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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lucretia Borgia, by Ferdinand Gregorovius
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Lucretia Borgia
+       According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day
+
+Author: Ferdinand Gregorovius
+
+Translator: John Leslie Garner
+
+Release Date: March 13, 2007 [EBook #20804]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LUCRETIA BORGIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Janet Blenkinship and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  LUCRETIA BORGIA
+
+
+  [Illustration: LUCRETIA BORGIA.
+
+  From a portrait attributed to Dosso Dossi, in the possession of
+  Mr. Henry Doetsch, London.]
+
+
+  FERDINAND GREGOROVIUS
+
+  LUCRETIA BORGIA
+
+  ACCORDING TO ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
+  AND CORRESPONDENCE OF HER DAY
+
+  TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION
+  BY JOHN LESLIE GARNER
+
+  BENJAMIN BLOM    New York/London
+
+
+
+
+  TO
+
+  DON MICHELANGELO GAETANI
+
+  DUKE OF SERMONETA
+
+
+  First published New York 1904
+  Reissued 1968 by
+  Benjamin Blom, Inc. 10452
+
+  Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-20226
+
+  Manufactured in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+TO DON MICHELANGELO GAETANI DUKE OF SERMONETA
+
+
+MY HONORED DUKE: I am induced to dedicate this work to you by
+the historical circumstances of which it treats and also by personal
+considerations.
+
+In it you will behold the founders of your ancient and illustrious
+family. The Borgias were mortal enemies of the Gaetani, who narrowly
+escaped the fate prepared for them by Alexander VI and his terrible son.
+Beautiful Sermoneta and all the great fiefs in the Maremma fell into the
+maw of the Borgias, and your ancestors either found death at their hands
+or were driven into exile. Donna Lucretia became mistress of Sermoneta,
+and eventually her son, Rodrigo of Aragon, inherited the estates of the
+Gaetani.
+
+Centuries have passed, and a beautiful and unfortunate woman may be
+forgiven for this confiscation of the appanages of your house. Moreover,
+it was not long before your family was reinstated in its rights by a
+bull of Julius II, which is now preserved--a precious jewel--in your
+family archives. To your house has descended the fame of its founders,
+but to yourself is due the position which the Gaetani now again enjoy.
+
+The survival of historical tradition in things and men exercises an
+indescribable charm on every student of civilization. To recognize in
+the ancient and still nourishing families of modern Rome the descendants
+of the great personalities of other times, and to enjoy daily
+intercourse with them, made a profound impression on me. The Colonna,
+the Orsini, and the Gaetani are my friends, and all afforded me the
+greatest assistance. These families long ago vanished from the stage of
+Roman history, but the day came, illustrious Duke, when you were to make
+a place again for your ancient race in the history of the Imperial City;
+the day when--the temporal power of the popes having passed away, a
+power which had endured a thousand years--you carried to King Victor
+Emmanuel in Florence the declaration of allegiance of the Roman
+populace. This episode, marking the beginning of a new era for the city,
+will live, together with your name, in the annals of the Gaetani, and
+will preserve it forever in the memory of the Romans.
+
+  GREGOROVIUS.
+
+  ROME, _March 9, 1874_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  BOOK THE FIRST--LUCRETIA BORGIA IN ROME
+
+
+  CHAPTER I                                             PAGE
+
+  LUCRETIA'S FATHER                                        3
+
+  CHAPTER II
+
+  LUCRETIA'S MOTHER                                       10
+
+  CHAPTER III
+
+  LUCRETIA'S FIRST HOME                                   15
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+
+  LUCRETIA'S EDUCATION                                    20
+
+  CHAPTER V
+
+  NEPOTISM--GIULIA FARNESE--LUCRETIA'S BETROTHALS         34
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+  HER FATHER BECOMES POPE--GIOVANNI SFORZA                44
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+
+  LUCRETIA'S FIRST MARRIAGE                               53
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+
+  FAMILY AFFAIRS                                          62
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+
+  LUCRETIA LEAVES ROME                                    71
+
+  CHAPTER X
+
+  HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF PESARO                       76
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+
+  THE INVASION OF ITALY--THE PROFLIGATE WORLD             87
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+
+  THE DIVORCE AND SECOND MARRIAGE                        102
+
+  CHAPTER XIII
+
+  A REGENT AND A MOTHER                                  113
+
+  CHAPTER XIV
+
+  SOCIAL LIFE OF THE BORGIAS                             125
+
+  CHAPTER XV
+
+  MISFORTUNES OF CATARINA SFORZA                         137
+
+  CHAPTER XVI
+
+  MURDER OF ALFONSO OF ARAGON                            145
+
+  CHAPTER XVII
+
+  LUCRETIA AT NEPI                                       152
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII
+
+  CAESAR AT PESARO                                        159
+
+  CHAPTER XIX
+
+  ANOTHER MARRIAGE PLANNED FOR LUCRETIA                  167
+
+  CHAPTER XX
+
+  NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE HOUSE OF ESTE                    182
+
+  CHAPTER XXI
+
+  THE EVE OF THE WEDDING                                 196
+
+  CHAPTER XXII
+
+  ARRIVAL AND RETURN OF THE BRIDAL ESCORT                207
+
+
+  BOOK THE SECOND--LUCRETIA IN FERRARA
+
+
+  CHAPTER I
+
+  LUCRETIA'S JOURNEY TO FERRARA                          229
+
+  CHAPTER II
+
+  FORMAL ENTRY INTO FERRARA                              239
+
+  CHAPTER III
+
+  FETES GIVEN IN LUCRETIA'S HONOR                        250
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+
+  THE ESTE DYNASTY--DESCRIPTION OF FERRARA               266
+
+  CHAPTER V
+
+  DEATH OF ALEXANDER VI                                  279
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+  EVENTS FOLLOWING THE POPE'S DEATH                      293
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+
+  COURT POETS--GIULIA BELLA AND JULIUS II--THE ESTE DYNASTY
+  ENDANGERED                                             303
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+
+  ESCAPE AND DEATH OF CAESAR                              317
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+
+  MURDER OF ERCOLE STROZZI--DEATH OF GIOVANNI SFORZA AND
+  OF LUCRETIA'S ELDEST SON                               326
+
+  CHAPTER X
+
+  EFFECTS OF THE WAR--THE ROMAN INFANTE                  338
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+
+  LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF VANNOZZA                       345
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+
+  DEATH OF LUCRETIA BORGIA--CONCLUSION                   355
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  Lucretia Borgia, from a portrait attributed to Dosso Dossi
+                                                          _Frontispiece_
+
+  Trajan's Forum, Rome                                           16
+
+  Church of S. Maria del Popolo, Rome                            20
+
+  Vittoria Colonna                                               30
+
+  The Farnese Palace, Rome                                       36
+
+  Alexander VI                                                   44
+
+  Church of Ara Coeli, Rome                                      58
+
+  Tasso                                                          82
+
+  Charles VIII                                                   88
+
+  Savonarola                                                     94
+
+  Macchiavelli                                                  100
+
+  Caesar Borgia                                                  148
+
+  Guicciardini                                                  176
+
+  Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara                                206
+
+  Castle of S. Angelo, Rome                                     210
+
+  Ariosto                                                       248
+
+  Castle Vecchio, Ferrara                                       270
+
+  Benvenuto Garofalo                                            278
+
+  Facsimile of a letter from Alexander VI to Lucretia           281
+
+  Cardinal Bembo                                                290
+
+  Julius II                                                     298
+
+  Facsimile of a letter from Lucretia to Marquis Gonzaga        301
+
+  Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara                               304
+
+  Aldo Manuzio                                                  328
+
+  Leo X                                                         338
+
+  Lucretia Borgia, after a painting in the Musee de
+  Nimes                                                         360
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+Lucretia Borgia is the most unfortunate woman in modern history. Is this
+because she was guilty of the most hideous crimes, or is it simply
+because she has been unjustly condemned by the world to bear its curse?
+The question has never been answered. Mankind is ever ready to discover
+the personification of human virtues and human vices in certain typical
+characters found in history and fable.
+
+The Borgias will never cease to fascinate the historian and the
+psychologist. An intelligent friend of mine once asked me why it was
+that everything about Alexander VI, Caesar, and Lucretia Borgia, every
+little fact regarding their lives, every newly discovered letter of any
+of them, aroused our interest much more than did anything similar
+concerning other and vastly more important historic characters. I know
+of no better explanation than the following: the Borgias had for
+background the Christian Church; they made their first appearance
+issuing from it; they used it for their advancement; and the sharp
+contrast of their conduct with the holy state makes them appear
+altogether fiendish. The Borgias are a satire on a great form or phase
+of religion, debasing and destroying it. They stand on high pedestals,
+and from their presence radiates the light of the Christian ideal. In
+this form we behold and recognize them. We view their acts through a
+medium which is permeated with religious ideas. Without this, and
+placed on a purely secular stage, the Borgias would have fallen into a
+position much less conspicuous than that of many other men, and would
+soon have ceased to be anything more than representatives of a large
+species.
+
+We possess the history of Alexander VI and Caesar, but of Lucretia Borgia
+we have little more than a legend, according to which she is a fury, the
+poison in one hand, the poignard in the other; and yet this baneful
+personality possessed all the charms and graces.
+
+Victor Hugo painted her as a moral monster, in which form she still
+treads the operatic stage, and this is the conception which mankind in
+general have of her. The lover of real poetry regards this romanticist's
+terrible drama of Lucretia Borgia as a grotesque manifestation of the
+art, while the historian laughs at it; the poet, however, may excuse
+himself on the ground of his ignorance, and of his belief in a myth
+which had been current since the publication of Guicciardini's history.
+
+Roscoe, doubting the truth of this legend, endeavored to disprove it,
+and his apology for Lucretia was highly gratifying to the patriotic
+Italians. To it is due the reaction which has recently set in against
+this conception of her. The Lucretia legend may be analyzed most
+satisfactorily and scientifically where documents and mementos of her
+are most numerous; namely, in Rome, Ferrara, and Modena, where the
+archives of the Este family are kept, and in Mantua, where those of the
+Gonzaga are preserved. Occasional publications show that the interesting
+question still lives and remains unanswered.
+
+The history of the Borgias was taken up again by Domenico Cerri in his
+work, _Borgia ossia Alessandro VI, Papa e suoi contemporanei_, Turin,
+1858. The following year Bernardo Gatti, of Milan, published Lucretia's
+letters to Bembo. In 1866 Marquis G. Campori, of Modena, printed an
+essay entitled _Una vittima della storia Lucrezia Borgia_, in the _Nuova
+Antologia_ of August 31st of that year. A year later Monsignor
+Antonelli, of Ferrara, published _Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara, Sposa a
+Don Alfonso d'Este, Memorie storiche_, Ferrara, 1867. Giovanni
+Zucchetti, of Mantua, immediately followed with a similar opuscule:
+_Lucrezia Borgia Duchessa di Ferrara_, Milano, 1869. All these writers
+endeavored, with the aid of history, to clear up the Lucretia legend,
+and to rehabilitate the honor of the unfortunate woman.
+
+Other writers, not Italians, among them certain French and English
+authors, also took part in this effort. M. Armand Baschet, to whom we
+are indebted for several valuable publications in the field of
+diplomacy, announced in his work, _Aldo Manuzio, Lettres et Documents,
+1494-1515_, Venice, 1867, that he had been engaged for years on a
+biography of Madonna Lucretia Borgia, and had collected for the purpose
+a large mass of original documents.
+
+In the meantime, in 1869, there was published in London the first
+exhaustive work on the subject: _Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara, a
+Biography, illustrated by rare and unpublished documents_, by William
+Gilbert. The absence of scientific method, unfortunately, detracts from
+the value of this otherwise excellent production, which, as a sequel to
+Roscoe's works, attracted no little attention.
+
+The swarm of apologies for the Borgias called forth in France one of the
+most wonderful books to which history has ever given birth. Ollivier, a
+Dominican, published, in 1870, the first part of a work entitled _Le
+Pape Alexandre VI et les Borgia_. This production is the fantastic
+antithesis of Victor Hugo's drama. For, while the latter distorted
+history for the purpose of producing a moral monster for stage effect,
+the former did exactly the same thing, intending to create the very
+opposite. Monks, however, now are no longer able to compel the world to
+accept their fables as history, and Ollivier's absurd romance was
+renounced even by the strongest organs of the Church; first by Matagne,
+in the _Revue des questions historiques_, Paris, April, 1871, and
+January, 1872, and subsequently by the _Civilta Cattolica_, the organ of
+the Jesuits, in an article dated March 15, 1873, whose author made no
+effort to defend Alexander's character, simply because, in the light of
+absolutely authentic historical documents, it was no longer possible to
+save it.
+
+This article was based upon the _Saggio di Albero Genealogico e di
+Memorie su la familia Borgia specialmente in relazione a Ferrara_, by L.
+N. Cittadella, director of the public library of that city, published in
+Turin in 1872. The work, although not free from errors, is a
+conscientious effort to clear up the family history of the Borgias.
+
+At the close of 1872 I likewise entered into the discussion by
+publishing a note on the history of the Borgias. This followed the
+appearance of the volume of the _Geschichte der Stadt Rom im
+Mittelalter_, which embraced the epoch of Alexander VI. My researches in
+the archives of Italy had placed me in possession of a large amount of
+original information concerning the Borgias, and as it was impossible
+for me to avail myself of this mass of valuable details in that work, I
+decided to use it for a monograph to be devoted either to Caesar Borgia
+or to his sister, as protagonist.
+
+I decided on Madonna Lucretia for various reasons, among which was the
+following: in the spring of 1872 I found in the archives of the notary
+of the Capitol in Rome the protocol-book of Camillo Beneimbene, who for
+years was the trusted legal adviser of Alexander VI. This great
+manuscript proved to be an unexpected treasure; it furnished me with a
+long series of authentic and hitherto unknown documents. It contained
+all the marriage contracts of Donna Lucretia as well as numerous other
+legal records relating to the most intimate affairs of the Borgias. In
+November, 1872, I delivered a lecture on the subject before the class in
+history at the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich, which was
+published in the account of the proceedings. These records cast new
+light on the history of the Borgias, whose genealogy had only just been
+published by Cittadella.
+
+There were other reasons which induced me to write a book on Donna
+Lucretia. I had treated the political history of Alexander VI and Caesar
+at length, and had elucidated some of its obscure phases, but to
+Lucretia Borgia I had devoted no special attention. Her personality
+appeared to me to be something full of mystery, made up of
+contradictions which remained to be deciphered, and I was fascinated by
+it.
+
+I began my task without any preconceived intention. I purposed to write,
+not an apology, but a history of Lucretia, broadly sketched, the
+materials for which, in so far as the most important period of her life,
+her residence in Rome, was concerned, were already in my possession. I
+desired to ascertain what manner of personality would be discovered by
+treating Lucretia Borgia in a way entirely different from that in which
+she had hitherto been examined, but at the same time scientifically, and
+in accordance with the original records.
+
+I completed my data; I visited the places where she had lived. I
+repeatedly went to Modena and Mantua, whose archives are inexhaustible
+sources of information regarding the Renaissance, and from them I
+obtained most of my material. My friends there, as usual, were of great
+help to me, especially Signor Zucchetti, of Mantua, late keeper of the
+Gonzaga archives, and Signor Stefano Davari, the secretary.
+
+The state archives of the Este family of Modena, however, yielded me the
+greatest store of information. The custodian was Signor Cesare Foucard.
+As might have been expected of Muratori's successor, this distinguished
+gentleman displayed the greatest willingness to assist me in my task. In
+every way he lightened my labors; he had one of his young assistants,
+Signor Ognibene, arrange a great mass of letters and despatches which
+promised to be of use to me, lent me the index, and supplied me with
+copies. Therefore, if this work has any merit, no small part of it is
+due to Signor Foucard's obligingness.
+
+I also met with unfailing courtesy and assistance in other places--Nepi,
+Pesaro, and Ferrara. To Signor Cesare Guasti, of the state archives of
+Florence, I am indebted for careful copies of important letters of
+Lorenzo Pucci, which he had made for me.
+
+The material of which I finally found myself in possession is not
+complete, but it is abundant and new.
+
+The original records will serve as defense against those who endeavor to
+discover a malicious motive in this work. No such interpretation is
+worthy of further notice, because the book itself will make my intention
+perfectly clear, which was simply that of the conscientious writer of
+history. I have substituted history for romance.
+
+In the work I have attached more importance to the period during which
+Lucretia lived in Rome than to the time she spent in Ferrara, because
+the latter has already been described, though not in detail, while the
+former has remained purely legendary. As I had to base my work entirely
+on original information, I endeavored to treat the subject in such a way
+as to present a picture truly characteristic of the age, and animated by
+concrete descriptions of its striking personalities.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK THE FIRST
+
+LUCRETIA BORGIA IN ROME
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+LUCRETIA'S FATHER
+
+
+The Spanish house of Borja (or Borgia as the name is generally written)
+was rich in extraordinary men. Nature endowed them generously; they were
+distinguished by sensuous beauty, physical strength, intellect, and that
+force of will which compels success, and which was the source of the
+greatness of Cortez and Pizarro, and of the other Spanish adventurers.
+
+Like the Aragonese, the Borgias also played the part of conquerors in
+Italy, winning for themselves honors and power, and deeply affecting the
+destiny of the whole peninsula, where they extended the influence of
+Spain and established numerous branches of their family. From the old
+kings of Aragon they claimed descent, but so little is known of their
+origin that their history begins with the real founder of the house,
+Alfonso Borgia, whose father's name is stated by some to have been Juan,
+and by others Domenico; while the family name of his mother, Francesca,
+is not even known.
+
+Alfonso Borgia was born in the year 1378 at Xativa, near Valencia. He
+served King Alfonso of Aragon as privy secretary, and was made Bishop of
+Valencia. He came to Naples with this genial prince when he ascended its
+throne, and in the year 1444 he was made a cardinal.
+
+Spain, owing to her religious wars, was advancing toward national unity,
+and was fast assuming a position of European importance. She now, by
+taking a hand in the affairs of Italy, endeavored to grasp what she had
+hitherto let slip by,--namely, the opportunity of becoming the head of
+the Latin world and, above all, the center of gravity of European
+politics and civilization. She soon forced herself into the Papacy and
+into the Empire. From Spain the Borgias first came to the Holy See, and
+from there later came Charles V to ascend the imperial throne. From
+Spain came also Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the most powerful
+politico-religious order history has ever known.
+
+Alfonso Borgia, one of the most active opponents of the Council of Basle
+and of the Reformation in Germany, was elected pope in 1455, assuming
+the name Calixtus III. Innumerable were his kinsmen, many of whom he had
+found settled in Rome when he, as cardinal, had taken up his residence
+there. His nearest kin were members of the three connected Valencian
+families of Borgia, Mila (or Mella), and Lanzol. One of the sisters of
+Calixtus, Catarina Borgia, was married to Juan Mila, Baron of Mazalanes,
+and was the mother of the youthful Juan Luis. Isabella, the wife of
+Jofre Lanzol, a wealthy nobleman of Xativa, was the mother of Pedro Luis
+and Rodrigo, and of several daughters. The uncle adopted these two
+nephews and gave them his family name,--thus the Lanzols became Borgias.
+
+In 1456 Calixtus III bestowed the purple upon two members of the Mila
+family: the Bishop Juan of Zamora, who died in 1467, in Rome, where his
+tomb may still be seen in S. Maria di Monserrato, and on the youthful
+Juan Luis. Rodrigo Borgia also received the purple in the same year.
+Among other members of the house of Mila settled in Rome was Don Pedro,
+whose daughter, Adriana Mila, we shall later find in most intimate
+relations with the family of her uncle Rodrigo.
+
+Of the sisters of this same Rodrigo, Beatrice was married to Don Ximenez
+Perez de Arenos, Tecla to Don Vidal de Villanova, and Juana to Don Pedro
+Guillen Lanzol.[1] All these remained in Spain. There is a letter
+extant, written by Beatrice from Valencia to her brother shortly after
+he became pope.
+
+Rodrigo Borgia was twenty-six when the dignity of cardinal was conferred
+upon him, and to this honor, a year later, was added the great office of
+vice-chancellor of the Church of Rome. His brother, Don Pedro Luis, was
+only one year older; and Calixtus bestowed upon this young Valencian the
+highest honors which can fall to the lot of a prince's favorite. Later
+we behold in him a papal nepot-prince in whom the Pope endeavored to
+embody all mundane power and honor; he made him his condottiere, his
+warder, his body-guard, and, finally, his worldly heir. Calixtus allowed
+him to usurp every position of authority in the Church domain and, like
+a destroying angel, to overrun and devastate the republics and the
+tyrannies, for the purpose of founding a family dynasty, the Papacy
+being of only momentary tenure, and not transmittable to an heir.
+
+Calixtus made Pedro Luis generalissimo of the Church, prefect of the
+city, Duke of Spoleto, and finally, vicar of Terracina and Benevento.
+Thus in this first Spanish nepot was foreshadowed the career which Caesar
+Borgia later followed.
+
+During the life of Calixtus the Spaniards were all-powerful in Rome. In
+great numbers they poured into Italy from the kingdom of Valencia to
+make their fortune at the papal court as monsignori and clerks, as
+captains and castellans, and in any other way that suggested itself.
+Calixtus III died on the sixth of August, 1458, and a few days later Don
+Pedro Luis was driven from Rome by the oppressed nobility of the
+country, the Colonna and the Orsini, who rose against the hated
+foreigner. Soon afterwards, in December the same year, death suddenly
+terminated the career of this young and brilliant upstart, then in
+Civitavecchia. It is not known whether Don Pedro Luis Borgia was married
+or whether he left any descendants.[2]
+
+Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia lamented the loss of his beloved and, probably,
+only brother, and inherited his property, while his own high position in
+the Curia was not affected by the change in the papacy. As
+vice-chancellor, he occupied a house in the Ponte quarter, which had
+formerly been the Mint, and which he converted into one of the most
+showy of the palaces of Rome. The building encloses two courts, where
+may still be seen the original open colonnades of the lower story; it
+was constructed as a stronghold, like the Palazzo di Venizia, which was
+almost contemporaneous with it. The Borgia palace, however, does not
+compare in architectural beauty or size with that built by Paul II. In
+the course of the years it has undergone many changes, and for a long
+time has belonged to the Sforza-Cesarini.
+
+Nothing is known of Rodrigo's private life during the pontificate of the
+four popes who followed Calixtus--Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV, and
+Innocent VIII--for the records of that period are very incomplete.
+
+Insatiable sensuality ruled this Borgia, a man of unusual beauty and
+strength, until his last years. Never was he able to cast out this
+demon. He angered Pius II by his excesses, and the first ray of light
+thrown upon Rodrigo's private life is an admonitory letter written by
+that pope, the eleventh of June, 1460, from the baths of Petriolo.
+Borgia was then twenty-nine years old. He was in beautiful and
+captivating Siena, where Piccolomini had passed his unholy youth. There
+he had arranged a bacchanalian orgy of which the Pope's letter gives a
+picture.
+
+     DEAR SON: We have learned that your Worthiness, forgetful
+     of the high office with which you are invested, was present from
+     the seventeenth to the twenty-second hour, four days ago, in the
+     gardens of John de Bichis, where there were several women of Siena,
+     women wholly given over to worldly vanities. Your companion was one
+     of your colleagues whom his years, if not the dignity of his
+     office, ought to have reminded of his duty. We have heard that the
+     dance was indulged in in all wantonness; none of the allurements of
+     love were lacking, and you conducted yourself in a wholly worldly
+     manner. Shame forbids mention of all that took place, for not only
+     the things themselves but their very names are unworthy of your
+     rank. In order that your lust might be all the more unrestrained,
+     the husbands, fathers, brothers, and kinsmen of the young women and
+     girls were not invited to be present. You and a few servants were
+     the leaders and inspirers of this orgy. It is said that nothing is
+     now talked of in Siena but your vanity, which is the subject of
+     universal ridicule. Certain it is that here at the baths, where
+     Churchmen and the laity are very numerous, your name is on every
+     one's tongue. Our displeasure is beyond words, for your conduct has
+     brought the holy state and office into disgrace; the people will
+     say that they make us rich and great, not that we may live a
+     blameless life, but that we may have means to gratify our passions.
+     This is the reason the princes and the powers despise us and the
+     laity mock us; this is why our own mode of living is thrown in our
+     face when we reprove others. Contempt is the lot of Christ's vicar
+     because he seems to tolerate these actions. You, dear son, have
+     charge of the bishopric of Valencia, the most important in Spain;
+     you are a chancellor of the Church, and what renders your conduct
+     all the more reprehensible is the fact that you have a seat among
+     the cardinals, with the Pope, as advisors of the Holy See. We leave
+     it to you whether it is becoming to your dignity to court young
+     women, and to send those whom you love fruits and wine, and during
+     the whole day to give no thought to anything but sensual pleasures.
