The House of Pazzi was a Tuscan noble family and the second-most notorious banking family of Florence, aside from the House of Medici. In 1476 their Pazzi Conspiracy to take over Florence from the Medicis failed and their leaders were assassinated.
History[]
The Pazzi family fought in the First Crusade, with the first Crusader noble over the walls of Jerusalem being Pazzo Pazzi, ancestor of the noble family. From then on, the House of Pazzi gained more fame, setting up banking operations across Tuscany. In the 1400s they made rivals with the House of Medici, ruled by Prince Lorenzo de Medici of Florence. A conspiracy hatched by Spanish businessmen Rodrigo Borgia and Pazzi head Francesco de Pazzi resulted in the deaths of many of the Auditore family, who worked with the De Medicis, but this was rewarded by the hunting of the conspirators, listed here in order:
- Gonfaloniere Uberto Alberti
- Vieri de Pazzi
- Francesco de Pazzi
- Antonio Maffei
- Francesco Salviati
- Bernardo Baroncelli
- Stefano da Bagnone
- Jacopo de Pazzi
The rest of the Pazzi family was imprisoned when the Medicis took over Florence as well as San Gimignano from the family's forces, and the house ceased to have any power.