A Renaissance Mystery Solved: Lorenzino de' Medici's assassination was ordered by the Emperor Charles V Habsburg

LEEDS, U.K. - Nov. 24, 2015 - PRLog -- Amazing discovery by a researcher from the University of Leeds

After five centuries the mystery of the death of Lorenzino de’ Medici has finally been solved. The man who ordered the murder was none other than the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V Habsburg

Dr Stefano Dall’Aglio uncovers the truth about the international intrigue leading to the death of the famous ‘Lorenzaccio’, the assassin of the first duke of Florence. The murder was not arranged by Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, as the world has always believed.

Lorenzino de’ Medici (1514-1548), aka Lorenzaccio, is one of the most famous figures of the Italian Renaissance. In 1537 he stabbed his own cousin to death, Florence’s first duke, Alessandro de’ Medici, thus forever changing the history of the town. Lorenzino was surrounded by an aura of legend and his story has inspired two movies and many literary works.

Revenge for the 1537 murder came eleven years later: in 1548 Lorenzino himself was ambushed and killed in Venice. Blame for the murder immediately fell on another Medici, the new Duke of Florence Cosimo I, who upon taking power had vowed to avenge his predecessor and had even received the two killers following the assassination. None has ever questioned this alleged historical truth.

However, a new investigation, provides a completely different version of events. The author of this discovery is Stefano Dall’Aglio, research fellow in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies of the University of Leeds. Dr Dall’Aglio has done extensive research on Lorenzino de’ Medici and his death, sifting through many hundreds of unpublished documents in the State Archive of Florence and other archives.

After realising that Duke Cosimo’s men had not actually committed the murder, like a detective he set out to unmask the real culprit. The broad picture Dr Dall’Aglio was able to piece together showed the thirst for revenge of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V Habsburg, father-in-law of the duke killed by Lorenzino. Therefore, Dr Dall’Aglio continued his research in Spain where he found the smoking gun in the Archivo General de Simancas: two letters by the emperor himself in which he clearly ordered the assassination of Lorenzino. Other letters sent to Charles V by his man in Venice complete the picture. And so, the history of Lorenzino’s murder needs to be completely rewritten: the man who ordered the homicide was not the Duke of Florence Cosimo I, as stated by all the historians until now, but the all-powerful Charles V.

You can read about Stefano Dall'Aglio's discovery in his new book, The Duke's Assassin. Exile and Death of Lorenzino de' Medici, published by Yale University Press.

24 November 2015

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Stefano Dall’Aglio is research fellow in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies of the University of Leeds, UK.
The author can be contacted at the following address: s.dallaglio@leeds.ac.uk
The author’s academic profile can be found here: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/people/20055/italian/person/1466/stefano_dallaglio

The research has been made possible by:
The Medici Archive Project
The Newberry Library, Chicago
The Renaissance Society of America
Villa I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies