WEBVTT - The Men Who Would Kill the Medici, Part 1 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:05.040 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:12.000 and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised, Hey, this 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:15.760 is Danish sports. Quick bit of housekeeping just before we 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:20.079 get started. We are back with Rain on Me on 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:25.960 the Patreon. You asked, we answered, We being me and Caramadankua, 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:30.280 my friend and television writer extraordinaire, are going through every 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:35.000 episode of the CW series Rain. I say about Mary, 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.720 Queen of Scots, but very loosely about Mary Queen of 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.760 Scots and having a lot of fun. 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The link 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.240 is in the bio of my instagram Danish Schwartz with 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.480 three z's on Instagram, and I'll also put it in 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:32.640 the show notes an episode description. Okay, let's get started. 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.000 The two men in front of him were so excited, 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:49.520 so passionate, that it was making Giovanni Battista, Count of 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:55.240 monte Seco nervous. Monte Seco was a career soldier, a 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:59.480 practical man, a captain who actually worked for one of 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.920 the men in front of him, Gilimo Riario. There were 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.320 three of them that day, meeting in Rome. Monte Seco 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.960 had been invited over to the fine house of the 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:17.240 Archbishop Francesco Salviati, where Geralimo and Salviati had sat the 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:23.160 captain down and told him something extraordinary. They were planning 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:29.560 an overthrowing Lorenzo the Magnificent in Florence. With the help 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:35.400 of another conspirator, Francisco de Pazzi. They would assassinate both 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:40.600 Lorenzo and his brother and claim the city, freeing it 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:46.680 from the tyranny of its Medici overlords. Girolimo had rightly 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.720 recognized that for what they were planning, they would need 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:55.799 military expertise, which is why they brought Montesecco into the fold. 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:00.240 But the thing about a lifetime spent as a military 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:04.880 man was that monte Seco knew a hair brained scheme. 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:09.480 When he heard it, monte Seco brought up his concerns, 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:13.840 you know, he said, from what I've heard, Lorenzo the 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:20.920 Magnificent is pretty beloved in Florence. Salviati and Girolimo both scoffed. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.920 You've never been to Florence, they said, trust us, no 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.440 matter what you've heard on the ground, things are different. 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:35.160 Salviati was from an old Florentine family, and it was 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:39.480 true monte Seco had never been to Florence. Maybe they 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:43.880 were right, after all, from what they said, the conspiracy 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:49.640 was happening in coordination with another old Florentine family, the Pazzis. 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:55.320 The Pazzis were even older than the Medicis. Still, monte 0:03:55.320 --> 0:04:00.720 Seco was unconvinced. This was the fourteen seventies, and so 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.280 he had, of course not seen the twenty first century 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.960 television program The Wire. He had never heard the phrase, 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.520 if you come at the King, you best not miss. 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:17.920 But still he surely understood the sentiment. The Medici were 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:23.080 powerful once a humble banking family that had extended their 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:29.280 tendrils throughout central Italy and beyond. Lorenzo, their patriarch at 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:34.240 this point, was a celebrated humanist and poet who kept 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:39.000 the government of Florence in his back pocket while bankrolling 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:44.800 universities and promoting local artists. Yes, he was the single 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.919 power in what was supposed to be a republic, but 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.560 there was a reason the Medici had become so powerful 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:57.280 in the first place. Lorenzo was good at making friends 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:02.320 