#Pazzi conspiracy

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Relevant to the Pazzi Conspiracy art that was going around yesterday. Marsilio Ficino to Francesco Salviati, one of the conspirators.

This was written sometime in October/November 1474, after Salviati’s election to the archbishopric of Pisa, and four years before the whole fuckaroo.

Love that apparently Marsilio and Giovanni sat around being super chuffed about Salviati’s ascension. (Ficino casting around for more patronage, because Lorenzo de’ Medici was lukewarm at this point, aside.)

Also love Marsilio and his prophesy moments.

[katemartinismywife]

pazzi added to tomorrow's list ☺︎

[sapplejack]

Still mad 546 years later...

Every time I go back to read about the Pazzi Conspiracy, I can't help feeling so sad for both Lorenzo and Giuliano. Giuliano was an all around good guy, wasn't really involved in politics (maybe bc Lorenzo was worried he wouldn't be able to handle it), kind-hearted, and friendly to everyone around him. He didn't have to die in such a brutal way. Lorenzo, I can kind of understand why (don't support it tho), since most of the diplomacy and dealings were through/with him. But just imagine Lorenzo finding out that his little brother who was largely the most innocent of them, was the one killed; not him (even though, he, as he older sibling, should have protected Giuliano).

I can't imagine the survivor's guilt Lorenzo had after the whole thing. And don't get me started on how Giuliano's killers (his so-called "friends" Bernardo and Francesco) personally went to get him to come to church and even hugged/joked with him as friends do to check if he was wearing armor and to let his guard down. I mean, no shit, he thought you guys were his friends! The Medici must have known there were ppl who had a grudge against them, but Giuliano never judged those guys and still trusted them wtf

[castelled-away]

(Spoiler for Medici: The Magnificent s1 finale)

Giuliano to Francesco: Is that a knife in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

*Fast-forward to Giuliano dying bc of stabbing*

Francesco: It was a knife.

[fledermavs]

wait a second. I did some maths and uh. if francesco de' pazzi was 34 when he died, that means he was FIFTEEN when vieri was born??? ubisoft...

[vesseloftherevolution]

Balancing Acts: Power in the Middle Ages

Something I have noticed a lot in my reading around the Middle Ages, and into the Renaissance, is how much of a rulers business is maintaining the balance of power, be it between the Church and State, the Nobles and the Commons, and even between the private and public aspects of a ruler’s personality.

Church and State:

During the Middle Ages, the Church rose from a position of a purely spiritual force across Europe to one of the greatest landholders, and a major political power, almost acting as its own city state, with authority coming directly from the Vatican (apart from during the Great Schism, when the church somewhat fell apart thanks to the Avignon Papacy).

For the rulers of Europe, this posed a problem. There was a major part of their country and populace who were not directly under their governance, and could cause major disruption without immediate and severe ramifications. And so, over the Middle Ages, there is a constant flow of power between the secular and spiritual aspects of a state, and the monarch is expected to keep the balance.

One of the first examples that comes to mind is the conflict between Thomas Becket and Henry II. Although Becket was Henry’s loyal friend and advisor, his allegiance automatically switched to the Church once he was ordained. Henry realised that the power balance had shifted dramatically, as shown by the support of the populace for Becket, and ended up taking drastic measures to grab the reins again. However, the Church still demanded that he make public penance for the murder of an Archbishop, placing the King in a position of less power, despite the fact he was one of the foremost leaders in Europe at the time.

Nobles and Commons:

This balancing act is one that is harder to get wrong, thanks to the ingrained structure of the feudal system in most of Medieval society. The Commons are mostly working in agriculture for a liege Lord, be that a Noble, or the King himself, and the bureaucracy of government makes it very clear what exactly is owed to whom. The Lords offer protection, accommodation and a place to grow food, and in return the labourers work the noble’s land, fight in his armies, and pay taxes to use certain equipment.

However, with the advent of the Black Death, thé working population is hit hard. The number of labourers available to work the land is much lower, and Lords start offering payed wages if tenants will desert their lords and join them. The working classes gain a new sense of freedom, and demand specific privileges from their lords. When the lords disagree, and attempt to reinstate the more formal system that was in place before the pandemic, the peasants revolt, as was the case early in Richard II’s reign.

