Hawkwood's name is steeped sufficiently in carnage; but we get to the
scene of bloodshed in reality as we approach the choir, for it was
here that Giuliano de' Medici was assassinated, as he attended High
Mass, on April 26th, 1478, with the connivance, if not actually at the
instigation, of Christ's Vicar himself, Pope Sixtus IV. Florentine
history is so eventful and so tortuous that beyond the bare outline
given in chapter V, I shall make in these pages but little effort to
follow it, assuming a certain amount of knowledge on the part of the
reader; but it must be stated here that periodical revolts against
the power and prestige of the Medici often occurred, and none was
more desperate than that of the Pazzi family in 1478, acting with
the support of the Pope behind all and with the co-operation of
Girolamo Riario, nephew of the Pope, and Salviati, Archbishop of
Pisa. The Pazzi, who were not only opposed to the temporal power
of the Medici, but were their rivals in business--both families
being bankers--wished to rid Florence of Lorenzo and Giuliano in
order to be greater both civically and financially. Girolamo wished
the removal of Lorenzo and Giuliano in order that hostility to his
plans for adding Forli and Faenza to the territory of Imola, which
the Pope had successfully won for him against Lorenzo's opposition,
might disappear. The Pope had various political reasons for wishing
Lorenzo's and Giuliano's death and bringing Florence, always headstrong
and dangerous, to heel. While as for Salviati, it was sufficient that
he was Archbishop of Pisa, Florence's ancient rival and foe; but he
was a thoroughly bad lot anyway. Assassination also was in the air,
for Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan had been stabbed in church in 1476,
thus to some extent paving the way for this murder, since Lorenzo
and Sforza, when acting together, had been practically unassailable.

In 1478 Lorenzo was twenty-nine, Giuliano twenty-five. Lorenzo had
been at the head of Florentine affairs for nine years and he was
steadily growing in strength and popularity. Hence it was now or never.

The conspirators' first idea was to kill the brothers at a banquet
which Lorenzo was to give to the great-nephew of the Pope, the
youthful Cardinal Raffaello Riario, who promised to be an amenable
catspaw. Giuliano, however, having hurt his leg, was not well enough to
be present, but as he would attend High Mass, the conspirators decided
to act then. That is to