EPISODE 99: Thug Life: Benvenuto Cellini (Part 1)

History on Fire

Daniele Bolelli

Society & Culture

4.8 • 5.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2023

⏱️ 115 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“If one of you comes out of the shop, let the other run for a priest, because there’ll be no need for a doctor.” — Benvenuto Cellini

“The whole world was now in warfare.” — Benvenuto Cellini

“And then falling on my knees, I begged him to absolve me of that homicide, and of the others I had committed while serving the Church in the castle. At this the Pope raised his hand, carefully made a great sign of the cross above my head, and said that he gave me his blessing and that he forgave me all the murders I had ever committed and all the murders I ever would commit in the service of the Apostolic Church.” — Benvenuto Cellini

Italian artists from the Renaissance often lived lives that would make artists-gangsters a la Biggie or Tupac blush. Born at a time and place when colorful individuals abounded, Benvenuto Cellini was the wildest of them all. He is remembered as one of the greatest artists of the era, and at the same time as a man of explosive passions, equally inclined to murder and disturbing sexual escapades. In this first episode, we’ll witness Cellini surviving the plague and pirates, multiple street fights with blades drawn and the 1527 Sack of Rome. Along the way, we’ll see how Italian honor culture may help explain the Will Smith-Chris Rock clash at the Oscars. The characters that show up in our tale from kings and prostitutes, mercenaries and artists, necromancers and cardinals, servants and guards. If you are looking for entertainment set in the Renaissance, you really can’t ask for anything better.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Whether you like history or not, if you care about bravery, wisdom, passion,
0:04.7	large-in-the-life characters and some of the most emotionally intense moments in the human experience,
0:09.7	then you've come to the right place. The Niela Bollelli is a history professor, writer,
0:14.8	and martial artist, and he shall be your guide on a journey to the place for history and epic collide.
0:30.0	Let's go say history on fire.
0:52.4	Hello and welcome to episode 99 of History on Fire. I want to begin by thanking the incredible
1:00.8	people who have been supporting my work at patreon.com. If you want to check it out, it's patreon.com
1:07.3	for words-lash-history-on-fire. People there have been wonderful to me. I really cannot thank you
1:13.5	enough. You are the reason why this podcast keeps happening. You are the reason why I'm able to
1:18.7	keep studying and researching and producing new episodes. I am thankful that there are
1:25.0	tens of thousands more people who are able to enjoy these episodes of history on fire for free,
1:31.2	but the people who really keep them in business are those supporting on patreon. If you want to
1:36.4	join this brave band of heroes, you can go to patreon.com for words-lash-history-on-fire. For as
1:42.9	little as $5 a month, which is probably less than you tip a waiter if you go out eating or
1:48.7	something, not only your nice enough to help the podcast stay in business, but also you can get
1:56.0	bonus content. Every single month I produce a new mini episode exclusive for people on patreon.
2:02.4	By now I've been at it for about a year there, so there's I think I'm coming up on my 12th episode
2:09.4	more coming out every month. So that seems like if you are interested in the content,
2:14.4	then maybe a small price to pay for doing so many good things and enjoying some bonus content.
2:20.4	Speaking of people I want to thank on patreon, I want to thank Marc Chang,
2:23.9	Chimi Moxam, his user entry and charts courses since they contribute much, much beyond the basic
2:32.0	membership level. They actually contribute at the highest possible level and I deeply appreciate it.
	...

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