+     People blame us on your account, and the memory of your blessed
+     uncle, Calixtus, likewise suffers, and many say he did wrong in
+     heaping honors upon you. If you try to excuse yourself on the
+     ground of your youth, I say to you: you are no longer so young as
+     not to see what duties your offices impose upon you. A cardinal
+     should be above reproach and an example of right living before the
+     eyes of all men, and then we should have just grounds for anger
+     when temporal princes bestow uncomplimentary epithets upon us; when
+     they dispute with us the possession of our property and force us to
+     submit ourselves to their will. Of a truth we inflict these wounds
+     upon ourselves, and we ourselves are the cause of these troubles,
+     since we by our conduct are daily diminishing the authority of the
+     Church. Our punishment for it in this world is dishonor, and in the
+     world to come well deserved torment. May, therefore, your good
+     sense place a restraint on these frivolities, and may you never
+     lose sight of your dignity; then people will not call you a vain
+     gallant among men. If this occurs again we shall be compelled to
+     show that it was contrary to our exhortation, and that it caused us
+     great pain; and our censure will not pass over you without causing
+     you to blush. We have always loved you and thought you worthy of
+     our protection as a man of an earnest and modest character.
+     Therefore, conduct yourself henceforth so that we may retain this
+     our opinion of you, and may behold in you only the example of a
+     well ordered life. Your years, which are not such as to preclude
+     improvement, permit us to admonish you paternally.
+
+  PETRIOLO, _June 11, 1460_.[3]
+
+A few years later, when Paul II occupied the papal throne, the historian
+Gasparino of Verona described Cardinal Borgia as follows: "He is
+handsome; of a most glad countenance and joyous aspect, gifted with
+honeyed and choice eloquence. The beautiful women on whom his eyes are
+cast he lures to love him, and moves them in a wondrous way, more
+powerfully than the magnet influences iron."
+
+There are such organizations as Gasparino describes; they are men of the
+physical and moral nature of Casanova and the Regent of Orleans.
+Rodrigo's beauty was noted by many of his contemporaries even when he
+was pope. In 1493 Hieronymus Portius described him as follows:
+"Alexander is tall and neither light nor dark; his eyes are black and
+his lips somewhat full. His health is robust, and he is able to bear any
+pain or fatigue; he is wonderfully eloquent and a thorough man of the
+world."[4]
+
+The force of this happy organization lay, apparently, in the perfect
+balance of all its powers. From it radiated the serene brightness of his
+being, for nothing is more incorrect than the picture usually drawn of
+this Borgia, showing him as a sinister monster. The celebrated Jason
+Mainus, of Milan, calls attention to his "elegance of figure, his serene
+brow, his kingly forehead, his countenance with its expression of
+generosity and majesty, his genius, and the heroic beauty of his whole
+presence."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Zurita, Anales de Aragon, v. 36.
+
+[2] Zurita (iv, 55) says he died _sin dexar ninguna sucesion_.
+Notwithstanding this, Cittadella, in his _Saggio di Albero Genealogico e
+di memorie su la Familia Borgia_ (Turin, 1872), ascribes two children to
+this Pedro Luis, Silvia and Cardinal Giovanni Borgia, the younger.
+
+[3] Raynaldus, 1460. No. 31.
+
+[4] Statura procerus, colore medio, nigris oculis, ore paululum
+pleniore. Hieron. Portius, Commentarius, a rare publication of 1493, in
+the Casanatense in Rome.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+LUCRETIA'S MOTHER
+
+
+About 1466 or 1467 Cardinal Rodrigo's magnetism attracted a woman of
+Rome, Vannozza Catanei. We know that she was born in July, 1442, but of
+her family we are wholly ignorant. Writers of that day also call her
+Rosa and Catarina, although she named herself, in well authenticated
+documents, Vannozza Catanei. Paolo Giovio states that Vanotti was her
+patronymic, and although there was a clan of that name in Rome, he is
+wrong. Vannozza was probably the nickname for Giovanna--thus we find in
+the early records of that age: Vannozza di Nardis, Vannozza di Zanobeis,
+di Pontianis, and others.
+
+There was a Catanei family in Rome, as there was in Ferrara, Genoa, and
+elsewhere. The name was derived from the title, _capitaneus_. In a
+notarial document of 1502 the name of Alexander's mistress is given in
+its ancient form, Vanotia de Captaneis.
+
+Litta, to whom Italy is indebted for the great work on her
+illustrious families--a wonderful work in spite of its errors and
+omissions--ventures the opinion that Vannozza was a member of the
+Farnese family and a daughter of Ranuccio. There is, however, no ground
+for this theory. In written instruments of that time she is explicitly
+called Madonna Vannozza de casa Catanei.
+
+None of Vannozza's contemporaries have stated what were the
+characteristics which enabled her to hold the pleasure-loving cardinal
+so surely and to secure her recognition as the mother of several of his
+acknowledged children. We may imagine her to have been a strong and
+voluptuous woman like those still seen about the streets of Rome. They
+possess none of the grace of the ideal woman of the Umbrian school, but
+they have something of the magnificence of the Imperial City--Juno and
+Venus are united in them. They would resemble the ideals of Titian and
+Paul Veronese but for their black hair and dark complexion,--blond and
+red hair have always been rare among the Romans.
+
+Vannozza doubtless was of great beauty and ardent passions; for if not,
+how could she have inflamed a Rodrigo Borgia? Her intellect too,
+although uncultivated, must have been vigorous; for if not, how could
+she have maintained her relations with the cardinal?
+
+The date given above was the beginning of this liaison, if we may
+believe the Spanish historian Mariana, who says that Vannozza was the
+mother of Don Pedro Luis, Rodrigo's eldest son. In a notarial instrument
+of 1482 this son of the cardinal is called a youth (_adolescens_), which
+signified a person fourteen or fifteen years of age. In what
+circumstances Vannozza was living when Cardinal Borgia made her
+acquaintance we do not know. It is not likely that she was one of the
+innumerable courtesans who, thanks to the liberality of their retainers,
+led most brilliant lives in Rome at that period; for had she been, the
+novelists and epigrammatists of the day would have made her famous.
+
+The chronicler Infessura, who must have been acquainted with Vannozza,
+relates that Alexander VI, wishing to make his natural son Caesar a
+cardinal, caused it to appear, by false testimony, that he was the
+legitimate son of a certain Domenico of Arignano, and he adds that he
+had even married Vannozza to this man. The testimony of a contemporary
+and a Roman should have weight; but no other writer, except Mariana--who
+evidently bases his statement on Infessura--mentions this Domenico, and
+we shall soon see that there could have been no legal, acknowledged
+marriage of Vannozza and this unknown man. She was the cardinal's
+mistress for a much longer time before he himself, for the purpose of
+cloaking his relations with her and for lightening his burden, gave her
+a husband. His relations with her continued for a long time after she
+had a recognized consort.
+
+The first acknowledged husband of Vannozza was Giorgio di Croce, a
+Milanese, for whom Cardinal Rodrigo had obtained from Sixtus IV a
+position as apostolic secretary. It is uncertain at just what time she
+allied herself with this man, but she was living with him as his wife in
+1480 in a house on the Piazzo Pizzo di Merlo, which is now called
+Sforza-Cesarini, near which was Cardinal Borgia's palace.
+
+Even as early as this, Vannozza was the mother of several children
+acknowledged by the cardinal: Giovanni, Caesar, and Lucretia. There is no
+doubt whatever about these, although the descent of the eldest of the
+children, Pedro Luis, from the same mother, is only highly probable.
+Thus far the date of the birth of this Borgia bastard has not been
+established, and authorities differ. In absolutely authentic records I
+discovered the dates of birth of Caesar and Lucretia, which clear up
+forever many errors regarding the genealogy and even the history of the
+house. Caesar was born in the month of April, 1476--the day is not
+given--and Lucretia on the eighteenth of April, 1480. Their father, when
+he was pope, gave their ages in accordance with these dates. In October,
+1501, he mentioned the subject to the ambassador of Ferrara, and the
+latter, writing to the Duke Ercole, said, "The Pope gave me to
+understand that the Duchess (Lucretia) was in her twenty-second year,
+which she will complete next April, in which month also the most
+illustrious Duke of Romagna (Caesar) will be twenty-six."
+
+If the correctness of the father's statement of the age of his own
+children is questioned, it may be confirmed by other reports and
+records. In despatches which a Ferrarese ambassador sent to the same
+duke from Rome much earlier, namely, in February and March, 1483, the
+age of Caesar at that time is given as sixteen to seventeen years, which
+agrees with the subsequent statement of his father.[5] The son of
+Alexander VI was, therefore, a few years younger than has hitherto been
+supposed, and this fact has an important bearing upon his short and
+terrible life. Mariana, therefore, and other authors who follow him, err
+in stating that Caesar, Rodrigo's second son, was older than his brother
+Giovanni. In reality, Giovanni must have been two years older than
+Caesar. Venetian letters from Rome, written in October, 1496, describe
+him as a young man of twenty-two; he accordingly must have been born in
+1474.[6]
+
+Lucretia herself came into the world April 18, 1480. This exact date is
+given in a Valencian document. Her father was then forty-nine and her
+mother thirty-eight years of age. The Roman or Spanish astrologers cast
+the horoscope of the child according to the constellation which was in
+the ascendancy, and congratulated Cardinal Rodrigo on the brilliant
+career foretold for his daughter by the stars.
+
+Easter had just passed; magnificent festivities had been held in honor
+of the Elector Ernst of Saxony, who, together with the Duke of Brunswick
+and Wilhelm von Henneberg had arrived in Rome March 22d. These gentlemen
+were accompanied by a retinue of two hundred knights, and a house in the
+Parione quarter had been placed at their disposal. Pope Sixtus IV loaded
+them with honors, and great astonishment was caused by a magnificent
+hunt which Girolamo Riario, the all-powerful nepot, gave for them, at
+Magliana on the Tiber. These princes departed from Rome on the
+fourteenth of April.
+
+The papacy was at that time changing to a political despotism, and
+nepotism was assuming the character which later was to give Caesar Borgia
+all his ferocity. Sixtus IV, a mighty being and a character of a much
+more powerful cast than even Alexander VI, was at war with Florence,
+where he had countenanced the Pazzi conspiracy for the murder of the
+Medici. He had made Girolamo Riario a great prince in Romagna, and later
+Alexander VI planned a similar career for his son Caesar.
+
+Lucretia was indeed born at a terrible period in the world's history;
+the papacy was stripped of all holiness, religion was altogether
+material, and immorality was boundless. The bitterest family feuds raged
+in the city, in the Ponte, Parione, and Regola quarters, where kinsmen
+incited by murder daily met in deadly combat. In this very year, 1480,
+there was a new uprising of the old factions of Guelph and Ghibbeline in
+Rome; there the Savelli and Colonna were against the Pope, and here the
+Orsini for him; while the Valle, Margana, and Santa Croce families,
+inflamed by a desire for revenge for blood which had been shed, allied
+themselves with one or the other faction.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] Gianandrea Boccaccio to the duke, Rome, February 25 and March 11,
+1493. State archives of Modena.
+
+[6] Sanuto, Diar. v. i, 258.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+LUCRETIA'S FIRST HOME
+
+
+Lucretia passed the first years of her childhood in her mother's house,
+which was on the Piazza Pizzo di Merlo, only a few steps from the
+cardinal's palace. The Ponte quarter, to which it belonged, was one of
+the most populous of Rome, since it led to the Bridge of S. Angelo and
+the Vatican. In it were to be found many merchants and the bankers from
+Florence, Genoa, and Siena, while numerous papal office-holders, as well
+as the most famous courtesans dwelt there. On the other hand, the number
+of old, noble families in Ponte was not large, perhaps because the
+Orsini faction did not permit them to thrive there. These powerful
+barons had resided in this quarter for a long time in their vast palace
+on Monte Giordano. Not far distant stood their old castle, the Torre di
+Nona, which had originally been part of the city walls on the Tiber. At
+this time it was a dungeon for prisoners of state and other
+unfortunates.
+
+It is not difficult to imagine what Vannozza's house was, for the Roman
+dwelling of the Renaissance did not greatly differ from the ordinary
+house of the present day, which generally is gloomy and dark. Massive
+steps of cement led to the dwelling proper, which consisted of a
+principal salon and adjoining rooms with bare flagstone floors, and
+ceilings of beams and painted wooden paneling. The walls of the rooms
+were whitewashed, and only in the wealthiest houses were they covered
+with tapestries, and in these only on festal occasions. In the fifteenth
+century the walls of few houses were adorned with pictures, and these
+usually consisted of only a few family portraits. If Vannozza decorated
+her salon with any likenesses, that of Cardinal Rodrigo certainly must
+have been among the number. There was likewise a shrine with relics and
+pictures of the saints and one of the Madonna, the lamp constantly
+burning before it.
+
+Heavy furniture,--great wide beds with canopies; high, brown wooden
+chairs, elaborately carved, upon which cushions were placed; and massive
+tables, with tops made of marble or bits of colored wood,--was ranged
+around the walls. Among the great chests there was one which stood out
+conspicuously in the salon, and which contained the dowry of linen. It
+was in such a chest--the chest of his sister--that the unfortunate
+Stefano Porcaro concealed himself when he endeavored to escape after his
+unsuccessful attempt to excite an uprising on the fifth of January,
+1453. His sister and another woman sat on the chest, better to protect
+him, but the officers pulled him out.
+
+Although we can only state what was then the fashion, if Vannozza had
+any taste for antiquities her salon must have been adorned with them. At
+that time they were being collected with the greatest eagerness. It was
+the period of the first excavations; the soil of Rome was daily giving
+up its treasures, and from Ostia, Tivoli, and Hadrian's Villa, from
+Porto d'Anzio and Palestrina, quantities of antiquities were being
+brought to the city. If Vannozza and her husband did not share this
+passion with the other Romans, one would certainly not have looked in
+vain in her house for the cherished productions of modern art--cups and
+vases of marble and porphyry, and the gold ornaments of the jewelers.
+The most essential thing in every well ordered Roman house was above all
+else the _credenza_, a great chest containing gold and silver table
+and drinking vessels and beautiful majolica; and care was taken always
+to display these articles at banquets and on other ceremonious
+occasions.
+
+[Illustration: TRAJAN'S FORUM, ROME.]
+
+It is not likely that Rodrigo's mistress possessed a library, for
+private collections of books were at that time exceedingly rare in
+bourgeois houses. A short time after this they were first made possible
+in Rome by the invention of printing, which was there carried on by
+Germans.
+
+Vannozza's household doubtless was rich but not magnificent. She must
+occasionally have entertained the cardinal, as well as the friends of
+the family, and especially the confidants of the Borgias: the Spaniards,
+Juan Lopez, Caranza, and Marades; and among the Romans, the Orsini,
+Porcari, Cesarini, and Barberini. The cardinal himself was an
+exceedingly abstemious man, but magnificent in everything which
+concerned the pomp and ceremonial of his position. The chief requirement
+of a cardinal of that day was to own a princely residence and to have a
+numerous household.
+
+Rodrigo Borgia was one of the wealthiest princes of the Church, and he
+maintained the palace and pomp of a great noble. His contemporary Jacopo
+of Volterra, gave the following description of him about 1486: "He is a
+man of an intellect capable of everything and of great sense; he is a
+ready speaker; he is of an astute nature, and has wonderful skill in
+conducting affairs. He is enormously wealthy, and the favor accorded him
+by numerous kings and princes lends him renown. He occupies a beautiful
+and comfortable palace which he built between the Bridge of S. Angelo
+and the Campo dei Fiore. His papal offices, his numerous abbeys in Italy
+and Spain, and his three bishoprics of Valencia, Portus, and Carthage
+yield him a vast income, and it is said that the office of
+vice-chancellor alone brings him in eight thousand gold florins. His
+plate, his pearls, his stuffs embroidered with silk and gold, and his
+books in every department of learning are very numerous, and all are of
+a magnificence worthy of a king or pope. I need not mention the
+innumerable bed hangings, the trappings for his horses, and similar
+things of gold, silver, and silk, nor his magnificent wardrobe, nor the
+vast amount of gold coin in his possession. In fact it was believed that
+he possessed more gold and riches of every sort than all the cardinals
+together, with the exception of one, Estouteville."
+
+Cardinal Rodrigo, therefore, was able to give his children the most
+brilliant education, while he modestly maintained them as his nephews.
+Not until he himself had attained greatness could he bring them forth
+into the full light of day.
+
+In 1482 he did not occupy his house in the Ponte quarter, perhaps
+because he was having it enlarged. He spent more of his time in the
+palace which Stefano Nardini had finished in 1475 in the Parione
+quarter, which is now known as the Palazzo del Governo Vecchio. Rodrigo
+was living here in January, 1482, as we learn from an instrument of the
+notary Beneimbene,--the marriage contract of Gianandrea Cesarini and
+Girolama Borgia, a natural daughter of the same Cardinal Rodrigo. This
+marriage was performed in the presence of the bride's father, Cardinals
+Stefano Nardini and Gianbattista Savelli, and the Roman nobles Virginius
+Orsini, Giuliano Cesarini, and Antonio Porcaro.
+
+The instrument of January, 1482, is the earliest authentic document we
+possess regarding the family life of Cardinal Borgia. In it he
+acknowledges himself to be the father of the "noble demoiselle
+Hieronyma," and she is described as the sister of the "noble youth
+Petrus Lodovicus de Borgia, and of the infant Johannes de Borgia." As
+these two, plainly mentioned as the eldest sons, were natural children,
+it would have been improper to name their mother. Caesar also was passed
+by, as he was a child of only six years.
+
+Girolama was still a minor, being only thirteen years of age, and her
+betrothed, Giovanni Andrea, had scarcely reached manhood. He was a son
+of Gabriello Cesarini and Godina Colonna. By this marriage the noble
+house of Cesarini was brought into close relations with the Borgia, and
+later it derived great profit from the alliance. Their mutual friendship
+dated from the time of Calixtus, for it was the prothonotary Giorgio
+Cesarini who, on the death of that pope, had helped Rodrigo's brother
+Don Pedro Luis when he was forced to flee from Rome. Both Girolama and
+her youthful spouse died in 1483. Was she also a child of the mother of
+Lucretia and Caesar? We know not, but it is regarded as unlikely. Let us
+anticipate by saying that there is only a single authentic record which
+mentions Rodrigo's children and their mother together. This is the
+inscription on Vannozza's tomb in S. Maria del Popolo in Rome, in which
+she is named as the mother of Caesar, Giovanni, Giuffre, and Lucretia,
+while no mention is made of their older brother, Don Pedro Luis, nor of
+their sister Girolama.
+
+Rodrigo, moreover, had a third daughter, named Isabella, who could not
+have been a child of Vannozza. April 1, 1483, he married her to a Roman
+nobleman, Piergiovanni Mattuzi of the Parione quarter.[7]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] Abstract of the marriage contract in the archives of the Capitol.
+Cred. xiv, T. 72. From an instrument of the notary Agostino Martini.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+LUCRETIA'S EDUCATION
+
+
+The cardinal's relations with Vannozza continued until about 1482, for
+after the birth of Lucretia she presented him with another son, Giuffre,
+who was born in 1481 or 1482.
+
+After that, Borgia's passion for this woman, who was now about forty,
+died out, but he continued to honor her as the mother of his children
+and as the confidant of many of his secrets.
+
+Vannozza had borne her husband, a certain Giorgio di Croce, a son, who
+was named Octavian--at least this child passed as his. With the
+cardinal's help she increased her revenues; in old official records she
+appears as the lessee of several taverns in Rome, and she also bought a
+vineyard and a country house near S. Lucia in Selci in the Subura,
+apparently from the Cesarini. Even to-day the picturesque building with
+the arched passageway over the stairs which lead up from the Subura to
+S. Pietro in Vincoli is pointed out to travelers as the palace of
+Vannozza or of Lucretia Borgia. Giorgio di Croce had become rich, and he
+built a chapel for himself and his family in S. Maria del Popolo. Both
+he and his son Octavian died in the year 1486.[8]
+
+His death caused a change in Vannozza's circumstances, the cardinal
+hastening to marry the mother of his children a second time, so that she
+might have a protector and a respectable household. The new husband was
+Carlo Canale, of Mantua.
+
+[Illustration: CHURCH OF S. MARIA DEL POPOLO, ROME.]
+
+Before he came to Rome he had by his attainments acquired some
+reputation among the humanists of Mantua. There is still extant a letter
+to Canale, written by the young poet Angelo Poliziano regarding his
+_Orfeo_; the manuscript of this, the first attempt in the field of the
+drama which marked the renaissance of the Italian theater, was in the
+hands of Canale, who, appreciating the work of the faint-hearted poet,
+was endeavoring to encourage him.[9] At the suggestion of Cardinal
+Francesco Gonzaga, a great patron of letters, Poliziano had written the
+poem in the short space of two days. Carlo Canale was the cardinal's
+chamberlain. The _Orfeo_ saw the light in 1472. When Gonzaga died, in
+1483, Canale went to Rome, where he entered the service of Cardinal
+Sclafetano, of Parma. As a confidant and dependent of the Gonzaga he
+retained his connection with this princely house.[10] In his new
+position he assisted Ludovico Gonzaga, a brother of Francesco when he
+came to Rome in 1484 to receive the purple on his election as Bishop of
+Mantua.
+
+Borgia was acquainted with Canale while he was in the service of the
+Gonzaga, and later he met him in the house of Sclafetano. He selected
+him to be the husband of his widowed mistress, doubtless because
+Canale's talents and connections would be useful to him.
+
+Canale, on the other hand, could have acquiesced in the suggestion to
+marry Vannozza only from avarice, and his willingness proves that he had
+not grown rich in his former places at the courts of cardinals.
+
+The new marriage contract was drawn up June 8, 1486, by the notary of
+the Borgia house, Camillo Beneimbene, and was witnessed by Francesco
+Maffei, apostolic secretary and canon of S. Peter's; Lorenzo Barberini
+de Catellinis; a citizen, Giuliano Gallo, a considerable merchant of
+Rome; Burcardo Barberini de Carnariis, and other gentlemen. As dowry
+Vannozza brought her husband, among other things, one thousand gold
+florins and an appointment as _sollicitator bullarum_. The contract
+clearly referred to this as Vannozza's second marriage. Would it not
+have been set down as the third, or in more general terms as new, if the
+alleged first marriage with Domenico d'Arignano had really been
+acknowledged?
+
+In this instrument Vannozza's house on the Piazza de Branchis, in the
+Regola quarter, where the marriage took place, is described as her
+domicile. The piazza still bears this name, which is derived from the
+extinct Branca family. After the death of her former husband she must,
+therefore, have moved from the house on the Piazza Pizzo di Merlo and
+taken up her abode in the one on the Piazza Branca. This house may have
+belonged to her, for her second husband seems to have been a man without
+means, who hoped to make his fortune by his marriage and with the
+protection of the powerful cardinal.
+
+From a letter of Ludovico Gonzaga, dated February 19, 1488, we learn
+that this new marriage of Vannozza's was not childless. In this epistle,
+the Bishop of Mantua asks his agent in Rome to act as godfather in his
+stead, Carlo Canale having chosen him for this honor. The letter gives
+no further particulars, but it can mean nothing else.[11]
+
+We do not know at just what time Lucretia, in accordance with the
+cardinal's provision, left her mother's house and passed under the
+protection of a woman who exercised great influence upon him and upon
+the entire Borgia family.
+
+This woman was Adriana, of the house of Mila, a daughter of Don Pedro,
+who was a nephew of Calixtus III, and first cousin of Rodrigo. What
+position he held in Rome we do not know.
+
+He married his daughter Adriana to Ludovico, a member of the noble house
+of Orsini, and lord of Bassanello, near Civita Castellana. As the
+offspring of this union, Orsino Orsini, married in 1489, it is evident
+that his mother must have entered into wedlock at least sixteen years
+before. Ludovico Orsini died in 1489 or earlier. As his wife, and later
+as his widow, Adriana occupied one of the Orsini palaces in Rome,
+probably the one on Monte Giordano, near the Bridge of S. Angelo, this
+palace having subsequently been described as part of the estate which
+her son Orsino inherited.
+
+Cardinal Rodrigo maintained the closest relations with Adriana. She was
+more than his kinswoman; she was the confidant of his sins, of his
+intrigues and plans, and such she remained until the day of his death.
+
+To her he entrusted the education of his daughter Lucretia during her
+childhood, as we learn from a letter written by the Ferrarese ambassador
+to Rome, Gianandrea Boccaccio, Bishop of Modena, to the Duke Ercole in
+1493, in which he remarks of Madonna Adriana Ursina, "that she had
+educated Lucretia in her own house."[12] This doubtless was the Orsini
+palace on Monte Giordano, which was close to Cardinal Borgia's
+residence.
+
+According to the Italian custom, which has survived to the present day,
+the education of the daughters was entrusted to women in convents, where
+the young girls were required to pass a few years, afterwards to come
+forth into the world to be married. If, however, Infessura's picture of
+the convents of Rome is a faithful one, the cardinal was wise in
+hesitating to entrust his daughter to these saints. Nevertheless there
+certainly were convents which were free from immorality, such, for
+example, as S. Silvestre in Capite, where many of the daughters of the
+Colonna were educated, and S. Maria Nuova and S. Sisto on the Appian
+Way. On one occasion during the papacy of Alexander, Lucretia chose the
+last named convent as an asylum, perhaps because she had there received
+her early spiritual education.
