Researchers have solved the 500-year-old mystery of the death of the Medici brothers
For almost 500 years, historians have been debating what actually caused the deaths of two representatives of one of the most influential Renaissance families, the Medici. Some believed that they were victims of a conspiracy and were poisoned with arsenic, others spoke of a severe infection, but there was no convincing evidence. Now an international group of scientists has been able to put an end to a centuries-old dispute: thanks to the analysis of ancient DNA, researchers have found out that the cause of death of the brothers was most likely malaria. About how modern genetic technologies help to uncover historical secrets and why the history of the Medici family is still of great interest — in the material of Izvestia.
A mystery that has remained unsolved for 500 years
The new study focuses on the remains of two sons of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici and Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici. Both died in the 16th century after a severe fever, but the circumstances of their deaths have been controversial for several centuries. If historians most often considered malaria to be the cause of Giovanni's death, then the death of Francesco I gave rise to many versions, including suggestions of arsenic poisoning as a result of a political conspiracy.
Using bone tissue samples, the scientists isolated ancient DNA and found genetic traces of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the most severe form of malaria. According to the researchers, the results were the first direct molecular confirmation that the disease could indeed have caused the death of representatives of the Medici family, and not a political conspiracy, which many chroniclers wrote about.
Valentina Giuffra, a medical historian from the University of Pisa and co-author of the study
Now we can say with scientific certainty that the cause of death of Grand Duke Francesco de' Medici was malaria, not poisoning.
The authors note that such studies are made possible by the development of methods for analyzing ancient DNA. A few decades ago, scientists could only compare the symptoms described in the chronicles with modern diseases. Today, they are able to detect fragments of the genome of pathogens hundreds of years after a person's death.
Bankers, Popes and Rulers: How the Medici changed Europe
The history of the Medici began in Florence, where the family became rich through banking. Founded in the 15th century, the Medici Bank became one of the largest financial institutions in Europe and served, among other things, the Papal See. It was the financial influence that allowed the family to gradually transform from successful bankers into the de facto rulers of Florence, although formally the city continued to remain a republic.
Over time, the influence of the Medici went far beyond his hometown. Representatives of the dynasty held senior government and church posts, and four members of the family became popes — Leo X, Clement VII, Leo XI and Pius IV (the latter bore the surname Medici, although his relationship to the Florentine branch remains the subject of debate).
The Medici gained no less fame as patrons of art and science. The family patronized Renaissance artists and thinkers, including Botticelli, Michelangelo, and at various stages of his career Leonardo da Vinci, and later Galileo Galilei, who named the largest moons of Jupiter the "Medicean Stars" in honor of Cosimo II de' Medici.
Historians believe that it was the patronage of the family that played a key role in turning Florence into one of the main centers of the Renaissance, and its influence spread far beyond Italy, determining the development of European culture for centuries to come.
That is why every death of representatives of the dynasty aroused great public interest. When family members died one by one in the 16th century, contemporaries often attributed this not to diseases, but to political intrigues and possible poisoning. Several centuries later, it was these versions that scientists tried to verify using ancient DNA analysis.
Interesting fact. The representatives of the Medici family gave Europe not only bankers and rulers. Four popes came from this dynasty, and Catherine de' Medici and Marie de' Medici later became queens of France.
Malaria or poison: why the death of the Medici gave rise to conspiracy theories
The high position of the Medici family was inevitably accompanied by political intrigues, so the unexpected death of its representatives often became the reason for a variety of versions. After the death of Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici in 1587, many contemporaries and later historians assumed that he could have been the victim of arsenic poisoning. Suspicions were most often linked to his brother Ferdinando, who took over the Tuscan throne after Francesco's death. It was this version that remained one of the most famous in historiography for several centuries, until modern genetic research provided new evidence in favor of a natural cause of death.
The poisoning theory was especially actively discussed in relation to some representatives of the dynasty at the beginning of the 21st century, when scientists were already trying to examine the preserved remains. At that time, the results of the chemical analysis caused controversy: some experts considered the traces of arsenic found insufficient to conclude a murder, while others admitted that the substance could have entered the remains much later.
The new study significantly changes the views of historians. The discovery of the DNA of the causative agent of malaria does not mean that every mysterious death of the Medici has now been explained, but a much more convincing scientific explanation appears for the studied family members than the numerous conspiracy theories that have existed for several centuries.
What ancient DNA tells us about the past
The Medici study is just one of many examples of how ancient DNA is changing historical science. Today, geneticists are able to determine the origin of ancient people, reconstruct migration routes, study the evolution of infectious diseases, and even find out the causes of death of people who lived hundreds and thousands of years ago.
Alexander Ochoa, an evolutionary biologist at Yale University and the first author of the study
Studying ancient DNA gives us the opportunity not only to diagnose malaria from human remains from the past, but also opens a window to understand the evolution of malaria species, in this case Plasmodium falciparum, which can help scientists better understand how the pathogen adapts over time.
One of the most famous such projects was the study of the remains of the English King Richard III. Thanks to the analysis of ancient DNA, scientists were able not only to confirm the identity of the skeleton found under the car park, but also to establish its maternal lineage. Similar methods were used in the study of the mummy of Ezi, ancient victims of the plague and other historical finds.
Interesting fact. Thanks to the analysis of ancient DNA, scientists today can detect not only human genetic material, but also traces of bacteria, viruses and parasites that lived in the human body hundreds and even thousands of years ago. This allows you to literally reconstruct the history of ancient epidemics.
The history of the Medici family shows once again that the most notorious historical mysteries are not always solved thanks to the chronicles found or new archival documents. Sometimes the answer lies in tiny fragments of DNA preserved in human remains. And it is modern technology that makes it possible, five centuries later, to put an end to disputes that once seemed intractable.
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