Lives of the early Medici

by Unknown

Piero Malegonnelle.[210]

Piero Malegonnelle (Vicar of Pomerance) to Lucrezia de’ Medici

Most honoured as a Mother,—As I shall leave at the end of my service here and am expecting my successor from day to day, I have not written about the baths. I went there last Friday and found the water had increased rather than diminished, and that it was extremely hot. The trench is finished from where the water rises under the building as far as the baths which have been rebuilt, and are twelve in number. The cistern is also finished, except covering in the roof, according to the designs sent; and as far as my poor judgment goes all seems to me well done, saving that the water will enter the cistern at only one place and then will have to flow 12-3/4 yards, so that I fear the baths will be too hot to be borne where the water enters and not hot enough at the other end. I think the water ought to be brought into the cistern by two conduits. This might still be easily arranged by dividing the channel in two when it reaches the room where the shower baths are, and digging another trench 19 yards long 2-3/4 yards further in. This can always be done if necessary. There has been some difficulty in the work, as just under the hill where the water comes out they have been obliged to underpin the ground and then to cut through the rock from whence the water comes. But the rock is hard and 3 yards 30 inches thick, and a channel 2 feet long has to be cut in order that the water may have sufficient fall to flow under the small palace to the baths. In two or three days I think it will be finished. The lime has been burnt and they say it is good, about eighty bushels for twenty soldi; and in the fields opposite the trench they have found earth fit for making tiles and bricks. The levellers are at work making them and a Lombard has undertaken to bake them, so they will cost four lire or less the thousand. They are now in the kiln and this will be a great saving to you. The room for the shower baths, 4-1/2 yards wide and 12-3/4 yards long, is partly finished, and the bath at the side also. They say they need certain slabs which are made on purpose for shower baths, and they want them at once. Riccio has been dismissed from the inn and Giovanni di Pace has taken it and says that he has orders for rooms from Volterra, Florence, and elsewhere, and that in addition to what he has he needs all the things noted in the enclosed list. The orchard has been planted in a way that will please you when you see it. I say no more but commend myself to you and may God preserve you in happiness. Ex Castro di Pomarancii, March 25, 1478.

Petrus de Malegonnellis, Vicarius, &c.[211]

The following letters from Louis XI., from Lorenzo, and from Sixtus IV., relate to the famous Pazzi conspiracy when Giuliano de’ Medici was murdered and Lorenzo wounded in the cathedral of Florence. Antagonism and rivalry had for some time existed between the two great families, although Lorenzo’s favourite sister Bianca was married to Gugliemo de’ Pazzi, who had been regarded by Piero almost as his own son, and is often mentioned in these letters as the companion of the Magnificent on hunting excursions and visits to foreign courts. Gugliemo’s brother Francesco, head of the Pazzi bank at Rome, worked incessantly against Lorenzo’s uncle Giovanni Tornabuoni, manager of the Roman branch of the Medici bank, and eventually succeeded in depriving him of the business of the Holy See given to Lorenzo in the first days of Sixtus’ rule. The third brother, Giovanni de’ Pazzi, was married to Beatrice Borromeo, who on the death of her father without having made a will claimed, according to the existing laws, the whole of his property. His nephews, however, intimate friends of the two young Medici, contested her right, and in 1476 a retrospective law of intestacy was passed setting aside the claims of females to the estate of a father who died intestate, and giving it to the nearest male relative. Machiavelli, Nardi, and Guicciardini, all accuse Lorenzo of instigating the drafting of “this law made for the occasion,” as Nardi calls it. Roscoe maintains that it was passed more than ten years before, but the proofs he adduces are quite illusory. Without extraneous aid it is however very improbable that the Pazzi would have dared to attempt the assassination of the two brothers Medici. This aid they obtained from the Pope. Sixtus IV. had, as Dr. Creighton says, “elevated nepotism into political principle ... he took his nephews, men of no position and little capacity, and placed at their disposal all the resources of the Roman See.” Giuliano della Rovere and Piero Riario were created cardinals in total disregard of the regulations of the Conclave, while for Piero’s brother, Girolamo, he bought Imola from the Duke of Milan, at the same time arranging a marriage between him and Caterina Sforza, the Duke’s illegitimate daughter. Florence had long coveted Imola, and Lorenzo tried to prevent the purchase by raising difficulties about advancing the necessary money to the Pope. Francesco de’ Pazzi then seized his opportunity and was appointed Treasurer to the Holy See in Lorenzo’s place.

