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Pazzi Conspiracy
The Pazzi conspiracy (Italian: Congiura dei Pazzi) was an overall unsuccessful plot by members of the Pazzi family and other conspirators, such as Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew Girolamo Riario, to displace the Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence. The Pazzi family had long been in rivalry with the Medici family, and hoped to claim reign over Florence. The conspiracy holds historical recognition for both the public nature of the assassination attempt as well as the brutal aftermath of bloodshed against the conspirators that followed.

On 26 April 1478, in the Cathedral of Santa Maria della Fiore, now commonly known as the Duomo, there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother Giuliano. Lorenzo was left slightly wounded but survived; Giuliano was killed brutally, with multiple stab wounds to the head. Lorenzo was saved by his close friend, Angelo Poliziano, who led him into the safety of the church's sacristy.

The failure of the plot resulted in a two year war between Pope Sixtus IV, the papacy, and Florence. The Medici emerged out of the conspiracy with greater strength than previously held as the people of Florence ruthlessly hunted down and murdered the conspirators. The Pazzi were ultimately banished from Florence.

Background
In Florence, rivalry existed between the Medici family and the Pazzi family. Both families were wealthy and well established bankers. The Pazzi family, alongside wealth, traced their origins to the early twelfth century where one of the Pazzi ancestors was the first to scale the walls of Jerusalem in the First Crusade. The Medici family differed from the Pazzi, for they did not arise from ancestral wealth. Rather, the Medici family arose from humble origins. Through political and financial manipulation, the Medicis reigned over Florence. With the death of Perio Medici, in 1469, Lorenzo inherited his reign as the leader of the Florentine state. The Florentine people respected Lorenzo as both a politician and a patron of humanities. His elevation of the arts allowed Florence to gain cultural prowess as a centerpoint for the Italian Renaissance. Though the Medici were respected by the people of Florence, they faced enemies among competing families that attempted to assert authority in Florence. The Pazzi and other nobles in which they conspired with resented the Medici and determined that the Medici reign had become too powerful. This resentment motivated the plot to overthrow the Medici reign.

The Pazzi family were not the only instigators of the plot. The Salviati, Papal bankers in Florence, were at the centre of the conspiracy. They again were influenced by Pope Sixtus IV, who was an enemy of the Medici. Francesco de Pazzi, a powerful merchant of the Pazzi family who headed the Pazzi bank in Rome, and Francesco Salviati, the archbishop of Pisa and nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, met in secrecy in the weeks prior to the plot.

While Francesco Salviati was not related to the Pazzi family, he held resentment for the Medici family because of personal relations against Lorenzo de' Medici. Salviati hoped to rise up within the church. In 1472, the position of archbishop of Florence freed up. Despite Salviati demonstrating ideal prerequisites for candidacy, Lorenzo de' Medici gave the position to his brother in law. This move is technically in the capacities of Lorenzo de' Medici. Salviati then made a trip to visit the Pope, demanding Pope Sixtus to act upon what he deemed as an injustice. Pope Sixtus gave Salviati the tittle of archbishop of Pisa, a city that was a former commercial rival but now subject to Florence. Because Pisa was determined to be under Florentine rule, and Lorenzo de' Medici was deemed the unofficial ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de' Medici recognized this appointment as an abuse of power. Lorenzo de' Medici refused to permit Salviati to enter Pisa because of the challenge such an ecclesiastical position offered to his own government in Florence. ] From the refusal, Salviati could not attend to his duties and had to wait in Rome for three years before he was permitted entry into Pisa.

The Medici family had also angered the papacy with Lorenzo de' Medici's refusal to accept the Pope's appointments, such as Salviati. Lorenzo de' Medici also flaunted anti papal rhetoric that provoked Pope Sixtus IV. Pope Sixus IV was elected pope in 1471. His given name was Francesco della Rovere, and he came from a poor family in Liguria. 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. He became known for his nepotism, picking his nephews for political positions. Within months of his election, he had made Giuliano della Rovere (the future pope Julius II) and Pietro Riario both cardinals and bishops; 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. His quest upon Imola represented one of his many attempts to expand his papal lands for his nephews. However, Imola posed as a conflict. As Imola lay on the trade route between Florence and Venice, Imola was deemed as significant by Lorenzo de' Medici. As Sixtus bid for Imola, he ran into opposition posed by Lorenzo de' Medici.

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. As Lorenzo de' Medici was well connected with banks, he blocked many banks from loaning the ducats to Pope Sixtus. Pope Sixtus had to seek elsewhere for the loan. There, the Pope sought aid from the Pazzi bank.

