A chonological list of the events regarding the conspiracy!
1464 Francesco Salviati moves to Rome, aligning himself with the future Pope Sixtus IV and his nephews.
August 25, 1471- Francesco della Rovere is elected pope, is now known as Pope Sixtus IV. He appoints his nephews to cardinal and bishop positions.
1472- Lorenzo asks Sixtus IV to nominate his brother Giuliano cardinal
January 17, 1473- Caterina Sforza (daughter of Galeazzo Sforza) marries Girolamo Riario, in a ceremony presided over by Galeazzo Sforza’s secretary Cicco Simonetta.
May 1473- Another one of Sixtus’s nephews (or possibly his son), Girolamo Riario, arranges to buy a town called Imola. Lorenzo had previously aimed to buy it, but the person in charge of it sold it to Sixtus instead. The transaction would have been financed by the Medici bank, but Lorenzo refused, causing a rift between the Medici and Pope Sextus. Much of the money was borrowed from the Pazzi bank instead.
July 1473- Lorenzo arranges for his brother-in-law Rinaldo Orsini to the Archbishopric of Florence, instead of Francesco Salviati, part of the Pazzi family, furthering the rift between the Medici and the Pazzi family (and Pope Sixtus)
1474- Federico da Montefeltro is given the title of Duke of Urbino by Pope Sixtus, Francesco Salviati is given the archbishopric of Pisa (Lorenzo opposes this appointment, furthering dissension between him and Sixtus).
1474- Pope Sixtus suspects Lorenzo de’ Medici of preventing him from taking Città di Castello - a town within papal territory ruled by Niccolò Vitelli, who had frequently opposed the pope. The town was later siegeds by Giuliano della Rovere (Sixtus’s nephew) and Federico da Montefeltro.
January 1475- Giuliano de’ Medici wins the city joust in Florence.
March 1477- Lorenzo approves the De testamentis law which took away the Borromei inheritance from the Pazzi family. Marks the breaking point of the Pazzi family with Lorenzo.
May/June 1477- Francesco Salviati and Francesco Pazzi introduce to Giovanni Battista (count of Montesecco) the skeleton of a plan for a regime change, that later became the Pazzi conspiracy.
Summer 1477- Giovanni Battista da Montesecco arrives in Florence to familiarize himself with the city, as well as with Lorenzo.
Early August 1477- Federico da Montefeltro leaves Urbino to siege the town of Montone, after its citizens were accused of allying with Carlo of Montone, an anti-church rebel.
Late August 1477- Montesecco leaves Florence after meeting with Francesco de’ Pazzi.
September 17, 1477- Archbishop Salviati arrives at Pisa, after leaving Rome six days earlier.
Late November, 1477- Federico da Montefeltro injures his ankle in what was most likely an accident, as he fell through the cracks on the stairs at the Palazzo of Sigismondo Malatesta, the lord of Rimini. The book “the Montefeltro Conspiracy” by Marcello Simonetta reports that this could have been an attempt on his life, although there are no sources to corroborate this.
April 26, 1478- Assassination attempt made against Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici. Lorenzo is wounded but survives. Giuliano dies. Jacopo di Poggio Bracciolini and Francesco Salviati are hanged the same day.
April 30, 1478- Funeral for Giuliano
March 4, 1478- Giovanni Battista makes a full confession of the events of the conspiracy before he is beheaded.
June 1, 1478- Sixtus IV attempts to excommunicate Lorenzo de' Medici
April 14, 1488- Girolamo Riario is assassinated by Medici agents.