+
+Religious instruction was always the basis of the education of the women
+of Italy. It, however, consisted not in the cultivation of heart and
+soul, but in a strict observance of the forms of religion. Sin made no
+woman repulsive, and the condition of even the most degraded female did
+not prevent her from performing all her church duties, and appearing to
+be a well-trained Christian. There were no women skeptics or
+freethinkers; they would have been impossible in the society of that
+day. The godless tyrant Sigismondo Malatesta of Rimini built a
+magnificent church, and in it a chapel in honor of his beloved Isotta,
+who was a regular attendant at church. Vannozza built and embellished a
+chapel in S. Maria del Popolo. She had a reputation for piety, even
+during the life of Alexander VI. Her greatest maternal solicitude, like
+that of Adriana, was to inculcate a Christian deportment in her
+daughter, and this Lucretia possessed in such perfection that
+subsequently a Ferrarese ambassador lauded her for her 'saintly
+demeanor.'
+
+It is wrong to regard this bearing simply as a mask; for that would
+presuppose an independent consideration of religious questions or a
+moral process which was altogether foreign to the women of that age, and
+is still unknown among the women of Italy. There religion was, and still
+is, a part of education; it consisted in a high respect for form and was
+of small ethical worth.
+
+The daughters of the well-to-do families did not receive instruction in
+the humanities in the convents, but probably from the same teachers to
+whom the education of the sons was entrusted. It is no exaggeration to
+say that the women of the better classes during the fifteenth and
+sixteenth centuries were as well educated as are the women of to-day.
+Their education was not broad; it was limited to a few branches; for
+then they did not have the almost inexhaustible means of improvement
+which, thanks to the evolution of the human mind during the last three
+hundred years, we now enjoy. The education of the women of the
+Renaissance was based upon classical antiquity, in comparison with which
+everything which could then be termed modern was insignificant. They
+might, therefore, have been described as scholarly. Feminine education
+is now entirely different, as it is derived wholly from modern sources
+of culture. It is precisely its many-sidedness to which is due the
+superficiality of the education of contemporary woman when compared with
+that of her sister of the Renaissance.
+
+The education of women at the present time, generally,--even in Germany,
+which is famous for its schools,--is without solid foundation, and
+altogether superficial and of no real worth. It consists usually in
+acquiring a smattering of two modern tongues and learning to play the
+piano, to which a wholly unreasonable amount of time is devoted.
+
+During the Renaissance the piano was unknown, but every educated woman
+performed upon the lute, which had the advantage that, in the hands of
+the lady playing it, it presented an agreeable picture to the eyes,
+while the piano is only a machine which compels the man or the woman who
+is playing it to go through motions which are always unpleasant and
+often ridiculous. During the Renaissance the novel showed only its first
+beginnings; and even to-day Italy is the country which produces and
+reads the fewest romances. There were stories from the time of
+Boccaccio, but very few. Vast numbers of poems were written, but half of
+them in Latin. Printing and the book trade were in their infancy. The
+theater likewise was in its childhood, and, as a rule, dramatic
+performances were given only once a year, during the carnival, and then
+only on private stages. What we now call universal literature or culture
+consisted at that time in the passionate study of the classics. Latin
+and Greek held the place then which the study of foreign languages now
+occupies in the education of women. The Italians of the Renaissance did
+not think that an acquaintance with the classics, that scientific
+knowledge destroyed the charm of womanliness, nor that the education of
+women should be less advanced than that of men. This opinion, like so
+many others prevalent in society is of Teutonic origin. The loving
+dominion of the mother in the family circle has always seemed to the
+Germanic races to be the realization of the ideal of womanliness. For a
+long time German women avoided publicity owing to modesty or a feeling
+of decorum. Their talents remained hidden except in cases where peculiar
+circumstances--sometimes connected with affairs of court or of
+state--compelled them to come forth. Until recently the history of
+German civilization has shown a much smaller number of famous female
+characters than Italy, the land of strong personalities, produced during
+the Renaissance. The influence which gifted women in the Italian salons
+of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and later in those of France,
+exercised upon the intellectual development of society was completely
+unknown in England and Germany.
+
+Later, however, there was a change in the relative degree of feminine
+culture in Teutonic and Latin countries. In the former it rose, while in
+Italy it declined. The Italian woman who, during the Renaissance,
+occupied a place by man's side, contended with him for intellectual
+prizes, and took part in every spiritual movement, fell into the
+background. During the last two hundred years she has taken little or no
+part in the higher life of the nation, for long ago she became a mere
+tool in the hands of the priests. The Reformation gave the German woman
+greater personal freedom. Especially since the beginning of the
+eighteenth century have Germany and England produced numbers of highly
+cultivated and even learned women. The superficiality of the education
+of woman in general in Germany is not the fault of the Church, but of
+the fashion, of society, and also of lack of means in our families.
+
+A learned woman, whom men are more apt to fear than respect, is called,
+when she writes books, a blue-stocking. During the Renaissance she was
+called a _virago_, a title which was perfectly complimentary. Jacopo da
+Bergamo constantly uses it as a term of respect in his work, _Concerning
+Celebrated Women_, which he wrote in 1496.[13] Rarely do we find this
+word used by Italians in the sense in which we now employ it,--namely,
+termigant or amazon. At that time a _virago_ was a woman who, by her
+courage, understanding, and attainments, raised herself above the masses
+of her sex. And she was still more admired if in addition to these
+qualities she possessed beauty and grace. Profound classic learning
+among the Italians was not opposed to feminine charm; on the contrary,
+it enhanced it. Jacopo da Bergamo specially praises it in this or that
+woman, saying that whenever she appeared in public as a poet or an
+orator, it was above all else her modesty and reserve which charmed her
+hearers. In this vein he eulogizes Cassandra Fedeli, while he lauds
+Ginevra Sforza for her elegance of form, her wonderful grace in every
+motion, her calm and queenly bearing, and her chaste beauty. He
+discovers the same in the wife of Alfonso of Aragon, Ippolita Sforza,
+who possessed the highest attainments, the most brilliant eloquence, a
+rare beauty, and extreme feminine modesty. What was then called modesty
+(_pudor_) was the natural grace of a gifted woman increased by education
+and association. This modesty Lucretia Borgia possessed in a high
+degree. In woman it corresponded with that which in man was the mark of
+the perfect cavalier. It may cause the reader some astonishment to learn
+that the contemporaries of the infamous Caesar spoke of his 'moderation'
+as one of his most characteristic traits. By this term, however, we must
+understand the cultivation of the personality in which moderation in man
+and modesty in woman were part and manifestations of a liberal
+education.
+
+It is true that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries emancipated
+women did not sit on the benches of the lecture halls of Bologna,
+Ferrara, and Padua, as they now do in many universities, to pursue
+professional studies; but the same humane sciences to which youths and
+men devoted themselves were a requirement in the higher education of
+women. Little girls in the Middle Ages were entrusted to the saints of
+the convents to be made nuns; during the Renaissance parents consecrated
+gifted children to the Muses. Jacopo da Bergamo, speaking of Trivulzia
+of Milan, a contemporary of Lucretia, who excited great amazement as an
+orator when she was only fourteen years of age, says, "When her parents
+noticed the child's extraordinary gifts they dedicated her to the
+Muses--this was in her seventh year--for her education."
+
+The course of study followed by women at that time included the classic
+languages and their literature, oratory, poetry, or the art of
+versifying, and music. Dilettanteism in the graphic and plastic arts of
+course followed, and the vast number of paintings and statues produced
+during the Renaissance inspired every cultivated woman in Italy with a
+desire to become a connoisseur.
+
+Even philosophy and theology were cultivated by women. Debates on
+questions in these fields of inquiry were the order of the day at the
+courts and in the halls of the universities, and women endeavored to
+acquire renown by taking part in them. At the end of the fifteenth
+century the Venetian, Cassandra Fedeli, the wonder of her age, was as
+well versed in philosophy and theology as a learned man. She once
+engaged in a public disputation before the Doge Agostino Barbarigo, and
+also several times in the audience hall of Padua, and always showed the
+utmost modesty in spite of the applause of her hearers. The beautiful
+wife of Alessandro Sforza of Pesaro, Costanza Varano, was a poet, an
+orator, and a philosopher; she wrote a number of learned dissertations.
+"The writings of Augustinus, Ambrosius, Jerome, and Gregory, of Seneca,
+Cicero, and Lactantius were always in her hands." Her daughter, Battista
+Sforza, the noble spouse of the cultivated Federico of Urbino, was
+equally learned. So, too, it was related that the celebrated Isotta
+Nugarola of Verona was thoroughly at home in the writings of the fathers
+and of the philosophers. Isabella Gonzaga and Elisabetta of Urbino were
+likewise acquainted with them, as were numerous other celebrated women,
+such as Vittoria Colonna and Veronica Gambara.
+
+These and other names show to what heights the education of woman during
+the Renaissance attained, and even if the accomplishments of these women
+were exceptional, the studies which they so earnestly pursued were part
+of the curriculum of all the daughters of the best families. These
+studies were followed only for the purpose of perfecting and beautifying
+the personality. Conversation in the modern salon is so excessively dull
+that it is necessary to fill in the emptiness with singing and piano
+playing. Still the symposiums of Plato were not always the order of the
+day in the drawing-rooms of the Renaissance, and it must be admitted
+that their social disputations would cause us intolerable weariness;
+however, tastes were different at that time. In a circle of
+distinguished and gifted persons, to carry on a conversation gracefully
+and intelligently, and to give it a classic cast by introducing
+quotations from the ancients, or to engage in a discussion in dialogue
+on a chosen theme, afforded the keenest enjoyment. It was the
+conversation of the Renaissance which attained later to such aesthetic
+perfection in France. Talleyrand called this form of human intercourse
+man's greatest and most beautiful blessing. The classic dialogue was
+revived, with only the difference that cultivated women also took part
+in it. As samples of the refined social intercourse of that age, we have
+Castiglione's _Cortegiano_ and Bembo's _Asolani_, which was dedicated to
+Lucretia Borgia.
+
+[Illustration: VITTORIA COLONNA.
+
+From an engraving by P. Caronni.]
+
+Alexander's daughter did not occupy a preeminent place among the Italian
+women renowned for classical attainments, her own acquirements not being
+such as to distinguish her from the majority; but, considering the
+times, her education was thorough. She had received instruction in the
+languages, in music, and in drawing, and later the people of Ferrara
+were amazed at the skill and taste which she displayed in embroidering
+in silk and gold. "She spoke Spanish, Greek, Italian, and French, and a
+little Latin, very correctly, and she wrote and composed poems in all
+these tongues," said the biographer Bayard in 1512. Lucretia must have
+perfected her education later, during the quiet years of her life, under
+the influence of Bembo and Strozzi, although she doubtless had laid its
+foundation in Rome. She was both a Spaniard and an Italian, and a
+perfect master of these two languages. Among her letters to Bembo there
+are two written in Spanish; the remainder, of which we possess several
+hundred, are composed in the Italian of that day, and are spontaneous
+and graceful in style. The contents of none of them are of importance;
+they display soul and feeling, but no depth of mind. Her handwriting is
+not uniform; sometimes it has strong lines which remind us of the
+striking, energetic writing of her father; at others it is sharp and
+fine like that of Vittoria Colonna.
+
+None of Lucretia's letters indicate that she fully understood Latin, and
+her father once stated that she had not mastered that language. She
+must, however, have been able to read it when written, for otherwise
+Alexander could not have made her his representative in the Vatican,
+with authority to open letters received. Nor were her Hellenic studies
+very profound; still she was not wholly ignorant of Greek. In her
+childhood, schools for the study of Hellenic literature still flourished
+in Rome, where they had been established by Chrysoleras and Bessarion.
+In the city were many Greeks, some of whom were fugitives from their
+country, while others had come to Italy with Queen Carlotta of Cyprus.
+Until her death, in 1487, this royal adventuress lived in a palace in
+the Borgo of the Vatican, where she held court, and where she doubtless
+gathered about her the cultivated people of Rome, just as the learned
+Queen Christina of Sweden did later. It was in her house that Cardinal
+Rodrigo made the acquaintance, besides that of other noble natives of
+Cyprus, of Ludovico Podocatharo, a highly cultivated man, afterwards his
+secretary. He it was, probably, who instructed Borgia's children in
+Greek.
+
+In the cardinal's palace there was also a humanist of German birth,
+Lorenz Behaim, of Nurenburg, who managed his household for twenty years.
+As he was a Latinist and a member of the Roman Academy of Pomponius
+Laetus, he must have exercised some influence on the education of his
+master's children. Generally there was no lack of professors of the
+humane sciences in Rome, where they were in a nourishing condition, and
+the Academy as well as the University attracted thither many talented
+men. In the papal city there were numerous teachers who conducted
+schools, and swarms of young scholars, ambitious academicians, sought
+their fortune at the courts of the cardinals in the capacity of
+companions or secretaries, or as preceptors to their illegitimate
+children. Lucretia, also, received instruction in classic literature
+from these masters. Among the poets who lived in Rome she found teachers
+to instruct her in Italian versification and in writing sonnets, an art
+which was everywhere cultivated by women as well as men. She doubtless
+learned to compose verses, although the writers on the history of
+Italian literature, Quadrio and Crescimbeni, do not place her among the
+poets of the peninsula. Nowhere do Bembo, Aldus, or the Strozzi speak of
+her as a poet, nor are there any verses by her in existence. It is not
+certain that even the Spanish canzoni which are found in some of her
+letters to Bembo were composed by her.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] See Adinolfi's notice quoted by the author in his Geschichte der
+Stadt Rom im Mittelalter. 2d Aufl. vii, 312.
+
+[9] The letter, with the inscription "A Messer Carlo Canale," is printed
+in the edition of Milan, 1808. Angelo Poliziano, Le Stanze e l'Orfeo ed
+altre poesie.
+
+[10] In the archives of Mantua there is a letter from the Marchesa
+Isabella to Carlo Canale, dated December 4, 1499.
+
+[11] Lodovico Gonzaga to Bartolomeo Erba, Siamo contenti contrahi in
+nome nro. compaternita cum M. Carolo Canale, et cussi per questa nostra
+ti commettiamo et constituimo nostro Procuratore. Note by Affo in his
+introduction to the Orfeo, p. 113.
+
+[12] Ma Adriana Ursina, la quale e socera de la dicta madona Julia
+(Farnese), che ha sempre governata essa sposa (Lucrezia) in casa propria
+per esser in loco de nepote del Pontifice, la fu figliola de messer
+Piedro de Mila, noto a V. Ema Sigria, cusino carnale del Papa. Despatch
+from the above named to Ercole, Rome, June 13, 1493, in the state
+archives of Modena. And again she is mentioned in a despatch of May 6,
+1493, as madona Adriana Ursina soa governatrice figliola che fu del
+quondam messer Pietro del Mila.
+
+[13] Jacobus Burgomensis _de claris mulieribus_, Paris, 1521.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+NEPOTISM--GIULIA FARNESE--LUCRETIA'S BETROTHALS
+
+
+It is not difficult to imagine what emotions were aroused in Lucretia
+when she first became aware of the real condition of her family. Her
+mother's husband was not her father; she discovered that she and her
+brothers were the children of a cardinal, and the awakening of her
+conscience was accompanied by a realization of circumstances
+which--frowned on by the Church--it was necessary to conceal from the
+world. She herself had always hitherto been treated as a niece of the
+cardinal, and she now beheld in her father one of the most prominent
+princes of the Church of Rome, whom she heard mentioned as a future
+pope.
+
+The knowledge of the great advantages to be derived from these
+circumstances certainly must have affected Lucretia's fancy much more
+actively than the conception of their immorality. The world in which she
+lived concerned itself but little with moral scruples, and rarely in the
+history of mankind has there been a time in which the theory that it is
+proper to obtain the greatest possible profit from existing conditions
+has been so generally accepted. She soon learned how common were these
+relations in Rome. She heard that most of the cardinals lived with their
+mistresses, and provided in a princely way for their children. They told
+her about those of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere and those of
+Piccolomini; she saw with her own eyes the sons and daughters of
+Estouteville, and heard of the baronies which their wealthy father had
+acquired for them in the Alban mountains. She saw the children of Pope
+Innocent raised to the highest honors; to her were pointed out his son
+Franceschetto Cibo and his illustrious spouse Maddalena Medici. She knew
+that the Vatican was the home of other children and grandchildren of the
+Pope, and she frequently saw his daughter Madonna Teodorina, the consort
+of the Genoese Uso di Mare, going and coming. She was eight years old
+when his daughter Donna Peretta was married in the Vatican to the
+Marchese Alfonso del Carretto with such magnificent pomp that it set all
+Rome to talking.
+
+Lucretia first became conscious of the position to which she and her
+brothers might be called by their birth when she learned that her eldest
+brother, Don Pedro Luis, was a Spanish duke. We do not know when the
+young Borgia was raised to this dignity, but it was some time after
+1482. The strong ties which existed between the cardinal and the Spanish
+court doubtless enabled him to have his son created Duke of Gandia in
+the kingdom of Valencia. As Mariana remarks, he bought this dukedom for
+his son.
+
+Don Pedro Luis, however, when still a young man, died in Spain, for a
+document of the year 1491 speaks of him as deceased, and mentions a
+legacy left by his will to his sister Lucretia. The duchy of Gandia
+passed to Rodrigo's second son, Don Giovanni, who hastened to Valencia
+to take possession of it.
+
+Meanwhile the fancy of the licentious cardinal had turned to other
+women. In May, 1489, when Lucretia was nine years old, appears for the
+first time the most celebrated of his mistresses, Giulia Farnese, a
+young woman of extraordinary beauty, to whose charms the cardinal and
+future pope, who was growing old, yielded with all the ardor of a young
+man.
+
+It was the adulterous love of this Giulia which first brought the
+Farnese house into the history of Rome, and subsequently into that of
+the world; for Rodrigo Borgia laid the foundation of the greatness of
+this family when he made Giulia's brother Alessandro a cardinal. In this
+manner he prepared the way to the papacy for the future Paul III, the
+founder of the house of Farnese of Parma, a distinguished family which
+died out in 1758 in the person of Queen Elisabeth, who occupied the
+throne of Spain.
+
+The Farnese, up to the time of the Borgias, were of no importance in
+Rome, where two of the most beautiful buildings of the Renaissance have
+since helped to make their name immortal. They did not even live in
+Rome, but in Roman Etruria, where they owned a few towns--Farneto, from
+which, doubtless, their name was derived, Ischia, Capracola, and
+Capodimonte. Some time later, though just when is not known, they were
+temporarily in possession of Isola Farnese, an ancient castle in the
+ruins of Veii, which from the fourteenth century had belonged to the
+Orsini.
+
+[Illustration: FARNESE PALACE, ROME.]
+
+The origin of the Farnese family is uncertain, but the tradition,
+according to which they were descended from the Lombards or the Franks,
+appears to be true. It is supported by the fact that the name Ranuccio,
+which is the Italian form of Rainer, is of frequent occurrence in the
+family. The Farnese became prominent in Etruria as a small dynasty of
+robber barons, without, however, being able to attain to the power of
+their neighbors, the Orsini of Anguillara and Bracciano, and the famous
+Counts of Vico, who were of German descent and who ruled over the
+Tuscan prefecture for more than a hundred years, until that country
+was swallowed up by Eugene IV. While these prefects were the most active
+Ghibellines and the bitterest enemies of the popes, the Farnese, like
+the Este, always stood by the Guelphs. From the eleventh century they
+were consuls and podestas in Orvieto, and they appeared later in various
+places as captains of the Church in the numerous little wars with the
+cities and barons in Umbria and in the domain of S. Peter. Ranuccio,
+Giulia's grandfather, was one of the ablest of the generals of Eugene
+IV, and he had been a comrade of the great tyrant-conqueror Vitelleschi,
+and through him his house had won great renown. His son, Pierluigi,
+married Donna Giovanella of the Gaetani family of Sermoneta. His
+children were Alessandro, Bartolomeo, Angiolo, Girolama, and Giulia.
+
+Alessandro Farnese, born February 28, 1468, was a young man of intellect
+and culture, but notorious for his unbridled passions. He had his own
+mother committed to prison in 1487 under the gravest charges, whereupon
+he himself was confined in the castle of S. Angelo by Innocent VIII. He
+escaped from prison, and the matter was allowed to drop. He was a
+prothonotary of the Church. His elder sister was married to Puccio
+Pucci, one of the most illustrious statesmen of Florence, a member of a
+large family which was on terms of close friendship with the Medici.
+
+On the twentieth of May, 1489, the youthful Giulia Farnese, together
+with the equally youthful Orsino Orsini, appeared in the "Star Chamber"
+of the Borgia palace to sign their marriage contract. It is worthy of
+note that this occurred in the house of Cardinal Rodrigo. His name
+appears as the first of the witnesses to this document, as if he had
+constituted himself the protector of the couple and had brought about
+their marriage. This union, however, had been arranged when the
+betrothed were minors, by their parents, Ludovico Orsini, lord of
+Bassanello, and Pierluigi Farnese, both of whom had died before 1489. In
+those days little children were often legally betrothed, and the
+marriage was consummated later, as was the custom in ancient Rome, where
+frequently boys and girls only thirteen years of age were affianced.
+Giulia was barely fifteen, May 20, 1489, and she was still under the
+guardianship of her brothers and her uncles of the house of Gaetani;
+while the young Orsini was under the control of his mother, Adriana, who
+was Adriana de Mila, the kinswoman of Cardinal Rodrigo, and Lucretia's
+governess. This, therefore, sufficiently explains the part, personal and
+official, which the cardinal took in the ceremony of Giulia's betrothal.
+
+The witnesses to the marriage contract, which was drawn up by the notary
+Beneimbene, were, in addition to the cardinal, Bishop Martini of
+Segovia, the Spanish Canons Garcetto and Caranza, and a Roman nobleman
+named Giovanni Astalli. The bride's brothers should have supported her,
+but only the younger, Angiolo, was present, Alessandro remaining away.
+His failure to attend such an important family function in the Borgia
+palace is strange, although it may have been occasioned by some
+accident. The bride's uncles, the prothonotary Giacomo, and his brother
+Don Nicola Gaetani were present. Giulia's dowry consisted of three
+thousand gold florins, a large amount for that time.
+
+The civil marriage of the young couple took place the following day, May
+21st, in this same palace of the Borgias. Many great nobles were
+present, among whom were specially mentioned the kinsmen of the groom,
+Cardinal Gianbattista Orsini and Raynaldo Orsini, Archbishop of
+Florence. The young couple, as the season was charming, may have gone to
+Castle Bassanello, or, if not, may have taken up their abode in the
+Orsini palace on Monte Giordano.
+
+Before her marriage Cardinal Rodrigo must have known, and often seen
+Giulia Farnese in the palace of Madonna Adriana, the mother of the young
+Orsini. There, likewise, Lucretia, who was several years younger, made
+her acquaintance. Like Lucretia, Giulia had golden hair, and her beauty
+won for her the name La Bella. It was in Adriana's house that this
+tender, lovely child became ensnared in the coils of the libertine
+Rodrigo. She succumbed to his seductions either shortly before or soon
+after her marriage to the young Orsini. Perhaps she first aroused the
+passion of the cardinal, a man at that time fifty-eight years old, when
+she stood before him in his palace a bride in the full bloom of youth.
+Be that as it may, it is certain that two years after her marriage
+Giulia was the cardinal's acknowledged mistress. When Madonna Adriana
+discovered the liason she winked at it, and was an accessory to the
+shame of her daughter-in-law. By so doing she became the most powerful
+and the most influential person in the house of Borgia.
+
+Two of the three sons of the cardinal, Giovanni and Caesar, had in the
+meantime reached manhood. In 1490 neither of them was in Rome; the
+former was in Spain, and the latter was studying at the University of
+Perugia, which he later left for Pisa. As early as 1488 Caesar must have
+attended one of these institutions, probably the University of Perugia,
+for in that year Paolo Pompilio dedicated to him his _Syllabica_, a work
+on the art of versification. In it he lauded the budding genius of
+Caesar, who was the hope and ornament of the house of Borgia, his
+progress in the sciences, and his maturity of intellect--astonishing in
+one so young--and he predicted his future fame.[14]
+
+His father had intended him for the Church, although Caesar himself felt
+for it nothing but aversion. From Innocent VIII he had secured his son's
+appointment as prothonotary of the Church and even as Bishop of
+Pamplona. He appears as a prothonotary in a document of February, 1491,
+and at the same time the youngest of Rodrigo's sons, Giuffre, a boy of
+about nine years, was made Canon and Archdeacon of Valencia.
+
+Caesar went to Pisa, probably in 1491. Its university attracted a great
+many of the sons of the prominent Italian families, chiefly on account
+of the fame of its professor of jurisprudence, Philippo Decio of Milan.
