Giuliano de' Medici

Giuliano de' Medici (28 October 1453 – 26 April 1478) was the second son of Piero de' Medici (the Gouty) and Lucrezia Tornabuoni. As co-ruler of the Florentine Republic, with his brother Lorenzo the Magnificent, he complemented his brother's image as the "patron of the arts" with his own image as the handsome, sporting "golden boy". He was killed in a plot known as the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478.

Personal life

In 1478, Giuliano was promised in marriage to Semiramide Appiani Aragona, daughter of Iacopo III Appiani, Prince of Piombino and niece of Simonetta Vespucci, though he died before the wedding could take place. After Giuliano's death, Semiramide married his cousin, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, in 1482.

Giuliano had an illegitimate son by his mistress Fioretta Gorini, Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, who would later become Pope Clement VII.

The Pazzi conspirators attempted to lure Giuliano and Lorenzo away from Florence to kill them outside the boundaries of the city – first on the road to Piombino, then in Rome, and finally at a banquet hosted by the Medici at their villa in Fiesole. Giuliano did not come, claiming to be ill. The choice to commit the murder at high mass was a last minute choice.

Death

As the opening stroke of the Pazzi conspiracy, Giuliano was assassinated on 26 April 1478 – in the Duomo of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, by Francesco de' Pazzi and Bernardo Baroncelli. During Mass, at the sounding of the Elevation, he received a fatal sword wound to the head and was stabbed 19 times. He died lying on the cathedral floor. Lorenzo, who had escaped to the Medici palace, did not learn of his brother's death for several hours.