nedits: This was pope Leo X (1513-21), Giovanni de' Medici, and he never did get a crusade against the Turks going. But he was the son of the great Lorenzo de' Medici and there was much remaining in Italy to do. Especially for his family and friends. Giovanni was born in 1475 to perhaps the most famous family of Florence. But there were so many characters then. The following quick story about the attempted Pazzi coup in Florence in 1478 mentions seven of these powerful families, not including da Vinci, Macchiavelli who were merely observers.
In 1464, Francesco Salviati Riario moved to Rome to become closer to Francesco della Rovere, the future (1471) pope Sixtus IV and his nephews Girolamo and Pietro Riario. This della Rovere who had grown up near Rome had been made Minister General of the Franciscan Order in that year of '64. The famous Francesco della Rovere who taught philosophy and theology at the University of Padua was selected pope in 1471 had a nephew Giuliano della Rovere who was made a bishop and sent to France that year. In quick succession and promotion he was recalled and sent to Rome, where he would serve as cardinal at San Pietro in Vincoli, then Lausanne on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Coutances in Normandy and even Avignon, France,-- all over through the 1470's. In time he would become pope Julius II.
But in Rome, then, so strong was the influence by the Salviati and especially the Pazzi of Florence on Sixtus IV that he had become, it is said, nearly desperate to reduce the power and influence of the de'Medici in their region.
So much so that in 1478, pope Sixtus IV had approved the promotion of Francesco Salviati Riario to become archbishop of Pisa. Florence had taken Pisa in 1406 after Genoa had destroyed their port in 1294. So it was natural for Florence to think Riario not so suitable a candidate for such a rich see and one so close to de' Medici interests. The de' Medici appealed to Rovere's better angels. The pope let himself be convinced this disapproval by the de' Medici a usurpation of papal privilege and their powers and agreed that something must be done, "so long as that no one be harmed."
The archbishop of Pisa, Salviati Riario helped lead the charge, says Machiavelli, to overthrow the d' Medici franchise in Florence. He would go to the Palazzo Vecchio, kill the Gonfaloniere, Cesare Petrucci while two of the pope's nephews would seize the leading sons of the de' Medici clan, young Lorenzo and Giuliano.
As it turned out, none of this happened, Lorenzo escaped and Giuliano de' Medici was stabbed to death. Other conspirators were seized, killed and captured including Francesco Salviati Riario, the archbishop of Pisa who was hung that day by the ensuing mob. Leonardo da Vinci was there and made this famous sketch of one of the other conspirators.
The mob turned on the Pazzi and Lorenzo de' Medici won the hearts of the people. The pope, Sixtus IV, Francesco della Rovere, was horrified and put an interdict on Florence as all the Pazzi and their relations fled the city. Frederico da Montefeltro with a large contingent of troops lay outside waiting to see what might happen. The pope forbade the inhabitants the privilege of mass and communion and ordered King Ferdinand I of Naples to take protection of, really, to contain Florence if things got out of hand. When things settled down, Lorenzo de Medici, realizing his city was under siege, defied the odds and sped to Naples. There he made a personal appeal to Don Ferrante King Ferdinand I of Naples to end the stranglehold on his city. Ferdinand was absolutely charmed by such bravery, nobility and agreeableness so that Lorenzo came home unaided and unafraid. He was declared savior and Father to his City.
That was 1478 and Giovanni de' Medici, future pope Leo X was three, it was his uncle who had been killed. His father, protector of the city.
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