Death at the Duomo: The Pazzi Conspiracy

When the Pazzi family became entangled in a plot to assassinate Lorenzo and Giuliano de'Medici, the conspiracy grew until it reached the steps of the Vatican itself. Learn more about this coup attempt -- and its ultimate result -- in this episode.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class from how
Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sarah Dowdy, and today we
are starting a new series, a super series if you will. Yep,

(00:22):
it's on the Medici and we're hoping that we're going
to be able to connect it back around to our
series on Elizabeth, specifically through Mary Quinnith Scott's, so you
can just puzzle on that one for a little bit
and see if you can figure it out. We're starting
today with the Popsy Conspiracy, a dramatic event that shook
the city of Florence and also transformed the Medici's most

(00:42):
illustrious family member into the man we know, Lorenzo the Magnificent.
So this is a suggestion from listener Nicolette, who really
tantalized us with her description. She wrote, this plot consists
of conspiracy, murder, betrayal in a serious doe of retribution.
So if you're ready, we're just going to dive right in.

(01:05):
Since we'll be spending a lot of time with the
Medici family, we wanted to give you a little bit
of background so you probably know them as patrons of
the arts, as well as machiavellian game players, wealthy bankers,
men of the people. But um, originally they were Tuscan peasants. Yeah,
despite their later alliances with great royal families and their

(01:27):
great wealth, they aren't noblemen. Their bourgeois and they come
to Florence sometime in the twelfth century and make a
fortune over the next hundred years. Um. They work their
way into becoming one of the city's leading families during
a thirty depression which bankrupts most of the rest of
the city's elite. Um. But there are a few lines

(01:48):
of powerful Medici, and the one that concerns us today
rose to power in the late fourteenth century with Giovanni
Debchy de Medici, who inherited this great business of banking,
cloth manufacturer, silk manufacturer. And his son is Customo, who
helps politicize the family. And Customo's grandson is Lorenzo, and

(02:10):
that's Lorenzo the Magnificent, and he's the guy we're talking
about today. So young Lorenzo is not so great at
actually running the bank, but he's good at politics, and
he's been bred to rule the city of Florence along
with his brother and co ruler, Giuliano. So Florence is
a republic, but the Medici have control over it through

(02:30):
allies and the council, some very wise marriage matches, and
some underhanded payoffs. That's what they're really good at, underhanded payoff.
They're not warriors. They make things happen with bribes, with money.
Um Encyclopedia Britannica and the historian Francesco Guiciardini says that
Lorenzo's regime was that of a benevolent tyrant in a

(02:54):
constitutional republic. Plus he's good at keeping bread prices low,
having law of uh, lots of festivals and parties, things
that Florentine bred and circus. He's really good at that.
But to me, this sounds like an awfully good way
to breed resentment among your peers. And oh, Sarah, you
are so very correct. We need to take a look

(03:16):
at our conspirators, the people who have such resentment against
Lorenzo de Medici. The Pozzi family is a great rival
to the Medici family, and they would really like to
see them fall. Frankly, Lorenzo has been messing with the
Pozzi family. Anyways. There was a woman who was supposed
to inherit a great deal of money, and he maneuvered

(03:38):
it in such a way that it was actually her
cousins and not her that ended up with it. So
there's her Popsy husband. Well there's some there's some personal
stuff in there is as well as money stuff. So
we have Francesco de Pozzi who is plotting a coup
against the Medici against Lorenzo, who co rules with his
brother Giuliano. It's interesting though, the Pozzy Patriarch is not

(04:00):
part of this plan. Even though we have this thing,
it's called the Possy conspiracy. The patriarch is an important
is not wanting to do this. He only agrees to
go along with it when he realizes that if they
go ahead with the plot, he's going to be implicated regardless,
so he might as well join in try to make
it happen. And the Popsy have some very powerful allies,

(04:23):
namely Pope Sixtus the Fourth, since the Posse Bank has
assumed the business affairs of the papacy. This is again
another beat that the Medici and the Popsy had together,
because the Medici controlled most banking stuff except for this,
and the Pope has his own personal beefs too, along
with his nephew, Girolamo Riaro. Um. And that's that has

(04:45):
something to do with the fact that this is this
is a pope who has tremendous interest in temporal affairs
and he's trying to consolidate the power of the papacy
and uh, the Medici are not being very much. In fact,
they're thwarting him. And also on the ecclesiastical anti Medici side,