and allies, for better or for worse. He had Florence 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:07.000 wrapped around his finger, and Montesecco was well aware that 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:10.560 if they tried to take him down and failed, they 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:15.360 would be staring down a grisly death. The stakes in 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:21.280 this game were win or be destroyed. Monteseco wanted to 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.680 be sure he was on the winning side, or at 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.320 least a side with a fighting chance. If they were 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.760 going to come for a king, he wanted to make 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.800 sure that they had a king behind them. He turned 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:41.360 to Geralimo, his boss. What does your uncle say about this, 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:47.599 he asked. Geralimo smiled, Let's do our next meeting at 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:53.560 his place, and so that was how Monteseco found himself 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:58.599 inside the Papal Palace, surrounded by a thousand years of 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:03.320 finery and a cum related wealth, Sitting down with Pope 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:08.880 Sixtus the Fourth. The Pope began the meeting, recounting all 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.320 of the many wrongs that Lorenzo de Medici had done 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.920 to them, the threat that he posed to them, their family. 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:21.119 The papal states Italy as a whole, but Monticeco didn't 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.280 need to know the Pope's philosophical position on the Medici. 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.719 He needed to know if he the Pope was sanctioning 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:35.120 his nephew's bloody plan. Interrupting the Pope as he waxed 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:39.600 poetic about how much better Italy would be without Lorenzo's tyranny, 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:45.440 Monticeco said, Holy Father, it is difficult to execute such 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:50.680 an intention without the death of Lorenzo and Giuliano and 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:56.080 several others. Perhaps. The Pope replied, it is not my 0:06:56.279 --> 0:07:00.240 office to cause the death of a man. Lorenzo has 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:04.680 behaved unworthily and badly towards us, but I will not 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.880 hear of his death, though I wish for a revolution 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.679 in the state. Now it was Jeralimo's turn to speak 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:17.520 to his uncle. Will do our best that no one 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:22.160 fall victim, he said, and this next part I'll paraphrase, 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:27.680 but if it did, you know, end up being an assassination, 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:34.080 your Holiness would pardon whoever did it. Right. The Pope's 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:39.480 reply here is fascinating, a masterclass in saying everything that 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.560 needed to be said without actually saying it. Quote. I 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:49.160 will have no one die, but only the government overthrown. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:53.000 I wish this revolution to proceed in Florence and the 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:56.280 government to be taken out of the hand of Lorenzo, 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:00.160 for he is a violent and bad man who pays 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.720 no regard to us. If you were expelled, we could 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.120 do with the republic as it seemed best, and that 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:12.440 would be very pleasing to us. End quote. The men 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:17.240 were satisfied, They thanked the Pope, maybe asked about the 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:21.480 progress on the new Sistine Chapel he was building, and 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:26.360 left Monte Seco. The grizzled soldier, who had been on 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:31.560 the fence about the whole endeavor, was finally convinced he 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:38.400 would join Geralimo Salviati and Francesco Pazzi in their assassination plot, 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:43.520 satisfied that they were in fact acting on behalf of 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:48.560 the Pope, or with the Pope's approval. Murder is wrong, 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.880 of course, but nothing is really a sin if it's 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:57.160 endorsed by the Pope. If you heard the Pope's statement 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.240 and thought, well, wait a minute, he wasn't actually saying 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:05.160 that they should murder Lorenzo de Medici, this is a 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:10.760 classic case of written words not really communicating everything that 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:15.080 