+At the university the young Borgia had two Spanish companions, who were
+favorites of his father, Francesco Romolini of Ilerda and Juan Vera of
+Arcilla in the kingdom of Valencia. The latter was master of his
+household, as Caesar himself states in a letter written in October, 1492,
+in which he also calls Romolini his "most faithful comrade."[15]
+Francesco Romolini was more than thirty years of age in 1491. He was a
+diligent student of law, and became deeply learned in it. He is the same
+Romolini who afterwards conducted the prosecution of Savonarola in
+Florence. In 1503 Alexander made him a cardinal, to which dignity Vera
+had been raised in 1500. His father's wealth enabled the youthful Caesar
+to live in Pisa in princely style, and his connections brought him into
+friendly relations with the Medici.
+
+The cardinal was still making special exertions to further the fortunes
+of his children in Spain. Even for his daughter Lucretia he could see no
+future more brilliant than a Spanish marriage; and he must indeed have
+regarded it as a special act of condescension for the son of an old and
+noble house to consent to become the husband of the illegitimate
+daughter of a cardinal. The noble concerned was Don Cherubino Juan de
+Centelles, lord of Val d'Ayora in the kingdom of Valencia, and brother
+of the Count of Oliva.
+
+The nuptial contract was drawn up in the Valencian dialect in Rome,
+February 26 and June 16, 1491. The youthful groom was in Valencia, the
+young bride in Rome, and her father had appointed the Roman nobleman
+Antonio Porcaro her proxy. In the marriage contract it was specified
+that Lucretia's portion should be three hundred thousand timbres or sous
+in Valencian money, which she was to bring Don Cherubino as dowry, part
+in coin and part in jewels and other valuables. It was specially stated
+that of this sum eleven thousand timbres should consist of the amount
+bequeathed by the will of the deceased Don Pedro Luis de Borgia, Duke of
+Gandia, to his sister for her marriage portion, while eight thousand
+were given her by her other brothers, Caesar and Giuffre, for the same
+purpose, presumably also from the estate left by the brother. It was
+provided that Donna Lucretia should be taken to Valencia at the
+cardinal's expense within one year from the signing of the contract, and
+that the church ceremony should be performed within six months after
+her arrival in Spain.[16]
+
+Thus Lucretia, when only a child eleven years of age, found her hand and
+life happiness subjected to the will of another, and from that time she
+was no longer the shaper of her own destiny. This was the usual fate of
+the daughters of the great houses, and even of the lesser ones. Shortly
+before her father became pope it seemed as if her life was to be spent
+in Spain, and she would have found no place in the history of the papacy
+and of Italy if she and Don Cherubino had been married. However, the
+marriage was never performed. Obstacles of which we are ignorant, or
+changes in the plans of her father, caused the betrothal of Lucretia to
+Don Cherubino to be annulled. At the very moment this was being done for
+her by proxy, her father was planning another alliance for his daughter.
+
+The husband he had selected, Don Gasparo, was also a young Spaniard, son
+of Don Juan Francesco of Procida, Count of Aversa. This family had
+probably removed to Naples with the house of Aragon. Don Juan
+Francesco's mother was Donna Leonora de Procida y Castelleta, Countess
+of Aversa. Gasparo's father lived in Aversa, but in 1491 the son was in
+Valencia, where, probably, he was being educated under the care of some
+of his kinsmen, for he was still a boy of less than fifteen years. In an
+instrument drawn by the notary Beneimbene, dated November 9, 1492, it is
+explicitly stated that on the thirtieth of April of the preceding year,
+1491, the marriage contract of Lucretia and Gasparo had been executed by
+proxy with all due form, and that in it Cardinal Rodrigo had bound
+himself to send his daughter to the city of Valencia at his expense,
+where the church ceremony was to be performed. However, since the
+marriage contract between Lucretia and the young Centelles had been
+legally executed on the twenty-sixth of February of the same year, 1491,
+and was recognized as late as the following June, there is room for
+doubt regarding the correctness of the date; but both the instrument in
+Beneimbene's protocol-book, and an abstract of the same in the archives
+of the Hospital Sancta Sanctorum in Rome, give the last of April as the
+date of the marriage contract of Lucretia and Don Gasparo. In these
+proceedings her proxies were, not Antonio Porcaro, but Don Giuffre
+Borgia, Baron of Villa Longa, the Canon Jacopo Serra of Valencia, and
+the vicar-general of the same place, Mateo Cucia. Hence follows the
+curious fact that Lucretia was the betrothed at one and the same time of
+two young Spaniards.
+
+In spite of the rejection of her first affianced, the Centelles family
+appears to have remained on good terms with the Borgias, for, later,
+when Rodrigo became Pope, a certain Gulielmus de Centelles is to be
+found among his most trusted chamberlains, while Raymondo of the same
+house was prothonotary and treasurer of Perugia.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[14] Accedit studium illud tuum et perquam fertile bonarum litterarum in
+quo hac in aetate seris.... Non deerit surgenti tuae virtuti commodus
+aliquando et idoneus praeco.--At tu Caesar profecto non parum laudandus
+es; qui in hac aetate tam facile senem agis. Perge nostri temporis
+Borgiae familiae spes et decus. Introduction to the Syllabica. Rome, 1488.
+Gennarelli's Edition of Burchard's Diary.
+
+[15] Regarding Caesar's studies at Pisa, see Angelo Fabroni, Hist. Acad.
+Pisan. i, 160, 201.
+
+[16] On June 16, 1491, some changes were made in this contract, which
+Beneimbene has noted in the same protocol-book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HER FATHER BECOMES POPE--GIOVANNI SFORZA
+
+
+On July 25, 1492, occurred the event to which the Borgias had long
+eagerly looked forward, the death of Innocent VIII. Above all the other
+candidates for the Papacy were four cardinals: Rafael Riario and
+Giuliano della Rovere--both powerful nephews of Sixtus IV--Ascanio
+Sforza, and Rodrigo Borgia.
+
+Before the election was decided there were days of feverish expectation
+for the cardinal's family. Of his children only Lucretia and Giuffre
+were in Rome at the time, and both were living with Madonna Adriana.
+Vannozza was occupying her own house with her husband, Canale, who for
+some time had held the office of secretary of the penitentiary court.
+She was now fifty years old, and there was but one event to which she
+looked forward, and upon it depended the gratification of her greatest
+wish; namely, to see her children's father ascend the papal throne. What
+prayers and vows she and Madonna Adriana, Lucretia, and Giulia Farnese
+must have made to the saints for the fulfilment of that wish!
+
+Early on the morning of August 11th breathless messengers brought these
+women the news from the Vatican--Rodrigo Borgia had won the great prize.
+To him, the highest bidder, the papacy had been sold. In the election,
+Cardinal Ascanio Sforza had turned the scale, and for his reward he
+received the city of Nepi; the office of vice-chancellor, and the
+Borgia palace, which ever since has borne the name Sforza-Cesarini.
+
+[Illustration: ALEXANDER VI.
+
+From an engraving published in 1580.]
+
+On the morning of this momentous day, when Alexander VI was carried from
+the conclave hall to S. Peter's there to receive the first expressions
+of homage, his joyful glance discovered many of his kinsmen in the dense
+crowd, for thither they had hastened to celebrate his great triumph. It
+was a long time since Rome had beheld a pope of such majesty, of such
+beauty of person. His conduct was notorious throughout the city, and no
+one knew him better in that hour than that woman, Vannozza Catanei, who
+was kneeling in S. Peter's during the mass, her soul filled with the
+memories of a sinful past.
+
+Borgia's election did not cause all the Powers anxiety. In Milan,
+Ludovico il Moro celebrated the event with public festivals; he now
+hoped to become, through the influence of his brother Ascanio, a "half
+pope." While the Medici expected much from Alexander, the Aragonese of
+Naples looked for little. Bitterly did Venice express herself. Her
+ambassador in Milan publicly declared in August that the papacy had been
+sold by simony and a thousand deceptions, and that the signory of Venice
+was convinced that France and Spain would refuse to obey the Pope when
+they learned of these enormities.[17]
+
+In the meantime, Alexander VI had received the professions of loyalty of
+all the Italian States, together with their profuse expressions of
+homage. The festival of his coronation was celebrated with unparalleled
+pomp, August 26th. The Borgia arms, a grazing steer, was displayed so
+generally in the decorations, and was the subject of so many epigrams,
+that a satirist remarked that Rome was celebrating the discovery of the
+Sacred Apis. Subsequently the Borgia bull was frequently the object of
+the keenest satire; but at the beginning of Alexander's reign it was,
+naively enough, the pictorial embodiment of the Pope's magnificence.
+To-day such symbolism would excite only derision and mirth, but the
+plastic taste of the Italian of that day was not offended by it.
+
+When Alexander, on his triumphal journey to the Lateran, passed the
+palace of his fanatical adherents, the Porcari, one of the boys of the
+family declaimed with much pathos some stanzas which concluded with the
+verses:
+
+  Vive diu bos, vive diu celebrande per annos,
+  Inter Pontificum gloria prima choros.[18]
+
+The statements of Michele Ferno and of Hieronymus Porcius regarding the
+coronation festivities and the professions of loyalty of the ambassadors
+from the various Italian Powers must be read to see to what extremes
+flattery was carried in those days. It is difficult for us to imagine
+how imposing was the entrance of this brilliant pope upon the
+spectacular stage of Rome at the time when the papacy was at the zenith
+of its power--a height it had attained, not through love of the Church,
+nor by devotion to religion, which had long been debased, but by
+dazzling the luxury-loving people of the age and by modern politics; in
+addition to this, the Church had preserved since the Middle Ages a
+traditional and mystic character which held the respect of the faithful.
+
+Ferno remarks that the history of the world offered nothing to compare
+with the grandeur of the Pope's appearance and the charm of his
+person,--and this author was not a bigoted papist, but a diligent
+student of Pomponius Laetus. Like all the romanticists of the classic
+revival, however, he was highly susceptible to theatrical effects. Words
+failed him when he tried to describe the passage of Alexander to
+S. Maria del Popolo: "These holiday swarms of richly clad people, the seven
+hundred priests and cardinals with their retinues, these knights and
+grandees of Rome in dazzling cavalcades, these troops of archers and
+Turkish horsemen, the palace guards with long lances and glittering
+shields, the twelve riderless white horses with golden bridles, which
+were led along, and all the other pomp and parade!" Weeks would be
+required for arranging a pageant like this at the present time; but the
+Pope could improvise it in the twinkling of an eye, for the actors and
+their costumes were always ready. He set it in motion for the sole
+purpose of showing himself to the Romans, and in order that his majesty
+might lend additional brilliancy to a popular holiday.
+
+Ferno depicted the Pope himself as a demi-god coming forth to his
+people. "Upon a snow-white horse he sat, serene of countenance and of
+surpassing dignity; thus he showed himself to the people, and blessed
+them; thus he was seen of all. His glance fell upon them and filled
+every heart with joy. And so his appearance was of good augury for
+everyone. How wonderful is his tranquil bearing! And how noble his
+faultless face! His glance, how frank! How greatly does the honor which
+we feel for him increase when we behold his beauty and vigor of body!"
+Alexander the Great would have been described in just such terms by
+Ferno. This was the idolatry which was always accorded the papacy, and
+no one asked what was the inner and personal life of the glittering
+idol.
+
+On the occasion of his coronation Alexander appointed his son Caesar, a
+youth of sixteen, Bishop of Valencia. This he did without being sure of
+the sanction of Ferdinand the Catholic, who, in fact, for a long time
+did endeavor to withhold it; but he finally yielded, and the Borgias
+consequently got the first bishopric in Spain into their hereditary
+possession. Caesar was not in Rome at the time his father received the
+tiara. On the twenty-second of August, eleven days after Alexander's
+election, Manfredi, ambassador from Ferrara to Florence, wrote the
+Duchess Eleonora d'Este: "The Pope's son, the Bishop of Pamplona, who
+has been attending the University of Pisa, left there by the Pope's
+orders yesterday morning, and has gone to the castle of Spoleto."
+
+The fifth of October Caesar was still there, for on that date he wrote a
+letter to Piero de' Medici from that place. This epistle to Lorenzo's
+son, the brother of Cardinal Giovanni, shows that the greatest
+confidence existed between him and Caesar, who says in it that, on
+account of his sudden departure from Pisa, he had been unable to
+communicate orally with him, and that his preceptor, Juan Vera, would
+have to represent him. He recommended his trusted familiar, Francesco
+Romolini, to Piero for appointment as professor of canon law in Pisa.
+The letter is signed, "Your brother, Cesar de Borja, Elector of
+Valencia."[19]
+
+By not allowing his son to come to Rome immediately, Alexander wished to
+give public proof of what he had declared at the time of his election;
+namely, that he would hold himself above all nepotism. Perhaps there was
+a moment when the warning afforded by the examples of Calixtus, Sixtus,
+and Innocent caused him to hesitate, and to resolve to moderate his love
+for his offspring. However, the nomination of his son to a bishopric on
+the day of his coronation shows that his resolution was not very
+earnest. In October Caesar appeared in the Vatican, where the Borgias now
+occupied the place which the pitiable Cibos had left.
+
+On September 1st the Pope made the elder Giovanni Borgia, who was Bishop
+of Monreale, a cardinal; he was the son of Alexander's sister Giovanna.
+The Vatican was filled with Spaniards, kinsmen, or friends of the now
+all-powerful house, who had eagerly hurried thither in quest of fortune
+and honors. "Ten papacies would not be sufficient to satisfy this swarm
+of relatives," wrote Gianandrea Boccaccio in November, 1492, to the Duke
+of Ferrara. Of the close friends of Alexander, Juan Lopez was made his
+chancellor; Pedro Caranza and Juan Marades his privy chamberlains;
+Rodrigo Borgia, a nephew of the Pope, was made captain of the palace
+guard, which hitherto had been commanded by a Doria.
+
+Alexander immediately began to lay the plans for a more brilliant future
+for his daughter. He would no longer listen to her marrying a Spanish
+nobleman; nothing less than a prince should receive her hand. Ludovico
+and Ascanio suggested their kinsman, Giovanni Sforza. The Pope accepted
+him as son-in-law, for, although he was only Count of Cotognola and
+vicar of Pesaro, he was an independent sovereign, and he belonged to the
+illustrious house of Sforza. Alexander had entered early into such close
+relations with the Sforza that Cardinal Ascanio became all-powerful in
+Rome. Giovanni, an illegitimate son of Costanzo of Pesaro, and only by
+the indulgence of Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII his hereditary heir, was a
+man of twenty-six, well formed and carefully educated, like most of the
+lesser Italian despots. He had married Maddalena, the beautiful sister
+of Elisabetta Gonzaga, in 1489, on the very day upon which the latter
+was joined in wedlock to Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino. He had, however,
+been a widower since August 8, 1490, on which date his wife died in
+childbirth.
+
+Sforza hastened to accept the offered hand of the young Lucretia before
+any of her other numerous suitors could win it. On leaving Pesaro he
+first went to the castle of Nepi, which Alexander VI had given to
+Cardinal Ascanio. There he remained a few days and then came quietly to
+Rome, October 31, 1492. Here he took up his residence in the cardinal's
+palace of S. Clement, erected by Domenico della Rovere in the Borgo. It
+is still standing, and in good preservation, opposite the Palazzo
+Giraud. The Ferrarese ambassador announced Sforza's arrival to his
+master, remarking, "He will be a great man as long as this pope rules."
+He explained the retirement in which Sforza lived by stating that the
+man to whom Lucretia had been legally betrothed was also in Rome.[20]
+
+The young Count Gasparo had come to Rome with his father to make good
+his claim to Lucretia, through whom he hoped to obtain great favor. Here
+he found another suitor of whom he had hitherto heard nothing, but whose
+presence had become known, and he fell into a rage when the Pope
+demanded from him a formal renunciation. Lucretia, at that time a child
+of only twelve and a half years, thus became the innocent cause of a
+contest between two suitors, and likewise the subject of public gossip
+for the first time. November 5th the plenipotentiary of Ferrara wrote
+his master, "There is much gossip about Pesaro's marriage; the first
+bridegroom is still here, raising a great hue and cry, as a Catalan,
+saying he will protest to all the princes and potentates of Christendom;
+but will he, will he, he will have to submit." On the ninth of November
+the same ambassador wrote, "Heaven prevent this marriage of Pesaro from
+bringing calamities. It seems that the King (of Naples) is angry on
+account of it, judging by what Giacomo, Pontano's nephew told the Pope
+the day before yesterday. The matter is still undecided. Both the
+suitors are given fair words; both are here. However, it is believed
+that Pesaro will carry the day, especially as Cardinal Ascanio, who is
+powerful in deeds as well as in words, is looking after his interests."
+
+In the meantime, November 8th, the marriage contract between Don Gasparo
+and Lucretia was formally dissolved. The groom and his father merely
+expressed the hope that the new alliance would reach a favorable
+consummation, and Gasparo bound himself not to marry within one year.
+Giovanni Sforza, however, was not yet certain of his victory; December
+9th the Mantuan agent Fioravante Brognolo, wrote the Marchese Gonzaga,
+"The affairs of the illustrious nobleman, Giovanni of Pesaro, are still
+undecided; it looks to me as if the Spanish nobleman to whom his
+Highness's niece was promised would not give her up. He has a great
+following in Spain, consequently the Pope is inclined to let things take
+their own course for a time, and not force them to a conclusion."[21]
+Even as late as February, 1493, there was talk of a marriage of Lucretia
+with the Spanish Conde de Prada, and not until this project was
+relinquished was she betrothed to Giovanni Sforza.[22]
+
+In the meantime Sforza had returned to Pesaro, whence he sent his proxy,
+Nicolo de Savano, to Rome to conclude the marriage contract. The Count
+of Aversa surrendered his advantage and suffered his grief to be
+assuaged by the payment to him of three thousand ducats. Thereupon,
+February 2, 1493, the betrothal of Sforza and Lucretia was formally
+ratified in the Vatican, in the presence of the Milanese ambassador and
+the intimate friends and servants of Alexander, Juan Lopez, Juan
+Casanova, Pedro Caranza, and Juan Marades. The Pope's daughter, who was
+to be taken home by her husband within one year, received a dowry of
+thirty-one thousand ducats.
+
+When the news of this event reached Pesaro, the fortunate Sforza gave a
+grand celebration in his palace. "They danced in the great hall, and the
+couples, hand in hand, issued from the castle, led by Monsignor Scaltes,
+the Pope's plenipotentiary, and the people in their joy joined in and
+danced away the hours in the streets of the city."[23]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] Cum simonia et mille ribalderie et inhonestate si e venduto il
+Pontificato che e cose ignominiosa et detestabile. Despatch of Giacomo
+Trotti, Ambassador of Ferrara in Milan, to the Duke Ercole, August 28,
+1492, in the archives of Modena.
+
+[18] These stanzas were written by Hieronymus Porcius, who printed them
+in Hieronym. Porcius Patritius Romanus Rotae Primarius Auditor....
+Commentarius; a rare publication of Eucharius Silber, Rome, September
+18, 1493. The stanzas of Michele Ferno of Milan conclude:
+
+  Borgia stirps: bos: atque Ceres transcendit Olympo,
+  Cantabunt nomen saecula cuncta suum;
+
+which turned out to be a true prophecy. See Michael Fernus Historia nova
+Alexandri VI ab Innocentii obitu VIII; an equally rare publication of
+the same Eucharius Silber, A. 1493.
+
+[19] Ex arce Spoletina, die v. Oct. (Di propria mano). Vr. vti fr. Cesar
+de Borja Elect. Valentin. Published by Reumont in Archiv. Stor. Ital.
+Serie 3, T. xvii, 1873. 3 Dispensa.
+
+[20] Era venuto il primo marito de la dicta nepote, qual fu rimesso a
+Napoli, non visto da niuno.... Despatch of Gianandrea Boccaccio, Bishop
+of Modena, Rome, November 2, 1492, and November 5 and 9. Archives of
+Modena.
+
+[21] Despatch of that date in the archives of Mantua. Lucretia was still
+sometimes designated as the Pope's niece.
+
+[22] Gianandrea Boccaccio to Duke Ercole, Rome, February 25, 1493.
+
+[23] Ms. Memoirs of Pesaro, by Pietro Marzetti and Ludovico Zacconi, in
+the Bibl. Oliveriana of Pesaro.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LUCRETIA'S FIRST MARRIAGE
+
+
+Alexander had a residence furnished for Lucretia close to the Vatican;
+it was a house which Cardinal Battista Zeno had built in 1483, and was
+known after his church as the Palace of S. Maria in Portico. It was on
+the left side of the steps of S. Peter's, almost opposite the Palace of
+the Inquisition. The building of Bernini's Colonnade has, however,
+changed the appearance of the neighborhood so that it is no longer
+recognizable.
+
+The youthful Lucretia held court in her own palace, which was under the
+management of her maid of honor and governess, Adriana Orsini. Alexander
+had induced this kinswoman of his to leave the Orsini palace and to take
+up her abode with Lucretia in the palace of S. Maria in Portico, where
+we shall frequently see them and another woman who was only too close to
+the Pope.
+
+Vannozza remained in her own house in the Regola quarter. Her husband
+had been made commandant or captain of the Torre di Nona, of which
+Alexander shortly made him warden, a position of great trust, and Canale
+gave himself up eagerly to his important and profitable duties. From
+this time Vannozza and her children saw each other but little, although
+they were not completely separated. They continued to communicate with
+each other, but the mother profited only indirectly by the good fortune
+and greatness of her offspring. Vannozza never allowed herself, nor did
+Alexander permit her, to have any influence in the Vatican, and her name
+seldom appears in the records of the time.
+
+Donna Lucretia was now beginning to maintain the state of a great
+princess. She received the numerous connections of her house, as well as
+the friends and flatterers of the now all-powerful Borgia. Strange it is
+that the very man who, after the stormy period of her life, was to take
+her to a haven of rest should appear there about the time of her
+betrothal to Sforza, and while the contract was being contested by Don
+Gasparo.
+
+Among the Italian princes who at that period either sent ambassadors or
+came in person to Rome to render homage to the new Pope was the
+hereditary prince of Ferrara. In all Italy there was no other court so
+brilliant as that of Ercole d'Este and his spouse Eleonora of Aragon, a
+daughter of King Ferdinand of Naples. She, however, died about this
+time; namely, October 11, 1493. One of her children, Beatrice, had been
+married in December, 1490, to Ludovico il Moro, the brilliant monster
+who was Regent of Milan in place of his nephew Giangaleazzo; her other
+daughter, Isabella, one of the most beautiful and magnificent women of
+her day, was married in 1490, when she was only sixteen years of age, to
+the Marchese Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua. Alfonso was heir to the title,
+and on February 12, 1491, when he was only fifteen years old, he married
+Anna Sforza, a sister of the same Giangaleazzo.
+
+In November, 1492, his father sent him to Rome to recommend his state to
+the favor of the Pope, who received the youthful scion of the house of
+Sforza,--into which his own daughter was to marry,--with the highest
+honors. Don Alfonso lived in the Vatican, and during his visit, which
+lasted for several weeks, he not only had an opportunity, but it was his
+duty to call on Donna Lucretia. He was filled with amazement when he
+first beheld the beautiful child with her golden hair and intelligent
+blue eyes, and nothing was farther from his mind than the idea that the
+Sforza's betrothed would enter the castle of the Este family at Ferrara,
+as his own wife, nine years later.
+
+The letter of thanks which the prince's father wrote to the Pope shows
+how great were the honors with which the son had been received. The duke
+says:
+
+     MOST HOLY FATHER AND LORD, MY HONORED MASTER: I kiss your
+     Holiness's feet and commend myself to you in all humility. What
+     honor and praise was due your Holiness I have long known, and now
+     the letters of the Bishop of Modena, my ambassador, and also of
+     others, not alone those of my dearly beloved first born, Alfonso,
+     but of all the members of his suite, show how much I owe you. They
+     tell me how your Highness included us all, me and mine, within the
+     measure of your love, and overwhelmed all with presents, favors,
+     mercy, and benevolence on my son's arrival in Rome and during his
+     stay there. Therefore I acknowledge that I have for a long time
+     been indebted to your Holiness, and now am still more so on account
+     of this. My obligation is more than I can ever repay, and I promise
+     that my gratitude shall be eternal and measureless like the world.
+     As your most dutiful servant I shall always be ready to perform
+     anything which may be acceptable to your Holiness, to whom I
+     recommend myself and mine in all humility. Your Holiness's son and
+     servant,
+
+  ERCOLE,
+  Duke of Ferrara.
+  [FERRARA, _January 3, 1493_.]
+
+The letter shows how great was the duke's anxiety to remain on good
+terms with the Pope.
+
+He was a vassal in Ferrara of the Roman Church, which was endeavoring
+to transform itself into a monarchy. The princes, as well as the
+republicans of Italy,--at least those whose possessions were close to
+the sphere of action of the Holy See or were its vassals,--studied every
+new pope with suspicion and fear, and also with curiosity to see in what
+direction nepotism would develop under him. How easily Alexander VI
+might have again taken up the plans of the house of Borgia where they
+had been interrupted by the death of his uncle Calixtus, and have
+followed in the footsteps of Sixtus IV!
+
+Moreover, it was only ten years since the last named pope had, in
+conjunction with Venice, waged war on Ferrara.
