Pazzi Conspiracy

Pope Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus IV was Francesco della Rovere. Francesco himself was a learned man, a former general of the Franciscan Order. He built a chapel in the Vatican, which was named after him: the Sistine Chapel (it would be fifty years before Michelangelo painted there). He seemed to be serious and studious.

When he became pope (1471), though, he became obsessed with furthering the interests of his family, and was known as one of the worst of the nepotistic popes. He made some of his family lords, made others bishops, and made still others cardinals. He had an abundance of nephews and an abundance of ambition, and the combination kept him very busy.

In particular, he wanted to establish a principality for Girolamo Riario. He also wanted to secure papal territories along the borders with Tuscany. These two desires resulted in his bid for the town of Imola, which happened to be a town also desired by Florence. When Sixtus went looking for someone to lend him the money needed to purchase title to Imola, Lorenzo instructed his representatives in Rome not to lend the pope any money. Frustrated, Sixtus turned to the Pazzi family instead. This was in December 1473.

Lorenzo was miffed because the Pazzi had not consulted him. This purchase was important because it affected the security of Florence and as the town's leading citizen, he should have been consulted. At the same time, Sixtus was miffed because Lorenzo had not done his duty as a son of the Church and coughed up the dough. It seemed a deliberate insult, and Sixtus was a man who took offense readily and forgot it reluctantly.