[[File:Pazzi's coat of arms.jpg|thumb|The Pazzi coat of arms (the ones in the game are red instead of blue).]]
{{stub}}
The '''Pazzi family''' were Tuscan nobles who were bankers in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence Florence] in the 15th century. They are most famous for the "Pazzi conspiracy". They are a part of the [[Templar]] Order in ''Assassin's Creed''.
{{Faction Infobox
|image = Pazzi's coat of arms.jpg
|imgdesc = The Pazzi coat of arms (the ones in the game are red instead of blue).
|game = ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''
|religion = Roman Catholic, Atheist
|nationality = Italian
|location = [[Florence]], [[Tuscany]]
|targets = [[Jacopo de' Pazzi]], [[Francesco de' Pazzi]], [[Vieri de' Pazzi]]
}}
==The Pazzi==
The '''Pazzi family''' were [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] nobles who were bankers in [[Florence]] during the 15th century. They are most famous for the "Pazzi conspiracy". They are part of the [[Knights Templar]] in ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''.
They are now best known for the "Pazzi conspiracy" to murder [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_de%27_Medici Lorenzo de' Medici] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuliano_di_Piero_de%27_Medici Giuliano de' Medici] on April 26, 1478. Andrea de' Pazzi was also the patron for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Brunelleschi Filippo Brunelleschi]'s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_house chapter house] for the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciscan Franciscan] community at Florence's Santa Croce church, often known as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazzi_Chapel Pazzi Chapel]. After the conspiracy, the remaining Pazzi were rehabilitated and returned to Florence.
The family stemmed from Pazzo ("the madman"), one of the first soldiers over the walls in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_%281099%29 Siege of Jerusalem] during the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade First Crusade], who brought away with him and returned to Florence a stone from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre]. A member of the Pazzi family was accorded the privilege of striking a light from this stone on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Saturday Holy Saturday] when all fires in the city were extinguished, from which the altar light of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Fiore Duomo] would be annually rekindled, and from it all the hearth fires of Florence. The following day, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter Easter], a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove dove]-shaped rocket would slide on a wire from above the high altar to an oxcart loaded with fireworks in the piazza. From the fireworks' explosion (the ''scoppio del carro''), sparks would be carried to the city's hearths.
==Conspiracy==
The Pazzi family was established in Florence as one of the most powerful of the city. It held its own guards posted all around the city, but they couldn't rule it... as long as the ''de facto'' governors of Florence held it: the [[Medici]]. [[Rodrigo Borgia]], a member of the Templar Order proposed them to overthrow the Medici by killing its head: [[Lorenzo de' Medici]]. In 1476, [[Giovanni Auditore]] a close friend of Lorenzo and a member of the Assassins, sworn enemies of the Templars discovered the involvement of the Pazzi family in a conspiracy against the Medici. He managed to put [[Francesco de' Pazzi]] in jail. But the plot already reached members of the Medici government itself: [[Uberto Alberti]], the gonfaloniere of justice freed Francesco while he made Giovanni and most of his sons executed for treason, wiping out the [[House of Auditore|rival family]] of the Pazzi from Florence. With Giovanni dead, there were no more obstacles in the way of the Pazzi... until one Ezio, a son of Giovanni decided to fulfill his vengeance against the ones responsible for his father's death. Outside Florence, in the city of [[San Gimignano]], there was a first victim of the new Assassin's blade: the young [[Vieri de' Pazzi]]. In 1478, Ezio returned to Florence. At the same moment, the Pazzi were having a meeting with the other Templars under the church of Santa Maria Novella. Ezio managed to attend it unnoticed. They were planning the assassination of Lorenzo and his brother [[Giuliano de' Medici|Giuliano]]. Among the conspirators were: [[Stefano da Bagnone]], [[Bernado Baroncelli]], [[Francesco Salviati]], [[Antonio Maffei]] and of course the two members of the Pazzi family, [[Jacopo de' Pazzi|Jacopo]] and Francesco, while they were given "spiritual" and military supports from the pope [[Sixtus IV]]. On the next day, they executed their plan. In front of the Florence Cathedral, they publicly attacked the Medici brothers. Francesco and Bernado managed to stab Giuliano to death while Stefano and Antonio fled after their failure to kill Lorenzo but seriously wounded him. Before Francesco could kill him, Ezio intervened. He repulsed the Pazzi assault and made Francesco flee. But with Lorenzo heavily wounded, he could take over the Palazzo della Signoria installing his own men in the government. Francesco invaded the Palazzo with his guards but Ezio tracked him down at the top of building. Seeing no issues, he leaped into a haystack fleeing the Assassin. Ezio eventually killed him. When Jacopo arrived at the Palazzo with the support of some citizens, it was too late: Francesco was hanged. With the failure of their plot, the Pazzi left Florence to hide in the Tuscan countryside and the city of San Gimignano. Ezio, still thirsty for revenge and in order to serve his new master Lorenzo, took all the Pazzi conspirators down wherever they were hiding.
