#98) 
Lorenzo of the office of treasurer of 
the papal see, which he gave to the- 
Pazzi, a Florentine family, who as 
well as the Medici had a public 
bank at Rome, and who afterwards 
became the coadjutors of Sixtus in 
the execution of his treacherous 
purpose. 
This family was one of the noblest 
and most respectable in Florence ; 
numerous in its members, and pos- 
sessed of great wealth and influence. 
Of three brothers, two of whom 
had filled the office of gonsaloniere, 
only one was then living — 
This conspiracy, of which Sixtus 
and his nephew were the real _insti- 
gators, was first agitated at Rome, 
where the intercourse between the 
count Girolamo /Riario and Fran- 
cesco de’ Pazzi, in consequence of 
the office held by the latter, afforded 
them an opportunity of communi- 
cating to each other their mutual 
jealousy of the power of the Medi- 
ci, and their desire of depriving 
them of their influence in Florence ; 
in which event, it is highly proba- 
ble, the Pazzi were to have exer- 
cised the chief authority in the city, 
under the patronage if not under the 
avowed dominion of the papal see. 
The principal agent engaged in the 
undertaking was Francesco Salviati, 
archbishop of Pisa, to which rank he 
had lately been promoted by Sixtus, 
in oppositivn to. the wishes of the 
Medici, who had for some time en- 
deavoured to prevent him from ex- 
ercising his episcopal functions. If 
it be allowed that the unfavourable 
character given of him by Politian is 
exaggerated, it is generally agreed 
that his qualities were the reverse 
of those which ought to have been 
the recommendations to such high 
preferment. The other conspira- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
tors were Giacopo Salviati, brother 
of the archbishop, Giacopo Poggio, 
one of the sons of the celebrated 
Poggio Bracciolini, and who, like 
all the other sons of that eminent 
scholar, had obtained no small share 
of literary reputation; Bernardo 
Bandini, a daring libertine, render- 
ed desperate by the consequences of 
his excesses; Giovan Battista Mon- 
tesicco, who had distinguished him- 
self by his military talents as one of 
the Condotteiri of the armies of the 
pope; Antonio Maffei, a priest of 
Volterra; and Stefano da Bagnone, 
one of the Apostolic scribes ;. with 
several others of inferior note. 
In the arrangement of their plan, 
which appears to have been con- 
certed with great precaution and 
secresy, the conspirators soon dis- 
covered that the dangers, which 
they had to encounter were not so 
likely to arise from the difficulty of 
the attempt, as from the subsequent 
resentment of the Florentines, a 
great majority of whom were 
strongly attached to the Medici. 
Hence it became necessary to pro- 
vide a military force, the assistance 
of which might be equally requisite, 
whether the enterprize proved’ 
abortive or successful. By the in- 
fluence of the pope, the king of 
Naples, who was then in alliance 
with him, and on one of whose sons 
he had recently bestowed a cardi- 
nal’s hat, was also induced to coun- 
tenance the attempt. 
These preliminaries being adjust- 
ed, Girolamo wrote to his nephew 
cardinal ‘Riario, then at Pisa,. or- 
dering him to obey whatever di- 
rections he might’ receive from 
the archbishop. A body of two 
thousand men were destined to 
approach by different routes to- 
3 wards 
