero,
Speaker 1: regarding him as a quote nothing. According to a contemporary,
Speaker 1: he told Piero that he needed the immediate surrender of
Speaker 1: the fortresses surrounding Florence for as long as he wanted. Piero,
Speaker 1: in a shock, agreed immediately and even offered the king
Speaker 1: two hundred thousand florins. When the population of Florence heard
Speaker 1: what happened, they were incensed. Piero's conduct at that meeting
Speaker 1: seemed to confirm the worst rumors about him. He acted
Speaker 1: rashly and unilaterally, capitulating to Charles's dedays without consulting any
Speaker 1: of his advisers. Even though Florence was ostensibly a republic,
Speaker 1: Piero was acting more like a dictator. Piero finally returned
Speaker 1: to Florence on November eighth. The city was silent, with
Speaker 1: no celebrations welcoming him home. He approached the Piazza della Signora,
Speaker 1: which housed the Florentine government, but the main door was
Speaker 1: slammed in his face. An official shouted at him that
Speaker 1: he could only enter by way of the sportello, the
Speaker 1: tiny side gate intended for servants and delivery boys. As
Speaker 1: Piero contemplated what to do, the city's bell rang out,
Speaker 1: the traditional call alerting citizens to an emergency. A crowd
Speaker 1: gathered in the piazza. At first heckling Piero and pelting
Speaker 1: him with trash and stones. The mob chased him and
Speaker 1: his men threw the city back to the Palazzo Medici.
Speaker 1: The next day, Piero fled the city. Over the next week,
Speaker 1: the city was in chaos. Anticipating the French army's invasion.
Speaker 1: Mobs broke into the palazzo and burned down registry files
Speaker 1: to clear their debts, a real fight club move. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Pico de la Mirindola had fallen suddenly ill, just like
Speaker 1: his late friend Politziano. While he continued to attend his
Speaker 1: friend Savenarola's increasingly grim and over the top sermons, Pico
Speaker 1: had been feverish and weak. Finally, on November seventeen, he
Speaker 1: died at age thirty one. The French marched into Florence
Speaker 1: that very day, occupying the city without a fight. The
Speaker 1: army sacked Florence and left the city in ruins as
Speaker 1: it continued.
Speaker 2: On to Naples.
Speaker 1: Pico and Poliziano's deaths seemed to signal the end of
Speaker 1: the Medici Era and the Renaissance humanism that had flourished.
Speaker 1: Though Savonarola buried the two men together in San Marco,
Speaker 1: he treated their deaths slightly differently. In his sermons, he
Speaker 1: portrayed Pico de la Mirendola as a devout Christian and
Speaker 1: a symbol of the power of repentance. He emphasized that
Speaker 1: at the end of his life, Pico had renounced his
Speaker 1: philosophical heresies and joined the Dominican Order. While this was
Speaker 1: technically true, Pico's religious commitments were a bit of wishful
Speaker 1: thinking on Savonarola's part. Most historians interpret this late in
Speaker 1: life conversion as a last minute attempt to get into
Speaker 1: heaven and probably wouldn't have occurred if Pico wasn't on
Speaker 1: his deathbed. In contrasts, Savanarola said nothing about Politziano. Savonarola
Speaker 1: considered Politziano a friend and had been deeply affected by
Speaker 1: his death, but the poet was a more controversial figure
Speaker 1: than Pico was. Unlike the distant and reclusive Pico, Politziano
Speaker 1: was known to the public as a teacher and was
Speaker 1: more closely associated with Piero di Medici, since he remained
Speaker 1: on the Medici payroll long after Lorenzo, the first original
Speaker 1: Lorenzo's death. Moreover, Pico's work was dense and difficult to access,
Speaker 1: given that his nine hundred theses were banned by the church,
Speaker 1: while Politziano's poetry, praising the beauty of young boys in
Speaker 1: the classical style, was accessible and widely available to the public.
Speaker 1: His poetry and his role as a teacher to the
Speaker 1: elite sparked rumors that he was sleeping with his male students.
Speaker 2: He was even.
Speaker 1: Arrested on charges of sodomy before he died, but he
Speaker 1: didn't end up being charged. One contemporary said that Politiano
Speaker 1: was quote the object of as much infamy and public
Speaker 1: vituperation as it is possible for a man to attract.
