The Montefeltro Conspiracy:
A Renaissance Mystery Decoded
by Marcello Simonetta
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Bantam hardcover
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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."
Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri were friends, conspiring together to overthrow their government. However, Ruggieri had other plans. He seized control of the city and imprisoned Ugolino with his sons and grandsons in the "tower of hunger."
Ugolino then eats the remains of his children to stay alive. In the inferno Ugolino is munching Ruggieri throughout eternity. Just punishment since Ugolino had betrayed his party, the Guelphs, and Ruggieri had betrayed him.
Interestingly, in 2002 they found remains that were thought to be U. and his children. They indicated that the real U. had died of a blow to his head, and would not have been able to eat his children, since he was toothless.
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Italy’s Medici Murder Plot Solved
Discovery News | 2-24-2004 | Rossella Lorenzi
Posted on 02/25/2004 10:53:57 AM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085318/posts
The Montefeltro Conspiracy:
A Renaissance Mystery Decoded
by Marcello Simonetta
Kindle
Paperback
Bantam hardcover
search
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Note: this topic is from 2004. |
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From a small Italian community in 15th century Florence, the Medici family would rise to rule Europe in many ways. Using charm, patronage, skill, duplicity and ruthlessness, they would amass unparalleled wealth and unprecedented power. They would also ignite the most important cultural and artisitc revolution in Western history- the European Renaissance. But the forces of change the Medici helped unleash would one day topple their ordered world. | PBS | Uploaded to YouTube by Tsenka Stoycheva | Published on Jul 24, 2012
The Medici - Godfathers of the Renaissance 1/4 BG sub
The Medici - Godfathers of the Renaissance 2/4 BG sub
The Medici - Godfathers of the Renaissance 3/4 BG sub
The Medici - Godfathers of the Renaissance 4/4 BG sub
Italy’s Medici Murder Plot Solved
Discovery News | 2-24-2004 | Rossella Lorenzi
Posted on 02/25/2004 10:53:57 AM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1085318/posts
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