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The perp. |
Posted on 03/07/2004 3:08:22 PM PST by farmfriend
1478 Assassination Solved. The Humanist Did It.
By FELICIA R. LEE
On April 26, 1478, Lorenzo de' Medici (who escaped) and his brother Giuliano (who died) were repeatedly attacked with knives by a gang of men who invaded the Duomo cathedral in Florence during a high Mass. It was part of a plot against the powerful Medici family, de facto rulers in the Florentine republic for hundreds of years. Now a Wesleyan University scholar says he has cracked the 500-year-old case with the help of a recently discovered coded letter.
For hundreds of years historians have known the plot was largely engineered by Francesco de Pazzi, from a rival family of bankers, with an assist from Pope Sixtus IV, who sought power for his nephew. But by deciphering an encrypted letter that he discovered in a private archive in Urbino, Marcello Simonetta, a professor of Italian history and literature, shows that the mercenary Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, orchestrated the coup.
Notably the duke has gone down through history as a humanist, without any connection to the conspiracy.
Mr. Simonetta's findings have been published in The Archivo Storico Italiano, the oldest Italian historical journal, and in his new book, "The Secret Renaissance: The World of the Secretary From Petrarch to Machiavelli" (Franco Angeli, 2004).
"This was a major plot in Renaissance history," Mr. Simonetta said in an interview. "The fact that Lorenzo survived changed Italian history. His son became Pope Leo X. The posthumous son of Giuliano became Pope Clement VII. Federico da Montefeltro was known as one of the most refined men of the Renaissance."
"It's very, very exciting," Mr. Simonetta said of his successful efforts to crack the code of the three-page letter, sent by the duke to his ambassadors in Rome two months before the coup attempt.
The letter, Mr. Simonetta said, unveils the duke's personal insistence on getting rid of the Medici brothers, discusses his military contribution to the plot (550 soldiers and 50 knights) and expresses gratitude for the pope's gift to the duke's son Guidubaldo, a golden chain that represented legitimization of the Montefeltro dynasty under papal jurisdiction.
Mr. Simonetta's discovery is highly significant to Renaissance scholars, said Melissa M. Bullard, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mercenary captains like Montefeltro, she said, always posed a threat to the state or ruler who hired them, at at time of constant jockeying for position among Italian city-states.
"Had the Pazzi taken over, the course of Florentine history and the course of northern Italy would have been altered," said Ronald Witt, a professor of history at Duke University. "There probably would have been much greater instability. The fact that the Medici stayed meant there was continuity in the leadership."
I wonder if Professor Witt moonlights as an advisor for the State Department.
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The perp. |
The cleft at the top of his nasal bridge was the result of sword wound. Painter Raphael's father was a court painter at the Court of Urbino, where Raphael grew up. Here's the mercenary in his work clothes...
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Fascinating. Your research and knowledge are appreciated. |
The Clintons have nothing on these people...
Well, if it is worth doing it is worth doing twice I guess. LOL! Thanks for the link.
I remembered this passage from a wonderful book "Here I Stand - A Life of Martin Luther", by Roland Bainton and Googled this link for a relevant passage that stuck in my mind:
The pontiff at the moment was Leo X, of the house of Medici, as elegant and as indolent as a Persian cat. His chief pre-eminence lay in his ability to squander the resources of the Holy See on carnivals, war, gambling and the chase. The duties of his holy office were seldom suffered to interfere with sport. He wore long hunting boots which impeded the kissing of his toe. The resources of three papacies were dissipated by his profligacy: the goods of his predecessors, himself, and his successor. The Catholic historian Ludwig von Pastor declared that the ascent of this man in an hour of crisis to the chair of St. Peter, was one of the most severe trials to which God ever subjected (the) Church.
You cannot help but love such a brutal assessment. :) The book has been out for many years and has had several recent reprintings. Here's a link to a review. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in Luther.
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