What Do the National Football League and the Medicis Have In Common?
It goes a lot deeper than bling and big houses. If you were
to say “trophy wives,” you’d be warm, but the Medici women were prizes
themselves, at least as wealthy and glamorous in their own right as any starlet
or supermodel.
The rather sordid and sinister answer is: domestic violence.
During the course of my research for INGLORIOUS ROYAL
MARRIAGES, when I came to the chapter on the 16th century unions of
the stunning heiress, Isabella Romola de Medici to Paolo Giordano Orsini, the
scion of a prestigious Roman family; and that of Isabella’s incredibly warped
younger brother Pietro de Medici to their beautiful and spirited cousin
Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo, little did I realize how relevant their stories
would become to current events.
To me, the horrific events of these two Medici marriages
were shocking. I have written about countless royal unions, both connubial and
extramarital. Because most royal marriages were arranged, and therefore not
love matches, it’s no wonder that they failed to some extent—that there was
acrimony, or adultery. But murder? And not the Henry VIII-trumped-up-charges-of-high-treason
sort. But the kind of spousal assault designed to look like an accident where
the husband then weeps crocodile tears. And gets away with it.
Fast-forward to the O.J. Simpson trial in 1996. Or only
recently, when Ray Rice seemed to think it was ok to sock his then-fiancée-now-wife
(who therefore can’t testify against him) in an elevator. Rice was steamed that
a gossip blog released the hotel’s security camera footage. Because otherwise
he would have gotten away with attacking his woman. The NFL was prepared to put
their heads in the sand over the entire incident until the commissioner was compelled
to go to the videotape.
We don’t have actual royalty in America. Those who are
doomed to remember history will recall that we fought a war to NOT have a king.
But we still love the idea of
royalty, so we anoint football players (or other pro-ballers). Or
pop/rock/hip-hop, etc., stars. Or Hollywood icons. Queen Bey. Prince. The money
they earn from their talent on the gridiron or catwalk or soundstage buys
untold riches, glitter, and power. And more often than not, a
get-out-of-jail-free card as well, just like the Medici men of the Italian
Renaissance, who whored and dueled and murdered with impunity, although their
wives were hardly permitted to live by those same social codes.
Isabella Romola de Medici was a Daddy’s girl, protected
during his lifetime by her father, the powerful Cosimo, Duke of Florence. But
after Cosimo died in April 1574, Isabella’s oldest brother Francesco became
Duke; and he had no use for his flamboyant sibling. Not only did he refuse to
aid her when she complained of her husband’s mistreatment, he abetted Paolo in
covering up the circumstances of her death. Francesco would do the same when
his brother Pietro strangled their cousin Eleonora with a dog leash. The girl
was a flirt, they concurred. She deserved it. Instead of Pietro being punished,
Eleonora’s name and reputation were smeared and the family honor was considered
tarnished by her behavior.
The Ravens’ Ray Rice is not the only NFL player in recent
memory to physically abuse his partner. In 2012, K.C. Chiefs’ Jovan Belcher
murdered his girlfriend, then committed suicide in the stadium parking lot, in
front of his coach. If only he’d started with himself, instead. In June of
2013, Pacman Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals was arrested on assault charges
for punching a woman outside a nightclub. In the summer of 2012, Chad Johnson
of the Miami Dolphins was charged with head-butting his newlywed wife outside
their home. He was released on bond a day or so after his arrest, but the team
cut him within 24 hours of his release. That same summer, Dallas Cowboys wide
receiver Dez Bryant was arrested on a domestic violence charge involving his mother. Evidently, during a family
visit, Bryant’s mother had become upset at him and asked him to leave,
whereupon he allegedly assaulted her.
The power and privilege conferred upon these princes,
whether by birth, marriage, or their ability to get the ball into the end zone
has all too often given them a pass when it comes to the issue of domestic
violence. Months ago, when I wrote my chapter on the two Medici marriages, I
thought I’d encountered a “one-off.” But recent headlines tell another story.
Whether the perpetrators wear the red, white, and green of the Medici, or the
colors of an NFL franchise, their behavior is not much different. Title or not,
these men feel entitled. And is it because we, as a society, have conferred the
mantle of royalty upon them, that they somehow believe themselves above the
law—and their women beneath contempt?
As “Linda Richman” used to say on SNL’s “Coffee Talk”—discuss!
1 Comments:
Brava, Leslie! A timely and thought-provoking post. Society expects these young men to entertain them, to play hard, to win, but not to evolve has human beings.
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