Below is a response written to a comment left on The Feast of San Giovanni asking about Marsilio's involvement/knowledge of the Pazzi conspiracy. It's something I think about often - so have below my current musings on the subject.
So, no one knows for certain what Marsilio's knowledge of the plot was – some historians say it was minimal, others think it was a little more than minimal, it varies depending on who you are reading.
My working, personal hypothesis is that Marsilio knew a lot more about it than would make people comfortable. He was close friends with Francesca Salviati, tutored Jacopo Bracciolini, tutored a lot of the Pazzi boys, and was old client of the family. Marsilio also had some public grievances with Lorenzo about the dropping off of patronage and favouring of Marsilio’s rivals (e.g., Luigi Pulci) – very publicly – over Marsilio.
It is my interpretation of events that I incorporated, to a certain degree, into Feast of San Giovanni. I do think Marsilio was a little more in-the-know than is implied in Feast, but the story is also from Giovanni’s point of view and he is doing a lot of stress-hoping that Marsilio can distance himself as much as is humanly possible from the plot. So, he’s choosing not to look at things too, too closely.
The approach I take is mostly based on the letters we see from 1476 through to early 1478 – particularly those to Bracciolini and Salviati. For Salviati we can see the close friendship and support they gave to one another and that Marsilio, Salviati and Giovanni were all very fond of one another. Marsilio’s early letters to Salviati were very encouraging – a lot of “you will get the job you deserve when the time is right, I trust God will reward you” etc. Then, when Salviati finally receives the archbishopric of Pisa, Marsilio writes him several very warm congratulatory letters, including one of my favourites where Marsilio basically says “Giovanni and I have popped a bottle of prosecco to celebrate the news”. And yes, Salviati did move from being Marsilio’s friend to his patron around this time so a certain level of flattery is expected, but there’s a genuine warmth that carries through from the old “we’re equals and friends” letters into the ”you’re my patron but we’re still buddies” era.
By mid-1477 and through to early 1478, however, Marsilio begins writing to both Salviati and Bracciolini (and some of the Pazzi lads) letters really focusing on being content with what God has given them. Reminders that greed and political grasping at power never go well and that the good, moral thing to do is live rightly as they are now and not try and take what isn’t intended for them. All terribly thinly veiled attempts to warn them off of the anti-Medici plot.
There is a fascinating letter in Vol. 4 of The Letters of Marsilio Ficino to Bracciolini in late 1477 and it is one of the letters that makes me think Marsilio knew a lot more than people give him credit for. I typed it out in full below:
Marsilio Ficino to Jacopo Bracciolini: greetings.
Encouraging her with your arguments, magnanimous Bracciolini, I recently prevailed upon Truth [i.e., Marsilio himself] to come to Pisa, if she were needed, for the installment of Riario as Cardinal. Although at first she cheerfully accepted, a while later, in some strange way, she seemed a little less inclined to take this path. Even though she knew full well that all the Cardinal's servants [i.e., Bracciolini, Salviati, Pazzi] are her friends, she feared that someone else would intervene and interpret her words maliciously. But then, she remembered that Bracciolini, one of her keenest defenders, was now there, she immediately seized upon this path with the utmost confidence.
Now, my Hercules, if necessary, do not hesitate to summon to assistance of your Iolaus; I mean Cosmico, the vigorous soldier of Pallas. But why do we needlessly lack confidence, as if any of my interests were less than safe under the ample roof of my patron Salviati? Among friends all things have a happy issue [outcome].
Farewell, Happy men.
Marsilio had a habit, in his writing, of positioning himself as a Concept – in this case, Truth – as a way of allowing himself to speak about very specific things without getting into self-incriminating details. It enables him to both give his position on a situation while keeping it in the realms of plausible deniability.
“No, I wasn’t talking about how everyone is going to Pisa for Riario's investment in order to talk about the plan to assassinate the Medici and I was very clearly invited for that purpose and initially accepted but am now sort-of quasi walking back my acceptance. I’m talking about the Platonic Ideal of Truth. Or something. Don’t worry about it.”
Instead of saying that he was intending to go but now is worried, Marsilio is saying: Truth was going to go, but now Truth isn’t going to go, though Truth might go if her safety could be guaranteed. But why should she be at risk, Jacopo? It's not like you and Salviati and members of the Pope’s family etc. are doing anything stupid or dangerous right? You're not going to plot to overthrow the Medici right? Right??? [Ficino staring into the camera like he's on the Office.]
I fundamentally believe that while Ficino had his grievances with Lorenzo (their relationship by the late 1470s was rocky), his annoyances with the lack of patronage, the frustrations with the unofficial Medici Court, he truly didn't want to see the younger man removed from power, let alone killed. What he wanted was for Lorenzo to be a better man and a better leader (and a better patron). He didn't want a switching of power within Florence.
Long and short is that Ficino spent a lot of 1477 and early 1478 trying to talk several of the conspirators out of going through with the plot. In doing this, he demonstrates that he had at least enough knowledge to know who to write to, what their motivations were, and how to best frame his arguments for their stepping back from the plot.
Again, I don’t believe he knew the details of how, since those were ever changing anyway (by the time they got to Easter Sunday Cathedral Murder Plan they were onto Attempt_43.1A_CLEAN_REAL.doc), but he knew enough to be hanged. What saved him was Lorenzo's nostalgic sentiment for Ficino, Cosimo's historic deep love of the little philosopher, Ficino's general popularity, and that Ficino sent a warning. (The warning letter might seem cryptic to us, but Lorenzo would have understood it.)
(Side note: While I have Ficino saying he doesn't think Giovanni being Lorenzo's cousin-through-marriage would have saved him, which is why Ficino sat on the information about the plot, I actually do think it was in Ficino's favour that he was Giovanni's most especial, unique nudge-nudge-wink-wink friend. Giovanni was family, Ficino was as good as family in certain respects - these are things Lorenzo cared about.)
no real firm conclusion, but there you go. Pazzi & Marsilio Thoughts.