the words meant at the time. Sixtus was not a 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:20.840 naive man. He was cunning and intelligent, surely not stupid 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.679 enough to believe that there could be revolution in Florence 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:29.239 that didn't involve the death of the Medici brothers Lorenzo 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:35.040 and Giuliano and Monteeseco was a practical man who had 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:39.640 needed the Pope's go ahead before joining the conspiracy. The 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.480 fact that he left that meeting fully on board is 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:47.760 the historical context clue. We need to understand that when 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.480 the Pope said, of course, I can't condone the bloodshed, 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:54.960 but those Medici really need to go, what he was 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:59.640 really saying was do what you have to do. It 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.920 was a statement delivered with a wink. The Pope was 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:08.280 not only aware but in full support of their mission. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.600 Even if he said he hoped it wouldn't be too 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:16.920 bloody in the end, regardless of the Pope's warning, it 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:21.760 would be. This attempt to assassinate two men would lead 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:26.040 to more than eighty deaths. Bodies would swing from the 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:30.080 Palazzo Vecchio in the main square of Florence. Corpses would 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:34.800 be dismembered and thrown throughout the city. What history now 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:40.240 knows as the Pazzi Conspiracy would become a gruesome spectacle, 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:45.079 weeks of bloodshed that would eventually give rise to the 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:50.320 entire city government being excommunicated and Florence itself placed under 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:55.000 papal interdict. But that would all come later. For now, 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:59.559 there was just a trio of passionate men, so indignant 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.800 at the abuses of Lorenzo de Medici that they had 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:07.160 worked themselves into a fervor until they convinced themselves that 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:12.400 killing him was the only possible course of action. The 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:17.480 reasons why their petty grievances boiled into bloodlust are fascinating. 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:23.000 The actual assassination attempt, which would be in the Cathedral 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:27.800 of Florence under Bruno Leeschi's famous dome during Sunday mass, 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:32.920 would make this conspiracy the stuff of legend. They would 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:37.000 come for the king, their souls be damned, and when 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:41.720 spoiler alert they did in fact miss, it would lead 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:47.959 to more destruction than they could have possibly imagined. I'm 0:11:48.040 --> 0:12:04.400 Danish Schwartz, and this is noble blood. I could spend 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.040 a few minutes here describing the government system of Florence 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.160 in the fifteenth century. I could tell you about how 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.800 it was a republic run by a council of nine 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:18.079 men called the Signoria, with representatives from the major guilds 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.720 of the city, and then more councils would be called 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.960 into service should the need arise. I could talk about 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.360 term length, about how each member of the government was chosen. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.920 I could, but that would be a waste of both 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:34.600 of our time. For most of the second half of 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:40.000 the fifteenth century, the government was one man Florence was 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:46.160 Lorenzo de Medici. The Medici family was not particularly old 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:51.560 or noble, but over generations of building banking power, they 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:57.480 became the undisputed heart of Florentine politics and culture. It 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.959 had been Lorenzo's grandfather, Cosimo, who first elevated their family 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.600 over the nominal power of just being rich. Lorenzo's father, 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:11.959 known unfortunately as Piero the Goudi was you guessed it, 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:16.439 suffering from gout, but he was also clever and academic, 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.320 a lover of arts and literature with a passion he 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.120 