Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence

In the Epilogue, Brucker recounts the aftermath of the trial. Soon after Archbishop Antoninus announces his judgment on the case, one of Giovanni’s procurators appeals the decision, asking Antoninus to reconsider the evidence. The appeal is transferred to Rome where a papal court examines the evidence and comes to a new conclusion about Giovanni and Lusanna’s marriage. Six months later, a letter from the Pope arrives for Antoninus, stating that the papal court has ruled that Giovanni and Lusanna’s marriage is not legal. The new ruling frees Giovanni from his obligation to treat Lusanna as his wife, and it absolves him from any financial restitutions.

Brucker notes that Giovanni’s close association with the Medici family may have helped reverse Antoninus’s judgement. In fifteenth-century Florence, the merchant Cosimo de’ Medici was a rich and powerful figure. He also had an extensive network of friends and allies in many governmental positions, which helped him influence society. Florentine citizens from every social class wrote to Cosimo asking for favors. Such favors would have included “loans, remission of taxes, cancellation or reduction of judicial penalties, and letters of recommendation” (112). Despite Cosimo’s influence, Antoninus was hostile toward the Medicis. Once, he even refused to reverse a Medici’s excommunication because he believed that an archbishop was only meant to serve “the small and the weak” (114). While the Medicis could not influence Antoninus or his rulings in Florence, their close ties within the Roman Catholic Church may have helped Giovanni secure the new judgement in his favor. However, Brucker notes that no clear record of such assistance exists in the Medicis’ papers. 

After the new ruling, Giovanni returns to his business as a merchant, and he remains married to his second wife, Marietta Rucellai. Over the course of decades, he encounters many business troubles and falls deeper and deeper into debt. In 1478, Giovanni is ultimately excommunicated “either for engaging in usury or for defaulting on a debt to a cleric” (119). He dies two years later, and his son Pandolfo gains control of his business.

Lusanna disappears from the historical record after the trial. There are many roles widows like her could have assumed in Florentine society, such as becoming a nun or remarrying (120). Whether Lusanna chose to pursue any of these options remains unknown.