===The Conspiracy (Factual)===
{{ACII}}
Less powerful and rivals of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medici Medici], the Pazzi were caught up in a conspiracy to replace the Medici as ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_facto de facto]'' rulers of Tuscany with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Riario Girolamo Riario], a nephew of Francesco della Rovere, who was reigning as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sixtus_IV Pope Sixtus IV]. Power politics, often ruthless in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Renaissance Italian Renaissance], was the main motive.
The Pazzi family were not the instigators. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salviati Salviati], Papal bankers in Florence, were at the center of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_%28political%29 conspiracy]. Sixtus was an enemy of the Medici. He had purchased the lordship of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imola Imola], a stronghold on the border between Papal and Tuscan territory that Lorenzo wanted for Florence. The purchase was financed by the Pazzi bank, even though Francesco dei Pazzi had promised Lorenzo they would not aid the Pope. As a reward, Sixtus granted the Pazzi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly monopoly] at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum alum] mines at Tolfa — alum being an essential [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordant mordant] in dyeing in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile textile] trade that was central to the Florentine economy — and he assigned to the Pazzi bank lucrative rights to manage Papal revenues. Sixtus appointed his nephew [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Riario Girolamo Riario] as the new governor of Imola, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Salviati_%28archbishop%29 Francesco Salviati] as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbishop_of_Pisa archbishop of Pisa], a city that was a former commercial rival but now subject to Florence. Lorenzo ordered Pisa to exclude Salviati from his [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_See See].
Salviati and Francesco de' Pazzi put together a plan to assassinate Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici. Riario himself remained in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome Rome]. The plan was widely known: the Pope was reported to have said, "I support it — as long as no one is killed." In 2004, an encrypted letter in the archives of the Ubaldini family was discovered by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcello_Simonetta&action=edit&redlink=1 Marcello Simonetta], a historian then teaching at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesleyan_University Wesleyan University] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut Connecticut], and decoded. It revealed that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_da_Montefeltro Federico da Montefeltro], Duke of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbino Urbino], a renowned humanist and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condottiere condottiere] for the Papacy, was deeply embroiled in the conspiracy and had committed himself to position 600 troops outside Florence, waiting for the moment. Marcello Simonetta recast the story of the conspiracy in light of the decoded letter and of other original documents in his ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Montefeltro_Conspiracy:_A_Renaissance_Mystery_Decoded&action=edit&redlink=1 The Montefeltro Conspiracy: A Renaissance Mystery Decoded]'', published by Doubleday in 2008. In October 2009, Marcello Simonetta accompanied the Assassin's Creed Team in their Florentine tour: [http://www.youtube.com/user/mktrecord#p/a/u/0/EbbL4zK3HZs http://www.youtube.com/user/mktrecord#p/a/u/0/EbbL4zK3HZs].
On Sunday, April 26, 1478, during [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Mass High Mass] at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Fiore Duomo] before a crowd of 10,000, Giuliano de' Medici was stabbed 19 times by a gang that included a priest. As he bled to death on the cathedral floor, his brother Lorenzo escaped with serious, but non life-threatening wounds. Lorenzo, locked safely in the sacristy, reemerged shortly after and was escorted back at his palace. A coordinated attempt to capture the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonfaloniere_of_Justice Gonfaloniere] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signoria_of_Florence Signoria] was thwarted when the archbishop and head of the Salviati clan were trapped in a room whose doors had a hidden latch. The ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat coup d'état]'' failed, and the enraged Florentines seized and killed the conspirators. The mob dragged Francesco de' Pazzi naked through the streets, and he was tossed from a window. Francesco's oncle Jacopo was also hanged, then buried, unburied, and his corpse was thrown into the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arno_River Arno River]. The Pazzi family were stripped of their possessions in Florence, every vestige of their name effaced. Salviati was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging hanged] on the walls of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_della_Signoria Palazzo della Signoria], where [[Sandro Botticelli]] eventually depicted all the plotters in life-size frescoes. Although Lorenzo appealed to the crowd not to exact summary justice, many of the conspirators, as well as many people accused of being conspirators, were killed. Lorenzo did manage to save the nephew of Sixtus IV, Cardinal [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffaele_Riario Raffaele Riario], who was almost certainly an innocent dupe of the conspirators, as well as two relatives of the conspirators. The main conspirators were hunted down throughout [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy Italy]; however, the story of a wider retribution by Lorenzo, including hundreds of killings, is a myth.