The purchase of Imola by the Pope was financed by the Pazzi bank even though Francesco de' Pazzi had promised Lorenzo de' Medici they would not aid the Pope. As a reward, Sixtus IV assigned to the Pazzi bank lucrative rights to manage Papal revenues. Sixtus IV appointed his nephew Riario as the new governor of Imola

King Ferdinand I of Naples also was indirectly involved with the conspiracy. However, instead of joining in on the plan out of personal resentment with Lorenzo de' Medici, Ferdinand backed the plot because he had hoped to expand into Florence. Federico de' Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, was a condottiere that was hired to aid in the plot.

In 1476, Giovanni Pazzi married Beatrice Borromeo, daughter of a wealthy family with no sons. Lorenzo de' Medici, out of anger from Pazzi aid to the Pope's claim to Imola, then passed a law, making it illegal for a daughter to receive the inheritance if a family had no sons. This act sparked outrage with the Pazzi family. Plans for the assassination plot became in the works in the summer of 1477. The plot would be postponed two times before eventually being carried out on a Sunday mass in central Florence, witnessed by thousands of spectators. The conspirators had planned to assassinate the Medici brothers when they were to be expected in Rome during Easter of 1478. They believed that Florence was too dangerous, as the people were loyal to the Medici. However, the brothers did not travel to Rome that year. The plan was then postponed to the 19th of April, at a banquet in a villa in a nearby town of Fiesole. Guiliano de’ Medici hurt his leg and could not attend. With the absence of Guiliano de’ Medici, the plan was postponed again. Salviati spoke with Lorenzo de' Medici at the banquet, extending a false invitation at peace by inviting Lorenzo to Sunday mass at Florence. Nearly 100 men and two armies arrived in Florence, awaiting at Easter mass.

The Conspiracy
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. Even though Pope Sixtus did not directly approve the assassination of the two brothers, he indirectly permitted it. An encrypted letter in the archives of the Ubaldini family, discovered and decoded in 2004, reveals that Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, a renowned humanist and condottiere for the Papacy, was deeply embroiled in the conspiracy and had committed to position 600 troops outside Florence, waiting for the right moment.

The plot would be postponed two times before eventually being carried out on a Sunday mass in central Florence, witnessed by thousands of spectators. The conspirators had planned to assassinate the Medici brothers when they were to be expected in Rome during Easter of 1478. They believed that Florence was too dangerous, as the people were loyal to the Medici. However, the brothers did not travel to Rome that year. The plan was then postponed to the 19th of April, at a banquet in a villa in a nearby town of Fiesole. Guiliano de’ Medici hurt his leg and could not attend. With the absence of Guiliano de’ Medici, the plan was postponed again. Salviati spoke with Lorenzo de' Medici at the banquet, extending a false invitation at peace by inviting Lorenzo to Sunday mass at Florence. Nearly 100 men and two armies arrived in Florence, awaiting at Easter mass.

The Attack
The Medici brothers were assaulted on Sunday, 26 April 1478, during High Mass at the Duomo before a crowd of 10,000. Two priests, Stefan da Bagnone and Antonio Maffei, both struck Lorenzo at the same time. One struck from the front and the other from the back. While the plot took place inside of the Cathedral, Salviati and 30 of his men marched up to the Piazza della Signoria, where Florence's legislature took place. Once the Medici were killed, Salviati hoped to take control of the Signoria. The final signal before the attack would be that of the priest offering sacred bread in front of the audience.

Giuliano de' Medici was stabbed 19 times and received a sword wound to the head from Bernardo Bandini dei Baroncelli and Francesco de' Pazzi.

As Lorenzo de' Medici was stabbed by one of the priests, the blade missed, hitting his ear and jawline instead. As he was armed, he fended off the two killers, sprinting towards the northern sacristy of iron doors. The Pazzi and their allies fought with Medici allies.

Lorenzo escaped with serious, but not life-threatening, wounds; he was locked safely in the sacristy by Angelo Poliziano.

A co-ordinated attempt to capture the Gonfaloniere and the Signoria was thwarted when the archbishop and head of the Salviati clan were trapped in a room where the doors were held by a hidden latch. Salviati had led 30 men to the Signoria to kill the gonfaloniere, Cesare Petrucci. But Petrucci managed to escape, dismantling the plot.

The coup d'état had failed.

