Page 76 of The Medici Return

The pack passed the starting line and began the final lap.

Shortly, Malone would be dead.

CHAPTER 51

ERIC HESITATED BEFORE FOLLOWING THE PRIEST, SAYING, “ICAMEonly to pay my respects.”

“You said you might be Pazzi. Why do you think that?”

“My grandmother always believed we were half Pazzi.”

“Such a noble family. Unfortunately, defined in history by one horrible mistake.”

“Plotting to kill Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici was more than a horrible mistake,” he told the priest. “It was stupidity.”

“And the Pazzi paid for that. Dearly.”

Indeed they had.

The family head Jacopo di Pazzi, Francesco di Pazzi, two of Francesco’s brothers, a nephew, and seven first cousins were all hanged. Then the family lost everything. But all that changed in 1494 when the Medici themselves were exiled. Four days after that happened all of the Pazzi descendants, including their offspring, were exonerated and welcomed back to Florence, their right to hold public office restored. Not long after that legislation was passed proclaiming that the Pazzi, in trying to kill Lorenzo and Giuliano, had actedout of zeal for the liberty of the people and city of Florenceand had beenunjustly condemned. The family was allowed to sue to recover their land and belongings, their prominence somewhat restored.

Historians agreed that Lorenzo de’ Medici was indeed something of a tyrant. Guilty of a multitude of sins that included the hijacking of Florentine foreign affairs, manipulation of government debt, tampering with the courts, purloining of public moneys, filling key offices with cronies, and debasement of the coinage. His form of Florentine government depended on compliance and cooperation, whether freely given, bought, or coerced. Didn’t matter which. Granted, the oppressive political system had existed long before Lorenzo, but he made the most of what he inherited. So it seemed easy to say the Pazzi may have been justified, since political assassination was the norm for change in the fifteenth century.

He pointed at the tomb. “Can you tell me about this man?”

The priest nodded. “Raffaello de’ Pazzi. An interesting individual.”

He waited for more.

“A nobleman and politician,” the priest said. “One of eight children, he grew up to own and manage several estates nearby. He married twice. Both wives died.”

“Do you know the wives’ names?”

He’d asked the question a bit too quickly and hoped the priest would not pry.

“I do not. But they both died young, that I do know. One in childbirth, the other from cholera.”

He knew from the etchings on the tomb that Pazzi died at age fifty-five. So he asked, “Did he marry a third time?”

The priest shook his head. “Not that I am aware of. But that means nothing, since records from that time are few and far between.”

Not an encouraging thought.

“Raffaello died tragically,” the priest said. “In a carriage accident.”

He recalled what Anna Maria had written. “No indication that he was intentionally killed?”

“None I am aware of. But I am no historian.”

“Has this tomb remained inviolate since his death?”

“To our knowledge, for the past hundred years or so, yes. But it was opened before that. The wax seals placed there in the early 20th century, around its lid, are still intact.”

He stepped close and examined the wax, which was indeed free of cracks. If it had been violated, that had to have occurred a long time ago.

“May I ask,” the priest said. “What is your interest?”

He shrugged. “As I said, I might be half Pazzi.”

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