tried to pass on to his own two sons, Lorenzo 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.640 and Giuliano. From a young age, Lorenzo knew he would 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.640 be taking over the family business. He was fifteen when 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:37.400 his venerated grandfather Cosimo died, and he spent his adolescence 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:42.280 going on diplomatic missions across Italy. He made friends with 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.800 the son of the King of Naples, he attended the 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:50.720 weddings of Milanesi princesses, and he made appearances in Bologna, Ferrara, Rome, 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:56.480 all promoting the interests of Florence and the Medici. When 0:13:56.480 --> 0:14:00.480 he was twenty, Lorenzo married for duty a woman named 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:05.680 Clarice Orsini from a powerful Roman family. His mother had 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:08.760 gone down to examine the girl to see if she 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.680 passed muster. And while this isn't quite relevant to the 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.960 subject matter of the episode, I find her letter back 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.400 funny enough that I think it's worth including. She wrote 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:23.800 quote her hair is not blonde, which side note was 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:27.680 considered the ideal for nobility at the time. Her face 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.360 is somewhat round, yet it does not displease me. Her 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.440 bosom was invisible, for it is the fashion here to 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.320 cover it, but it appears to be ample. Altogether, we 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:44.840 consider her above the average good enough. Lorenzo no doubt 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:49.040 understood that his marriage was a diplomatic prospect, not a 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.960 romantic one, But in his writing he could barely conceal 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.720 his distaste for the fact that he would have preferred 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:01.880 a more cultured Florentine bride. I have taken a wife, 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:06.280 he wrote, or rather she was given to me. Now. 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:10.800 Usually when we describe weddings on this podcast, they are 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:16.080 elaborate affairs, dresses with trains the lengths of city blocks, 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:21.160 and feasts with sugar sculptures and stuffed peacocks. And so 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.880 when you hear the phrase Medici wedding, you might be 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:30.280 expecting another list of finery beyond the wildest imagination of 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:35.720 anyone who has ever sublet a studio apartment. But note 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:41.160 rich as they were, the Medici wedding was a simple occasion. 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:46.160 One guest noted quote as an example of moderation to others. 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.720 On such occasions, there was never more than one roast. 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.720 The Medici were rich, yes, but above all they were prudent, 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.360 and they understood the power of having positive standing in 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:03.720 their commune. There were a series of banquets to commemorate 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:08.200 Lorenzo's weddings, But unlike kings who used their wealth to 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.200 show off the fact that they were gods anointed on earth, 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:16.720 the Medici didn't want anyone to see them as superior. 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:22.760 It was advice from Lorenzo's grandfather that he also heeded. Well, 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:27.200 never have the people be jealous of you. They were 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:31.520 doing the fifteenth century equivalent of what people today call 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:37.360 quiet wealth no visible labels. In case you were wondering, 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.640 Lorenzo and Claire's marriage was, to borrow a phrase from 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:47.800 Lorenzo's mother, probably just about above the average, to quote 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:52.680 a historian, affection grew with habit, but he never fell 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:58.200 in love with his wife. It was Lorenzo's younger brother, Juliano, 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:03.560 who was the romantic. He unburdened by the responsibility of 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.960 being the eldest boy. Julianu relished in the rituals of 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:13.360 courtly love and romance. The two of them, Lorenzo and Giuliano, 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:18.320 the two Medici brothers, were the powerful beating heart at 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:22.399 the center of Florence, the city in the center of 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:27.760 Renaissance Italy. When it comes to the series of events 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.720 that would eventually lead a group of men to want 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:34.479 to kill the Medici brothers in cold blood, the place 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.639 we start is with the death of an old pope. 