Another grievance Sixtus had against Florence was the indirect aid given to Niccolò Vitelli, who had taken the side of Todi and Spoleto when they rose against the Pope, by despatching troops to Borgo San Sepolcro when the Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere laid siege to Città di Castello. The appointment of the anti-Medicean Francesco Salviati, as Archbishop of Pisa in the place of the late Filippo de’ Medici, in spite of a previous promise that no archbishop or bishop should be appointed within Florentine territory save by the consent of the Signory of Florence, was deeply resented by Lorenzo. Though unable to prevent the nomination he succeeded in keeping Salviati out of his archbishopric and consequently without his emoluments for three years. In 1477 the Pope’s anger against Lorenzo rose to fever-heat. He suspected, unjustly as it appears, that Florence had aided Carlo Fortebraccio in his endeavour to seize Perugia. The attempt failed and Fortebraccio overran the territory of Siena, which at once appealed to the Pope and the King of Naples, at the same time arrogantly summoning Florence to immediately recall the condottiere. Fortebraccio was in Venetian service, so the Florentines answered that they had nothing to do with him and only wished he would keep quiet.

The murder of Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, had further complicated matters. Girolamo Riario was astute enough to realise that if the Pope died, the change of government in Milan might expose him to the resentment of Florence, and determined to try and overthrow the Medici. Francesco de’ Pazzi and Archbishop Salviati were easily persuaded to join, but shrewd old Jacopo de’ Pazzi, who lived in Florence and knew the hold the Medici had over the people, gave them no encouragement. Promises of foreign aid and the assurance of the assent of the Pope however at last won him over. An Abruzzese, Giovan Battista da Montesecco, a captain in the service of Girolamo Riario, was selected as a man to be trusted; his confession[212] is curious reading but too long to give in extenso. When he met Francesco de’ Pazzi in the Archbishop Salviati’s house at Rome he expressed grave doubts. “Have a care, gentlemen, what you are undertaking. Florence is no small matter, and Lorenzo, I hear, is very popular.” The Archbishop answered that they knew better how it stood with Lorenzo, that it was their affair and he was only the instrument. Montesecco then asked what the Pope would say, and was assured he hated Lorenzo and would follow their advice. Moreover he would receive the captain. Plans were then discussed. It was arranged that troops were to be held in readiness by Giovanni Francesco da Tolentino from Imola, Lorenzo Giustini from Città di Castello, and Napoleone Orsini from Todi and Perugia, to enter Florence as soon as the assassins had done their work. Soon afterwards Montesecco was summoned to the Vatican. “I will have no bloodshed,” said the Pope, “it is not consistent with my office to cause the death of any man. Lorenzo has behaved shamefully and iniquitously towards us, but I do not desire his death, though I do desire a change of government.” Girolamo Riario promised that everything should be done to prevent bloodshed, but asked the Pope to pardon any man who was forced to commit murder. “Thou art a stupid fool,” answered the Pope. “I tell thee I will have no man killed, but I desire the government to be changed. To you, Giovan Battista, I repeat that I wish the government of Florence to be changed and Lorenzo to be overthrown, for he is an undutiful and a bad man who defies us. When he is out of the way we can deal as we choose with the Republic which will be most convenient to us.” Riario and the Archbishop agreed to this and added, “Then Your Holiness is content that we should take every means to bring this about?” Sixtus repeated, “Again I say I am not. Go and do what you will, as long as no blood is shed.” As they left Salviati turned to the Pope, “Holy Father, are you content that we steer this boat. We will guide it well.” The Pope answered, “I am. But see to it that the honour of the Holy See and of the Count does not suffer.”