+
+Ercole had maintained friendly relations with Alexander VI when he was
+only a cardinal; Rodrigo Borgia had even been godfather to his son
+Alfonso when he was baptized. For his other son, Ippolito, the duke,
+through his ambassador in Rome, Gianandrea Boccaccio, endeavored to
+secure a cardinal's cap. The ambassador applied to the most influential
+of Alexander's confidants, Ascanio Sforza, the chamberlain Marades, and
+Madonna Adriana. The Pope desired to make his son Caesar a cardinal, and
+Boccaccio hoped that the youthful Ippolito would be his companion in
+good fortune. The ambassador gave Marades to understand that the two
+young men, one of whom was Archbishop of Valencia, the other of Gran,
+would make a good pair. "Their ages are about the same; I believe that
+Valencia is not more than sixteen years old, while our Strigonia (Gran)
+is near that age." Marades replied that this was not quite correct, as
+Ippolito was not yet fourteen, and the Archbishop of Valencia was in his
+eighteenth year.[24]
+
+The youthful Caesar was stirred by other desires than those for spiritual
+honors. He assumed the hated garb of the priest only on his father's
+command. Although he was an archbishop he had only the first tonsure.
+His life was wholly worldly. It was even said that the King of Naples
+wanted him to marry one of his natural daughters and that if he did so
+he would relinquish the priesthood. The Ferrarese ambassador called upon
+him March 17, 1493, in his house in Trastevere, by which was probably
+meant the Borgo. The picture which Boccaccio on this occasion gave Duke
+Ercole of this young man of seventeen years is an important and
+significant portrait, and the first we have of him.
+
+"I met Caesar yesterday in the house in Trastevere; he was just on his
+way to the chase, dressed in a costume altogether worldly; that is, in
+silk,--and armed. He had only a little tonsure like a simple priest. I
+conversed with him for a while as we rode along. I am on intimate terms
+with him. He possesses marked genius and a charming personality; he
+bears himself like a great prince; he is especially lively and merry,
+and fond of society. Being very modest, he presents a much better and
+more distinguished appearance than his brother, the Duke of Gandia,
+although the latter is also highly endowed. The archbishop never had any
+inclination for the priesthood. His benefices, however, bring him in
+more than sixteen thousand ducats annually. If the projected marriage
+takes place, his benefices will fall to another brother (Giuffre), who
+is about thirteen years old."[25]
+
+It will be seen that the ambassador specially mentions Caesar's buoyant
+nature. This was one of Alexander's most characteristic traits, and both
+Caesar and Lucretia who was noted for it later, had inherited it from
+him. So far as his prudence was concerned, it was proclaimed six years
+later by a no less distinguished man than Giuliano della Rovere, who
+afterwards became pope under the name of Julius II.
+
+The Duke of Gandia was in Rome at this time, but it was his intention to
+set out for Spain to see his spouse immediately after the celebration of
+the marriage of Sforza and Lucretia. Lucretia's wedding was to take
+place on S. George's day, but was postponed, as it was found impossible
+for the bridegroom to arrive in time. Alexander took the greatest
+pleasure in making the arrangements for setting up his daughter's
+establishment. Her happiness--or, what to him was the same thing, her
+greatness--meant much to him. He loved her passionately, superlatively,
+as the Ferrarese ambassador wrote his master.[26] On the ambassador's
+suggestion the Duke of Ferrara sent as a wedding gift a pair of large
+silver hand basins with the accompanying vessels, all of the finest
+workmanship. Two residences were proposed for the young pair; the palace
+of S. Maria in Portico and the one near the castle of S. Angelo, which
+had belonged to the Cardinal Domenicus Porta of Aleria, who died
+February 4, 1493. The former, in which Lucretia was already living, was
+chosen.
+
+At last Sforza arrived. June 9th he made his entry by way of the
+Porta del Popolo, and was received by the whole senate, his
+brothers-in-law, and the ambassadors of the Powers. Lucretia, attended
+by several maids of honor, had taken a position in a loggia of her
+palace to see her bridegroom and his suite on their way to the Vatican.
+As he rode by, Sforza greeted her right gallantly, and his bride
+returned his salutation. He was most graciously received by his
+father-in-law.
+
+[Illustration: CHURCH OF ARA COELI, ROME.]
+
+Sforza was a man of attractive appearance, as we may readily discover
+from a medal which he had struck ten years later, which represents him
+with long, flowing locks and a full beard. The mouth is sensitive, the
+under lip slightly drawn; the nose is somewhat aquiline; the forehead
+smooth and lofty. The proportions of his features are noble, but lacking
+in character.
+
+Three days after his arrival, that is, June 12th, the nuptials were
+celebrated in the Vatican with ostentatious publicity. Alexander had
+invited the nobility, the officials of Rome, and the foreign ambassadors
+to be present. There was a banquet, followed by a licentious comedy,
+which is described by Infessura.
+
+To corroborate the short account given by this Roman, and at the same
+time to render the picture more complete, we reproduce, word for word,
+the description which the Ferrarese ambassador, Boccaccio, sent his
+master in a communication dated June 13th:
+
+     Yesterday, the twelfth of the present month, the union was publicly
+     celebrated in the palace, with the greatest pomp and extravagance.
+     All the Roman matrons were invited, also the most influential
+     citizens, and many cardinals, twelve in number, stood near her, the
+     Pope occupying the throne in their midst. The palace and all the
+     apartments were filled with people, who were overcome with
+     amazement. The lord of Pesaro celebrated his betrothal to his wife,
+     and the Bishop of Concordia delivered a sermon. The only
+     ambassadors present, however, were the Venetian, the Milanese and
+     myself, and one from the King of France.
+
+     Cardinal Ascanio thought that I ought to present the gift during
+     the ceremony, so I had some one ask the Pope, to whom I remarked
+     that I did not think it proper, and that it seemed better to me to
+     wait a little while. All agreed with me, whereupon the Pope called
+     to me and said, "It seems to me to be best as you say";
+     consequently it was arranged that I should bring the present to the
+     palace late in the evening. His Holiness gave a small dinner in
+     honor of the bride and groom, and there were present the Cardinals
+     Ascanio, S. Anastasia, and Colonna; the bride and groom, and next
+     to him the Count of Pitigliano, captain of the Church; Giuliano
+     Orsini; Madonna Giulia Farnese, of whom there is so much talk (de
+     qua est tantus sermo); Madonna Teodorina and her daughter, the
+     Marchesa of Gerazo; a daughter of the above named captain, wife of
+     Angelo Farnese, Madonna Giulia's brother. Then came a younger
+     brother of Cardinal Colonna and Madonna Adriana Ursina. The last is
+     mother-in-law of the above mentioned Madonna Giulia. She had the
+     bride educated in her own home, where she was treated as a niece of
+     the Pope. Adriana is the daughter of the Pope's cousin, Pedro de
+     Mila, deceased, with whom your Excellency was acquainted.
+
+     When the table was cleared, which was between three and four
+     o'clock in the morning, the bride was presented with the gift sent
+     by the illustrious Duke of Milan; it consisted of five different
+     pieces of gold brocade and two rings, a diamond and a ruby, the
+     whole worth a thousand ducats. Thereupon I presented your
+     Highness's gift with suitable words of congratulation on the
+     marriage and good wishes for the future, together with the offer of
+     your services. The present greatly pleased the Pope. To the thanks
+     of the bride and groom he added his own expressions of unbounded
+     gratitude. Then Ascanio offered his present, which consisted of a
+     complete drinking service of silver washed with gold, worth about a
+     thousand ducats. Cardinal Monreale gave two rings, a sapphire and a
+     diamond--very beautiful--and worth three thousand ducats; the
+     prothonotary Cesarini gave a bowl and cup worth eight hundred
+     ducats; the Duke of Gandia a vessel worth seventy ducats; the
+     prothonotary Lunate a vase of a certain composition like jasper,
+     ornamented with silver, gilded, which was worth seventy to eighty
+     ducats. These were all the gifts presented at this time; the other
+     cardinals, ambassadors, etc., will bring their presents when the
+     marriage is celebrated, and I will do whatever is necessary. It
+     will, I think, be performed next Sunday, but this is not certain.
+
+     In conclusion, the women danced, and, as an interlude, a good
+     comedy was given, with songs and music. The Pope and all the others
+     were present. What shall I add? There would be no end to my letter.
+     Thus we passed the whole night, and whether it was good or bad your
+     Highness may decide.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[24] Boccaccio's despatches, Rome, February 25, March 11, 1493.
+
+[25] Magni et excellentis ingenii et preclare indolis; prae se fert
+speciem fillii magni Principis, et super omnia ilaris et jocundus, e
+tutto festa: cum magna siquidem modestia est longe melioris et
+prestantioris aspectus, quam sit dux Candie germanus suus. Anchora lue e
+dotato di bone parte. Despatch of March 19, 1493.
+
+[26] Mai fu visto il piu carnale homo; l'hama questa madona Lucrezia in
+superlativo gradu. Boccaccio's Despatch, Rome, April 4, 1493. The word
+_carnale_ is to be taken only in the sense of nepotism, as it is plainly
+so used elsewhere by the ambassador.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+FAMILY AFFAIRS
+
+
+Lucretia's marriage with Giovanni Sforza confirmed the political
+alliance which Alexander VI had made with Ludovico il Moro. The Regent
+of Milan wanted to invite Charles VIII of France into Italy to make war
+upon King Ferdinand of Naples, so that he himself might ultimately gain
+possession of the duchy, for he was consumed with ambition and
+impatience to drive his sickly nephew, Giangaleazzo, from the throne.
+The latter, however, was the consort of Isabella of Aragon, a daughter
+of Alfonso of Calabria and the grandson of Ferdinand himself.
+
+The alliance of Venice, Ludovico, the Pope, and some of the other
+Italian nobles had become known in Rome as early as April 25th. This
+league, clearly, was opposed to Naples; and its court, therefore, was
+thrown into the greatest consternation.
+
+Nevertheless, King Ferdinand congratulated the Lord of Pesaro upon his
+marriage. He looked upon him as a kinsman, and Sforza had likewise been
+accepted by the house of Aragon. June 15, 1493, the king wrote to him
+from Capua as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS COUSIN AND OUR DEAREST FRIEND: We have
+     received your letter of the twenty-second of last month, in which
+     you inform us of your marriage with the illustrious Donna Lucretia,
+     the niece of his Holiness our Master. We are much pleased, both
+     because we always have and still do feel the greatest love for
+     yourself and your house, and also because we believe that nothing
+     could be of greater advantage to you than this marriage. Therefore
+     we wish you the best of fortune, and we pray God, with you, that
+     this alliance may increase your own power and fame and that of your
+     State.[27]
+
+Eight days earlier the same king had sent his ambassador to Spain a
+letter, in which he asked the protection of Ferdinand and Isabella
+against the machinations of the Pope, whose ways he described as
+"loathsome"; in this he was referring, not to his political actions, but
+to his personal conduct. Giulia Farnese, whom Infessura noticed among
+the wedding guests and described as "the Pope's concubine," caused
+endless gossip about herself and his Holiness. This young woman
+surrendered herself to an old man of sixty-two whom she was also
+compelled to honor as the head of the Church. There is no doubt whatever
+about her years of adultery, but we can not understand the cause of her
+passion; for however powerful the demoniac nature of Alexander VI may
+have been, it must by this time have lost much of its magnetic strength.
+Perhaps this young and empty-headed creature, after she had once
+transgressed and the feeling of shame had passed, was fascinated by the
+spectacle of the sacred master of the world, before whom all men
+prostrated themselves, lying at her feet--the feet of a weak child.
+
+There is also the suspicion that the cupidity of the Farnese was the
+cause of the criminal relations, for Giulia's sins were rewarded by
+nothing less than the bestowal of the cardinal's purple on her brother
+Alessandro. The Pope had already designated him, among others, for the
+honor, but the nomination was delayed by the opposition of the Sacred
+College, over which Giuliano della Rovere presided. King Ferdinand also
+encouraged this opposition, and on the very day on which Lucretia's
+marriage to Pesaro was celebrated he placed his army at the disposal of
+the cardinals who refused to sanction the appointment.
+
+Her consort, Sforza, was now a great man in Rome, and intimate with all
+the Borgias. June 16th he was seen by the side of the Duke of Gandia,
+decked in costly robes glittering with precious stones, as if "they were
+two kings," riding out to meet the Spanish ambassador. Gandia was
+preparing for his journey to Spain. He had been betrothed to Dona Maria
+Enriquez, a beautiful lady of Valencia, shortly before his father
+ascended the papal throne; there is a brief of Alexander's dated October
+6, 1492, in which he grants his son and his spouse the right to obtain
+absolution from any confessor whatsoever. The high birth of Dona Maria
+shows what brilliant connections the bastard Giovanni Borgia was able to
+make as a grandee of Spain, for she was the daughter of Don Enrigo
+Enriquez, High-Treasurer of Leon, and Dona Maria de Luna, who was
+closely connected with the royal house of Aragon. Don Giovanni left
+Rome, August 4, 1493, to board a Spanish galley in Civitavecchia.
+According to the report of the Ferrarese agent, he took with him an
+incredible number of trinkets, with whose manufacture the goldsmiths of
+Rome had busied themselves for months.
+
+Of Alexander's sons there now remained in Rome, Caesar, who was to be
+made a cardinal, and Giuffre, who was destined to be a prince in Naples,
+for the quarrel between the Pope and King Ferdinand had been settled
+through the intermediation of Spain. She caused Alexander to break with
+France, and to sever his connection with Ludovico il Moro. This
+surprising change was immediately confirmed by the marriage of Don
+Giuffre, a boy of scarcely thirteen, and Donna Sancia, a natural
+daughter of Duke Alfonso of Calabria. August 16, 1493, the marriage was
+performed by proxy in the Vatican, and the wedding took place later in
+Naples.
+
+Caesar himself became cardinal, September 20, 1493, the stain of his
+birth having been removed by the Cardinals Pallavicini and Orsini, who
+had been charged with legitimating him. February 25, 1493, Gianandrea
+Boccaccio wrote to Ferrara regarding the legitimating of Caesar,
+ironically saying, "They wish to remove the blot of being a natural son,
+and very rightly; because he is legitimate, having been born in the
+house while the woman's husband was living. This much is certain: the
+husband was sometimes in the city and at others traveling about in the
+territory of the Church and in her interest." The ambassador, however,
+never mentions the name of this man, which, however, Infessura says was
+Domenico d'Arignano.
+
+Ippolito d'Este and Alessandro Farnese were made cardinals the same day.
+To his sister's adultery this young libertine owed his advancement in
+the Church, a fact so notorious that the wits of the Roman populace
+called him the "petticoat cardinal." The jubilant kinsmen of Giulia
+Farnese saw in her only the instrument of their advancement. Girolama
+Farnese, Giulia 's sister, wrote to her husband, Puccio, from Casignano,
+October 21, 1493, "You will have received letters from Florence before
+mine reaches you and have learned what benefices have fallen to Lorenzo,
+and all that Giulia has secured for him, and you will be greatly
+pleased."[28]
+
+Even the Republic of Florence sought to profit by Alexander's relations
+with Giulia; for Puccio, her brother-in-law, was sent to Rome as
+plenipotentiary. The Florentines had despatched this famous jurist to
+the papal city immediately after Alexander's accession to the throne, to
+swear allegiance, and later he was her agent for a year in Faenza, where
+he conducted the government for Astorre Manfredi, who was a minor. At
+the beginning of the year 1494 he went as ambassador to Rome, where he
+died in August.[29]
+
+His brother, Lorenzo Pucci, subsequently attained to eminence in the
+Church under Leo X, becoming a powerful cardinal.
+
+The Farnese and their numerous kin were now in high favor with the Pope
+and all the Borgias. In October, 1493, they invited Alexander and Caesar
+to a family reunion at the castle of Capodimonte, where Madonna
+Giovanella, Giulia's mother, was to prepare a banquet. Whether or not
+this really took place we are ignorant, although we do know that
+Alexander was in Viterbo the last of October.
+
+In 1492 Giulia gave birth to a daughter, who was named Laura. The child
+officially passed as that of her husband, Orsini, although in reality
+the Pope was its father. The Farnese and the Pucci knew the secret and
+shamelessly endeavored to profit by it. Giulia cared so little for the
+world's opinion that she occupied the palace of S. Maria in Portico, as
+if she were a blood relation of Lucretia. Alexander himself had put her
+there as a lady of honor to his daughter. Her husband, Orsini,
+preferred, or was compelled, to live in his castle of Bassanello, or to
+stay on one of the estates which the Pope had presented to him, the
+husband of Madonna Giulia, "Christ's bride," as the satirists called
+her, instead of remaining in Rome to be a troublesome witness of his
+shame.
+
+A remarkable letter of Lorenzo Pucci to his brother Giannozzo, written
+the 23d and 24th of December, 1493, from Rome, discloses these and other
+family secrets. He shows us the most private scenes in Lucretia's
+palace. Lorenzo had been invited by Cardinal Farnese to go with him to
+Rome to witness the Christmas festivities. He accompanied him from
+Viterbo to Rignano, where the barons of the Savelli house, kinsmen of
+the cardinal, formally received them, after which they continued their
+journey on horseback to Rome. Lorenzo repeated to his brother the
+confidential conversation which he had enjoyed with the cardinal on the
+way. Even as early as this there was talk of finding a suitable husband
+for Giulia's little daughter. The cardinal unfolded his idea to Lorenzo.
+Piero de' Medici wished to give his own daughter to the youthful Astorre
+Manfredi of Faenza, but Farnese desired to bring about an alliance
+between Astorre and Giulia's daughter. He hoped to be able to convince
+Piero that this union would be advantageous for both himself and the
+Republic of Florence, and would strengthen his relations with the Holy
+See. The affair would be handled so that it would appear that it was
+entirely due to the wishes of the Pope and of Piero. In this the
+cardinal counted on the consent of both Alexander and Giulia, and on the
+influence of Madonna Adriana.
+
+Lorenzo Pucci replied to the cardinal's confidence as follows:
+"Monsignor, I certainly think that our Master (the Pope) will give a
+daughter to this gentleman (Astorre), for I believe that this child is
+the Pope's daughter, just as Lucretia is, and your Highness's
+niece."[30] In his letter Lorenzo does not say whether the cardinal
+made any reply to this audacious statement, which would have brought a
+blush to the face of any honorable man. Probably it only caused
+Alessandro Farnese a little smile of assent. The bold Pucci repeated his
+opinion in the same letter, saying, "She is the child of the Pope, the
+niece of the cardinal, and the putative daughter of Signor Orsini, to
+whom our Master intends to give three or four more castles near
+Bassanello. In addition, the cardinal says that in case his brother
+Angelo remains without heir, this child will inherit his property, as
+she is very dear to him, and he is already thinking of this; and by this
+means the illustrious Piero will obtain the support of the cardinal, who
+will be under everlasting obligations to him." Lorenzo did not overlook
+himself in these schemes; he openly expressed the wish that his brother
+Puccio would come to Rome--as ambassador of the Republic, which he
+did--and that he might secure through the influence of Madonna Adriana
+and Giulia a number of good places.
+
+Lorenzo continued his letter December 24th, describing a scene in
+Lucretia's palace, and his narrative shows her, and especially Giulia,
+as plainly as if they stood before us.
+
+     GIANNOZZO MINE: Yesterday evening I wrote you as above.
+     To-day, which is Easter evening, I rode with Monsignor Farnese to
+     the papal palace to vespers, and before his Eminence entered the
+     chapel I called at the house S. Maria in Portico to see Madonna
+     Giulia. She had just finished washing her hair when I entered; she
+     was sitting by the fire with Madonna Lucretia, the daughter of our
+     Master, and Madonna Adriana, and they all received me with great
+     cordiality. Madonna Giulia asked me to sit by her side; she thanked
+     me for having taken Jeronima (Girolama) home, and said to me that I
+     must, by all means, bring her there again to please her. Madonna
+     Adriana asked, 'Is it true that she is not allowed to come here any
+     more than she was permitted to go to Capodimonte and Marta?' I
+     replied that I knew nothing about that, and it was enough for me if
+     I had made Madonna Giulia happy by taking her home, for in her
+     letters she had requested me to do so, and now they could do as
+     they pleased. I wanted to leave it to Madonna Giulia, who was alive
+     to all her opportunities, to meet her as she saw fit, as she wanted
+     her to see her magnificence just as much as Jeronima (Girolama)
+     herself wanted to see it. Thereupon Madonna Giulia thanked me
+     warmly and said I had made her very happy. I then reminded her how
+     greatly I was beholden to her Highness by what she had done for me,
+     and that I could not show my gratitude better than by taking
+     Madonna Jeronima (Girolama) home. She answered that such a trifle
+     deserved no thanks. She hopes to be of still greater help to me,
+     and says I shall find her so at the right time. Madonna Adriana
+     joined in saying I might be certain that it was through neither the
+     chancellor, Messer Antonio, nor his deputy, but owing to the favor
+     of Madonna Giulia herself, that I had obtained the benefices.
+
+     In order not to contradict, I replied that I knew that, and I again
+     thanked her Highness. Thereupon Madonna Giulia asked with much
+     interest after Messer Puccio and said, "We will see to it that some
+     day he will come here as ambassador; and although, when he was
+     here, we, in spite of all our endeavors, were unable to effect it,
+     we could now accomplish it without any difficulty." She assured me
+     also that the cardinal had mentioned to her the previous evening
+     the matter we had discussed on the road, and she urged me to write;
+     she thought if the affair were handled by yourself, the illustrious
+     Piero would be favorably disposed toward it. Thus far has the
+     matter progressed. Giulia also wanted me to see the child; she is
+     now well grown, and, it seems to me, resembles the Pope, _adeo ut
+     vere ex ejus semine orta dici possit_. Madonna Giulia has grown
+     somewhat stouter and is a most beautiful creature. She let down
+     her hair before me and had it dressed; it reached down to her feet;
+     never have I seen anything like it; she has the most beautiful
+     hair. She wore a head-dress of fine linen, and over it a sort of
+     net, light as air, with gold threads interwoven in it. In truth it
+     shone like the sun! I would have given a great deal if you could
+     have been present to have informed yourself concerning that which
+     you have often wanted to know. She wore a lined robe in the
+     Neapolitan fashion, as did also Madonna Lucretia, who, after a
+     little while, went out to remove it. She returned shortly in a gown
+     almost entirely of violet velvet. When vespers were over and the
+     cardinals were departing, I left them.
+
+The close association with Giulia, to whose adulterous relations with
+her father Lucretia was the daily witness, if not a school of vice for
+her, at least must have kept her constantly in contact with it. Could a
+young creature of only fourteen years remain pure in such an atmosphere?
+Must not the immorality in the midst of which she was forced to live
+have poisoned her senses, dulled her ideas of morality and virtue, and
+finally have penetrated her own character?
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[27] Cod. Aragon, ii, 2.67, ed Trinchera.
+
+[28] Carte Strozziane, filz 343. In the archives of Florence.
+
+[29] Lelia Ursina de Farnesio congratulated him on his appointment,
+January 13, 1494. Ibidem.
+
+[30] In the earlier edition of this work I found some difficulty in the
+passage: "Chredo che questa puta sia figlia del Papa, como Madonna
+Luchretia e nipote di S. R. Signoria." I am now convinced that the e is
+an error of the writer or the copyist and should be simply the
+conduction e. Lorenzo Pucci's brother Giannozzo was married to Lucrezia
+Bini, a Florentine, who is mentioned later in this same letter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+LUCRETIA LEAVES ROME
+
+
+By the end of the year 1493 Alexander had amply provided for all his
+children. Caesar was a cardinal, Giovanni was a duke in Spain, and
+Giuffre was soon to become a Neapolitan prince. The last, the Pope's
+youngest son, was united in marriage, May 7, 1494, in Naples, to Donna
+Sancia the same day on which his father-in-law, Alfonso, ascending the
+throne as the successor of King Ferdinand, was crowned by the papal
+legate, Giovanni Borgia. Don Giuffre remained in Naples and became
+Prince of Squillace. Giovanni also received great fiefs in that kingdom,
+where he called himself Duke of Suessa and Prince of Teano.
+
+For some time longer Lucretia's spouse remained in Rome, where the Pope
+had taken him into his pay in accordance with an agreement with Ludovico
+il Moro under whom Sforza served. His position at Alexander's court,
+however, soon became ambiguous. His uncles had married him to Lucretia
+to make the Pope a confederate and accomplice in their schemes which
+were directed toward the overthrow of the reigning family of Naples.
+Alexander, however, clung closely to the Aragonese dynasty; he invested
+King Alfonso with the title to the kingdom of Naples, and declared
+himself opposed to the expedition of Charles VIII.
