Pazzi conspiracy

Pazzi conspiracy (pät`tsē), 1478, plot against Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo il Magnifico) and his brother Giuliano, designed to end the hegemony of the Medici in the Florentine state and to enlarge papal territory. It was instigated by Pope Sixtus IV, his nephew Gerolamo Riario, Archbishop Salviati, and members of the Pazzi family, a wealthy Florentine family that rivaled the Medici. Actually, the Pazzi were tools in the conspiracy, which aimed not only at the death of the Medici, but at the elevation of Riario to power in Florence. Details of the plot were worked out by Salviati and the Pazzi while Riario and the pope remained in Rome. On Apr. 26, during High Mass at the cathedral, Giuliano de' Medici was stabbed to death, while Lorenzo escaped with a wound. The enraged Florentines seized and killed the conspirators. The Medici remained firmly entrenched in power.

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Pazzi conspiracy

(April 16, 1478) Unsuccessful plot to overthrow the Medici rulers of Florence. It was led by the rival Pazzi family, with the backing of Pope Sixtus IV, who wanted to consolidate papal rule over northern central Italy. The conspirators tried to assassinate two Medici brothers during mass at the Cathedral of Florence; they killed Giuliano de' Medici, but Lorenzo de' Medici escaped. The people of Florence rallied to the Medici and killed many of the conspirators, leaving Lorenzo more powerful than before and setting off a two-year war with the papacy.