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:42.080 Pope Paul the Second, who was Venetian, died in fourteen 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:47.160 seventy one. There wasn't too much love lost. Pope Paul 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.520 the Second was obsessed with the finer things in life. 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:56.320 He collected antique bronzes and jewels. At night, he would 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:00.800 bring rubies and sapphires into bed with him. Apparently it 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.200 was because of a superstition, and people didn't like it 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:08.520 because it read as pagan personally. To me, it calls 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:13.680 to mind a cartoon dragon. When he died, the idea 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.160 was that the next Pope should be a more modest man, 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.080 or at least someone from a not too powerful family 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:27.840 with an unimpeachable reputation. The choice was Francesco of Savona, 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:32.000 who adopted the last name Riveri, meaning Oak, and he 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:37.679 became Pope Sixtus the Fourth. Of course, Lorenzo de Medici, 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:42.280 born diplomat, was sure to pay his respects, and it 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.879 seemed as though the two men would get on. In fact, 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.160 Lorenzo was given such a warm reception by the new 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:52.880 pope that it actually made the Duke of Milan jealous. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:57.040 It was important that the Medici and the papal relationship 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:00.920 was strong, because the Medici were the Vaticans major banker. 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:05.560 Lorenzo tried to advocate to make his younger brother Giuliano 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:10.200 a cardinal, but the Pope demurred. Giuliano was just twenty. 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.240 There's plenty of time for that, and he's a little young. 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.200 Of course, age wouldn't stop the pope later on from 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.920 making one of his nephews a cardinal at seventeen years old. 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:25.320 The new Pope, Sixtus the Fourth, wasn't going to bring 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.239 gems into his bed, but he wasn't going to let 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:32.119 the position of being pope pass him by without trying 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:36.920 to establish a family dynasty. And so he got started 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:41.520 on a practice so common it actually gave rise to 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:46.159 the word nepotism, the practice of a pope giving his 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:52.000 nephews or nipotes, positions of power. Two of his nephews 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.159 immediately became cardinals off the bat, and for another of 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:01.560 his nephews, a layman named Gialimo Riario, the Pope purchased 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:06.840 the tiny town of Imola, making Duralimo a lord. Immola 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:11.080 is small, but it was an important stronghold, about fifty 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.760 miles outside of Florence. An important thing for you to 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:19.000 remember is that in the fourteen hundreds the Vatican wasn't 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:22.120 just a tiny little pocket in Rome that you could 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:26.360 line up to visit to see Michelangelo's Pieta. The Papal 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:31.280 states were a kingdom and fighting for supremacy and power 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:35.520 on the Italian peninsula, just like their neighbors, only with 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:39.800 the added bonus that their quote unquote king happened to be, 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:44.119 you know, the pontiff with holy authority. If you have 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.840 an incredibly good memory for names, you might remember Duralimo, 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:52.359 the new Lord of Immola from our introduction. He's about 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:57.119 to become a major player here. The challenging thing about 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:01.399 discussing this conspiracy is there isn't a simple a to 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:05.240 be to see narrative of how the conspirators came together 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:10.760 and how they all collectively and individually built up enough 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:15.280 vitriol toward the Medici family to be motivated enough for 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:19.280 an incredibly risky coup. But if you bear with me, 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:23.240 we'll walk through a few of those factors and inciting 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:28.679 incidents and introduce the major conspirators at play. One of 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:32.720 the big conflict points was the sale of Imola itself. 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.960 Remember how the Pope bought the town for his nephew, Well, 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:41.000 the Duke of Milan who sold it, had originally agreed 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:45.280 to sell it to Lorenzo de Medici. Of course, Lorenzo 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:49.760 wanted it, it was a really strategic and important town 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:54.520 right on the edges of his territory. But the Duke 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:59.000 of Milan was enticed by papal power, so much so 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:02.240 that if the Pope agreed to have Geralimo marry one 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:05.919 of his illegitimate daughters, he would sell the town for 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:09.879 far less than the number Lorenzo had agreed to pay. 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:14.919 Lorenzo naturally was furious, and he refused to have his 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:19.119 bank fund the sale, and so the Pope went through 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:24.679 another Florentine banking family, the Pozzis, who did agree to 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:29.440 front most of the cash. This is a good opportunity 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:34.960 to introduce our next conspirator, representing the family that gives 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:41.320 the Pozzi conspiracy its name. Francesco de Pozzi. Geralimo, lord 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:45.640 of Emmila, was new money who wore his uncle's new 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:50.200 found power and wealth on his person with silk and gems. 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:55.720 Pozzi was old money, the scion of an old Florentine 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:59.560 family who had seen their wealth and power dwindle while 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:04.680 the media outmaneuvered them at every turn. Francesco de Pazzi 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:08.760 was tired of having to grovel for scraps of dignity 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:12.639 while the Medici sat comfortably in their seat of power. 0:23:13.680 --> 0:23:18.400 When Francesco de Pazzi and Geralimo got together, they lathered 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:23.760 each other up, bolstering each other's confidence and bravery, until 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:30.960 assassination seemed not only noble but inevitable. Pozzi had seen 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:36.280 his family dwindle begging for Medici scraps. Jeralimo was the 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:40.240 lord of a tiny state that could easily be squeezed 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:44.159 out of existence between the real powers of Milan and 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:50.800 Medici Florence. And as Jeralimo also understood with a creeping awareness, 0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:57.479 his newfound power was entirely dependent on his uncle, the Pope, 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:02.440 who was getting up there in years. Jeralimo had seen 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:06.399 the promise of power. It was just there glistening in 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:10.440 the distance, and if he didn't act, it would flicker 0:24:10.560 --> 0:24:14.680 and disappear, like a candle flame on a damp night. 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:20.320 He wanted power, he wanted to secure that power, and 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:27.440 so Lorenzo de Medici had to go. One writer, Nicolo Valori, 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:32.040 writing only a few decades after the assassination attempt, claimed 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:36.199 the entire thing was Jeralimo's idea first, and that he 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:40.560 came to Pozzi with the idea to kill Lorenzo. Another 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:45.600 writer says it was Pozzi's idea. Macchiavelli sort of splits 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:49.280 the difference when he recounts the event writing quote. And 0:24:49.480 --> 0:24:53.639 since Francesco to Pozzi was very friendly with Count Geralimo, 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:57.639 they often complained to one another of the Medici. So 0:24:57.960 --> 0:25:01.159 after many complaints, they came to the reasoning that it 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:04.239 was necessary if one of them was to live in 0:25:04.280 --> 0:25:07.800 his states and the other in his city securely to 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:11.320 change the state of Florence, which they thought could not 0:25:11.480 --> 0:25:17.439 be done without the deaths of Giuliano and Lorenzo. But 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:21.280 here's the thing. Geralimo and Pozzi knew that they were 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:27.080 both outsiders and not