+
+Sforza thereby was thrown into no slight perplexity, and early in April,
+1494, he informed his uncle Ludovico of his dubious position in the
+following letter:
+
+     Yesterday his Holiness said to me in the presence of Monsignor
+     (Cardinal Ascanio), "Well, Giovanni Sforza! What have you to say to
+     me?" I answered, "Holy Father, every one in Rome believes that your
+     Holiness has entered into an agreement with the King of Naples, who
+     is an enemy of the State of Milan. If this is so, I am in an
+     awkward position, as I am in the pay of your Holiness and also in
+     that of the State I have named. If things continue as they are, I
+     do not know how I can serve one party without falling out with the
+     other, and at the same time I do not wish to offend. I ask that
+     your Holiness may be pleased to define my position so that I may
+     not become an enemy of my own blood, and not act contrary to the
+     obligations into which I have entered by virtue of my agreement
+     with your Holiness and the illustrious State of Milan." He replied,
+     saying that I took too much interest in his affairs, and that I
+     should choose in whose pay I would remain according to my contract.
+     And then he commanded the above-named monsignor to write to your
+     Excellency what you will learn from his lordship's letter. My lord,
+     if I had foreseen in what a position I was to be placed I would
+     sooner have eaten the straw under my body than have entered into
+     such an agreement. I cast myself in your arms. I beg your
+     Excellency not to desert me, but to give me help, favor, and advice
+     how to resolve the difficulty in which I am placed, so that I may
+     remain a good servant of your Excellency. Preserve for me the
+     position and the little nest which, thanks to the mercy of Milan,
+     my ancestors left me, and I and my men of war will ever remain at
+     the service of your Excellency.
+
+  GIOVANNI SFORZA.
+  ROME, _April, 1494_.
+
+The letter plainly discloses other and deeper concerns of the writer;
+such, for example, as the future possession of his domain of Pesaro. The
+Pope's plans to destroy all the little tyrannies and fiefs in the States
+of the Church had already been clearly revealed.[31]
+
+Shortly after this, April 23d, Cardinal della Rovere slipped away from
+Ostia and into France to urge Charles VIII to invade Italy, not to
+attack Naples, but to bring this simoniacal pope before a council and
+depose him.
+
+At the beginning of July Ascanio Sforza, now openly at strife with
+Alexander, also left the city. He went to Genazzano and joined the
+Colonna, who were in the pay of France. Charles VIII was already
+preparing to invade Italy. The Pope and King Alfonso met at Vicovaro
+near Tivoli, July 14th.
+
+In the meantime important changes had taken place in Lucretia's palace.
+Her husband had hurriedly left Rome, as he could do as a captain of the
+Church, in which capacity he had to join the Neapolitan army, now being
+formed in Romagna under the command of the Duke Ferrante of Calabria. By
+his nuptial contract he was bound to take his bride with him to Pesaro.
+She was accompanied by her mother, Vannozza, Giulia Farnese, and Madonna
+Adriana. Alexander himself, through fear of the plague, which had
+appeared, commanded them to depart. The Mantuan ambassador in Rome
+reported this to the Marchese Gonzaga, May 6th, and also wrote him on
+the fifteenth as follows: "The illustrious Lord Giovanni will certainly
+set out Monday or Tuesday accompanied by all three ladies, who, by the
+Pope's order, will remain in Pesaro until August, when they will
+return."[32]
+
+Sforza's departure must have taken place early in June, for on the
+eleventh of that month a letter from Ascanio was sent to his brother in
+Milan informing him that the lord of Pesaro with his wife and Madonna
+Giulia, the Pope's mistress, together with the mother of the Duke of
+Gandia, and Giuffre, had set out from Rome for Pesaro, and that his
+Holiness had begged Madonna Giulia to come back soon.[33]
+
+Alexander had returned to Rome from Vicovaro, July 18th, and on the 24th
+he wrote his daughter the following letter:
+
+     Alexander VI, Pope; by his own hand.
+
+     DONNA LUCRETIA, DEAREST DAUGHTER: For several days we have
+     had no letter from you. Your neglect to write us often and tell us
+     how you and Don Giovanni, our beloved son, are, causes us great
+     surprise. In future be more heedful and more diligent. Madonna
+     Adriana and Giulia have reached Capodimonte, where they found the
+     latter's brother dead. His death caused the cardinal and Giulia
+     such distress that both fell sick of the fever. We have sent Pietro
+     Caranza to look after them, and have provided physicians and
+     everything necessary. We pray to God and the glorious Madonna that
+     they will soon be restored. Of a truth Don Giovanni and yourself
+     have displayed very little thought for me in this departure of
+     Madonna Adriana and Giulia, since you allowed them to leave without
+     our permission; for you should have remembered--it was your
+     duty--that such a sudden departure without our knowledge would
+     cause us the greatest displeasure. And if you say that they did so
+     because Cardinal Farnese commanded it, you ought to have asked
+     yourself whether it would please the Pope. However, it is done; but
+     another time we will be more careful, and will look about to see
+     where our interest lies. We are, thanks to God and the glorious
+     Virgin, very well. We have had an interview with the illustrious
+     King Alfonso, who showed us no less love and obedience than he
+     would have shown had he been our own son. I cannot tell you with
+     what satisfaction and contentment we took leave of each other. You
+     may be certain that his Majesty stands ready to place his own
+     person and every thing he has in the world at our service.
+
+     We hope that all differences and quarrels in regard to the Colonna
+     will be completely laid aside in three or four days. At present I
+     have nothing more to say than to warn you to be careful of your
+     health and constantly to pray to the Madonna. Given in Rome in S.
+     Peter's, July 24, 1494.[34]
+
+This letter is the first of the few extant written by Alexander to his
+daughter. His reproof was due to the sudden departure of his
+mistress--contrary to his original instructions--from Pesaro before
+August. From there Giulia went to Capodimonte to look after her sick
+brother Angiolo. According to a Venetian letter written by Marino
+Sanuto, she had left Rome chiefly for the purpose of attending the
+wedding of one of her kinsmen, and the writer describes her in this
+place as "the Pope's favorite, a young woman of great beauty and
+understanding, gracious and gentle."
+
+Alexander's letter shows us that his mistress remained in communication
+with him after her departure from Rome.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[31] This letter is printed in Atti e Memorie Modenesi, i. 433.
+
+[32] Despatch of Giorgio Brognolo to the Marchese, Rome, May 6 and 15,
+1494. Archives of Mantua.
+
+[33] Despatch of Jacomo Trotti to Duke Ercole, Milan, June 11, 1494. May
+1st the women were still in Rome, for on that date Madonna Adriana wrote
+a letter from there to the Marchesa of Mantua recommending a friend to
+her. The letter is in the Mantuan archives.
+
+[34] The letter is published in Ugolino's Storia dei Conti e Duchi
+d'Urbino, II. Document No. 13. I saw the original in the state archives
+of Florence; only the address is in Alexander's hand, the rest is
+written by the Chancellor Juan Lopez, who signs himself Jo. Datarius.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF PESARO
+
+
+The storm which suddenly broke upon Alexander did not disturb Lucretia,
+for on the eighth of June, 1494, she and her spouse entered Pesaro. In a
+pouring rain, which interrupted the reception festivities, she took
+possession of the palace of the Sforza, which was now to be her home.
+
+The history of Pesaro up to that time is briefly as follows:
+
+Ancient Pisaurum, which was founded by the Siculi, received its name
+from the river which empties into the sea not far from the city, and
+which is now known as the Foglia. In the year 570 of Rome the city
+became a Roman colony. From the time of Augustus it belonged to the
+fourth department of Italy, and from the time of Constantine to the
+province of Flaminia. After the fall of the Roman Empire it suffered the
+fate of all the Italian cities, especially in the great war of the Goths
+with the Eastern emperor. Vitiges destroyed it; Belisarius restored it.
+
+After the fall of the Gothic power, Pesaro was incorporated in the
+Exarchate, and together with four other cities on the Adriatic--Ancona,
+Fano, Sinigaglia, and Rimini--constituted the Pentapolis. When Ravenna
+fell into the hands of the Lombard King Aistulf, Pesaro also became
+Lombard; but later, by the deed of Pipin and Charles, it passed into the
+possession of the Pope.
+
+The subsequent history of the city is interwoven with that of the
+Empire, the Church and the March of Ancona. For a long time imperial
+counts resided there. Innocent III invested its title in Azzo d'Este,
+the Lord of the March. During the struggles of the Hohenstaufen with the
+papacy it first was in the possession of the emperor and later in that
+of the Pope, who held it until the end of the thirteenth century, when
+the Malatesta became podestas, and subsequently lords of the city. This
+famous Guelph family from the castle of Verrucchio, which lies between
+Rimini and S. Marino, fell heir to the fortress of Gradara, in the
+territory of Pesaro, and by degrees extended its power in the direction
+of Ancona. In 1285 Gianciotto Malatesta became lord of Pesaro, and on
+his death, in 1304, his brother Pandolfo inherited his domain.
+
+From that time the Malatesta, lords of nearby Rimini, controlled not
+only Pesaro, but a large part of the March which they appropriated to
+themselves when the papacy was removed to Avignon. They secured
+themselves in the possession of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, and Fossombrone by
+an agreement made during the life of the famous Gil d'Albornoz,
+confirming them in their position there as vicars of the Church. A
+branch of this house resided in Pesaro until the time of Galeazzo
+Malatesta. Threatened by his kinsman Sigismondo, the tyrant of Rimini,
+and unable to hold Pesaro against his attack, he sold the city in 1445
+for twenty thousand gold florins to Count Francesco Sforza, and the
+latter gave it as a fief to his brother Alessandro, the husband of a
+niece of Galeazzo. Sforza was the great condottiere who, after the
+departure of the Visconti, ascended the throne of Milan as the first
+duke of his house. While he was there establishing the ducal line of
+Sforza, his brother Alessandro became the founder of the ruling house of
+Pesaro.
+
+This brave captain took possession of Pesaro in March, 1445; two years
+later he received the papal investiture of the fief. He was married to
+Costanza Varano, one of the most beautiful and intellectual women of the
+Italian Renaissance.
+
+To him she bore Costanzo and also a daughter, Battista, who later, as
+the wife of Federico of Urbino, won universal admiration by her virtues
+and talents. The neighboring courts of Pesaro and Urbino were connected
+by marriage, and they vied with each other in fostering the arts and
+sciences. Another illegitimate daughter of Alessandro's was Ginevra
+Sforza--a woman no less admired in her day--celebrated, first as the
+wife of Sante and then as that of Giovanni Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna.
+
+After the death of his wife, Alessandro Sforza married Sveva
+Montefeltre, a daughter of Guidantonio of Urbino. After a happy reign he
+died April 3, 1473, leaving his possessions to his son.
+
+A year later Costanzo Sforza married Camilla Marzana d'Aragona, a
+beautiful and spirituelle princess of the royal house of Naples. He
+himself was brilliant and liberal. He died in 1483, when only
+thirty-six, leaving no legitimate heirs, his sons Giovanni and Galeazzo
+being natural children. His widow Camilla thenceforth conducted the
+government of Pesaro for herself and her stepson Giovanni until
+November, 1489, when she compelled him to assume entire control of it.
+
+Such was the history of the Sforza family of Pesaro, into which Lucretia
+now entered as the wife of this same Giovanni.
+
+The domain of the Sforza at that time embraced the city of Pesaro and a
+number of smaller possessions, called castles or villas; for example, S.
+Angelo in Lizzola, Candelara, Montebaroccio, Tomba di Pesaro,
+Montelabbate, Gradara, Monte S. Maria, Novilara, Fiorenzuola, Castel di
+Mezzo, Ginestreto, Gabicce, Monteciccardo, and Monte Gaudio. In
+addition, Fossombrone was taken by the Sforzas from the Malatesta.
+
+The principality belonged, as we have seen, for a long time to the
+Church, then to the Malatesta, and later to the Sforza, who, under the
+title of vicars, held it as a hereditary fief, paying the Church
+annually seven hundred and fifty gold ducats. The daughter of a Roman
+pontiff must, therefore, have been the most acceptable consort the
+tyrant of Pesaro could have secured under the existing circumstances,
+especially as the popes were striving to destroy all the illegitimate
+powers in the States of the Church. When Lucretia saw how small and
+unimportant was her little kingdom, she must have felt that she did not
+rank with the women of Urbino, Ferrara, and Mantua, or with those of
+Milan and Bologna; but she, by the authority of the Pope, her own
+father, had become an independent princess, and, although her territory
+embraced only a few square miles, to Italy it was a costly bit of
+ground.
+
+Pesaro lies free and exposed in a wide valley. A chain of green hills
+sweeps half around it like the seats in a theater, and the sea forms the
+stage. At the ends of the semicircle are two mountains, Monte Accio and
+Ardizio. The Foglia River flows through the valley. On its right bank
+lies the hospitable little city with its towers and walls, and its
+fortress on the white seashore. Northward, in the direction of Rimini,
+the mountains approach nearer the water, while to the south the shore is
+broader, and there, rising out of the mists of the sea, are the towers
+of Fano. A little farther Cape Ancona is visible.
+
+The sunny hills and their smiling valley under the blue canopy of
+heaven, and near the shimmering sea, form a picture of entrancing
+loveliness. It is the most peaceful spot on the Adriatic. It seems as if
+the breezes from sea and land wafted a lyric harmony over the valley,
+expanding the heart and filling the soul with visions of beauty and
+happiness. Pesaro is the birthplace of Rosini, and also of Terenzio
+Mamiani, the brilliant poet and statesman who devoted his great talents
+to the regeneration of Italy.
+
+The passions of the tyrants of this city were less ferocious than were
+those of the other dynasties of that age, perhaps because their domain
+was too small a stage for the dark deeds inspired by inordinate
+ambition--although the human spirit does not always develop in harmony
+with the influences of nature. One of the most hideous of evil doers was
+Sigismondo Malatesta of mild and beautiful Rimini. The Sforzas of
+Pesaro, however, seem generous and humane rulers in comparison with
+their cousins of Milan. Their court was adorned by a number of noble
+women whom Lucretia may have felt it her duty to imitate.
+
+If, when Lucretia entered Pesaro, her soul--young as she was--was not
+already dead to all agreeable sensations, she must have enjoyed for the
+first time the blessed sense of freedom. To her, gloomy Rome, with the
+dismal Vatican and its passions and crimes, must have seemed like a
+prison from which she had escaped. It is true everything about her in
+Pesaro was small when compared with the greatness of Rome, but here she
+was removed from the direct influence of her father and brother, from
+whom she was separated by the Apennines and a distance which, in that
+age, was great.
+
+The city of Pesaro, which now has more than twelve thousand, and with
+its adjacent territory over twenty thousand inhabitants had then about
+half as many. It had streets and squares with substantial specimens of
+Gothic architecture, interspersed, however, even then, with numerous
+palaces in the style of the Renaissance. A number of cloisters and
+churches, whose ancient portals are still preserved, such as S.
+Domenico, S. Francesco, S. Agostino, and S. Giovanni, rendered the city
+imposing if not beautiful.
+
+Pesaro's most important structures were the monuments of the ruling
+dynasty, the stronghold on the seashore and the palace facing the public
+square. The last was begun by Costanzo Sforza in 1474 and was completed
+by his son Giovanni. Even to-day his name may be seen on the marble
+tablet over the entrance. The castle with its four low, round towers or
+bastions, all in ruin, and surrounded by a moat, stands at the end of
+the city wall near the sea, and whatever strength it had was due to its
+environment; in spite of its situation it appears so insignificant that
+one wonders how, even in those days when the science of gunnery was in
+its infancy, it could have had any value as a fortress.
+
+The Sforza palace is still standing on the little public square of which
+it occupies one whole side. It is an attractive, but not imposing
+structure with two large courts. The Della Rovere, successors of the
+Sforza in Pesaro, beautified it during the sixteenth century; they built
+the noble facade which rests upon a series of six round arches. The
+Sforza arms have disappeared from the palace, but in many places over
+the portals and on the ceilings the inscription of Guidobaldus II,
+duke, and the Della Rovere arms may be seen. Even in Lucretia's day the
+magnificent banquet hall--the most beautiful room in the palace--was in
+existence, and its size made it worthy of a great monarch. The lack of
+decorations on the walls and of marble casings to the doors, like those
+in the castle of Urbino, which fill the beholder with wonder, show how
+limited were the means of the ruling dynasty of Pesaro. The rich ceiling
+of the salon, made of gilded and painted woodwork, dates from the reign
+of Duke Guidobaldo. All mementos of the time when Lucretia occupied the
+palace have disappeared; it is animated by other memories--of the
+subsequent court life of the Della Rovere family, when Bembo,
+Castiglione, and Tasso frequently were guests there. Lucretia and the
+suite that accompanied her could not have filled the wide rooms of the
+palace; her mother, Madonna Adriana, and Giulia Farnese remained with
+her only a short time. A young Spanish woman in her retinue, Dona
+Lucretia Lopez, a niece of Juan Lopez, chancellor and afterward
+cardinal, was married in Pesaro to Gianfrancesco Ardizio, the physician
+and confidant of Giovanni Sforza.
+
+In the palace there were few kinsmen of her husband besides his younger
+brother Galeazzo, for the dynasty was not fruitful and was dying out.
+Even Camilla d'Aragona, Giovanni's stepmother, was not there, for she
+had left Pesaro for good in 1489, taking up her residence in a castle
+near Parma.
+
+In summer the beautiful landscape must have afforded the young princess
+much delight. She doubtless visited the neighboring castle of Urbino,
+where Guidobaldo di Montefetre and his spouse Elisabetta resided, and
+which the accomplished Federico had made an asylum for the
+cultivated. At that time Raphael, a boy of twelve, was living in Urbino,
+a diligent pupil in his father's school.
+
+[Illustration: TASSO.
+
+From an engraving by Raffaelle Morghen.]
+
+In summer Lucretia removed to one of the beautiful villas on a
+neighboring hill. Her husband's favorite abode was Gradara, a lofty
+castle overlooking the road to Rimini, whose red walls and towers are
+still standing in good preservation. The most magnificent country place,
+however, was the Villa Imperiale, which is a half hour's journey from
+Pesaro, on Monte Accio, whence it looks down far over the land and sea.
+It is a splendid summer palace worthy of a great lord and of people of
+leisure, capable of enjoying the amenities of life. It was built by
+Alessandro Sforza in the year 1464, its corner-stone having been laid by
+the Emperor Frederic III when he was returning from his coronation as
+Emperor of Rome; hence it received the name Villa Imperiale. It was
+enlarged later by Eleonora Gonzaga, the wife of Francesco Maria della
+Rovere, the heir of Urbino, and Giovanni Sforza's successor in the
+dominion of Pesaro. Famous painters decorated it with allegoric and
+historical pictures; Bembo and Bernardo Tasso sang of it in melodious
+numbers, and there, in the presence of the Della Rovere court, Torquato
+read his pastoral _Aminta_. This villa is now in a deplorable state of
+decay. Pesaro offered but little in the way of entertainment for a young
+woman accustomed to the society of Rome. The city had no nobility of
+importance. The houses of Brizi, of Ondedei, of Giontini, Magistri,
+Lana, and Ardizi, in their patriarchal existence, could offer Lucretia
+no compensation for the inspiring intercourse with the grandees of Rome.
+It is true the wave of culture which, thanks to the humanists, was
+sweeping over Italy did reach Pesaro. The manufacture of majolica,
+which, in its perfection, was not an unworthy successor of the pottery
+of Greece and Etruria, flourished there and in the neighboring cities on
+the Adriatic, and as far as Umbria. It had reached a considerable
+development in the time of the Sforza. One of the oldest pieces of
+majolica in the Correro Museum in Venice, Solomon worshiping the idol,
+bears the date 1482. As early as the fourteenth century this art was
+cultivated in Pesaro, and it was in a very nourishing condition during
+the reign of Camilla d'Aragona. There are still some remains of the
+productions of the old craftsmen of the city in the State-house of
+Pesaro.
+
+There, too, the intellectual movement manifested itself in other fields,
+fostered by the Sforza or their wives, in emulation of Urbino and
+Rimini, where Sigismondo Malatesta gathered about him poets and scholars
+whom he pensioned during their lives, and for whom, when dead, he built
+sarcophagi about the outer wall of the church. Camilla interested
+herself especially in the cultivation of the sciences. In 1489 she
+invited a noble Greek, Giorgio Diplovatazio, of Corfu, a kinsman of the
+Laskaris and the Vatazes, who, fleeing from the Turks, had come to
+Italy, and taken up his abode in Pesaro, where were living other Greek
+exiles of the Angeli, Komnenen, and Paleologue families. Diplovatazio
+had studied in Padua. Giovanni Sforza made him state's advocate of
+Pesaro in 1492, and he enjoyed a brilliant reputation as a jurisprudent
+until his death in 1541.[35]
+
+Lucretia, consequently, found this illustrious man in Pesaro and might
+have continued her studies under him and other natives of Greece if she
+was so disposed. A library, which the Sforzas had collected, provided
+her with the means for this end. Another scholar, however, no less
+famous, Pandolfo Collenuccio, a poet, orator, and philologist, best
+known by his history of Naples, had left Pesaro before Lucretia took up
+her abode there. He had served the house of Sforza as secretary and in a
+diplomatic capacity, and to his eloquence Lucretia's husband, Costanzo's
+bastard, owed his investiture of the fief of Pesaro by Sixtus IV and
+Innocent VIII. Collenuccio, however, fell under his displeasure and was
+cast into prison in 1488 and subsequently banished, when he went to
+Ferrara, where he devoted his services to the reigning family. He
+accompanied Cardinal Ippolito to Rome, and here we find him in 1494 when
+Lucretia was about to take up her residence in Pesaro. In Rome she may
+have made the acquaintance of this scholar.[36]
+
+Nor was the young poet Guido Posthumus Silvester in Pesaro during her
+time, for he was then a student in Padua. Lucretia must have regretted
+the absence from her court of this soulful and aspiring poet, and her
+charming personality might have served him for an inspiration for verses
+quite different from those which he later addressed to the Borgias.
+
+Sforza's beautiful consort was received with open arms in Pesaro, where
+she immediately made many friends. She was in the first charm of her
+youthful bloom, and fate had not yet brought the trouble into her life
+which subsequently made her the object either of horror or of pity. If
+she enjoyed any real love in her married life with Sforza she would have
+passed her days in Pesaro as happily as the queen of a pastoral comedy.
+But this was denied her. The dark shadows of the Vatican reached even
+to the Villa Imperiale on Monte Accio. Any day a despatch from her
+father might summon her back to Rome. Her stay in Pesaro may also have
+become too monotonous, too empty for her; perhaps, also, her husband's
+position as condottiere in the papal army and in that of Venice
+compelled him often to be away from his court.
+
+Events which in the meantime had convulsed Italy took Lucretia back to
+Rome, she having spent but a single year in Pesaro.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[35] Memorie di Tommaso Diplovatazio Patrizio Constantinopolitano e
+Pesarese, da Annibale Olivieri. Pesaro, 1771.
+
+[36] Regarding Collenuccio see the works of his compatriot Giulio
+Perticari, Opp. Bologna, 1837. Vol. ii, 52 sqq.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE INVASION OF ITALY--THE PROFLIGATE WORLD
+
+
+Early in September, 1494, Charles VIII marched into Piedmont, and the
+affairs of all Italy suffered an immediate change. The Pope and his
+allies Alfonso and Piero de' Medici found themselves almost defenseless
+in a short time. As early as November 17th the King entered Florence.
+Alexander was anxious to meet him with his own and the Neapolitan troops
+at Viterbo, where Cardinal Farnese was legate; but the French overran
+the Patrimonium without hindrance, and even the Pope's mistress, her
+sister Girolama, and Madonna Adriana, who were Alexander's "heart and
+eyes," fell into the hands of a body of French scouts.
+
+The Mantuan agent, Brognolo, informed his master of this event in a
+despatch dated November 29, 1494: "A calamity has happened which is also
+a great insult to the Pope. Day before yesterday Madonna Hadriana and
+Madonna Giulia and her sister set out from their castle of Capodimonte
+to go to their brother the cardinal, in Viterbo, and, when about a mile
+from that place, they met a troop of French cavalry by whom they were
+taken prisoners, and led to Montefiascone, together with their suite of
+twenty-five or thirty persons."
+
+The French captain who made this precious capture was Monseigneur
+d'Allegre, perhaps the same Ivo who subsequently entered the service of
+Caesar. "When he learned who the beautiful women were he placed their
+ransom at three thousand ducats, and in a letter informed King Charles
+whom he had captured, but the latter refused to see them. Madonna Giulia
+wrote to Rome saying they were well treated, and asking that their
+ransom be sent."[37]
+
+The knowledge of this catastrophe caused Alexander the greatest dismay.
+He immediately despatched a chamberlain to Marino, where Cardinal
+Ascanio was to be found in the headquarters of the Colonna, and who, on
+his urgent request, had returned November 2d, and had had an interview
+with King Charles. He complained to the cardinal of the indignity which
+had been put upon him, and asked his cooperation to secure the release
+of the prisoners. He also wrote to Galeazzo of Sanseverino, who was
+accompanying the king to Siena, and who, wishing to please the Pope,
+urged Charles VIII to release the ladies. Accompanied by an escort of
+four hundred of the French, they were led to the gates of Rome, where
+they were received December 1st by Juan Marades, the Pope's
+chamberlain.[38]
+
+This romantic adventure caused a sensation throughout all Italy. The
+people, instead of sympathizing with the Pope, ridiculed him
+mercilessly. A letter from Trotti, the Ferrarese ambassador at the court
+of Milan, to Duke Ercole, quotes the words which Ludovico il Moro,
+the usurper of the throne of his nephew, whom he had poisoned, uttered
+on this occasion concerning the Pope.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES VIII.
