What’s in—or behind—a name? For the Pazzi of Florence, answering this question has often evoked images of the infamous conspiracy of 1478. However, the family’s broader history cannot be defined by this single event. By inviting new discussion about the Pazzi beyond the conspiracy, this conference invites a more complicated and nuanced historical discourse on the family.
Claiming origins in ancient Rome and the First Crusade, the Pazzi rose as Guelph magnates tied to the Angevins, and later cast themselves as cosmopolitan courtiers within political and mercantile networks extending to southern Italy, France, England, Catalonia, Dalmatia, and the Ottoman Empire. After rehabilitation from exile, they counted among their number prolific humanists, poets, politicians, clerics, and knights. In the age of global empire, the mystic Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi became a major saint, and the family name evoked such prestige, even beyond Italy, that it was appropriated by Polish-Lithuanian nobles. But to what extent can we speak of a non-dynastic family history in the longue durée? Without turning away from the congiura—the historical moment with which the Pazzi are canonically associated—we seek to reconsider the family, its histories, and its mythologies.