Although Lorenzo appealed to the crowd not to exact summary justice, many of the conspirators, as well as many people accused of being conspirators, were killed. The armed men that were waiting to overthrow the Signoria were thrown from the windows. The populace was on the side of the Medici, attacking the corpses of the conspirators. By the end of the first day, nearly 50 corpses hung from the Signoria.

Lorenzo did manage to save the nephew of Sixtus IV, Cardinal Raffaele Riario, who was almost certainly an innocent pawn of the conspirators, as well as two relatives of the conspirators. The main conspirators were hunted down throughout Italy. Between 26 April, the day of the attack, and 20 October 1478, a total of eighty people were executed. Most of the conspirators were soon caught and summarily executed; five, including Francesco de' Pazzi and Salviati, were hanged from the windows of the Palazzo della Signoria. Renato de' Pazzi was lynched. Jacopo de' Pazzi, head of the family, escaped from Florence but was caught and brought back. He was tortured, then hanged from the Palazzo della Signoria next to the decomposing corpse of Salviati. He was buried at Santa Croce, but the body was dug up and thrown into a ditch. It was then dragged through the streets and propped up at the door of Palazzo Pazzi, where the rotting head was mockingly used as a door-knocker. From there it was thrown into the Arno; children fished it out and hung it from a willow tree, flogged it, and then threw it back into the river. Bandini dei Baroncelli, who had escaped to Constantinople, was arrested and returned in fetters by the Sultan Mehmed II, and – still in Turkish clothing – was hanged from a window of the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo on 29 December 1479. There were three further executions on 6 June 1481.

The Pazzi were banished from Florence, and their lands and property confiscated. Their name and their coat of arms were perpetually suppressed: the name was erased from public registers, and all buildings and streets carrying it were renamed; their shield with its dolphins was everywhere obliterated. Anyone named Pazzi had to take a new name; anyone married to a Pazzi was barred from public office. Guglielmo de' Pazzi, husband of Lorenzo's sister Bianca, was placed under house arrest, and later forbidden to enter the city; he went to live at Torre a Decima, near Pontassieve.

Aftermath
Because of the bloodshed of the conspirators, the Pope excommunicated Lorenzo de' Medici and all those involved with the gruesome death of the conspirators. The Pope declared war upon Florence, threatening Florence with the military aid of King Ferdinand I, of Naples. The people of Florence drafted letters of excommunication against the Pope, distributing them to Florence.

In the aftermath of the conspiracy, Sixtus IV placed Florence under interdict for the execution of Archbishop Salviati, forbidding Mass and communion. He enlisted the King of Naples, Ferdinand I, the traditional Papal military arm, to attack Florence. In 1479, Milan offered to formally assist Florence, if Florence gave up alliances with Venice. King Ferdinand I offered Lorenzo de' Medici allegiance if Lorenzo aided his own efforts for Venice.

With little else help coming from Florence's traditional allies in Bologna and Milan, Lorenzo was faced with dire prospects and took an unorthodox course of action: he sailed to Naples and put himself in the hands of the king, remaining in his custody for three months. Lorenzo's courage and charisma convinced Ferdinand I to support Lorenzo's attempts at brokering a peace and intercede, albeit ineffectually, with Sixtus IV. Pope Sixtus IV lost an important ally in this transition of allegiance.

The events of the Pazzi conspiracy affected the developments of the Medici regime in two ways: they convinced the supporters of the Medici that a greater concentration of political power was desirable and they strengthened the hand of Lorenzo de' Medici, who had demonstrated his keen ability in conducting the foreign affairs of the city. Emboldened, the Medicean party carried out new reforms.

In Literature
The story of the Pazzi conspiracy has made references in both renaissance and modern literature. In 1478, Angelo Poliziano published Coniurationis commentarium as a literary account of the conspiracy agaist the Medici brothers. This work is recognized by historians as Medici propaganda with the intent of supporting the Florentine government against accusations by the instigators of the attack, such as Pope Sixus IV. He represents Lorenzo de' Medici as a heroic prince, adorned by the public. These writings are a source of historian's understandings of the Medici. The Coniurationis commentarium is correlated with the legal consilia commissioned by Lorenzo de 'Medici, which served as the formulation of Medici's defense statement against Pope Sixtus IV. Poliziano was a close ally of Medici and collaborated in the writing of the consilia.

In 2003, American historian Lauro Martines wrote April Blood with hopes to offer a modern understanding of Renaissance Florence and the contextual significance of the Pazzi conspiracy. The book details the background and events leading up to conspiracy as well as the resulting aftermath of bloodshed.