The fourteen year old Richard II was faced with a rather difficult choice. If he were to side with the commons, then he could well turn influential nobles against him, and so damage his fledgling rule. On the other hand, going against the people could prove to mean immediate death, given the fact that he was confronted with a mass of rather angry men with pikes. The decision he made, to agree on a face level with the commons, then to revoke the rights granted, is a decision that can be seen as tyrannical, but given the complications of being a child ruler, I think that keeping closer to the nobles until you have enough self assurance of power is vital.

Public and Private:

As Shakespeare so brilliantly states in Henry V, Act 4 Scene 1:

We must bear all. O hard condition,

Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath

Of every fool whose sense no more can feel

But his own wringing! What infinite heart’s ease

Must kings neglect, that private men enjoy!

And what have kings, that privates have not too,

Save ceremony, save general ceremony?

The majesty of a king, with all its trappings of charisma, charm, and the glittering splendour of wealth, is all an illusion constructed around a man. And one of the most complicated balancing acts a ruler has to face is that between his personal emotions and motivations, and the way he acts for the good is the state.

The example I am going to give is the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy in Renaissance Florence, where there was an attempt against the lives of Lorenzo and Guiliano de Medici, who were the de facto rulers of Florence. During Easter Mass on 26 April 1478, priests and members of the Pazzi family tried to kill the brothers. Lorenzo escaped with a slash to the neck, thanks to the imbecilic priest putting a hand on his shoulder before stabbing him. Guiliano wasn’t so lucky, and was stabbed multiple times in the chest.

Despite the fact that his younger brother had just been murdered in front of him, and the inevitable shock and grief that must have been numbing his mind, Lorenzo had to try and stop the angry Florentine mob from lynching several important political figures associated with the conspiracy. Immediately afterwards, Florence was placed under an interdict, and was at war with half of Italy. Lorenzo had to lay aside any personal feelings, and take the risk of visiting the sadistic and unstable King of Naples, in an attempt to cease hostilities. It was months before he could properly give time to the personal tragedy of his brother dying.

The job of a ruler in the Middle Ages was taxing on many levels, and in many ways. I think it’s interesting how many things they had to balance at once, on top of ordinary finance, and the day to day politics of ruling.

(If there is anything I have got wrong, or something that could be added, please do say.)

[thou-babbling-brook]

Ubisoft try to portray characters as their actual ages challenge: level impossible

[brother-emperors]

THE APRIL PLOT 26 April 1478

Lorenzo, flushed with youth and power, would assume the direction of everything, and resolved that all transactions should bear an impress of his influence. The Pazzi, with their nobility and wealth unable to endure so many affronts, began to devise some means of vengeance. The first who spoke of any attempt against the Medici, was Francesco, who, being more sensitive and resolute than the others, determined either to obtain what was withheld from him, or lose what he still possessed.

Machiavelli’s Florentine Histories

francesco de' pazzi should've gotten to stab lorenzo de' medici twice over tbh 😔ALAS

April Blood, Lauro Martines

society6 | ko-fi | twitter (pillowfort, cohost) | deviantart

[dearest-lady-disdain]

finance bros don't murder each other in cathedrals during the high mass at easter like they used to :(

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Ficino did try and warn everyone to Not Do The Thing. Did they listen? No.

[woodsteingirl]

??????????

[all-that-is-gold-is-now-gone]

THE PAZZI BROTHERS DESERVED BETTER AND I WILL NEVER FORGIVE JACOPO FOR WHAT HE DID TO THEM

[ghoul-haunted]

someday. i will also get around to finishing the block colors for the set of THE REPUBLIC IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE [x] illustrations

[therepublicofletters]

Happy Pazzi Conspiracy Day ! via @themediciarchiveproject

[teecupangel]

An Inverse! Au where Desmond or whoever replaced him has Templar origins but, instead of "our" templars, the templars are the good guys and the assassins are evil? Like, Vieri De Pazzi goes on an arduous and wrought adventure to kill (I forgot Ezi's daddy's name rip)?

Since this is an Inverse AU, the Desmond of this AU would most definitely stayed with the Brotherhood and believed him to be the rightful mentor of the Brotherhood, making him the big bad and pretty much what can be considered as the final boss of the series.

So the main character would be either Lucy Stillman or Daniel Cross due to their connection with the Brotherhood and the Order.

Of course, Berg or Numbskull would be a good alternative main character to have a more acceptable way to infodump in the story because they’re new in the whole secret war thing.