In the actual aftermath of the so-called "Pazzi" conspiracy, the Della Rovere Pope placed Florence under interdict, forbidding [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_%28liturgy%29 Mass] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communion communion], for the execution of the Salviati archbishop. Sixtus enlisted the traditional Papal military arm, the King of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples Naples], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Naples Ferdinand I], to attack Florence. With no help coming from Florence's traditional allies in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna Bologna] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan Milan], only Lorenzo's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy diplomacy] saved the day. He sailed to Naples and put himself in the hands of Don Ferrante, who held him captive for three months before releasing him with gifts. Lorenzo's courage and his [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli Machiavellian] ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik realpolitik]'' convinced [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Naples King Ferrante] that the Pope would turn against him if he were too successful in the North.
==Assassin's Creed canon==
<!--Add a summarized retelling of the Pazzi conspiracy-->
It is a basic substitution of the simple trappings of power of man, like money, respect, and titles, with the overarching evil that the Templars represent. Within the game, the Pazzi were in league with Borgia against the Medici and the Auditore for the main reason of the knowledge of the lineages of both families. Florence stayed true to the people and its leaders were not only aware of the Templars, but combating their influences within Florence. The Templar Alberti publicly ruined the Auditore name with his damnation and execution of [[Lorenzo di Medici]]'s close friend and ally, [[Giovanni Auditore da Firenze]]. This served as a symbolic message to Lorenzo, as his closest friend and advisor had been painted as the mastermind of the plots in public and had been executed in Lorenzo's name, no less. Knowing this would shake Lorenzo the Templars saw Giovanni and the males of the House of Auditore as their only obstacle in securing the state, support, leadership, and power of Florence.
[[Category:Factions]]
[[Category:Factions]]
Revision as of 00:21, 4 January 2010
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The Pazzi family were Tuscan nobles who were bankers in Florence during the 15th century. They are most famous for the "Pazzi conspiracy". They are part of the Knights Templar in Assassin's Creed II.
Conspiracy
The Pazzi family was established in Florence as one of the most powerful of the city. It held its own guards posted all around the city, but they couldn't rule it... as long as the de facto governors of Florence held it: the Medici. Rodrigo Borgia, a member of the Templar Order proposed them to overthrow the Medici by killing its head: Lorenzo de' Medici. In 1476, Giovanni Auditore a close friend of Lorenzo and a member of the Assassins, sworn enemies of the Templars discovered the involvement of the Pazzi family in a conspiracy against the Medici. He managed to put Francesco de' Pazzi in jail. But the plot already reached members of the Medici government itself: Uberto Alberti, the gonfaloniere of justice freed Francesco while he made Giovanni and most of his sons executed for treason, wiping out the rival family of the Pazzi from Florence. With Giovanni dead, there were no more obstacles in the way of the Pazzi... until one Ezio, a son of Giovanni decided to fulfill his vengeance against the ones responsible for his father's death. Outside Florence, in the city of San Gimignano, there was a first victim of the new Assassin's blade: the young Vieri de' Pazzi. In 1478, Ezio returned to Florence. At the same moment, the Pazzi were having a meeting with the other Templars under the church of Santa Maria Novella. Ezio managed to attend it unnoticed. They were planning the assassination of Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. Among the conspirators were: Stefano da Bagnone, Bernado Baroncelli, Francesco Salviati, Antonio Maffei and of course the two members of the Pazzi family, Jacopo and Francesco, while they were given "spiritual" and military supports from the pope Sixtus IV. On the next day, they executed their plan. In front of the Florence Cathedral, they publicly attacked the Medici brothers. Francesco and Bernado managed to stab Giuliano to death while Stefano and Antonio fled after their failure to kill Lorenzo but seriously wounded him. Before Francesco could kill him, Ezio intervened. He repulsed the Pazzi assault and made Francesco flee. But with Lorenzo heavily wounded, he could take over the Palazzo della Signoria installing his own men in the government. Francesco invaded the Palazzo with his guards but Ezio tracked him down at the top of building. Seeing no issues, he leaped into a haystack fleeing the Assassin. Ezio eventually killed him. When Jacopo arrived at the Palazzo with the support of some citizens, it was too late: Francesco was hanged. With the failure of their plot, the Pazzi left Florence to hide in the Tuscan countryside and the city of San Gimignano. Ezio, still thirsty for revenge and in order to serve his new master Lorenzo, took all the Pazzi conspirators down wherever they were hiding.