The Archbishop now went to Pisa, and Francesco de’ Pazzi to Florence. Knowing the hospitable nature of Lorenzo, he suggested that Raffaello Sansoni, a nephew of Girolamo Riario (whose name he adopted), who had just been created Cardinal of S. Giorgio at the age of seventeen and was studying at Pisa, should come to the Pazzi villa near Florence. As he expected, the lad was at once invited to supper at the Medicean villa at Fiesole, and the conspirators were jubilant. But Giuliano was ill and did not come, so they were foiled. The young Cardinal, simply an instrument in the hands of the Pazzi and the Archbishop, then expressed a desire to see the Medici palace in town, and proposed the Sunday before Ascension day (26th April), when he was to celebrate High Mass in the cathedral. Lorenzo asked him to dine afterwards, and it was arranged that the two Medici brothers were to be killed as they rose from table. It is singular that no rumour of the plot had got abroad, as so many were cognisant of it. Besides Jacopo and Francesco de’ Pazzi, the Archbishop and Montesecco, there was Jacopo Salviati, the Archbishop’s brother, and his cousin another Jacopo, Bernardo Bandini, a dissipated adventurer, and Jacopo Bracciolini, son of Poggio Bracciolini the humanist, who owed much to the Medici. Jacopo was deeply in debt and inordinately vain. Two priests, destined to play a prominent part, were also implicated, Antonio Maffei of Volterra, an Apostolic scribe, and Stefano da Bagnone, chaplain to Jacopo de’ Pazzi. Montesecco had hired a band of Perugian exiles, and the Archbishop had a large retinue; these were to aid in seizing the Palazzo de’ Signori. At the last moment Giuliano sent word that he was not well enough to dine, but would attend Mass. The conspirators then determined that the deed must be done in the cathedral, as on that evening Tolentino and Giustini would be drawing near to Florence with their troops. Francesco de’ Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini undertook to kill Giuliano, Lorenzo was entrusted to the abler hands of Montesecco. No doubt all would have gone as they had planned but for the scruples of the soldier, who absolutely refused to commit a murder “where God would see him.” The two priests, who had no such feeling, offered themselves as substitutes—and failed.

Lorenzo accompanied the Cardinal and the Archbishop, who had come to Florence on the pretext of seeing his invalid mother, to the cathedral. Suddenly the conspirators saw that Giuliano had not come. Francesco de’ Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini ran across the square and persuaded him to go with them, affectionately clasping their arms round him to feel whether he wore a shirt of mail.

The scene in the cathedral is best described in the words of Filippo Strozzi, who was present: “At the words missa est Ser Stefano da Bagnone, secretary of Messer Jacopo de’ Pazzi and Messer Antonio Maffei of Volterra assailed Lorenzo de’ Medici, while Francesco de’ Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini fell upon Giuliano. Both were walking round the choir outside, and Lorenzo at once understood, drew his sword, leaped into the choir, rushed across in front of the altar, entered the new sacristy and ordered the door to be locked. There he remained until aid came from his house. He was only wounded in the neck, and in a few days was well. Francesco de’ Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini sprang at Giuliano, who was walking in front of the chapel of the Cross, and with ten or twelve blows laid him dead on the pavement; they also killed Francesco Nori, who was with him. The uproar was great in the church. I was there talking with Messer Bongianni and the other gentlemen, and we were all struck with astonishment, people flying now here, now there, while the church resounded with loud shouts, and arms were seen in the hands of partisans of the Pazzi who had joined in this matter. The Cardinal was left all alone by the side of the altar, until some priests came and led him into the old sacristy, where he remained until two of the Eight with many soldiers arrived and took him to the Palace. At the time this was happening the Archbishop of Pisa, under the pretence of paying a visit to the Signory, was at the Palace, and hearing the tumult in the city, he tried to seize it. With him was his brother Jacopo and Jacopo his cousin, Jacopo Poggio, the Perugians, and others. But the Signory and their guard defended themselves and sounded the tocsin, and the citizens rushed armed into the piazza, and forced a way into the Palace, the door of which had been closed on the inside, and all were made prisoners.”