The Medici Went BROKE and Still Took Rome. Two Popes in Ten Years

The Medici Didn't Just Bank for Popes. They BOUGHT the Papacy Twice Officially, the Medici were Florentine bankers who loved art and gave the Church two popes out of simple piety. The account books tell a colder story. In 1419 a pope the whole Church had deposed lay dying in a Medici house, and the family that had paid to free him carved three Latin words on his tomb. In 1478 an archbishop was hanged from a palace window in his robes, hours after a murder at High Mass. A bank that once moved the money of every diocese in Europe went broke. And the family still got Rome, twice in ten years. Lorenzo the Magnificent sailed to an enemy king with no army behind him. His son became a cardinal at thirteen. His murdered brother's son became pope. It all started with a bet on the wrong pope. Chapters: 00:00 — The Former Pope 02:18 — Act I — The Rise 06:43 — Act II — The Facade 11:03 — Act III — The Crack 17:10 — Act IV — The Reckoning 21:23 — Act V — The Aftermath Source Material Visual material used in this production is obtained from publicly accessible archives, including Wikimedia Commons and Europeana. Copyright & Fair Use Notice This channel incorporates copyrighted material under the principles of Fair Use as recognized by U.S. law. Under Section 107 of the United States Copyright Act, certain uses of copyrighted works such as for analysis, commentary, educational purposes, research, and reporting are permitted without prior authorization from the copyright holder. Sources Tomb of Antipope John XXIII, Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore — https://duomo.firenze.it/en/discover/... The Pazzi conspiracy, Encyclopaedia Britannica — https://www.britannica.com/event/Pazz... Pope Leo X, Catholic Encyclopedia — https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/0916... The Decline of the Medici Bank, Journal of Economic History — https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa... Leo X and the conflict with Luther, Encyclopaedia Britannica — https://www.britannica.com/biography/... #documentary #history #oldmoney #medici