(05:06):
we have Francesco Salviati Riario who was the Archbishop of Pizza,
but Lorenzo wouldn't recognize him, so burn archbishop. So yeah,
so far we've got the Pozsi family, the pope and
his nephew the archbishop. To bring in one more major conspirator,
we have Federico de monte Feltro and you'd recognize him

(05:28):
if he saw his picture, the famous dual portrait painted
by Piero della Francesca. He's got this ridiculous hooked, nos.
You definitely like just google his name you'll find him. Um.
He commits six hundred troops to this, uh, this conspiracy effort,
hoping to bring down Medici control. And that's we should

(05:48):
make it clear here that this isn't just a plot
against the two Medici brothers, the two co rulers. To
make it actually happen and to really seize control from
the Medici family, a whole big thing is going to
have to happen. But before these armies can come in
and unseat the Medici rule, bump bump bomb, two men

(06:10):
must die. So here's our plot. Lorenzo de Medici is
a pretty reckless dude, considering his powerful position in Florence.
One of the few things that he agrees to, though,
to to protect his own safety, is that he rarely
appears in public with his brother. And for this plot
to work, both of the brothers need to be attacked

(06:33):
and killed at the same time. You go after one
of them and the other gets wind of it, he's
going to lock himself up in the Medici palace and
you're not going to see him for the next year.
But Pope Sixtus the Fourth, despite being invested in this plot,
isn't too keen on anyone being killed. According to a
later confession from one of the conspirators who pulls out

(06:53):
at the last minute, Giovanni Battista, who's the Count of Montseco,
who's also a mercenary Um six says, in no case,
well I have the death of anyone. It is not
my office to cause the death of a man. But
you know, he's pope. He's got to say something like that,
at least to have it on record. And what does yeah,
what what does he think is going to happen? If

(07:14):
you're trying to take down the Medici family, you've got
to have the two brothers fall. They will be blood.
So in the lead up to our Easter of fourteen
seventy eight, our conspirators start trickling into Florence kind of
one by one. They're going to play it by ears
see if they can contrive some kind of an opportunity
for them to do what they need to do and

(07:35):
bring the brothers together well and kill them and then
sees control of important parts of the state and rally
the people to their cause. So Lorenzo seems pretty clueless
about what's going on. He's not noticing all the strangers
that are coming into town because lots of people are
coming in for all the Easter festivities, and he's feel
like things might be falling because his enemies are being

(07:58):
really friendly to him. Yeah, he's welcoming all these men
who are secretly plotting to kill him. Um, he's welcomed
monts Secco to his home, the Mercenary. Um he's he's
done such a good job. Lorenzo is such a such
a game player that Montesecco is even having second thoughts
because he's he likes him so much. Um, he's invited

(08:19):
and welcomed a kinsman of the Pope, Raphael sin sony Riario,
who's the newest seventeen year old cardinal. We should say
this pope was um pretty big into nepotism. So you know,
maybe things are okay with Sixtus now too, Maybe maybe
the papal relations are thawing. And he's entertained arch conspirator
Francesco to Pozzi at his own home for a pre

(08:42):
Easter luncheon along with the Archbishop of Pizzas. So he's thinking,
all right, great, you know, maybe things are good with Sixtus,
Maybe things are okay with the potsy things are looking
at yep. So the plotters, though, are decidedly more freaked
out than their intended victims. Lorenzo might not really understand
what going on, but the plotters are getting nervous, mainly because,

(09:04):
like we said, it's hard to get Giuliano and Lorenzo together,
and they're scrambling to make it happen. Uh. The luncheon
would have been a pretty good opportunity to assassinate the brothers,
except that Giuliano cancels at the last minute because of
an eye infection. So the archbishop, you know, trying to
quickly stage a second to get together, uh, suggests that

(09:26):
the Medici brothers show them all their finery and their
Florencine mansion. Sarah, you should come see my gold. Lay
out your gold and silk and I'll come over. Um,
so you know the Laurenzo. Okay, that sounds that sounds
like a good plan. But before it can happen, he
goes ahead and invites all the guests, in a real
gesture of goodwill here invites them all to attend Mass

(09:49):
with him the next morning. And here we go, this
is our opportunity. Both of the Medici brothers are going
to be together at Eastern Mass time for a murder.
But Monte Secho pulls out saying, you know, no way
am I going to kill someone in church at Easter Mass.
Just think about that. For a second, and his replacements

(10:10):
are two disgruntled priests. So let's set the scene. We
are at the Duomo on Easter morning. Lorenzo has walked
to church arm in arm with Cardinal Raphaeli, and he
swept up greeting friends as soon as he arrives and
winds up standing about to the right of the altar
and priests with daggers positioned themselves behind him. Giuliano again

