Alessandro de' Medici, Black Prince of Florence

Not Just the Tudors

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4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

In the cut-throat world of Renaissance Florence, Alessandro - the illegitimate son of a Duke and a mixed-race servant - attempts to reassert the Medicis’ faltering grip on the city state. But after just six years in power, Alessandro is murdered by his cousin while anticipating an adulterous liaison.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Catherine Fletcher, author of The Black Prince of Florence, about one man's spectacular rise to power against the odds, and his violent demise.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's story is one of terror, murder, bloodshed, slavery, and the seeds of racism.
0:17.0	It was the year 1537 on the eve of Epiphany.
0:21.7	We are in the home of Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo and the Medici, Florence.
0:28.2	That night, Alessandro de Medici, Duke of Florence, had gone to the house of his cousin,
0:34.2	Lorenzino, hoping for an asignation with the butyl, though married, Catarina de Genori.
0:42.2	Awaiting her in Lorenzino's chamber, Alessandro had made himself comfortable taking off
0:47.3	his sword and then, logged by the warm fire, fallen asleep.
0:52.0	But when the door burst open, it was not the fair Catarina.
0:57.4	It had all been a ruse.
0:59.4	Instead, Lorenzino and his companion, Scoron Conculo, had tricked and trapped the Duke.
1:07.7	My guest today, Professor Catherine Fletcher, describes in her book the Black Prince of Florence,
1:13.6	what happened next.
1:16.2	My lord, are you asleep?
1:18.2	Scoron Conculo asked, and he plunged his sword into Alessandro's stomach.
1:22.8	Alessandro lurched up from the bed and made a dash for the door, seizing a stool to use
1:26.8	as a shield.
1:27.8	But Scoron Conculo pulled a knife, slashing down from the left temple, he sliced open
1:33.8	Duke's left cheek.
1:36.1	Lorenzino pushed Alessandro onto the bed.
1:38.6	He used the weight of his own body to force the Duke down.
1:41.7	He tried to cover Alessandro's mouth so he couldn't scream.
1:44.9	But the Duke bit so angrily into his thumb that Lorenzino collapsed beside him.
	...

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