Windlass – Medici Renaissance Dagger

For a century, Italy and its Renaissance really did revolve around the Medici Family. Wealth and Power flowed from their Florentine-based banking empire, the largest of its kind in the 15th century. With this they dominated the political culture of Florence and central Italy. They brokered four of their own into the Papacy, further cementing political dominance from Italys most powerful seat. Such was their power that they ruled Florence as if they were monarchs, though officially they were never more than citizens.

The height of the Medici Family was seen when Lorenzo Il Magnifico Medici was at its head. Though a political animal, Lorenzo was also an artist and poet and he used his vast fortune to sponsor arts and humanism in Florence, making it the cultural epicenter. He personally patronized Leonardo Da Vinci and the young Michelangelo.

Naturally, such an ambitious and dominating family had many jealous enemies in the notoriously cloak-and-dagger politics and power of Renaissance Italy. The anger of their rivals, foremost among them the Pazzi family, boiled over when they initiated the Pazzi Conspiracy – an attempt to seize Florence by murdering Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano while at Mass in the Florentine cathedral on April 26, 1478. Before a crowd of 10,000 the conspirators assaulted the brothers at High Mass. Giuliano Medici was quickly killed, stabbed 19 times. Lorenzo was stabbed once in the shoulder, but managed to fend off his assailants, sword in hand until his close supporters could barricade him into a sacristy. Lorenzo would be only minorly wounded, and unable to reach him, the Pazzi plot failed.

The Pazzi coup relied on the support of the people to finish overthrowing the Medici, but the people were instead incensed at their brazen attack at High Mass – furious, they hunted down the Pazzi and the co-conspirators. Dozens were killed in the streets, and one of the assailants was hung. Another was thrown from a high palazzo window into the streets below. The Pazzi were banished from Florence and their possessions across Europe were razed. Lorenzo, in the aftermath, further increased his power.

This Renaissance Italian dagger looks like one that could have been worn at the belt of Lorenzo. Its filigree detailing displays the court-like prominence of its owner. The tri-fullered blade of high carbon steel is long and deadly, though elegant in profile. The hilt and pommel are of steel and the grip is covered with soft black leather. It comes with a matching leather sheath of stiffer leather and steel accents. This elegant and deadly blade well conveys the ruthless familial politics of tumultuous Renaissance Italy.