(10:33):
is a no show. Remember he was sick the day before.
With this I in action should is stuck with the
iron fection. I know I could have been a little
worse for him. So Francesco de Pazzi and another conspirator,
Bernardo Bandini, go to collect him from his home, and
you've got to wonder what they say to him to
make him get out of bed with his eye infection

(10:53):
and go to church in the morning. But they convinced him,
and on the walk to the cathedral, Francesco even puts
his arm around Giuliano and says, your illness seems to
have made you fat. He's really checking for armor, Giuliano.
So like, if your friend does this to you, beware lesson,
please remember. So they arrive at church, and Potsi and

(11:14):
Bandini position themselves behind him. So we've got the priests
behind Lorenzo, and we've got Bandini and Potsi behind Giuliano
and the Duomo. It's real chatty and loud. Everybody is
having a good time, but everyone gets quiet right at
the bell before the elevation of the host, which is
the agreed upon signal for the conspirators. Right when that happens,

(11:37):
the attackers strike, and Bandini is the first to strike.
He hits Giuliano shouting here Trader Pozzy begins to strike
him as he falls, slashing so much that he cuts
his own leg. Giuliano sustains nineteen wounds. Lorenzo is too
far away to see any of this happening to Giuliano,

(11:58):
but obviously everyone can hear it, and one of the
priests grabs Lorenzo before he actually tries to strike. Lorenzo
shakes him off, whips around his cloak to dodge the blow,
and grabs his own sword, although he gets nicked in
the neck and the Medici friends immediately surround Lorenzo whisk
him off to the sacristy, which is secured by these
massive bronze doors. Bandini keeps his head in all the

(12:21):
chaos that's starting to happen, and pursues Lorenzo, knowing that
if Lorenzo doesn't die too, this whole thing is not
going to work. And in his pursuit he runs through
one of Lorenzo's friends with his sword, and he gets
to the sacristy right as they're bolting the doors to
protect Lorenzo. So Bandini flees town. Pozzy, who's hurt, limps

(12:43):
home and and retreats, just knowing the whole thing is
is lost and probably that he's a dead man, and
the priests scurry out into the streets and alleyways. The
crowd is panicking. Some people are shouting that the dome
is falling. We couldn't help thinking chicken. Little Lorenzo's friends
fear that he's been poisoned, and Antonio Ridolfi actually sucks

(13:05):
the wound to try to get this phantom venom out
of it. It must have been quite the site of
the church of that day, But the murder and the
murder attempt at the cathedral are just one piece of
this conspiracy. And at the same time, the archbishop and
the Perusian men intend to seize Palazzo Vecchio, which was
an important seed of the government, and it would be

(13:25):
you'd have to have it if you were about to
take control of Florence. But the Medici allies. They're suspicious.
The archbishop turns out not to be a very smooth talker.
They figure some things up and there turns out to
be a scuffle inside the palace. The archbishop, of course,
was supposed to secure the Pelazzo Vecchio. We know that
hasn't happened. And the next part of the plan was

(13:48):
for the Pozzi patriarch to come and rally the people.
But when he comes riding into the square to you
join them and rally everyone, no one listens. Has made
very clear that the people support the Medici. Yeah, he's
shouting these old cries for Florence, and the people are
just shouting cries for the Medici. But there's one catch
about supporting the Medici. The Medici still have to be alive,

(14:11):
and people aren't sure if Lorenzo has survived this attack.
But he has. He's been spirited home by an armed
guard and he sends a note to Milan for help.
Milan at this point is ruled by a regent whose
husband had also been killed in a church. I don't
know why everyone is killing people in churches, And he
appears to the people from his window, appealing for reason

(14:34):
and calmness, but the people want a vengeance. So we're
going to give you a rundown of what happens to
some of the major conspirators in the following days. The
Perusians who are locked up in the Palazzo Vecchio are
thrown from the window alive one by one and die
on the on the steps. Francesco Pozzi, who is seriously injured,

(14:59):
is ragged from his bed, almost torn to pieces in
the street, and then hanged naked from the Palazzo Vecchio's window.
The archbishop is also hanged from the window in his
ecclesiastical robes, and there's I guess an urban legend kind
of that he bites Francesco de Pozzi on his way down, which, wow,

