Philosophia
January 4th, 2007, 06:29 AM
Scientists may have found Medici murder
ROME - Italian scientists believe they have uncovered a 400-year-old murder. Historians have long suspected that Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife Bianca Cappello did not die of malaria but were poisoned — probably by Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who was vying for the title.
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Now, forensic and toxicology experts at the University of Florence report evidence of arsenic poisoning in a new study published in the British Medical Journal.
As rulers, art connoisseurs and financiers of kings, the Medici family flourished for centuries in the rough and tumble alliances of old Europe, providing four popes and ruling first Florence then Tuscany from about 1430 to 1737.
Its most famous members include Lorenzo de' Medici, or Lorenzo the Magnificent, who supported Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. At least two Medici women — Catherine and Maria, who was Francesco's daughter — married kings of France, and the Medicis' former home, Pitti Palace, now houses an important art gallery.
Among nobles, deaths by poisoning were common, and deadly concoctions of the day had such deceptively pretty names as "Secreta Secretissima," and "La Cantrella."
"When a Medici dies, the first assumption is arsenic," said Richard J. Hamilton, a medical toxicologist at Drexel University who was not involved in the study.
Francesco de' Medici ruled from 1574 until his death at age 46 on Oct. 17, 1587, 11 days after he fell ill and a few hours before his wife, who by all accounts had been his mistress while he was married to his first wife — who is also believed to have died of poisoning.
From here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_sc/italy_de__medici_murder).
ROME - Italian scientists believe they have uncovered a 400-year-old murder. Historians have long suspected that Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife Bianca Cappello did not die of malaria but were poisoned — probably by Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who was vying for the title.
ADVERTISEMENT
Now, forensic and toxicology experts at the University of Florence report evidence of arsenic poisoning in a new study published in the British Medical Journal.
As rulers, art connoisseurs and financiers of kings, the Medici family flourished for centuries in the rough and tumble alliances of old Europe, providing four popes and ruling first Florence then Tuscany from about 1430 to 1737.
Its most famous members include Lorenzo de' Medici, or Lorenzo the Magnificent, who supported Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. At least two Medici women — Catherine and Maria, who was Francesco's daughter — married kings of France, and the Medicis' former home, Pitti Palace, now houses an important art gallery.
Among nobles, deaths by poisoning were common, and deadly concoctions of the day had such deceptively pretty names as "Secreta Secretissima," and "La Cantrella."
"When a Medici dies, the first assumption is arsenic," said Richard J. Hamilton, a medical toxicologist at Drexel University who was not involved in the study.
Francesco de' Medici ruled from 1574 until his death at age 46 on Oct. 17, 1587, 11 days after he fell ill and a few hours before his wife, who by all accounts had been his mistress while he was married to his first wife — who is also believed to have died of poisoning.
From here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_sc/italy_de__medici_murder).