+
+From an engraving by Pannier.]
+
+"He (Ludovico) gravely reproved Monsignor Ascanio and Cardinal
+Sanseverino for surrendering Madonna Giulia, Madonna Adriana, and
+Hieronyma to his Holiness; for, since these ladies were the 'heart and
+eyes' of the Pope, they would have been the best whip for compelling him
+to do everything which was wanted of him, for he could not live without
+them. The French, who captured them, received only three thousand ducats
+as ransom, although the Pope would gladly have paid fifty thousand or
+more simply to have them back again. The same duke received news from
+Rome, and also from Angelo in Florence, that when the ladies entered,
+his Holiness went to meet them arrayed in a black doublet bordered with
+gold brocade, with a beautiful belt in the Spanish fashion, and with
+sword and dagger. He wore Spanish boots and a velvet biretta, all very
+gallant. The duke asked me, laughing, what I thought of it, and I told
+him that, were I the Duke of Milan, like him, I would endeavor, with the
+aid of the King of France and in every other way--and on the pretext of
+establishing peace--to entrap his Holiness, and with fair words, such as
+he himself was in the habit of using, to take him and the cardinals
+prisoners, which would be very easy. He who has the servant, as we say
+at home, has also the wagon and the oxen; and I reminded him of the
+verse of Catullus: 'Tu quoque fac simile: ars deluditur arte.'"[39]
+
+Ludovico, the worthy contemporary of the Borgias, once an intimate
+friend of Alexander VI, hated the Pope when he turned his face away
+from him and France, and he was especially embittered by the treacherous
+capture of his brother Ascanio. December 28th the same ambassador wrote
+to Ercole, "The Duke Ludovico told me that he was hourly expecting the
+arrival of Messer Bartolomeo da Calco with a courier bringing the news
+that the Pope was taken and beheaded."[40] I leave it to the reader to
+decide whether Ludovico, simply owing to his hatred of the Pope, was
+slandering him and indulging in extravagances concerning him when he had
+this conversation with Trotti, and also when he publicly stated to his
+senate that "the Pope had allowed three women to come to him; one of
+them being a nun of Valencia, the other a Castilian, the third a very
+beautiful girl from Venice, fifteen or sixteen years of age." "Here in
+Milan," continued Trotti in his despatch, "the same scandalous things
+are related of the Pope as are told in Ferrara of the Torta."[41]
+
+Elsewhere we may read how Charles VIII, victorious without the trouble
+of winning battles, penetrated as far as Rome and Naples. His march
+through Italy is the most humiliating of all the invasions which the
+peninsula suffered; but it shows that when states and peoples are ready
+for destruction, the strength of a weak-headed boy is sufficient to
+bring about their ruin. The Pope outwitted the French monarch, who,
+instead of having him deposed by a council, fell on his knees before
+him, acknowledged him to be Christ's vicar, and concluded a treaty with
+him.
+
+After this he set out for Naples, which shortly fell into his hands.
+Italy rose, a league against Charles VIII was formed, and he was
+compelled to return. Alexander fled before him, first in the direction
+of Orvieto, and then toward Perugia. While there he summoned Giovanni
+Sforza, who arrived with his wife, June 16, 1495, remained four days,
+and then went back to Pesaro.[42] The King of France succeeded in
+breaking his way through the League's army at the battle of the Taro,
+and thus honorably escaped death or capture.
+
+Having returned to Rome, Alexander established himself still more firmly
+in the holy chair, about which he gathered his ambitious bastards, while
+the Borgias pushed themselves forward all the more audaciously because
+the confusion occasioned in the affairs of Italy by the invasion of
+Charles VIII made it all the easier for them to carry out their
+intentions.
+
+Lucretia remained a little longer in Pesaro with her husband, whom
+Venice had engaged in the interests of the League. Giovanni Sforza,
+however, does not appear to have been present either at the battle of
+the Taro or at the siege of Novara. When peace was declared in October,
+1495, between France and the Duke of Milan, whereby the war came to an
+end in Northern Italy, Sforza was able to take his wife back to Rome.
+Marino Sanuto speaks of her as having been in that city at the end of
+October, and Burchard gives us a picture of Lucretia at the Christmas
+festivities.
+
+While in the service of the League Sforza commanded three hundred foot
+soldiers and one hundred heavy horse. With these troops he set out for
+Naples in the spring of the following year, when the united forces lent
+the young King Ferrante II great assistance in the conflicts with the
+French troops under Montpensier. Even the Captain-general of Venice, the
+Marchese of Mantua, was there, and he entered Rome, March 26, 1496.
+Sforza with his mercenaries arrived in Rome, April 15th, only to leave
+the city again April 28th. His wife remained behind. May 4th he reached
+Fundi.[43]
+
+Alexander's two sons, Don Giovanni and Don Giuffre, were still away from
+Rome. One, the Duke of Gandia, was also in the pay of Venice, and was
+expected from Spain to take command of four hundred men which his
+lieutenant, Alovisio Bacheto, had enlisted for him. The other, Don
+Giuffre, had, as we have seen, gone to Naples in 1494, where he had
+married Donna Sancia and had been made Prince of Squillace. As a member
+of the house of Aragon he shared the dangers of the declining dynasty in
+the hope of inducing the Pope not to abandon it. He accompanied King
+Ferrante on his flight, and also followed his standard when, after the
+retreat of Charles VIII, he, with the help of Spain, Venice, and the
+Pope, again secured possession of his kingdom, entering Naples in the
+summer of 1495.
+
+Not until the following year did Don Giuffre and his wife come to Rome.
+In royal state they entered the Eternal City, May 20, 1496. The
+ambassadors, cardinals, officers of the city, and numerous nobles went
+to meet them at the Lateran gate. Lucretia also was there with her
+suite. The young couple were escorted to the Vatican. The Pope on his
+throne, surrounded by eleven cardinals, received his son and
+daughter-in-law. On his right hand he had Lucretia and on his left
+Sancia, sitting on cushions. It was Whitsuntide, and the two princesses
+and their suites boldly occupied the priests' benches in S. Peter's,
+and, according to Burchard, the populace was greatly shocked.
+
+Three months later, August 10, 1496, Alexander's eldest son, Don
+Giovanni, Duke of Gandia, entered Rome, where he remained, his father
+having determined to make him a great prince.[44] It is not related
+whether he brought his wife, Donna Maria, with him.
+
+For the first time Alexander had all his children about him, and in the
+Borgo of the Vatican there were no less than three nepot-courts.
+Giovanni resided in the Vatican, Lucretia in the palace of S. Maria in
+Portico, Giuffre in the house of the Cardinal of Aleria near the Bridge
+of S. Angelo, and Caesar in the same Borgo.
+
+They all were pleasure-loving upstarts who were consumed with a desire
+for honors and power; all were young and beautiful; except Lucretia, all
+were vicious, graceful, seductive scoundrels, and, as such, among the
+most charming and attractive figures in the society of old Rome. For
+only the narrowest observer, blind to everything but their infamous
+deeds, can paint the Borgias simply as savage and cruel brutes,
+tiger-cubs by nature. They were privileged malefactors, like many other
+princes and potentates of that age. They mercilessly availed themselves
+of poison and poignard, removing every obstacle to their ambition, and
+smiled when the object was attained.
+
+If we could see the life which these unrestrained bastards led in the
+Vatican, where their father, conscious now of his security and
+greatness, was enthroned, we should indeed behold strange things. It was
+a singular drama which was being enacted in the domain of S. Peter,
+where two young and beautiful women held a dazzling court, which was
+always animated by swarms of Spanish and Italian lords and ladies and
+the elegant world of Rome. Nobles and monsignori crowded around to pay
+homage to these women, one of whom, Lucretia, was just sixteen, and the
+other, Sancia, a little more than seventeen years of age.
+
+We may imagine what love intrigues took place in the palace of these
+young women, and how jealousy and ambition there carried on their
+intricate game, for no one will believe that these princesses, full of
+the passion and exuberance of youth, led the life of nuns or saints in
+the shadows of S. Peter's. Their palace resounded with music and the
+dance, and the noise of revels and of masquerades. The populace saw
+these women accompanied by splendid cavalcades riding through the
+streets of Rome to the Vatican; they knew that the Pope was in daily
+intercourse with them, visiting them in person and taking part in their
+festivities, and also receiving them, now privately, and now with
+ceremonious pomp, as befitted princesses of his house. Alexander
+himself, much as he was addicted to the pleasures of the senses, cared
+nothing for elaborate banquets. Concerning the Pope, the Ferrarese
+ambassador wrote to his master in 1495 as follows:
+
+     He partakes of but a single dish, though this must be a rich one.
+     It is, consequently, a bore to dine with him. Ascanio and others,
+     especially Cardinal Monreale, who formerly were his Holiness's
+     table companions, and Valenza too, broke off this companionship
+     because his parsimony displeased them, and avoided it whenever and
+     however they could.[45]
+
+The doings in the Vatican furnished ground for endless gossip, which had
+long been current in Rome. It was related in Venice, in October,
+1496, that the Duke of Gandia had brought a Spanish woman to his father,
+with whom he lived, and an account was given of a crime which is almost
+incredible, although it was related by the Venetian ambassador and other
+persons.[46]
+
+[Illustration: SAVONAROLA.
+
+From a painting by Fra Bartolommeo]
+
+It was not long before Donna Sancia caused herself to be freely gossiped
+about. She was beautiful and thoughtless; she appreciated her position
+as the daughter of a king. From the most vicious of courts she was
+transplanted into the depravity of Rome as the wife of an immature boy.
+It was said that her brothers-in-law Gandia and Caesar quarreled over her
+and possessed her in turn, and that young nobles and cardinals like
+Ippolito d'Este could boast of having enjoyed her favors.
+
+Savonarola may have had these nepot-courts in mind when, from the pulpit
+of S. Marco in Florence, he declaimed in burning words against the Roman
+Sodom.
+
+Even if the voice of the great preacher, whose words were filling all
+Italy, did not reach Lucretia's ears, from her own experience she must
+have known how profligate was the world in which she lived. About her
+she saw vice shamelessly displayed or cloaked in sacerdotal robes; she
+was conscious of the ambition and avarice which hesitated at no crime;
+she beheld a religion more pagan than paganism itself, and a church
+service in which the sacred actors,--with whose conduct behind the
+scenes she was perfectly familiar,--were the priests, the cardinals, her
+brother Caesar, and her own father. All this Lucretia beheld, but they
+are wrong who believe that she or others like her saw and regarded it as
+we do now, or as a few pure-minded persons of that age did; for
+familiarity always dulls the average person's perception of the truth.
+In that age the conceptions of religion, of decency, and of morality
+were entirely different from those of to-day. When the rupture between
+the Middle Ages and its ascetic Church and the Renaissance was complete,
+human passions threw off every restraint. All that had hitherto been
+regarded as sacred was now derided. The freethinkers of Italy created a
+literature never equaled for bold cynicism. From the _Hermaphroditus_ of
+Beccadeli to the works of Berni and Pietro Aretino, a foul stream of
+novelle, epigrams, and comedies, from which the serious Dante would have
+turned his eyes in disgust, overflowed the land.
+
+Even in the less sensual novelle, the first of which was Piccolomini's
+_Euryalus_, and the less obscene comedies, adultery and derision of
+marriage are the leading motives. The harlots were the Muses of
+belles-lettres during the Renaissance. They boldly took their place by
+the side of the saints of the Church, and contended with them for fame's
+laurels. There is a manuscript collection of poems of the time of
+Alexander VI which contains a series of epigrams beginning with a number
+in praise of the Holy Virgin and the Saints, and then, without word or
+warning, are several glorifying the famous cyprians of the day;
+following a stanza on S. Pauline is an epigram on Meretricis Nichine, a
+well-known courtesan of Siena, with several more of the same sort. The
+saints of heaven and the priestesses of Venus are placed side by side,
+without comment, as equally admirable women.[47]
+
+No self-respecting woman would now attend the performance of a comedy of
+the Renaissance, whose characters frequently represented the popes, the
+princes, and the noble women of the day; and their presentation, even
+before audiences composed entirely of men, would now be prohibited by
+the censor of the theater in every land.
+
+The naturalness with which women of the South even now discuss subjects
+which people in the North are careful to conceal excites astonishment;
+but what was tolerated by the taste or morals of the Renaissance is
+absolutely incredible. We must remember, however, that this obscene
+literature was by no means so diffused as novels are at the present
+time, and also that Southern familiarity with whatever is natural also
+served to protect women. Much was external, and was so treated that it
+had no effect whatever upon the imagination. In the midst of the vices
+of the society of the cities there were noble women who kept themselves
+pure.
+
+To form an idea of the morals of the great, and especially of the courts
+of that day, we must read the history of the Visconti, the Sforza, the
+Malatesta of Rimini, the Baglione of Perugia, and the Borgias of Rome.
+They were not more immoral than the members of the courts of Louis XIV
+and XV and of August of Saxony, but their murders rendered them more
+terrible. Human life was held to be of little value, but criminal
+egotism often was qualified by greatness of mind (magnanimitas), so that
+a bloody deed prompted by avarice and ambition was often condoned.
+
+Egotism and the selfish use of conditions and men for the profit of the
+individual were never so universal as in the country of Macchiavelli,
+where unfortunately they still are frequently in evidence. Free from the
+pedantic opinions of the Germans and the reverence for condition, rank,
+and birth which they have inherited from the Middle Ages, the Italians,
+on the other hand, always recognized the force of personality--no matter
+whether it was that of a bastard or not--but they, nevertheless, were
+just as likely to become the slaves of the successful. Macchiavelli
+maintains that the Church and the priests were responsible for the moral
+ruin of the peninsula--but were not the Church and these priests
+themselves products of Italy? He should have said that characteristics
+which were inherent in the Germanic races were foreign to the Italians.
+Luther could never have appeared among them.
+
+While our opinion of Alexander VI and Caesar is governed by ethical
+considerations, this was not the case with Guicciardini, and less still
+with Macchiavelli. They examined not the moral but the political man,
+not his motives but his acts. The terrible was not terrible when it was
+the deed of a strong will, nor was crime disgraceful when it excited
+astonishment as a work of art. The terrible way in which Ferdinand of
+Naples handled the conspiracy of the nobles of his kingdom made him, in
+the eyes of Italy, not horrible but great; and Macchiavelli speaks of
+the trick with which Caesar Borgia outwitted his treacherous condottieri
+at Sinigaglia as a "masterstroke," while the Bishop Paolo Giovio called
+it "the most beautiful piece of deception." In that world of egotism
+where there was no tribunal of public opinion, man could preserve
+himself only by overpowering power and by outwitting cunning with
+craft. While the French regarded, and still regard, "ridiculous" as the
+worst of epithets, the Italian dreaded none more than that of
+"simpleton."
+
+Macchiavelli, in a well-known passage in his _Discorsi_ (i. 27),
+explains his theory with terrible frankness, and his words are the exact
+keynote of the ethics of his age. He relates how Julius II ventured into
+Perugia, although Giampolo Baglione had gathered a large number of
+troops there, and how the latter, overawed by the Pope, surrendered the
+city to him. His comment is verbatim as follows: "People of judgment who
+were with the Pope wondered at his foolhardiness, and at Giampolo's
+cowardice; they could not understand why the latter did not, to his
+everlasting fame, crush his enemy with one blow and enrich himself with
+the plunder, for the Pope was accompanied by all his cardinals with
+their jewels. They could not believe that he refrained on account of any
+goodness or any conscientious scruples, for the heart of a wicked man,
+who committed incest with his sister, and destroyed his cousins and
+nephews so he might rule, could not be accessible to any feelings of
+respect. So they came to the conclusion that there are men who can
+neither be honorably bad nor yet perfectly good, who do not know how to
+go about committing a crime, great in itself or possessing a certain
+splendor. This was the case with Giampolo; he who thought nothing of
+incest and the murder of his kinsmen did not know how, or rather did not
+dare, in spite of the propitious moment, to perform a deed which would
+have caused every one to admire his courage, and would have won for him
+an immortal name. For he would first have shown the priests how small
+men are in reality who live and rule as they do, and he would have been
+the first to accomplish a deed whose greatness would have dazzled every
+one, and would have removed every danger which might have arisen from
+it."
+
+Is it any wonder that in view of such a prostitution of morals to the
+conception of success, fame, and magnificence, as Macchiavelli here and
+in _Il Principe_ advocates, men like the Borgias found the widest field
+for their bold crimes? They well knew that the greatness of a crime
+concealed the shame of it. The celebrated poet Strozzi in Ferrara placed
+Caesar Borgia, after his fall, among the heroes of Olympus; and the
+famous Bembo, one of the first men of the age, endeavors to console
+Lucretia Borgia on the death of the "miserable little" Alexander VI,
+whom he at the same time calls her "great" father.
+
+No upright man, conscious of his own worth, would now enter the service
+of a prince stained by such crimes as were the Borgias, if it were
+possible for such a one now to exist, which is wholly unlikely. But then
+the best and most upright of men sought, without any scruples whatever,
+the presence and favors of the Borgias. Pinturicchio and Perugino
+painted for Alexander VI, and the most wonderful genius of the century,
+Leonardo da Vinci, did not hesitate to enter the service of Caesar Borgia
+as his engineer, to erect fortresses for him in the same Romagna which
+he had appropriated by such devilish means.
+
+The men of the Renaissance were in a high degree energetic and creative;
+they shaped the world with a revolutionary energy and a feverish
+activity, in comparison with which the modern processes of civilization
+almost vanish. Their instincts were rougher and more powerful, and their
+nerves stronger than those of the present race. It will always appear
+strange that the tenderest blossoms of art, the most ideal creations of
+the painter, put forth in the midst of a society whose moral
+perversity and inward brutality are to us moderns altogether loathsome.
+If we could take a man such as our civilization now produces and
+transfer him into the Renaissance, the daily brutality which made no
+impression whatever on the men of that age would shatter his nervous
+system and probably upset his reason.
+
+[Illustration: NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI.
+
+From an engraving by G. Marri.]
+
+Lucretia Borgia lived in Rome surrounded by these passions, and she was
+neither better nor worse than the women of her time. She was thoughtless
+and was filled with the joy of living. We do not know that she ever went
+through any moral struggles or whether she ever found herself in
+conscious conflict with the actualities of her life and of her
+environment. Her father maintained an elaborate household for her, and
+she was in daily intercourse with her brothers' courts. She was their
+companion and the ornament of their banquets; she was entrusted with the
+secret of all the Vatican intrigues which had any connection with the
+future of the Borgias, and all her vital interests were soon to be
+concentrated there.
+
+Never, even in the later years of her life, does she appear as a woman
+of unusual genius; she had none of the characteristics of the _viragos_
+Catarina Sforza and Ginevra Bentivoglio; nor did she possess the
+deceitful soul of an Isotta da Rimini, or the spirituelle genius of
+Isabella Gonzaga. If she had not been the daughter of Alexander VI and
+the sister of Caesar Borgia, she would have been unnoticed by the
+historians of her age or, at most, would have been mentioned only as one
+of the many charming women who constituted the society of Rome. In the
+hands of her father and her brother, however, she became the tool and
+also the victim of their political machinations, against which she had
+not the strength to make any resistance.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[37] This information is given by Marino Sanuto, Venuta di Carlo VIII,
+in Italia; original in the Paris library, also a copy in the Marciana.
+He calls Giulia "favorita del Pontefice, di eta giovane, et bellissima
+savia accorda et mansueta."
+
+[38] According to one of Brognolo's despatches (Mantuan archives) Giulia
+and Adriana returned December 1st, on which date Pandolfo Collenuccio,
+who was in Rome, wrote, "Una optima novella ce e per alcuno. Che Ma
+Julia si e recuperata, et ando Messer Joan Marrades per Lei. Et e venuta
+in Roma: e dicesi, che Domenica de nocte allogio in Palazzo." Archives
+of Modena.
+
+[39] Despatch of Giacomo Trotti, Milan, December 21, 1494. Archives of
+Modena.
+
+[40] Che li pareva ogni hora vedere messer Bartolomeo da Calche venire a
+Sua Eccia cum una staffetta, chel papa fosse preso, e li fosse
+taliata la testa.
+
+[41] Trotti to the Duke of Ferrara, Milan, December 24, 1494.
+
+[42] This is the date given by Marino Sanuto in his Ms. History of the
+Invasion of Charles VIII, fol. 470.
+
+[43] These dates are from the Diary of Marino Sanuto, vol. i. fol. 55,
+58, 85.
+
+[44] Il di de S. Laurentio il Duca de Gandia figliuolo del Papa, intro
+in Roma accompagnato dal Card. de Valentia, et tutta la corte con
+grandissima pompa. Despatch of Ludovico Carissimi to the Duke of
+Ferrara, Rome, August 15, 1496. Archives of Modena.
+
+[45] Boccaccio to Ercole, March 24, 1495.
+
+[46] The report is given in Diar. Marino Sanuto, vol. i, 258, and is
+reprinted in part in the Civilta Cattolica, March 15, 1873, p. 727. The
+entire passage is as follows: Da Roma per le lettere del orator nostro
+se intese et etiam de private persone cossa assai abominevole in la
+chiesa di Dio che al papa erra nato un fiolo di una dona romana maridata
+ch'el padre l'havea rufianata e di questa il marito invito il suocero
+ala vigna el lo uccise tagliandoli el capo ponendo quello sopra uno
+legno con letere che dicera questo e il capo de mio suocero che a
+rufianato sua fiola al papa et che inteso questo il papa fece metter el
+dito in exilio di Roma con Taglia. Questa nova vene per letere
+particular etiam si godea con la sua spagnola menatali di spagna per suo
+fiol duca di Gandia novamente li venuto.
+
+[47] Epitaphia clarissimarum mulierum que virtute: arte: aut aliqua nota
+claruerunt. Codex Hartmann Schedel in the State Library of Munich.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DIVORCE AND SECOND MARRIAGE
+
+
+After the surrender of the remnant of the French forces in the fall of
+1496, Giovanni Sforza returned from Naples. There is no doubt that he
+went to Rome for the purpose of taking Lucretia home with him to Pesaro,
+where we find him about the close of the year, and where he spent the
+winter. The chroniclers of Pesaro, however, state that he left the city
+in disguise, January 15, 1497, and that Lucretia followed him a few days
+later for the purpose of going to Rome.[48] Both were present at the
+Easter festivities in the papal city.
+
+Sforza was now a worn-out plaything which Alexander was preparing to
+cast away, for his daughter's marriage to the tyrant of Pesaro promised
+him nothing more, the house of Sforza having lost all its influence;
+moreover, the times were propitious for establishing connections which
+would be of greater advantage to the Borgias. The Pope was unwilling to
+give his son-in-law a command in the war against the Orsini, which he
+had begun immediately after the return of his son Don Giovanni from
+Spain, for whom he wanted to confiscate the property of these mighty
+lords. He secured the services of Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino, who
+likewise had served in the allied armies of Naples, and whom the
+Venetians released in order that he might assume supreme command of the
+papal troops.
+
+This noble man was the last of the house of Montefeltre, and the Borgias
+already had their eyes on his possessions. His sister Giovanna was
+married in 1478 to the municipal prefect, Giovanni della Rovere, a
+brother of Cardinal Giuliano, and in 1490 she bore him a daughter,
+Francesca Maria, a child who was looked upon as heir of Urbino.
+Guidobaldo did not disdain to serve as a condottiere for pay and in the
+hope of winning honors; he was also a vassal of the Church. Fear of the
+Borgias led him to seek their friendship although he hated them.
+
+In the war against the Orsini the young Duke of Gandia was next in
+command under Guidobaldo, and Alexander made him the standard-bearer of
+the Church and Rector of Viterbo, and of the entire Patrimonium after he
+had removed Alessandro Farnese from that position. This appears to have
+been due to a dislike he felt for Giulia's brother. September 17, 1496,
+the Mantuan agent in Rome, John Carolus, wrote to the Marchioness
+Gonzaga: "Cardinal Farnese is shut up in his residence in the
+Patrimonium, and will lose it unless he is saved by the prompt return of
+Giulia."
+
+The same ambassador reported to his sovereign as follows: "Although
+every effort is made to conceal the fact that these sons of the Pope are
+consumed with envy of each other, the life of the Cardinal of S. Giorgio
+(Rafael Riario) is in danger; should he die, Caesar would be given the
+office of chancellor and the palace of the dead Cardinal of Mantua,
+which is the most beautiful in Rome, and also his most lucrative
+benefices. Your Excellency may guess how this plot will terminate."[49]
+
+The war against the Orsini ended with the ignominious defeat of the
+papal forces at Soriano, January 23, 1497, whence Don Giovanni, wounded,
+fled to Rome, and where Guidobaldo was taken prisoner. The victors
+immediately forced a peace on most advantageous terms.
