After all these vicissitudes Filippo Strozzi headed an armed attack upon the dominions of Duke Cosimo, was taken in the battle of Montemurlo, and finally was murdered in that very fortress, outside the Porto a Faenza, which he had counseled Alessandro to construct for the intimidation of the Florentines.[1] The historians with the exception of Nerli agree in describing him as a pleasure-loving and self-seeking man, whose many changes of policy were due, not to conviction, but to the desire of gaining the utmost license of disorderly living.

At the same time we cannot deny him the fame of brilliant mental qualities, a princely bearing, and great courage.
[1] See Varchi, vol.iii.p.

61, for the first stone laid of this castle.

It should be said that accounts disagree about Filippo's death.

Nerli very distinctly asserts that he committed suicide.
Segni inclines to the belief that he was murdered by the creatures of Duke Cosimo.
The moral and political debility which proved the real source of the ruin of Florence is accounted for in different ways by the historians of the siege.