Francesco Nori (1430–1478) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Francesco Nori (1430 – 26 April 1478) was a Florentine banker. During the Pazzi assassination attempt of 1478 he protected 
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...
, saving his life at the cost of his own.
Biography
Francesco Nori was born in 1430 in theRepublic of Florence
The Republic of Florence (; Old Italian: ), known officially as the Florentine Republic, was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany, Italy. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flor ...
. A member of the noble Nori family and belonging to the Medici
The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...
party, he became part of the intimate circle of Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...
, eventually managing the central Florentine branch of the Medici Bank.
On 26 April 1478, during Easter Mass in the Florentine Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower, a group of conspirators, led by Jacopo Jacopo (also Iacopo) is a masculine Italian given name, derivant from Latin ''Iacōbus''. It is an Italian variant of Giacomo (James in English).
* Jacopo Aconcio (), Italian religious reformer
* Jacopo Bassano (1592), Italian painter
* Iacopo Bar ...
and Francesco de' Pazzi
Francesco de' Pazzi (28 January 1444 – 26 April 1478) was a Florence, Florentine banker, a member of the Pazzi, Pazzi noble family, and one of the instigators of the Pazzi conspiracy, a plot to displace the House of Medici, Medici family as rul ...
, attacked Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano in what would become known as the Pazzi conspiracy
The Pazzi conspiracy () was a failed plot by members of the Pazzi family and others to displace the Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence.
On 26 April 1478 there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother ...
. Francesco Nori shielded Lorenzo during the first assault, dying stabbed in his place by the hand of Bernardo Bandini. His gesture allowed Lorenzo to realize the danger and to escape his other aggressors, Stefano da Bagnone and Antonio Maffei, determining the failure of the conspiracy and the definitive rise of Lorenzo to Lord of Florence.
Before the conspiracy, Francesco had commissioned the sculptor Antonio Rossellino
Antonio Gamberelli (1427–1479), Janson, H.W. (1995) ''History of Art''. 5th edn. Revised and expanded by Anthony F. Janson. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 465. nicknamed Antonio Rossellino for the colour of his hair, was an Italian Renaissance ...
to create a marble sculpture of the Nursing Madonna
The Nursing Madonna, ''Virgo Lactans'', or Madonna Lactans, is an iconography of the Madonna and Child in which the Blessed Virgin Mary, Virgin Mary is shown breastfeeding the infant Jesus. In Italian it is called the ''Madonna del Latte'' ("Mado ...
. This was used by the Nori family to create a mausoleum for Francesco in the Santa Croce Church, facing Michelangelo’s tomb. Lorenzo never honored Nori’s death.
References