particularly popular in Florence. Even though 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:30.879 Pozzi was a born Florentine, he had spent most of 0:25:30.920 --> 0:25:33.960 his life living abroad. If the two of them were 0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:37.280 going to overthrow the Medici, they needed to be seen 0:25:37.400 --> 0:25:43.000 as liberators, not foreign assassins. They wanted to spearhead a 0:25:43.160 --> 0:25:47.600 Florentine revolution, and so they needed to bring someone else 0:25:47.720 --> 0:25:52.520 into their conspiracy. The third man in was an archbishop 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:58.879 named Francesco de Salviati. Salviati was about twenty years older 0:25:58.920 --> 0:26:03.400 than both Jai and Pazzi. He was middle aged when 0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:08.040 he should have outgrown flights of romantic heroism, but he 0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:12.480 had his own reasons to hate the Medici. Like the Pazzi, 0:26:12.960 --> 0:26:17.120 the Salviati were an old Florentine family that had fallen 0:26:17.240 --> 0:26:21.040 on hard times, and he blamed their descent on the 0:26:21.200 --> 0:26:25.240 rising Medici. In some ways that might have been justified. 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:29.959 It was under certain financial policies by Lorenzo's dad that 0:26:30.040 --> 0:26:33.240 the Salviati were forced to give up a wool business 0:26:33.280 --> 0:26:37.600 they owned in Pisa. But it wasn't just pride or 0:26:37.680 --> 0:26:42.400 a nebulous sense of family dignity that would drive Salviati 0:26:42.440 --> 0:26:48.919 into joining the conspirators. No, for him, it was very personal. 0:26:50.000 --> 0:26:53.560 Salviati was cousins with the Pazzi, but he was also 0:26:53.840 --> 0:26:58.320 the right hand man of Jeralimo's brother, Pietro I E, 0:26:58.520 --> 0:27:03.680 another pope who was made a cardinal and then Archbishop 0:27:03.760 --> 0:27:10.000 of Florence. But then in fourteen seventy four Archbishop Pietro died. 0:27:10.680 --> 0:27:14.040 He was only twenty nine years old, and so of 0:27:14.119 --> 0:27:17.920 course there were whispers of poison, but the more likely 0:27:18.040 --> 0:27:22.719 culprit is a few years of very very hard living 0:27:23.440 --> 0:27:26.320 what historians in the books I've read like to call 0:27:26.680 --> 0:27:32.400 over indulgence. Anyway, Salviati was a Florentine and the right 0:27:32.480 --> 0:27:36.439 hand man of the late Archbishop of Florence. He was 0:27:36.560 --> 0:27:41.040 ready to get the job. Lorenzo de Medici put his 0:27:41.119 --> 0:27:44.920 brother in law in the position. The Pope felt bad 0:27:45.040 --> 0:27:49.080 and more or less informally promised that Salviati would get 0:27:49.119 --> 0:27:52.919 the next open slot, and so a few months later, 0:27:53.080 --> 0:27:58.040 when Filippo Dimidici, Archbishop of Pisa, died, the Pope gave 0:27:58.200 --> 0:28:03.280 Salviati the job. But there was a problem. It's worth 0:28:03.320 --> 0:28:06.400 noting here that at this point in the fifteenth century, 0:28:06.720 --> 0:28:11.240 Pisa was controlled by Florence. The Signoria in Florence was 0:28:11.400 --> 0:28:16.080 supposed to have been consulted about who filled the archbishop position. 0:28:16.960 --> 0:28:20.639 The Pope hadn't done that. They had provided the Pope 0:28:20.680 --> 0:28:25.480 a list of acceptable candidates, and Salviati wasn't on it. 0:28:26.240 --> 0:28:29.680 The Pope didn't pull back, he doubled down and said 0:28:29.720 --> 0:28:33.560 that as pope, he's entitled to put whoever he wants 0:28:33.840 --> 0:28:39.440 into the position of archbishop. Well, Florence responded, you're allowed 0:28:39.440 --> 0:28:42.200 to put whoever you want in the position, but we 0:28:42.240 --> 0:28:45.400 are allowed to say who can and cannot set foot 0:28:45.560 --> 0:28:51.680 in our territory. And so, even though Salviati was Archbishop 0:28:51.720 --> 0:28:56.880 of Pisa, Florence refused to let him actually physically take 0:28:57.040 --> 0:29:02.040 the position. Salviati was forced to spend a humiliating year 0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:06.440 in Limbo in Rome until he was finally allowed into Pisa, 0:29:07.000 --> 0:29:11.880 and the entire time he was stewing about Lorenzo de Medici, 0:29:12.320 --> 0:29:16.800 the man wielding power that wasn't even his right, like 0:29:17.040 --> 0:29:24.520 a tyrant. So those are the three major conspirators worth knowing. Geralimo, 0:29:24.760 --> 0:29:28.640 the Pope's nephew and Lord of Imola, Francesco de Pazzi, 0:29:28.800 --> 0:29:33.720 the family allying themselves with the Pope, and Francesco Salviati 0:29:34.240 --> 0:29:39.240 Archbishop of Pisa, another papal loyalist who resented Lorenzo and 0:29:39.280 --> 0:29:42.680 the power he wielded in Florence, brought in as some 0:29:42.840 --> 0:29:49.080 additional hometown muscle. Unfortunately for Jeralimo and Pozzi, in the 0:29:49.120 --> 0:29:52.920 words of historian Miles Hunger quote, it's a measure of 0:29:53.000 --> 0:29:55.840 how out of touch they were with public opinion in 0:29:55.920 --> 0:29:59.880 Florence that the second native son drawn into the web 0:30:00.400 --> 0:30:04.400 was almost as unpopular in his native land as Francesco 0:30:04.440 --> 0:30:08.840 de Pazzi himself. But out of touch or not, these 0:30:08.960 --> 0:30:11.959 were the core conspirators who would then go on to 0:30:12.080 --> 0:30:16.320 enlist Geralimo's captain Monteseco, the man we followed in the 0:30:16.320 --> 0:30:21.480 introduction the man with military experience. Over the next couple 0:30:21.480 --> 0:30:24.680 of years, there were a number of other slights between 0:30:24.720 --> 0:30:28.120 the Papal states and the Medici that would continue to 0:30:28.280 --> 0:30:32.720 exacerbate their relationship. Like the Pope would try to help 0:30:32.760 --> 0:30:36.480 another of his nephews secure a small town in Perusia 0:30:36.880 --> 0:30:40.440 the Chita de Castello, and the nephew would ask Lorenzo 0:30:40.480 --> 0:30:43.880