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Researcher Puts 400-Year-Old Murder Mystery to Rest

Hugh Collins Contributor

Yahoo

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(July 16) -- New research by an Italian scientist has solved a murder mystery that has lingered for more than 400 years.

The death of Francesco I de' Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany, has been shrouded in uncertainty for centuries. Francesco died in 1587 within 24 hours of his wife, Bianca Cappello.

The official death certificate cited malaria as the cause of death. However, suspicion soon settled on Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando I. After the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law, he resigned his position with the church and assumed the title of duke, and rumors swirled that he had poisoned them with arsenic to clear the way.

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An Italian scientist says he's confirmed that Francesco I de' Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany, died in 1587 of malaria, not poison, as some suggested.

Now, Gino Fornaciari, a researcher at the University of Pisa, has absolved the cardinal and confirmed that Francesco did indeed die of malaria, a disease that was endemic in Tuscany right up until World War II.

"With the use of modern methods, we provide robust evidence that Francesco I had falciparum malaria at the time," Fornaciari writes in an article in The American Journal of Medicine. "Our findings also absolve Ferdinando I from the shameful allegation of being the murderer of his brother and sister-in-law."

To solve the ancient mystery, Fornaciari's team turned to Francesco's skeleton. The researchers tested the bones for a specific kind of protein that would suggest the presence of malaria, and the tests came up positive.

No tests could be performed on Bianca's skeleton, though, as nobody knows where she is buried.

This is the first time ancient bones have shown the presence of malaria at the time of death. Previously, researchers have turned to muscle tissue as the best indicator.

Even before Fornaciari cleared up the ancient riddle, history has been kind to Ferdinando. Whatever the suspicions around how he became grand duke, he put his position to good use, bolstering industry and patronizing the arts.

"He ruled with great skill and was the real beginner of a very rational trend in the government of Tuscany," Cristina Acidini, superintendent of Florence museums, told Discovery News