A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND

thought he could trust their loyalty. Instead, Francesco de’ Pazzi went straight to the pope and told
him what Lorenzo had suggested. As a result, the pope got his money, and the papal bank account
was transferred from the house of Medici to that of Pazzi.
Lorenzo now made the mistake that almost cost him his life. He was young and impulsive, and
irritated by Francesco’s treachery. A rich man called Giovanni Borromeo was on his death bed; he
had no sons, but his daughter was married to a Pazzi. Lorenzo quickly passed a law that said male
heirs should be preferred over females; the result was that his own nephews inherited Borromeo’s
fortune. And it was at this point that the pope and his nephews (the Riario family, who also hated
the Medicis) and Archbishop Salviati and Francesco de’ Pazzi entered into a conspiracy to remove
the Medici brothers and make the Pazzis the rulers of Florence. The pope, in fact, announced that
he would not countenance bloodshed; but he knew as well as anyone that the Medicis could not be
removed without bloodshed.
The head of the Pazzi family, Jacopo, was brought into the plot; he disliked it, but agreed anyway.
Another member, Renato de’ Pazzi, thought it would be easier to destroy the Medicis by ruining
them financially and opposed the risks of assassination. He was overruled. The duke of Milan had
recently been murdered by three noblemen as he entered the cathedral; they did it with such smooth
efficiency that no one realised for a few minutes that the duke had been killed - everyone thought
he had fainted. Killing the two Medici brothers would be slightly more complicated, since it had to
be done at more or less the same time; but at least the Medicis walked about unarmed and without
bodyguards.
A condottiere - a professional killer - named Montesecco was hired to carry out the assassination,
and he was introduced to Lorenzo de Medici so that he would know his man on the day. Lorenzo
was charming and courteous, and Montesecco began to have twinges of conscience about the
murder. But it was too late for a change of plan. Two armies of mercenaries were due to arrive
outside the gates of Florence on the morning after the killings, and when that happened the cat
would be out of the bag anyway.
The plot was simple. A boy named Raffaello Sansoni, one of the Riario family, was staying with
the Pazzis for a few days on his way to take up an appointment as the governor of Perugia; he also
happened to be a cardinal and a brilliant student at the university of Pisa. Lorenzo was sure to ask
the boy to dinner - together with the Pazzis. Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano would be stabbed as
they rose from the table.
The invitation went according to plan; when Lorenzo heard that the brilliant boy was in Florence,
he invited him to dinner on the evening of Saturday 25 April 1478. But at this point, a hitch arose.
Giuliano had hurt his knee, and had to stay in bed. The assassinations had to be postponed. If
Giuliano was in bed, it seemed unlikely that he would come to his brother’s house the next day. But
he might just possibly be persuaded to attend mass in the great cathedral, the Duomo.
And now Montesecco’s conscience got the better of him; he had no objection to stabbing a man at
dinner, but it was another thing to do it as he knelt at Mass. The archbishop assured him that it was
perfectly legal and moral, and that the pope would give him absolution, but Montesecco still
refused. The plotters had to turn to the two priests of the Duomo, Antonio Maffei and Stefano de
Bagnone, who felt there could be no possible religious objection to killing someone on their own
premises.