Speaker 1: Their different reputations meant that even though Pico and Poliziano
Speaker 1: were friends who died under almost exactly the same circumstances
Speaker 1: within weeks of each other, historians viewed their deaths as unrelated.
Speaker 1: In the late fifteenth century, pro Savonarola writers interpreted Pico's
Speaker 1: death as an untimely tragedy, while leaving out Politziano entirely.
Speaker 1: Just as Savonarola had. They interpreted these deaths as divine judgments,
Speaker 1: God's punishment for Florence's sins, and after Savanna Arroola's death
Speaker 1: in fourteen ninety eight, who were against him took almost
Speaker 1: the opposite perspective, reclaiming Pico as a humanist rather than
Speaker 1: a converted Christian, rather than a divine punishment. His death
Speaker 1: was a tragic symbol of Florence's forward looking intellectual culture
Speaker 1: during the Medici era that was being destroyed by the
Speaker 1: political forces of the era. It wasn't until the fifteen
Speaker 1: eighties that more scandalous rumors about Politziano's death emerged. Early
Speaker 1: sixteenth century clerical writers linked Politziano's death with the rumors
Speaker 1: about his homosexuality, suggesting that his life of sin and
Speaker 1: excess led to his demise as syphilis spread throughout Europe.
Speaker 1: Clerical historians in the fifteen eighties interpreted this implication literally,
Speaker 1: suggesting that maybe Politziano had died of syphilis. While some
Speaker 1: poisoning speculations floated around in the years after Pico's death,
Speaker 1: it wasn't until the mid sixteenth century that historians made
Speaker 1: an explicit allegation that Pico was murdered. These writers tended
Speaker 1: to be anti Savonarola and accused Savonarola's most extreme followers
Speaker 1: of assassinating Pico. The claim was that these religious fanatics,
Speaker 1: unlike Savonarola himself, saw Pico as a dangerous heretic who
Speaker 1: could undermine Savonarola's religious authority. On the other hand, if
Speaker 1: Pico happened to die, it would confirm Savonarola's apocalyptic premonitions,
Speaker 1: shoring up his control over the city. Speculation swirled about
Speaker 1: both Pico and Poliziano's deaths until two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: when scientists exhumed both of their bodies to study the remains.
Speaker 1: They found high levels of arsenic, mercury, and lead in
Speaker 1: their bones, suggesting that they may have been poisoned. That said,
Speaker 1: Pico had higher levels of arsenic in his system than
Speaker 1: Pulitziano did, and arsenic was also used as a medical treatment,
Speaker 1: leaving it unclear whether they had been poisoned, or whether
Speaker 1: they were trying to treat an already existing illness. Still,
Speaker 1: this new evidence, emerging over five hundred years after they
Speaker 1: had died, linking Pico and Poliziano's death for the first
Speaker 1: time might have confirmed a potential conspiracy. Thinking had changed
Speaker 1: from the sixteenth century, so modern historians set aside their
Speaker 1: suspicions that Savonarola influenced religious fanatics had poisoned Pico. They
Speaker 1: figured that those older historians had blamed the religious devotees
Speaker 1: out of their own biases and contempt for the preacher,
Speaker 1: rather than based in any actual evidence. Moreover, Savenarola's followers
Speaker 1: had a deep respect for Pico and tended to go
Speaker 1: after their enemies publicly, making a secret poisoning unlikely. Instead,
Speaker 1: some historians turned their blame to Piero de Medici, The
Speaker 1: head of the Italian National Cultural Committee that commissioned the exhumation, said, quote,
Speaker 1: combining the results of our analysis with historical documents which
Speaker 1: have recently come to light, it seems Piero was the
Speaker 1: most likely culprit for the assassination order. The committee had
Speaker 1: added quote, it was probably Pico's secretary who administered the
Speaker 1: poison In fact, the secretary admitted later that he had
Speaker 1: given Pico medicine because he was sick. The head of
Speaker 1: the committee argued that Piero had paid off the secretary
Speaker 1: to kill Pico because Pico had chosen to plead the
Speaker 1: cause of his nemesis Savonarola. It's not clear that this
Speaker 1: allegation has a ton of evidence behind it. That new
Speaker 1: historical document that they mentioned was the diary of a
Speaker 1: Venetian historian from fourteen ninety six, a few years after
Speaker 1: Pico's death. By then, Savonarola had taken control over Florence
Speaker 1: while the Medicheese were in exile. Still, Savonarola worried that
Speaker 1: the Medicheese would oust him, and so he arrested and
Speaker 1: executed nobles whom he suspected were still aligned with the Medichese.