(15:20):
you know, I don't know what else to say about that,
so we just won't and we'll move on. There are
sevent d executions and lynch ings over the next few days.
Body parts start piling up in front of the Medici house,
and Laurenzo kind of stands on the sidelines for everybody
except his sister's pozzy husband. He intervenes for him. Yeah,
Old Pozsi is hunted down, captured, also hanged from the window,

(15:45):
and his body is exhumed twice. Exclamation yeah perfect. The
kids drag it around the city and it's eventually thrown
into the river. The priests are found hiding in the
monastery and their noses and ears are cut off for
they're executed, and Montseco, the mercenary who pulled out at

(16:05):
the last minute. He cooperates, confesses and for his pains,
gets to be beheaded instead of hanged from the window.
Bandini escapes to Constantinople, but that is not far enough.
Lorenzo has the Sultan sent him home, where he is
also hanged from the window. One year later, so guys,

(16:25):
it's pope time. He's really angry, but he can't punish
someone for not dying in a plot. That's not a
really good way to go after Lorenzo, and also he's
in an awkward position. Basically, everybody knows that the pope
sanctioned this plot, but they can't say it because he is,
after all, the pope. So he's looking for a way

(16:47):
to punish Lorenzo, and he finds one um for the
lynching of the archbishop in his ecclesiastical robes, which made
it doubly bad. Apparently on a Sunday the archbishop should
have been subject to ecclesiastical courts, not just hanged from
the palazzo window biting people. No less, Lorenzo's in a

(17:07):
tight spot, and at first he says something along the
lines of you know, okay, I will give myself to them,
but the people take pity on him and say, no,
you know, no, we love we love the Medici. So
instead he decides to make this piece gesture to the
Pope by returning his nephew, Cardinal Raffaelli, who has been
held hostage, to maintain his popular support, while at the

(17:29):
same time he hopes he'll be appeasing the Pope to
take the upper hand. The Pope, though, is really not
grateful about this very nice gesture. Lorenzo is excommunicated the
next day, so clearly, uh Sixesses is really angry about
this whole thing. But the Pope's problem is with the
Medici and not with Florence and the people of Florence.

(17:53):
So he hopes to wear the city down through a
war of attrition with his ally Naples Army. Eventually, he's
hoping that the people of Florence will get so tired
of the countryside being pillaged and just all all the
problems of war, a war that stretches on for two years,
that they'll they'll get sick of Florenzo and they'll decide

(18:15):
to stop protecting him. He also wears them down spiritually
by placing the city under interdict, which suspends public worship
and threatens Florentine souls. They are all kinds of of
rituals and religious ceremonies that you aren't allowed to perform
if you're under interdict, kind of the equivalent of excommunication,
except for a city. Um. But this doesn't work very

(18:38):
well because it's not just the Florentine public that support
the medici. The Florentine priests are behind them as well,
and they say, nope, you know, we're worshiping anyways. And
this is this is an important thing for this city
and countryside that's about to go into war for the
next two years, that they have their religious solace. So

(19:00):
the war stretches on for two years, as we've mentioned,
and Lorenzo isn't a soldier, so he's not very good
at this. He's also got way too much on his plate.
He's ruling a city, he's dealing with business affairs, and
he misses having his brother and co ruler around as well.
He also starts to nip at the public money funds,
which is something that will haunt him later. So eventually

(19:23):
he realizes enough is enough. He I mean, he's probably
starting to realize that with um, the threat of plague
on Florence, and as we said, two years of this
war of attrition, he's probably not going to be able
to count on the support of the people much longer.
So on December seven, fourteen seventy nine, he decides he'll

(19:45):
go to Naples, since he's the guy who they have
a problem with. This is a bold move because the
King of Naples is a sadistic guy. But the two
of them talk and they start working out some slow negotiations.
I think fernand the king is pretty impressed that that
Lorenzo would even show up, or at least, if not impressed,

(20:05):
taken aback by it um And eventually they come to
peace and Lorenzo returns and triumph and the Pope is
forced to give up his vendetta without the Army of
Naples to support it. So Lorenzo comes out of the
Pozzy conspiracy with his worst enemies dead and the unquestionable

(20:26):
support of the Florentine people. And his brother Giuliano turned
out to have had an illegitimate son right before he
was killed. Lorenzo raises the boy, Giulio, as his own,
and he grows up to become Pope Clement the seventh.
So is this the start to our Medici series. It's
the the event that made the man who kind of

(20:47):
makes the family, and look forward to our next episode
on Girolamo Savonarola and in the meantime, if you'd like
to learn more about the papacy, you can come to
our homepage and look for the article how the Papacy
Works at www dot how stuff works dot com. For
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(21:07):
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