Tag: main narrative

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season three

Episode 35: Trial By Ordeal

We conclude Savonarola’s story by looking at why one of his most fervent followers decided to try to shut up the growing criticism of Savonarola by resorting to an obsolete medieval ritual and how that decision backfired catastrophically. 

An illustration by Hans Spiess of the strappado, the torture device used on Girolamo Savonarola. 1513. Source: The Chronicle of Lucerne, the Burger Library of Lucerne.
A contemporaneous painting of the executions of Girolamo Savonarola, Domenico da Pescia, and Silvestro Maruffi (1498) by Filippo Dolciati. Source: Museo di San Marco, Florence.

Transcript

Just before his excommunication, Savonarola was at the top of the mountain. True, he had become not just an embarrassment but a liability because of his hostile relationship with the Pope. But he still had formidable political influence and was untouchable. No matter how many of his enemies the Arrabiatti got elected, none dared act against him out of fear that arresting him would cause a civil war or the collapse of the republic. But the mountain Savonarola stood on was turning into mud. Florence was still in an economic decline that would in some ways prove to be permanent, a plague was raging across Tuscany, and food prices were still high and would get even worse with another harsh winter in 1497-1498. Now Alexander’s excommunication didn’t knock Savonarola off the mountain, but to take the metaphor one step further, it was like turning a firefighter’s hose on an already increasingly slippery and muddy mountain.

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season three

Episode 34: The Borgia Vs. The Prophet

Savonarola may be enjoying the peak of his influence over Florence, but he’s made a relentless enemy who just so happens to be a pope and, worse, a Borgia. Meanwhile, Piero and his supporters spin plots for a Medici restoration. 

A portrait of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) by Pedro Berruguete (c. 1492). Source: Vatican Museums.

Transcript

So my only excuse for being late this week is that honestly I caught Savonarola fever. Seriously, my script for this episode just kept getting longer and longer and I kept finding new tidbits of research that I felt like I had to include. I really, really wanted to wrap up Savonarola’s story in this episode, but I had to split it. I just like to think there is something special about the fact that, centuries after his death, Savonarola is still big enough of a figure that he took over a podcast that’s supposed to be about the Medici.

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season three

Episode 33: God’s Republic

Charles VIII marches on Naples not knowing a brand-new plague is waiting for him, the Medici adapt to the existence of the new republic in different ways, and Savonarola and his allies in government tighten their grip over Florence, even while Rodrigo Borgia closes in on Florence’s popular preacher.

Transcript

Savonarola never really ruled Florence. In fact, you couldn’t even say that he had an invisible throne like the Medici did. But his sermons captivated his audiences with how they shifted gracefully from apocalyptic thunder to gentle cries for social reform, and as a result he had a great deal of influence over both the average people and the elites. As much as Savonarola owed to his skills as a preacher, he was also lucky enough to have a chance to hedge his bets on King Charles VIII of France. As Florence and Savonarola were about to christen their reformed republic, Charles was marching on Rome to face Pope Alexander VI, and it still seemed like King Charles really would reform the papacy itself.

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season three

Episode 32: The Friar and the King

Piero de’ Medici is gone, and a new rising star is a hotshot preacher named Girolamo Savonarola. Once an itinerant preacher and lecturer, Savonarola now finds himself hobnobbing with King Charles VIII of France and even having a say in Florence’s newly rebuilt, Medici-free republic. 

The only known contemporaneous portrait of Girolamo Savonarola (1497 or 1498) by Fra Bartolomeo. Source: Museo di San Marco, Firenze.
A statue of Girolamo Savonarola in the Palazzo Savonarola in Ferrara (1875) by Stefano Galletti. Source: Dominican Friars of England, Wales, and Scotland website.

Transcript

Today, we’re leaving behind the Medici golden age. This episode marks the start of a new season, the Holy Family. It’s an era that begins with the Medici being driven out of their home city. By rights they should have faded into obscurity. Yet, ironically, this will be the time when they really left their mark on European and even world history. A Medici would assume the role of antagonist in a little tiff you might have heard of called the Protestant Reformation. The family would also, like that other great Italian family the Borgias, take a part in the story of how the golden age of the Italian city-states drew to a close and how Italy would lose much of its independence to the great powers of Europe for roughly 300 years. Basically, this season is about how a dynasty stripped of political power and the bank they founded and driven into exile just simply refused to step off the stage of history.

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season two

Episode 31: The Flood Comes

Piero doesn’t get to enjoy being the de facto lord of Florence for long before he has to deal with an impending French invasion of Italy. He decides to imitate his father’s boldest move, which would surely work…won’t it?

A portrait of King Charles VIII of France. Artist unknown. Uffizi Galleries, Florence.

