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Pazzi conspiracy
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Pazzi conspiracy
The Pazzi conspiracy (Italian: Congiura dei Pazzi) was a failed plot by members of the Pazzi family and others to displace the Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence.
On 26 April 1478 (Easter Sunday) there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother Giuliano. Lorenzo was wounded but survived; Giuliano was killed.
More than eighty people implicated in the plot were executed, some by hanging from the windows of the Palazzo della Signoria. The surviving Pazzi family members were banished from Florence.
Francesco della Rovere, who came from a poor family in Liguria, was elected pope in 1471. As Sixtus IV, he was both wealthy and powerful and at once set about giving power and wealth to his nephews of the della Rovere and Riario families. Within months of his election, he had made Giuliano della Rovere (the future pope Julius II) and Pietro Riario both bishops and cardinals (including the archbishopric of Florence for Riario); four other nephews were also made cardinals. He made Giovanni della Rovere, who was not a priest, prefect of Rome, and arranged for him to marry into the da Montefeltro family, dukes of Urbino.
For Girolamo Riario, also a layman – and who may in fact have been his son rather than his nephew – he arranged to buy Imola, a small town in Romagna, with the aim of establishing a new papal state in that area. Imola lay on the trade route between Florence and Venice. Lorenzo de' Medici had arranged in May 1473 to buy it from Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the duke of Milan, for 100,000 fiorini d'oro, but Sforza subsequently agreed to sell it instead to Sixtus for 40,000 ducats, provided that his illegitimate daughter Caterina Sforza was married to (Girolamo) Riario. This purchase was supposed to be financed by the Medici bank, but Lorenzo refused, causing a rift between Sixtus and the termination of the appointment of the Medici as bankers to the Camera Apostolica. The pope negotiated with other bankers, and a substantial part of the cost was obtained from the Pazzi bank.
A further source of friction between Lorenzo and Sixtus was the status of the archbishoprics of Florence, left vacant by the sudden death of Pietro Riario in January 1474; and of Pisa, left vacant by the death of Filippo de' Medici in October 1474. Lorenzo managed to obtain the archbishopric of Florence for his brother-in-law, Rinaldo Orsini [it]; but Sixtus appointed Francesco Salviati, a friend and relative of Francesco de' Pazzi, as archbishop of Pisa. This latter appointment was contested by the Florentines (the Medici) on the grounds that they had not given their assent.
Girolamo Riario, Francesco Salviati and Francesco de' Pazzi put together a plan to assassinate Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici. Pope Sixtus was approached for his support. He made a very carefully worded statement in which he said that in the terms of his holy office he was unable to sanction killing. He made it clear that it would be of great benefit to the papacy to have the Medici removed from their position of power in Florence, and that he would deal kindly with anyone who did this. He instructed the men to do what they deemed necessary to achieve this aim, and said that he would give them whatever support he could. An encrypted letter in the archives of the Ubaldini family, discovered and decoded in 2004, shows that Federico da Montefeltro, the father-in-law of Giovanni della Rovere, was deeply embroiled in the conspiracy and had committed to position 600 troops outside Florence, waiting for the right moment.
The attack took place on the morning of Sunday, 26 April 1478, during High Mass at the Duomo of Florence. Unusually, Lorenzo and Giuliano were both present, and were attacked at the same time. Lorenzo was attacked by two of Jacopo Pazzi's men, but managed to escape to the sacristy, and thence to his home. Giuliano was killed by Bernardo Bandini dei Baroncelli and Francesco de' Pazzi. Archbishop Salviati, with a number of Jacopo Pazzi's men, went to the Palazzo della Signoria and attempted to take control of it, but was unsuccessful – the Florentines did not rise against the Medici as the Pazzi had hoped they would. Salviati was arrested and, with Francesco de' Pazzi and several others, was hanged from the windows of the Palazzo della Signoria.
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Pazzi conspiracy
The Pazzi conspiracy (Italian: Congiura dei Pazzi) was a failed plot by members of the Pazzi family and others to displace the Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence.
On 26 April 1478 (Easter Sunday) there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother Giuliano. Lorenzo was wounded but survived; Giuliano was killed.
More than eighty people implicated in the plot were executed, some by hanging from the windows of the Palazzo della Signoria. The surviving Pazzi family members were banished from Florence.
Francesco della Rovere, who came from a poor family in Liguria, was elected pope in 1471. As Sixtus IV, he was both wealthy and powerful and at once set about giving power and wealth to his nephews of the della Rovere and Riario families. Within months of his election, he had made Giuliano della Rovere (the future pope Julius II) and Pietro Riario both bishops and cardinals (including the archbishopric of Florence for Riario); four other nephews were also made cardinals. He made Giovanni della Rovere, who was not a priest, prefect of Rome, and arranged for him to marry into the da Montefeltro family, dukes of Urbino.
For Girolamo Riario, also a layman – and who may in fact have been his son rather than his nephew – he arranged to buy Imola, a small town in Romagna, with the aim of establishing a new papal state in that area. Imola lay on the trade route between Florence and Venice. Lorenzo de' Medici had arranged in May 1473 to buy it from Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the duke of Milan, for 100,000 fiorini d'oro, but Sforza subsequently agreed to sell it instead to Sixtus for 40,000 ducats, provided that his illegitimate daughter Caterina Sforza was married to (Girolamo) Riario. This purchase was supposed to be financed by the Medici bank, but Lorenzo refused, causing a rift between Sixtus and the termination of the appointment of the Medici as bankers to the Camera Apostolica. The pope negotiated with other bankers, and a substantial part of the cost was obtained from the Pazzi bank.
A further source of friction between Lorenzo and Sixtus was the status of the archbishoprics of Florence, left vacant by the sudden death of Pietro Riario in January 1474; and of Pisa, left vacant by the death of Filippo de' Medici in October 1474. Lorenzo managed to obtain the archbishopric of Florence for his brother-in-law, Rinaldo Orsini [it]; but Sixtus appointed Francesco Salviati, a friend and relative of Francesco de' Pazzi, as archbishop of Pisa. This latter appointment was contested by the Florentines (the Medici) on the grounds that they had not given their assent.
Girolamo Riario, Francesco Salviati and Francesco de' Pazzi put together a plan to assassinate Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici. Pope Sixtus was approached for his support. He made a very carefully worded statement in which he said that in the terms of his holy office he was unable to sanction killing. He made it clear that it would be of great benefit to the papacy to have the Medici removed from their position of power in Florence, and that he would deal kindly with anyone who did this. He instructed the men to do what they deemed necessary to achieve this aim, and said that he would give them whatever support he could. An encrypted letter in the archives of the Ubaldini family, discovered and decoded in 2004, shows that Federico da Montefeltro, the father-in-law of Giovanni della Rovere, was deeply embroiled in the conspiracy and had committed to position 600 troops outside Florence, waiting for the right moment.
The attack took place on the morning of Sunday, 26 April 1478, during High Mass at the Duomo of Florence. Unusually, Lorenzo and Giuliano were both present, and were attacked at the same time. Lorenzo was attacked by two of Jacopo Pazzi's men, but managed to escape to the sacristy, and thence to his home. Giuliano was killed by Bernardo Bandini dei Baroncelli and Francesco de' Pazzi. Archbishop Salviati, with a number of Jacopo Pazzi's men, went to the Palazzo della Signoria and attempted to take control of it, but was unsuccessful – the Florentines did not rise against the Medici as the Pazzi had hoped they would. Salviati was arrested and, with Francesco de' Pazzi and several others, was hanged from the windows of the Palazzo della Signoria.
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