Lorenzino de' Medici

Lorenzino de' Medici lived in the shadow of his powerful family, a minor figure who craved a major historical role. A writer and intellectual drawn to classical ideals of liberty, he grew to despose the tyrannical rule of his cousin, Alessandro de' Medici, the first Duke of Florence. In 1537, he lured Alessandro to his apartment and, with an accomplice, stabbed him to death. Framing the act as a modern-day Brutus slaying Caesar, Lorenzino fled, expecting a popular uprising that never came. Instead, he spent eleven years as a fugitive, writing a defiant apology for the murder, before agents of the new Medici ruler, Cosimo I, tracked him down in Venice and killed him. His life became a potent symbol of failed political violence.