Apology for a Murder by Lorenzino de’ Medici

A Renaissance classic...

Lorenzino de’ Medici might have gone down in history as one of the lesser known of a famous clan, a hooligan who may or may not have reformed, had it not been for the fact that he murdered his cousin, Alessandro de’ Medici, who also happened to be the Duke of Florence.

After he fled the scene of the crime and went into exile, constantly in danger from assassins, Lorenzino wrote his Apologia in which he states, in the language of Renaissance rhetoric, how he was perfectly justified in bumping off his cousin.

In order to understand the context of the murder and Lorenzino’s part in it, it’s necessary to backtrack and take a look at the Medici family.

Lorenzino was actually named Lorenzo, but Lorenzo de’ Medici was his famous grandfather, while another Lorenzo de’ Medici was his great-great-grandfather and brother to the even more famous Cosimo de’ Medici.

There was also Cosimo’s grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent, another man of great repute, who also happened to have embezzled the family fortune on Lorenzino’s side. Lorenzino is a diminutive form of Lorenzo - little Lorenzo, but Lorenzaccio was another name he would be associated with, meaning nasty Lorenzo.

Born in 1514, Lorenzino spent his youth in Rome, where his guardian was Pope Clement VII, another Medici and illegitimate son of Lorenzo the Magnificent’s brother.

In 1530 Lorenzino went on a drunken spree, vandalising the bas-reliefs on the Emperor Constantine’s triumphal arch, and the statues of Apollo and the Muses in the basilica in San Paolo.

In the foreword by Tim Parks, and introduction by translator Andrew Brown, this act is compared to another nearly two thousand years before, when sacred busts of Hermes were vandalised. The culprit then was deemed to be a companion of Socrates - Alcibiades, a man who ended up in exile and was eventually assassinated.

Comparing Lorenzino’s behaviour with that of an ancient Greek is perfectly in tune with Renaissance ideology. Christianity no longer had the same grip on the human mind. The classical worlds of Greece and Rome had been rediscovered, along with the philosophy and literature of the ancient world.

It’s possible Lorenzino himself made the connection with Alcibiades. Certainly, in his Apology for the later murder, he compares himself to Brutus, who murdered the “tyrant” Julius Caesar. At any rate, his guardian Pope Clement VII wanted him hanged for his vandalism. Lorenzino went into exile, taking up residence in the city of Florence, where his cousin Alessandro de’ Medici, only three years older, held the Duchy.

In fact, Alessandro was the bastard son of a Medici - Pope Clement being the most likely parent - though Lorenzino later rejected Alessandro’s Medici connections. In the meantime, Lorenzino joined forces with the debauched Alessandro, whose political methods included assassination (he murdered his own mother according to Lorenzino’s Apology and also may have poisoned Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici).

Lorenzino procured women for his cousin and the two frequented brothels and were often seen galloping around the streets on the same horse, abusing the population. They also liked to dress up as women and in his essay translator Andrew Brown suggests they may have shared the same bed.

Florence was a city with republican leanings and the Medici had been foisted on the city by both the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Many republicans had been forced to leave. It’s against a background of debauchery, assassination, extortionate taxes, and republicanism that the murder of Alessandro takes place.

Lorenzino promises to set Alessandro up with his aunt, a married woman of known virtue, but it’s a ruse. Lorenzino and an accomplice turn up and stab Alessandro in his bed, before locking the door and hiding the key.

In the Apology Lorenzino has committed no crime, but rid the city of Florence of a vicious tyrant, comparable to Nero, Caesar and Caligula. He talks about liberty and tyranny and sets out his case against Alessandro. Part of this is based on the assertion that Alessandro was not a Medici, an argument that plays on the illegitimacy issue. But there had also been an agreement in 1530 that the Holy Roman Emperor would not put Florence under the rule of the Medicis. This agreement had been broken.

In addition, Lorenzino plays to republican sentiments, and the particular case of Florence. He answers the different criticisms and suggestions of how he should have behaved, countering them with the claims that those remaining republicans within the city had failed to rise up against the tyrant, and those outside later failed to take the opportunity he handed to them in killing the Duke. Instead, another Medici was installed in Alessandro’s place and the city continued to live under the family’s rule.

Lorenzino makes a strong case against his cousin. The problem is that there is no explanation given as to why he was so involved with Alessandro.

Generally, the Apology is regarded as a fine piece of Renaissance rhetoric (it’s only 18 pages long), which is why it’s still in print. But it’s always been believed that Lorenzino was less than honest about his motives for the murder. The true reasons are still a mystery.

Could it be, though, that Lorenzino did have a change of heart? That through seeing the behaviour of his cousin over time, he finally decided to rid the city of this Duke?

If a relative like Ippolito de’ Medici could be assassinated by Alessandro (while on his way to meet Emperor Charles V to convince him of Alessandro’s unsuitability to rule Florence), might Lorenzino have imagined himself in some similar predicament in the future, the victim of yet another assassination?

Or did the murder rest on something more banal - jealousy of Alessandro’s position, or a love-hate relationship?

While the truth behind the murder of Alessandro isn’t clear and probably never will be, what is clear in the Hesperus edition of Lorenzino’s Apology is what subsequently happened to Lorenzino. The assassin who murdered him years later in Venice gives us a wonderfully colourful account of the whole endeavour, concluding with much backslapping and hand shaking from Medici supporters and anyone else who thought Lorenzino was a traitor. Andrew Brown’s translation here has none of the elegant Machiavellian prose of the Apology, but instead employs modern criminal and working class language, which actually fits the character of Francesco Bibboni perfectly, and gives a realistic edge to the whole assassination operation.

What is surprising though is the speed with which Lorenzino himself is dispatched. More time is taken to describe the fight with one of his companions.

Apology for a Murder is a look into the mind of an unrepentant killer, a man who compares himself to the heroes of the ancient world, and who is steeped in the mentality of the Renaissance and Machiavelli’s The Prince. With the addition of Bibboni’s account, the book also exemplifies the notion that what goes around, comes around.