Transcript

The birth of the future King Charles VIII of France was even more celebrated than that of a normal heir. His father, King Louis XI of France, had two daughters, but by that time it would have been impossible even for their domineering father to have them accepted as his successors. Under what was called the Salic Law, daughters could not inherit the French throne. This law took its name from the Salian Franks, the Germanic people that first established the kingdom of France and gave it its name. In truth, the Salic Law just took its name from an old sixth century law that regulated property inheritance and had nothing to do with royal succession. But in the early fourteenth century it was a convenient excuse for King Felipe V to claim the throne instead of his elder brother’s daughter Jeanne. The excuse became even more convenient when King Edward III of England used the claim to the French throne he inherited through his mother to justify his invasion of France. By Louis XI’s time, the Salic Law was firmly locked in place. So without a son the crown would pass over his hated cousin and rival, Louis d’Orleans. However, since the day he was born to the happy parents Louis XI and his queen Charlotte of Savoy, Charles VIII was sickly. No wonder Louis XI was so afraid for his son’s survival that he kept him isolated and micromanaged his son’s governors.

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season two

Episode 30: Piero the Brief

The fourth Medici to come to power as “unofficial lord” of Florence is Lorenzo the Magnificent’s son, Piero. Although a strapping, handsome, and popular young man, forces within the regime are already working against him. But the real threat is starting to stir many miles outside of Florence…

A portrait of Piero II “the Brief” de’ Medici by Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora. Date: 1494. Source: National Library of Naples.

Transcript

Piero de Medici or Piero II if you want to be specific was the oldest of Lorenzo the Magnificent’s sons who lived past infancy, born on February 15, 1472. This is a bit of a spoiler but I should mention he’s also remembered by history with the sobriquets “the Unfortunate” or “The Brief”, as you probably noticed in this episode’s title. There was never really any question that Lorenzo’s place on the invisible throne of the Medici would be filled by his eldest son Piero. After Lorenzo’s death only a single vote in the Council of Seventy, out of all the legislative councils in the government, went against a bill that would have Piero inherit everything from Lorenzo, including his political responsibilities. This was despite the fact that Piero was too young for political office according to Florentine law.

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season two

Episode 28: The End of the Golden Age

The golden age of the Medici’s unofficial lordship over Florence is drawing to an end with Lorenzo’s death. Here we look back over Lorenzo’s legacy as the patron, the politician, and even the embezzler and the human being. Also, what exactly was Lorenzo’s contribution to the course of not only Florentine but European history as a whole? 

The tomb of Lorenzo de’ Medici, his brother Giuliano, and other members of the family in the New Sacristy in Florence. Lorenzo and Giuliano’s remains were reinterred there in 1532. The statuary at the tomb was carved by Michelangelo and commissioned by Pope Leo X (Giovanni de’ Medici).

Transcript

Last time, we talked about the Medici bank being in free fall. And Lorenzo himself was well aware of the bank’s problems. Once, he wrote to the signorie himself, explaining his last tax report to the government: “In making out this report, I shall not follow the same procedure as my father in 1469 because there is a great difference between that time and the present with the consequence that I have suffered many losses in several of my undertakings, as is well-known not only to Your Lordships but to the entire world.”

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season two

Episode 27: The Decline and Fall of the Medici Bank

Lorenzo is at the height of his power and security. However, just behind the scenes, the family bank that caused the Medici to come into power in the first place is slowly but steadily falling apart, thanks to the Ottomans, a squabble between English royals, and, most of all, the ugly realities of politics. 

Transcript

Now when we last left Lorenzo the Magnificent, he was basking in what I think is safe to say was his greatest triumph, coming back to Florence from Naples with an end to a catastrophic war following behind him. Plus with some more tweaking of the Florentine Constitution and the creation of a new government body, the Council of Seventy, the Medici’s hold on power was secure – well, at least as secure as it could ever be.

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season two

Episode 26: The Private Life and Patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici

The Lorenzo we see from his voluminous letters is a man who had a short temper and bouts of depression, but was also capable of tremendous compassion and generosity. Unfortunately, his relationships with his own wife and sons were perhaps less than ideal.

Transcript

So you may have noticed I focused on Lorenzo’s activities as a politician, and not as a patron. This is despite the fact that Lorenzo is the rare historically celebrated leader who is actually better known for his activities in the cultural sphere than his political career. Now that we hit a point in our story where Lorenzo is basking in his victories over Pope Sixtus and is for the first time in a long time secure, I want to hit pause and look at Lorenzo as a family man and then as the head of a vast patronage network that made Florence one of the cultural capitals of Europe.

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season two

Episode 25: Into The Lion’s Den

To try to stop a war Florence is badly losing and take some steam out of the Pope’s vendetta against him, Lorenzo does something few politicians had done before or since: put himself directly in enemy territory. 

King Ferrante of Naples as one of the Magi who visit the infant Jesus Christ in Marco Cardisco’s Adoration of the Magi. Date unknown. Source: Civic Museum of Castel Nuovo, Naples.

Transcript

Lorenzo had survived the assassination, but he had lost his brother. It should be admitted that judging from the evidence Lorenzo’s relationship with his younger brother Giuliano wasn’t the close partnership their grandfather Cosimo had with his own brother. Lorenzo was suspicious of his brother, while Giuliano apparently thought at least for a time that Lorenzo was standing in the way of his own ambitions. If Giuliano had lived, it is possible that he and Lorenzo might have gone the route of many siblings born into power, with Giuliano becoming a living focal point of resistance against his older brother’s regime. Even so, Lorenzo deeply mourned his brother. We know this not just through anything Lorenzo wrote or was reported to have said. With Lorenzo’s prestigious, almost non-stop correspondence, we have a gap of five whole days after his brother’s death.

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