You Will All Be Executed Brutally
#TheNovel - The Mad Schemers - S1E3
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Florence, Sunday, April 26th, 1478 - “Hey, watch out! A carriage is coming through!” a kid exclaimed as he moved his friends back. Two brown, tall horses were charging forward, carrying anger and thirst for revenge. The crowd parted like a wave, people stumbling back in awe and fear. No one dared say a word at the sight of Lorenzo, their ruler, their leader, now under attack.
Stunned and disoriented, the crowd knew–a group had attempted to seize control of the Florentine government. “Come this way, I know a shortcut to Palazzo della Signoria,” the older kid invited his gang to follow. But they would witness something you’d rarely see happening, even in those times.
Three stacked lines of men, next to each other, all looking down, on their knees, and with their hands tied in the back. All around were men standing tall, chest forward and armed, ready to wake up that roundel dagger, sleeping on the leather belts.
The carriage had arrived. The horses’ powerful stride slowed and transitioned into deliberate and measured steps. From the height of the wobbling carriage, Lorenzo observed each man with meticulous scrutiny–the kind of diligence you’d reverse only to those whose memory and presence you intend to erase from this land, physically and politically. A sharp sense of justice, mixed with rage, hit Lorenzo. Now that the tables had overturned, vindication became his main obsession. But the statesman in him urged prudence–he had to unveil the entire plot and whoever was behind it first. Lorenzo was determined to spare no one.
“And this. Is. What. You. All. Fought for?” Lorenzo’s calm but pungent tone conveyed a sense of paranoiac violence. A deadly silence fell on that noisy, whispering crowd. “And now. You are here. On your knees. Ashamed… That’s the end of it all.” he continued, looking at the crowd as a warning, a stark admonition to anyone else about the consequences of committing such a vile act. “You. Look at me! Failure of a man,” he yelled at the only man closely guarded by two guards. “I know that this is not your fault–like a soldier, you only exist to execute orders.” he continued, with humiliating intent, as he stood a foot from him.
“I am the Archbishop of Pisa; you cannot…” one of the guards landed a punch to his stomach and soon interrupted his decrepit voice. You could see a man in pain, clinched forward. A man who would have found rest on the ground had the guards not forcibly held him up. “You’re, yes… You are a puppet, the Pope’s puppet.” Lorenzo said as he seized his hair with a brutal grip. “You became the Archbishop of Pisa because I had decided so. You were not worthy of my city. Now, you are not worthy of living.”
Lorenzo took a pause as a smirk appeared on that man’s face. “You will capitulate in the Pope’s hands; His army has already surrounded you!” The Archbishop used what remained of his strength to warn Lorenzo of their insidious and carefully planned scheme, which was more significant than he had imagined. Lorenzo’s eyes widened in surprise, but he had had enough of that man. That Sunday looked eternal. “You’re bluffing. Petrucci. Put an end to this!” In cold blood, Lorenzo commanded his Gonfaloniere to execute that man.
All around, it was quiet, as if the crowd had stopped breathing. The elders were forcefully inviting the kids to leave that place to prevent innocent eyes from witnessing what was about to unfold during one of the saddest and most brutal days in Florentine history.
And while Petrucci was preparing for the long-awaited moment, suddenly, that same crowd became alive and stepped forward towards Lorenzo and that man, as carried by a shared angry energy. The guards looked at each other as they were outnumbered; a fog of doubts and fear surrounded them. Lorenzo, immobile, felt powerless for the second time in a day after that assassination attempt. But the crowd went straight to Francesco Salviati–the man in agony, the presumed devout man, appointed Archbishop for political reasons, who had actively orchestrated this conspiracy. Driven by a personal sense of morality, justice, and revenge, they lynched and pounced on him with violence so intense that you would not remember to have committed it. Within a few minutes, that man was seen hanging from the window of the Sala dei Duecento, the city’s largest council room.
Lorenzo stood there and didn't move a finger. He saw that man’s life fading off slowly, in pain, suspended in the void attached to that palace that he planned to overtake. That brutal act proved that the Florentines were on the de' Medici's side.
“Sir, our citizens have intercepted Jacopo de' Pazzi.” one of the guards whispered to Lorenzo. “He tried to escape to his villa in Montemurlo, outside of Florence. They are holding him in his palace and are waiting for you.” Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed slightly, his jaws tightened, and his chest pounded for a second. A storm of emotions was swirling beneath the surface. The events were all unfolding in his favor, and that was enough to mask the fury burning inside. “Tell them to take him back to Florence, here, to Palazzo della Signoria. I need to look this bastard in the eyes.” Lorenzo gave the order without a second thought.
“Consider it done.” the guard replied with unwavering certainty. “Sir, there is more. On our way here, we spotted the Pope’s army across the hill and captured one of the men of the Duke of Urbino,” the guard advised.
“That vile man was right. They’ve surrounded us,” Lorenzo murmured. “We’ll deal with them later! I will remain here to guard our government. For God's sake, I will kill them all.”
“Yes, Sir, the rest of the militia is on the way—you will be safe here.” the soldier replied.
The carriage then rushed off in pursuit of the main conspirator, while Lorenzo stood amidst an atmosphere charged with anger and a thirst for revenge stronger than ever.
Francesco Salviati was 35 when he was executed by a lynch mob as one of the conspirators. While the Pope supported his appointment as Archbishop of Pisa, Lorenzo publicly opposed it because of his family relations with the Pazzi family–de’ Medici’s main rival. Lorenzo also opposed his candidacy as Archbishop of Florence, a potential strengthening of the Pazzi’s power. According to historians, the succession of these events led Salviati to cultivate the plan for the conspiracy.
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Coming days I will read the rest as it is an entertaining and interesting discovery. Will you go as far aa Napoleon and the 19th century?
Great piece. This reminds me of the series Da Vinci's demons, the images in your story are truly vivid. Lovely read for a history geek