Pazzi Conspiracy
Swift Justice
Florence was safe from immediate threat, at least, and now a terrible justice began to be meted out. As with so much else in Florence in these years, we don't see Lorenzo's hand directly. We see him "elected" to the Council of Eight and to a special tribunal, but in theory he's but one of several concerned citizens. In fact, though, we know from other sources that nothing in all that followed was done without his knowledge and approval, if indeed not at his actual instigation. The retribution was at once personal, familial, and communal.
On the very day of the conspiracy, the Council of Eight was summoned. They interrogated Bracciolini and Salviati and their companions. The Eight ordered Francesco de' Pazzi brought from his home, even though he was still bleeding from his wound.
The mercenaries from Perugia were killed on the spot: the doors were opened and they were cut down; the survivors were thrown from the tower windows. The gathering crowd stripped the bodies and then hacked them to pieces, carrying the body parts around the town to be mocked.
After questioning, Bracciolini had a rope put around his neck, then he was thrown from the tower window. An hour later, Francesco de' Pazzi was likewise hung, followed by Archbishop Salviati. Their bodies were left there, and were joined by another Salviati and by a priest. Other captives were taken away to the Bargello and were executed there, which was the proper place for executions. By hanging these men from the Palazzo, however, the city government was making a public statement of power and vengeance, for the edification of the rest of the commune. In all, somewhere between sixty and eighty men were executed that first day.