"Morto Giuliano de’ Medici": The Pazzi Conspiracy and the Ricordanze of Bongianni Gianfigliazzi (1418–84)

• In Event: Family Archives, Families in the Archives I: Florence

Abstract

The small, dispersed fund of primary sources pertaining to the murder of Giuliano de’ Medici and the attempted assassination of his brother, Lorenzo on 26 April 1478 is well-known to scholars and therefore, is constantly employed. Occasionally however, new sources are unearthed during the course of other, unrelated researches hence the necessary contextualisation and analysis of these fresh documents for the purpose of scholarship and wider dissemination. Accordingly, this paper considers a record of that tumultuous day in April 1478, recently uncovered from the Gianfigliazzi Family Fund: an already partially traversed collection. In tandem with other literary sources and through inter-textual analysis the following issues are discussed: source dating, reliability and authorship; how far this new document complies with existing like primary sources; the document’s impact on our understanding of the relationship between the Medici and the Gianfigliazzi and our comprehension of that day’s events in general.

Author

• Samantha Jane Caroline Hughes-Johnson, Birmingham City University