Pazzi Conspiracy
Grievances
by Giorgio Vasari
It's time now to look at the events leading up to the conspiracy, then at the conspiracy itself, and then to its aftermath. First, we'll take a quick look at Florentine politics.
Florence was run by a complicated system of committees and councils, all elected. The elections were even more complicated, involving a series of drawing names by lot plus elective ballots. Note that there were no campaigns; rather, elections were done by small groups of citizens. Offices were held only for a short time; typically, two months or six months. In theory, officials were chosen almost randomly and everyone had a turn sooner or later. In practice, we find certain families appearing over and over again. We can only conclude that the system was manipulated by the powerful. Duh.
The Medici Tighten the Grip
From time to time, there would be election reforms. These reforms usually meant that certain families tightened their control over the government at the expense of other families. The most recent of these reforms came in 1466, and it's what helped Lorenzo rule almost undisputed.
But not unresented. For every winner in the game of Florentine politics there was a loser. For every family that got inside the inner circles, another family was closed out.
Perhaps even more importantly, Lorenzo's rule, especially after 1466, was so thorough-going that there were hardly any dissenting voices, at least in public. Florence was usually seething with factions, and political arguments were always heated, always public, sometimes violent. In Lorenzo's Florence, though, this had all but vanished.The citizenry seemed pacified, or at least cowed.