April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici (Paperback)

~ (Author) "'THE DISH OF revenge', they say in France, 'is best eaten cold.'..." (more)
Key Phrases: north sacristy, government square, ooo florins, Lord Priors, Pope Sixtus, Count Girolamo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One April Sunday in 1478, assassins-with the support of a member of the Pazzi, one of Florence's leading families-killed a member of the ruling family of Florence, Giuliano de Medici, and wounded his brother, Lorenzo. In the hands of Martines, a professor emeritus of European history at UCLA, the rebellion and Lorenzo's ensuing crackdown becomes a prism through which to view Renaissance Florence. He details the many people involved, from bankers to the king of Naples and even Pope Sixtus. Long seen as a "Renaissance man," Lorenzo was a poet and a patron of the arts. But Martines turns the story on its head. He sees the plot as a reaction to the corruption in Medici rule and the crackdown-which included hangings and prohibitions against marrying female members of the Pazzi family-as overly harsh: "[I]t required war or a successful act of terrorism to overthrow Lorenzo, his cronies, and his creatures." While the crackdown temporarily saved the Medici rule, Martines argues that Lorenzo's ruthlessness eventually turned much of Florence against his family and foretold the end of Medici rule in the city. During the past few decades, historians have increasingly placed social, cultural and women's history at the center of European history. But not here. Drawing upon a lifetime of scholarship, Martines has created a book that places governmental politics at Renaissance Florence's center. And along the way, he has written a book as lively as its subject.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Fascinating.... Martines is a master researcher and, like a collector showing off his treasures, his delight in his findings sparkles on every page."--Philadelphia Inquirer
"Just the sort of historical mystery that should appeal to fans of, say, Charles Nicholl's The Reckoning (about the murder of Christopher Marlowe) or Josephine Tey's classic The Daughter of Time."--Washington Post
"An intriguing book.... Every situation and character Martines presents to usis of marvelous complexity."--The New York Review of Books
"A quietly subversive, elegant counterbalance to centuries of Medici adulation. His narrative is enthralling, his irony devastating, his conclusions unsettling."--Financial Times
"A spine-chilling political drama of conspiracy, murder at High Mass, and bloody revenge."--The Times (London)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019517609X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195176094
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #53,531 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The stab that ignited Italy..., September 17, 2003

By	isala "Isabel and Lars" (Fairbanks, Alaska,, US) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici (Hardcover)

This is the story about the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici dictatorship in renaissance Florence. The story is riveting, full of facts, and, on the whole, well told. The author gives a brief history of the families involved and of the florentine political system to give us a background to the conspiracy. The assault in the cathedral and the following bloodbath is told in clear and vivid detail. So far the book is great, just great. Then it is as if the author ran out of time! The Pazzi War and what happened to the Pazzi family members that did not die is described in an almost perfunctory way. The lives of Lorenzo's sons, daughters, and other surviving relatives are dealt with in just a few lines. Maybe the author expects the reader to get that information in more general histories of the Italian Rennaisance.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars disappointing read, July 7, 2003

By	jcoop "coop" (Ashland, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici (Hardcover)

I must agree with the other reviewers who found the book a tough go. The actual narrative of the plot itself takes up very little of the book. The majority of the text deals with the complex interweave of family politics in Renaissance Italy, but much of it seems tangential. Engrossing it certainly is not. It's too bad, as I had high hopes for the book. I wonder if some of the other reviewers actually read the same book that I had.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Event Not Well Told, March 5, 2004

By	Gordon C. Duus (Glen Ridge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici (Hardcover)

This book tells the story of the 1478 plot to assassinate the Medici brothers in Renaissance Florence in what was essentially a failed coup d'etat. After the first chapter summarizes the key facts, the balance of the book is spent providing the context surrounding the event. In so doing, the author describes the politics of Florence, its economy, and its place in Italy and southern Europe. He details how the wealthiest familties interacted, formed alliances through marriage and competed for power. He describes the conspirators in Florence, as well as in the surrounding city-states and the highest levels of the Catholic Church. While this should make a fascinating story, this book fails to tell it. So many extraneous and incidental facts and characters are detailed after the best parts of the story have already been revealed that I had difficulty sustaining interest and labored to finish the book.

The Renaissance in Florence was the pinnacle of one of the great cities of the World. Lorenzo di Medici was the central figure of the time. He employed Leonardo di Vinci, he adopted Michelangelo, his son and nephew became pope, and his family ruled in and around Tuscany for over a hundred years. If you are looking for this incredible story, look elsewhere--you will not find it in April Blood.