1478]         A  FLORENTINE DIARY           15



   26th April.  At about 15  in  the forenoon (11 a.m.) in

 Santa  Maria del Fiore, whilst high mass was being cele¬

 brated and  the Host  elevated,  Giuliano,  son  of  Piero,

 son of Cosimo de' Medici, and Francesco  Nori were killed,

 near the choir of the said church towards the door  which

 goes to the Servi1; and Lorenzo de' Medici was wounded

 in the neck, and fled into the sacristy and escaped. They

 were killed in consequence of a certain  conspiracy made

 by Messer Jacopo de' Pazzi and  Franceschino  de'  Pazzi

 and  Guglielmo de'  Pazzi, the  which  Guglielmo was the

 brother-in-law of Lorenzo  de'  Medici, his  wife being a

 sister of theirs,  called Bianca. And  the sons  of Messer

 Piero  de'  Pazzi were  also  there, that  is,  Andrea  and

 Renato and  Niccol6; and of the house  of Salviati, there

 were  Francesco,  Bishop  of  Pisa,  and   Jacopo Salviati,

 who  was  son-in-law to Filippo Tornabuoni, and  another

 Jacopo also a Salviati, and Jacopo, son of Messer Poggio,

 Bracciolini and Bernardo Bandini of the house  of Baron-

 cegli,  and Amerigo   Corsi,  and many others.  The con-



 so very frequent under our jurisdiction; find a-mong other  things,

 that it is encouraged by the facility of pardon^and proper severity

 not being used in punishing such a detestable arid abominable excess,

 he who commits the homicide being allowed to be continually in

 the presence of those who have suffered from the offence and of those

 who desire to live virtuously; none of whom can regard such man-

 slayers without great indignation and perturbation of  mind. And

 although the laws of the Florentine people bitterly avenge and punish

 such crimes, and give security against them; notwithstanding, what¬

 ever may be the reason, either too great humanity (which in reality

 one ought rather to call cruelty), or else undisciplined charity, such

 entirely right and just decrees are not properly observed. And the

 high Signori and discreet chief citizens wish  to remedy these things

 which are so contrary to honest living and against the divine laws,

 by making the fear of punishment deter men from committing them,

 when they are deprived of all hope of pardon, and by adjuring the

 magistrates not only not to overlook such  things, but to enforce

 the law with severity, hoping firmly that this provision may have

 a good effect"  (State Archives of Florence, Consigli maggiori Prow.

 Reg. ad annum).

  The term " Signori e Collegi" used in the decrees meant as follows:

 the Signori were the eight Priori and the Gonfaloniere della Giustizia,

 and the Collegi were the sixteen Gonfalonieri delle Compagnie and

 the twelve men (three from each quarter) formerly called the twelve

 Buonuomini, who were summoned by the Signori to take council

 on almost every occasion. [Trans.]

  1 Landucci always uses this expression  to indicate  the  second

 door in  the left-hand aisle, opposite the Via dei Servi, that is, on

the north. [Trans.]