Speaker 1: One of the men he interrogated was Pico's secretary. The secretary, Cristoforo,
Speaker 1: confessed that he had quote hastened the death of his
Speaker 1: master by poisoning. But this Venetian diarist was not a
Speaker 1: witness to the confession, so this was just a second
Speaker 1: hand rumor. Moreover, one would think that such a scandalous
Speaker 1: admission would have made quite the splash in Florence at
Speaker 1: the time, but no other contemporary sources mention it. This
Speaker 1: story obviously would have only helped Savonarola's case. He could
Speaker 1: have used it to convince the public that the Medicis
Speaker 1: were conspiring against him they had paid his friend's secretary
Speaker 1: to murder him. Furthermore, it seems that this newly discovered
Speaker 1: historical document was not so new. After all, the Venetian
Speaker 1: Diary had been in print for centuries, and the theory
Speaker 1: that Piero de Medici had hired Christoforo to kill Pico
Speaker 1: had been circulating in the historic record since at least
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety eight. In any case, as one Italian historian,
Speaker 1: Giolo Bussi put it quote, Pico's death is destined to
Speaker 1: remain shrouded in mystery. That's all for the story of
Speaker 1: Pico della Mirandola, but stick around to hear a bit
Speaker 1: about the rumored love affair between Pico, Lorenzo de Medici,
Speaker 1: and Politziano. We mentioned earlier in this episode that Politziano
Speaker 1: had been rumored to have gay affairs with his students,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't just Politziano Rumors of bisexuality followed Lorenzo
Speaker 1: de Medici and Pico della Mirandola as well. Some even
Speaker 1: think that Pico and Politziano were a couple. Politziano wrote
Speaker 1: Pico a poem that said Pico was quote a hero
Speaker 1: on whom nature had lavished all the endowments, both of
Speaker 1: body and mind. Historian Paul Strathorne wrote that Pico and
Speaker 1: Lorenzo were certainly bisexual, suggesting that this group of neoplatonist
Speaker 1: intellectuals may have been more than m platonic friends. There
Speaker 1: was certainly a widespread culture of male homosexuality in Florence.
Speaker 1: According to the historian Michael Rock, in Florence, every year
Speaker 1: during the last four decades of the fifteenth century, an
Speaker 1: average of some four hundred people were implicated and fifty
Speaker 1: five to sixty condemned for sodomy. It's worth pointing out
Speaker 1: that accusations of sodomy were effective political tools that someone
Speaker 1: could use to ruin an enemy's reputation. All of that said,
Speaker 1: there isn't a lot of evidence to suggest that Pico, Lorenzo,
Speaker 1: or Poliziano were involved with each other. Pico, Lorenzo, and
Speaker 1: Politziano saw open expressions of love and admiration as a
Speaker 1: classical tradition and a natural extension of their platonic ideals,
Speaker 1: but that argument didn't really land with the Church. Many
Speaker 1: of Pico's contemporaries were suspicious of close affectionate relationships between
Speaker 1: male friends, Unlike Politziano, Rumors about Lorenzo and Pico's sexuality
Speaker 1: didn't emerge until the twentieth century. Frustrated with the decadence
Speaker 1: of the Mediici era, many early Catholic historians suggested that
Speaker 1: the vibe of the Mediici court was too erotically permissive.
Speaker 1: Strathearn's assertion that Pico and Lorenzo were quote certainly bisexual
Speaker 1: is an outlier, as few other historians have speculated about
Speaker 1: their sexuality outside of the general cultural context, but you
Speaker 1: never know. Nobel Blood is a production of iHeart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is
Speaker 1: hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research
Speaker 1: by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy hit and Julia Milani.
Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with
Speaker 1: supervising producer rima il KLi and executive producers Aaron Mankey,
Speaker 1: Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.