The modern day plot would be the Order is now in small teams that have been driven underground thanks to the Brotherhood holding a Great Purge under the last mentor and now the Assassins are hunting for any survivors.

The Animus is the Templars last ditch effort to find a way to create a counterattack against the Assassins’ relentless hunting.

And to do that…

They have to ask help from the descendants of Templars of old who are also being hunted down by the Assassins because they know the Templars are developing the Animus and they have their own.

Unorganized Notes

The start of the Brotherhood’s corruption could be at any time but the three main possible triggers are: 1) From the start with Aya and Bayek being driven by their rage of Cleopatra’s betrayal, making the Hidden Ones much more vicious and more on the side of ‘destroy everything against us’, 2) Loki’s Isuness corrupting the Hidden Ones between Mirage and Valhalla and having long lasting effects even after his death or 3) Al Mualim raising Altaïr to be his heir and son, effectively turning him into the second Al Mualim

Personally I think 1 is the best option mostly so we can have this corruption start at the very core, becoming the foundation of the Assassins themselves.

Al Mualim used the Templars to get the Apple and used it to gain knowledge that would jumpstart the Brotherhood’s technological advancement. Altaïr continued what he started and drove the Brotherhood into the shadows because there’s an ongoing alliance of quite a lot of formidable foes that are trying to destroy Masyaf.

The Italian Brotherhood under Giovanni Auditore used the Medici family as their puppets exert control over the lands. The Pazzi conspiracy was meant to be a decoy to the real plan to destroy the Auditore family. This fails and most of the Pazzi die and Vieri de Pazzi is trained by Rodrigo Borgia to the ways of the Templar. His revenge is half successful in a way that he was able to cut off the strings between the Medici and the Brotherhood and deal a fatal blow to Giovanni (whether he lives or not is up to you). This, however, caused Ezio Auditore to take center stage and destroy the remaining Templars in a rain of blood and fire all the while Petruccio Auditore becomes the pope, effectively making the Church under Brotherhood control for as long as he reigns.

The Kenway drama unfolds in a different way with Haytham Kenway becoming a Templar to go against his father who has taken the mantle of mentor. Birch is now the guy who showed Haytham the errors of the Brotherhood’s way and this becomes a story of the Templars were able to destroy the Brotherhood in the colonies thanks to Shay (who, in this one, still defected because of Lisbon but less of a case of ‘people don’t communicate well in this game’ and more of a case of ‘it’s a shame but it cannot be helped’ mentality)

of course, this means Ratonhnhaké:ton becomes an Assassin for revenge because the burning of the village is still becomes of Washington and Charles Lee is a Templar but he still did as ordered (but, instead of hitting a kid hard, he orders him to run and shoots near his feet to force him to run). Ratonhnhaké:ton is trained by his grandfather in this one because Haytham couldn’t kill him and his aunt ends up being an Assassin who is mainly there to kill her own brother because he’s a ‘disgrace’)

Arno and Élise still have their forbidden love thing going on but, this time, it’s the Dorian family adopting Élise after her father is killed by an unknown ‘person’ (this turns out to be Jennifer Scott who was hunting Shay Cormac down). Charles Dorian dies because he tried to unite the Brotherhood and the Order. Eventually, it’s found out that he was killed by Bellec and Arno kills him out of revenge. Élise doesn’t die on this one but they don’t end up together because Arno wishes to remain in the Brotherhood to do what his father tried to do but Élise doesn’t believe unity can be accomplished considering how merciless the Brotherhood is. She’s proven right as even to his death, Arno was known as a great Assassin but his call for peace was deemed ‘poisoned’ because he loved a Templar Grand Master

The twins did everything they did the game but, more chaotic. Maxwell Roth absolutely joined their cause because he’s just like that and this is actually an AU where Jack the Ripper doesn’t happen because Jacob AND Roth nurtured his hatred and wrath into something more refined and much more… well stealthier. In exchange, London has an urban legend about how the Reaper would walk the streets of London during that time, and all he sees will never be seen ever again.

[brother-emperors]

poetry might not convince me to pay attention or care about the medici family beyond necessity, but you CAN convince me to turn the spotlights directly onto lorenzo de' medici with phrasing like this. intimately linked. even wedded, you say. and with galeazzo maria sforza's named mentioned. fascinating choice of words.

Magnifico: the Brilliant Life and Times of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Miles J. Unger