+
+Not until the conclusion of the war did Lucretia's husband return to
+Rome. We shall see him again there, for the last time, at the Easter
+festivities of 1497, when, as Alexander's son-in-law, he assumed his
+official place during the celebration in S. Peter's, and, standing near
+Caesar and Gandia, received the Easter palm from the Pope's hand. His
+position in the Vatican had, however, become untenable; Alexander was
+anxious to dissolve his marriage with Lucretia. Sforza was asked to give
+her up of his own free will, and, when he refused, was threatened with
+extreme measures.
+
+Flight alone saved him from the dagger or poison of his brothers-in-law.
+According to statements of the chroniclers of Pesaro, it was Lucretia
+herself who helped her husband to flee and thus caused the suspicion
+that she was also a participant in the conspiracy. It is related that,
+one evening when Jacomino, Lord Giovanni's chamberlain, was in Madonna's
+room, her brother Caesar entered, and on her command the chamberlain
+concealed himself behind a screen. Caesar talked freely with his sister,
+and among other things said that the order had been given to kill
+Sforza. When he had departed, Lucretia said to Jacomino: "Did you hear
+what was said? Go and tell him." This the chamberlain immediately did,
+and Giovanni Sforza threw himself on a Turkish horse and rode in
+twenty-four hours to Pesaro, where the beast dropped dead.[50]
+
+According to letters of the Venetian envoy in Rome, Sforza fled in
+March, in Holy Week. Under some pretext he went to the Church of S.
+Onofrio, where he found the horse waiting for him.[51]
+
+The request for the divorce was probably not made by Lucretia, but by
+her father and brothers, who wished her to be free to enter into a
+marriage which would advance their plans. We are ignorant of what was
+now taking place in the Vatican, and we do not know that Lucretia made
+any resistance; but if she did, it certainly was not of long duration,
+for she does not appear to have loved her husband. Pesaro's escape did
+not please the Borgias. They would have preferred to have silenced this
+man forever; but now that he had gotten away and raised an objection, it
+would be necessary to dissolve the marriage by process of law, which
+would cause a great scandal.
+
+Shortly after Sforza's flight a terrible tragedy occurred in the house
+of Borgia--the mysterious murder of the Duke of Gandia. On the failure
+of Alexander's scheme to confiscate the estates of the Orsini and bestow
+them on his dearly beloved son, he thought to provide for him in another
+manner. He made him Duke of Benevento, thereby hoping to prepare the way
+for him to reach the throne of Naples. A few days later, June 14th,
+Vannozza invited him and Caesar, together with a few of their kinsmen, to
+a supper in her vineyard near S. Pietro in Vinculo. Don Giovanni,
+returning from this family feast, disappeared in the night, without
+leaving a trace, and three days later the body of the murdered man was
+found in the Tiber.
+
+According to the general opinion of the day, which in all probability
+was correct, Caesar was the murderer of his brother. From the moment
+Alexander VI knew this crime had been committed, and assumed
+responsibility for its motives and consequences, and pardoned the
+murderer, he became morally accessory after the fact, and fell himself
+under the power of his terrible son. From that time on, every act of his
+was intended to further Caesar's fiendish ambition.
+
+None of the records of the day say that Don Giovanni's consort was in
+Rome when this tragedy occurred. We are therefore forced to assume that
+she was not there when her husband was murdered. It is much more likely
+that she had not left Spain, and that she was living with her two little
+children in Gandia or Valencia, where she received the dreadful news in
+a letter written by Alexander to his sister Dona Beatrice Boria y
+Arenos. This is rendered probable by the court records of Valencia.
+September 27, 1497, Dona Maria Enriquez appeared before the tribunal of
+the governor of the kingdom of Valencia, Don Luis de Cabaineles, and
+claimed the estate, including the duchy of Gandia and the Neapolitan
+fiefs of Suessa, Teano, Carinola, and Montefoscolo, for Don Giovanni's
+eldest son, a child of three years. The duke's death was proved by legal
+documents, among which was this letter written by Alexander, and the
+tribunal accordingly recognized Gandia's son as his legal heir.[52]
+
+Dona Maria also claimed her husband's personal property in his house in
+Rome, which was valued at thirty thousand ducats, and which on the death
+of Don Giovanni, had been transferred by Alexander VI, to the
+fratricide Caesar to administer for his nephew, as appears from an
+official document of the Roman notary Beneimbene, dated December 19,
+1498.
+
+At this time Lucretia was not in her palace in the Vatican. June 4th she
+had gone to the convent of S. Sisto on the Appian Way, thereby causing a
+great sensation in Rome. Her flight doubtless was in some way connected
+with the forced annulment of her marriage. While her father himself may
+not have banished her to S. Sisto, she, probably excited by Pesaro's
+departure, and perhaps angry with the Pope, had doubtless sought this
+place as an asylum. That she was angry with him is shown by a letter
+written by Donato Aretino from Rome, June 19th, to Cardinal Ippolito
+d'Este: "Madonna Lucretia has left the palace _insalutato hospite_ and
+gone to a convent known as that of S. Sisto; where she now is. Some say
+she will turn nun, while others make different statements which I can
+not entrust to a letter."[53]
+
+We know not what prayers and what confessions Lucretia made at the
+altar, but this was one of the most momentous periods of her life. While
+in the convent she learned of the terrible death of one of her brothers,
+and shuddered at the crime of the other. For she, like her father and
+all the Borgias, firmly believed that Caesar was a fratricide. She
+clearly discerned the marks of his inordinate ambition; she knew that he
+was planning to lay aside the cardinal's robe and become a secular
+prince; she must have known too that they were scheming in the Vatican
+to make Don Giuffre a cardinal in Caesar's place and to marry the latter
+to the former's wife, Donna Sancia, with whom, it was generally known,
+he was on most intimate terms.
+
+Alexander commanded Giuffre and his young wife to leave Rome and take up
+their abode in his princely seat in Squillace, and he set out on August
+7th for that place. It is stated the Pope did not want his children and
+nepots about him any longer, and that he also wished to banish his
+daughter Lucretia to Valencia.[54]
+
+In the meantime, in July, Caesar had gone to Capua as papal legate, where
+he crowned Don Federico, the last of the Aragonese, as King of Naples.
+September 4th he returned to Rome.
+
+Alexander had appointed a commission under the direction of two
+cardinals for the purpose of divorcing Lucretia from Giovanni Sforza.
+These judges showed that Sforza had never consummated the marriage, and
+that his spouse was still a virgin, which, according to her contemporary
+Matarazzo of Perugia, set all Italy to laughing. Lucretia herself stated
+she was willing to swear to this.
+
+During these proceedings her spouse was in Pesaro. Thence he
+subsequently went in disguise to Milan to ask the protection of Duke
+Ludovico and to get him to use his influence to have his wife, who had
+been taken away, restored to him. This was in June. He protested against
+the decision which had been pronounced in Rome, and which had been
+purchased, and Ludovico il Moro made the naive suggestion that he
+subject himself to a test of his capacity in the presence of trustworthy
+witnesses, and of the papal legate in Milan, which, however, Sforza
+declined to do.[55] Ludovico and his brother Ascanio finally induced
+their kinsman to yield, and Sforza, intimidated, declared in writing
+that he had never consummated his marriage with Lucretia.[56]
+
+The formal divorce, therefore, took place December 20, 1497, and Sforza
+surrendered his wife's dowry of thirty-one thousand ducats.
+
+Although we may assume that Alexander compelled his daughter to consent
+to this separation, it does not render our opinion of Lucretia's part in
+the scandalous proceedings any less severe; she shows herself to have
+had as little will as she had character, and she also perjured herself.
+Her punishment was not long delayed, for the divorce proceedings made
+her notorious and started terrible rumors regarding her private life.
+These reports began to circulate at the time of the murder of Gandia and
+of her divorce from Sforza; the cause of both these events was stated to
+have been an unmentionable crime. According to a reliable witness of the
+day it was the lord of Pesaro himself, injured and exasperated, who
+first--and to the Duke of Milan--had openly uttered the suspicion which
+was being whispered about Rome. By permitting himself to do this, he
+showed that he had never loved Lucretia.[57]
+
+Alexander had dissolved his daughter's marriage for political reasons.
+It was his purpose to marry Lucretia and Caesar into the royal house of
+Naples. This dynasty had reestablished itself there after the expulsion
+of the French, but its position had been so profoundly shaken that its
+fall was imminent; and it was this very fact that made Alexander hope to
+be able to place his son Caesar on the throne of Naples. The most
+terrible of the Borgias now appropriated the place left vacant by the
+Duke of Gandia, to which he had long aspired, and only for the sake of
+appearances did he postpone casting aside the cardinal's robe. The Pope,
+however, was already scheming for his son's marriage; for him he asked
+King Federico for the hand of his daughter Carlotta, who had been
+educated at the court of France as a princess of the house of Savoy. The
+king, an upright man, firmly refused, and the young princess in horror
+rejected the Pope's insulting offer. Federico, in his anxiety, made one
+sacrifice to the monster in the Vatican; he consented to the betrothal
+of Don Alfonso, Prince of Salerno, younger brother of Donna Sancia and
+natural son of Alfonso II, to Lucretia. Alexander desired this marriage
+for no other reason than for the purpose of finally inducing the king to
+agree to the marriage of his daughter and Caesar.
+
+Even before Lucretia's new betrothal was settled upon it was rumored in
+Rome that her former affianced, Don Gasparo, was again pressing his suit
+and that there was a prospect of his being accepted. Although the young
+Spaniard failed to accomplish his purpose, Alexander now recognized the
+fact that Lucretia's betrothal to him had been dissolved illegally.
+
+In a brief dated June 10, 1498, he speaks of the way his daughter was
+treated--without special dispensation for breaking the engagement, in
+order that she might marry Giovanni of Pesaro, which was a great
+mistake--as illegal. He says in the same letter that Gasparo of Procida,
+Count of Almenara, had subsequently married and had children, but not
+until 1498 did Lucretia petition to have her betrothal to him formally
+declared null and void. The Pope, therefore, absolved her of the perjury
+she had committed by marrying Giovanni Sforza in spite of her engagement
+to Don Gasparo, and while he now, for the first time, declared her
+formal betrothal to the Count of Procida to have been dissolved, he gave
+her permission to marry any man whom she might select.[58] Thus did a
+pope play fast and loose with one of the holiest of the sacraments of
+the Church.
+
+When Lucretia had in this way been protected against the demands of all
+pretenders to her hand, she was free to enter into a new alliance, which
+she did June 20, 1498, in the Vatican. If we were not familiar with the
+character of the public men of that age we should be surprised to learn
+that King Federico's proxy on this occasion was none other than Cardinal
+Ascanio Sforza, who had been instrumental in bringing about the marriage
+of his nephew and Lucretia, and who had consented in Sforza's name to
+the disgraceful divorce. Thus were he and his brother Ludovico
+determined to retain the friendship of the Borgias at any price.
+
+Lucretia received a dowry of forty thousand ducats, and the King of
+Naples bound himself to make over the cities of Quadrata and Biselli to
+his nephew for his dukedom.[59]
+
+The young Alfonso accordingly came to Rome in July to become the husband
+of a woman whom he must have regarded at least as unscrupulous and
+utterly fickle. He doubtless looked upon himself as a sacrifice
+presented by his father at the altar of Rome. Quietly and sorrowfully,
+welcomed by no festivities, almost secretly, came this unhappy youth to
+the papal city. He went at once to his betrothed in the palace of S.
+Maria in Portico. In the Vatican, July 21st, the marriage was blessed by
+the Church. Among the witnesses to the transaction were the Cardinals
+Ascanio, Juan Lopez, and Giovanni Borgia. In obedience to an old custom
+a naked sword was held over the pair by a knight, a ceremony which in
+this instance was performed by Giovanni Cervillon, captain of the papal
+guard.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[48] Lod. Zacconi, Hist. di Pesaro, Ms. in the Bibl. Oliveriana; also
+Pietro Marzetti.
+
+[49] Letters in the Gonzaga archives in Mantua.
+
+[50] Battista Almerici I, and Pietro Marzetti, Memorie di Pesaro, Ms. in
+the Oliveriana. These chronicles are often confusing as to dates and
+full of mistakes.
+
+[51] Marino Sanuto, Diar. vol. i, 410. March, 1497.
+
+[52] This document is given in part by Amati in Strozzi's Periodico di
+Numismatica, Anno III, part ii, p. 73. Florence, 1870.
+
+[53] In the archives of Modena. Letters of Donato Aretino from Rome.
+
+[54] Letter of Ludovico Carissimi, Rome, August 8, 1497. Archives of
+Modena.
+
+[55] Et mancho se e curato de fare prova de se qua con Done per poterne
+chiarire el Rmo. Legato che era qua, sebbene S. Extia tastandolo sopra
+cio gli ne habia facto offerta. Despatch from the Ferrarese ambassador
+in Milan, Antonio Costabili, to Duke Ercole, Milan, June 23, 1497.
+Archives of Modena.
+
+[56] Concerning this, Pandolfo Collenuccio, a member of Cardinal
+Ippolito's suite in Rome, wrote to the Duke of Ferrara, December 25,
+1498 (1497), as follows: El S. de Pesaro ha scripto qua de sua mano: non
+haverla mai cognosciuta ... et esser impotente, alias la sententia non
+se potea dare.... El prefato S. dice pero haver scripto cosi per obedire
+el Duca de Milano et Aschanio. The autographic letter is in the archives
+of Modena.
+
+[57] In the same despatch from Milan, June 23, 1497, the Ferrarese
+Ambassador Costabili stated that Sforza had said to the Duke Ludovico:
+Anzi haverla conosciuta infinite volte, ma chel Papa non gelha tolta per
+altro se non per usare con Lei. Extendendose molto a carico di S.
+Beatno.
+
+[58] The original of this letter is in the archives of Modena.
+
+[59] Bisceglie, formerly pronounced and written Biseglia or Biselli.
+Quadrata is now Corato, near Andria.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A REGENT AND A MOTHER
+
+
+Lucretia, now Duchess of Biselli, had been living since July, 1498, with
+a new husband, a youth of seventeen, she herself having just completed
+her eighteenth year. She and her consort did not go to Naples, but
+remained in Rome; for, as the Mantuan agent reported to his master, it
+was expressly agreed that Don Alfonso should live in Rome a year, and
+that Lucretia should not be required to take up her abode in the kingdom
+of Naples during her father's lifetime.[60]
+
+The youthful Alfonso was fair and amiable. Talini, a Roman chronicler of
+that day, pronounced him the handsomest young man ever seen in the
+Imperial City. According to a statement made by the Mantuan agent in
+August, Lucretia was really fond of him. A sudden change in affairs,
+however, deprived her of the calm joys of domestic life.
+
+The moving principle in the Vatican was the measureless ambition of
+Caesar, who was consuming with impatience to become a ruling sovereign.
+August 13, 1498, he flung aside the cardinal's robes and prepared to set
+out for France; Louis XII, who in April had succeeded Charles VIII,
+having promised him the title of Duke of Valentinois and the hand of a
+French princess. Alexander provided for his son's retinue with regal
+extravagance.
+
+It happened one day that a train of mules laden with silks and cloth of
+gold on the way to Caesar in Rome was plundered by the people of Cardinal
+Farnese and of his cousin Pier Paolo in the forest of Bolsena, whereupon
+the Pope addressed some vigorous communications to the cardinal, in
+whose territory, he stated, the robbery had been committed.[61]
+
+In the service of the Farnese were numerous Corsicans, some as
+mercenaries and bullies, some as field laborers, and these people, who
+were universally feared, probably were the guilty ones, for it is
+difficult to believe that Cardinal Alessandro would have undertaken such
+a venture on his own account. It seems, however, that the relations of
+the Borgias and the Farnese were somewhat strained during this period.
+The cardinal spent most of his time on his family estates, and at this
+juncture little was heard of his sister Giulia. It is not even known
+whether or not she was living in Rome and continuing her relations with
+the Pope, although, from subsequent revelations, it appears that she
+was. April 2, 1499, we find the cardinal and his sister again in Rome,
+where a nuptial contract was concluded in the Farnese palace between
+Laura Orsini, Giulia's seven-year-old daughter, and Federico Farnese,
+the twelve-year-old son of the deceased condottiere Raimondo Farnese, a
+nephew of Pier Paolo. Laura's putative father, Orsino Orsini, was
+present at the ceremony.[62]
+
+It was probably Adriana and Giulia who were endeavoring to bring about a
+reconciliation between the house of Orsini and the Borgias. In the
+spring of 1498 these barons, having issued victorious from their war
+with the Pope, began a bitter contest with their hereditary foes, the
+Colonna, which, however, ended in their own defeat. These houses made
+peace with each other in July, a fact which caused Alexander no little
+anxiety, for upon the hostility of these, the two mightiest families of
+Rome, depended the Pope's dominion over the city; his greatest danger
+lay in their mutual friendship. He therefore endeavored again to set
+them at loggerheads, and he succeeded in attaching the Orsini to
+himself,--which they subsequently had reason to regret. He accomplished
+his purpose so well that they intermarried with the Borgias; Paolo
+Orsini, Giambattista's brother, uniting his son Fabio with Girolama, a
+sister of Cardinal Giovanni Borgia the younger, September 8, 1498. The
+marriage contract was concluded in the presence of the Pope and a
+brilliant gathering in the Vatican, and one of the official witnesses
+was Don Alfonso of Biselli, who held the sword over the young
+couple.[63]
+
+Shortly afterwards, October first, Caesar Borgia set sail for France,
+where he was made Duke of Valentinois, and where, in May, 1499, he
+married Charlotte d'Albret, sister of the King of Navarre. At this court
+he met two men who were destined later to exercise great influence upon
+his career--George of Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, to whom he had
+brought the cardinal's hat, and Giuliano della Rovere. The latter,
+hitherto Alexander's bitterest enemy, now suffered himself, by the
+intermediation of the King of France, to be won over to the cause of the
+Borgias; he permitted himself even to become Caesar's stepping-stone to
+greatness.
+
+The reconciliation was sealed by a marriage between the two families;
+the city prefect, Giovanni della Rovere, Giuliano's brother, betrothing
+his eighteen-year-old son Francesco Maria to Angela Borgia, September 2,
+1500.
+
+Angela's father, Giuffre, was a son of Giovanni, sister of Alexander VI,
+and of Guglielmo Lanzol. Giovanni Borgia the younger, Cardinal Ludovico,
+and Rodrigo, captain of the papal guard, were her brothers. Her sister
+Girolama, as above stated, was married to Fabio Orsini. The ceremony of
+Angela's betrothal took place in the Vatican in the presence of the
+ambassador of France.
+
+For the purpose of driving Ludovico il Moro from Milan, Louis XII had
+concluded an alliance with Venice, which the Pope also joined on the
+condition that France would help his son to acquire Romagna.
+
+Ascanio Sforza, who was unable to prevent the loss of Milan, and who
+knew that his own life was in danger in Rome, fled July 13, 1499, to
+Genazzano and subsequently to Genoa.
+
+His example was followed by Lucretia's youthful consort. We do not know
+what occurred in the Vatican to cause Don Alfonso quietly to leave Rome,
+where he had spent but a single year with Lucretia. We can only say that
+his decision must have been brought about by some turn which the Pope's
+politics had taken. The object of the expedition of Louis XII was not
+only the overthrow of the Sforza dynasty in Milan, but also the seizure
+of Naples; it was intended to be a sequel to the attempt of Charles
+VIII, which was defeated by the great League. The young prince was aware
+of the Pope's intention to destroy his uncle Federico, who had deeply
+offended him by refusing to grant Caesar the hand of his daughter
+Carlotta. After this occurrence the relations of Lucretia's husband with
+the Pope had altogether changed.
+
+Ascanio was the only friend the unfortunate prince had in Rome, and it
+was probably he who advised him to save himself from certain death by
+flight, as Lucretia's other husband had done. Alfonso slipped away
+August 2, 1499. The Pope sent some troopers after him, but they failed
+to catch him. It is uncertain whether Lucretia knew of his intended
+flight. A letter written in Rome by a Venetian, August 4th, merely says:
+"The Duke of Biseglia, Madonna Lucretia's husband, has secretly fled and
+gone to the Colonna in Genazzano; he deserted his wife, who has been
+with child for six months, and she is constantly in tears."[64]
+
+She was in the power of her father, who, highly incensed by the prince's
+flight, banished Alfonso's sister Donna Sancia to Naples.
+
+Lucretia's position, owing to these circumstances, became exceedingly
+trying. Her tears show that she possessed a heart. She loved, and
+perhaps for the first time. Alfonso wrote her from Genazzano, urgently
+imploring her to follow him, and his letters fell into the hands of the
+Pope, who compelled her to write her husband and ask him to return. It
+was doubtless his daughter's complaining that induced Alexander to send
+her away from Rome. August 8th he made her Regent of Spoleto. Hitherto
+papal legates, usually cardinals, had governed this city and the
+surrounding territory; but now the Pope entrusted its administration to
+a young woman of nineteen, his own daughter, and thither she repaired.
+
+He gave her a letter to the priors of Spoleto which was as follows:
+
+     DEAR SONS: Greeting and the Apostolic Blessing! We have
+     entrusted to our beloved daughter in Christ, the noble lady,
+     Lucretia de Borgia, Duchess of Biseglia, the office of keeper of
+     the castle, as well as the government of our cities of Spoleto and
+     Foligno, and of the county and district about them. Having perfect
+     confidence in the intelligence, the fidelity, and probity of the
+     Duchess, which We have dwelt upon in previous letters, and likewise
+     in your unfailing obedience to Us and to the Holy See, We trust
+     that you will receive the Duchess Lucretia, as is your duty, with
+     all due honor as your regent, and show her submission in all
+     things. As We wish her to be received and accepted by you with
+     special honor and respect, so do We command you in this epistle--as
+     you value Our favor and wish to avoid Our displeasure--to obey the
+     Duchess Lucretia, your regent, in all things collectively and
+     severally, in so far as law and custom dictate in the government of
+     the city, and whatever she may think proper to exact of you, even
+     as you would obey Ourselves, and to execute her commands with all
+     diligence and promptness, so that your devotion may receive due
+     approbation. Given in Rome, in St. Peter's, under the papal seal,
+     August 8, 1499.
+
+     HADRIANUS (Secretary).[65]
+
+Lucretia left Rome for her new home the same day. She set out with a
+large retinue, and accompanied by her brother Don Giuffre; Fabio Orsini,
+now the consort of Girolama Borgia, her kinswoman; and a company of
+archers. She left the Vatican mounted on horseback, the governor of the
+city, the Neapolitan ambassador, and a number of other gentlemen forming
+an escort to act as a guard of honor, while her father took a position
+in a loggia over the portal of the palace of the Vatican to watch his
+departing daughter and her cavalcade. For the first time he found
+himself in Rome deprived of all his children.
+
+Lucretia made the journey partly on horseback and partly in a litter,
+and the trip from Rome to Spoleto required not less than six days. At
+Porcaria, in Umbria, she found a deputation of citizens of Spoleto
+waiting to greet her, and to accompany her to the city, which had been
+famous since the time of Hannibal, and which had been the seat of the
+mighty Lombard dukes. The castle of Spoleto is very ancient, its
+earliest portions dating from the Dukes Faroald and Grimoald. In the
+fourteenth century it was restored by the great Gil d'Albornoz, the
+contemporary of Cola di Rienzi, and it was completed shortly afterwards
+by Nicholas V. It is a magnificent piece of Renaissance architecture,
+overlooking the old city and the deep ravine which separates it from
+Monte Luco. From its high windows one may look out over the valley of
+the Clitunno and that of the Tiber, the fertile Umbrian plain, and, on
+the east, to the Apennines.
+
+August 15th Lucretia Borgia received the priors of the city, to whom she
+presented her papal appointment, whereupon they swore allegiance to her.
+Later the commune gave a banquet in her honor.
+
+Lucretia's stay in Spoleto was short. Her regency there was merely
+intended to signify the actual taking possession of the territory which
+Alexander desired to bestow upon his daughter.
+
+In the meantime her husband Alfonso had decided, unfortunately for
+himself, to obey Alexander's command and return to his wife--perhaps
+because he really loved her. The Pope ordered him to go to Spoleto by
+way of Foligno, and then to come with his spouse to Nepi, where he
+himself intended to be. The purpose of this meeting was to establish his
+daughter as sovereign there also.
+
+Nepi had never been a baronial fief, although the prefects of Vico and
+the Orsini had held the place at different times. The Church through its
+deputies governed the town and surrounding country. When Alexander was a
+cardinal his uncle Calixtus had made him governor of the city, and such
+he remained until he was raised to the papal throne, when he conferred
+Nepi upon Cardinal Ascanio Sforza. The neatly written parchment
+containing the municipal statute confirming Ascanio's appointment, which
+is dated January 1, 1495, is still preserved in the archives of the
+city. At the beginning of the year 1499, however, Alexander again
+assumed control of Nepi by compelling the castellan, who commanded the
+fortress for the truant Ascanio, to surrender it to him. He now invested
+his daughter with the castle, the city, and the domain of Nepi.[66]
+September 4, 1499, Francesco Borgia, the Pope's treasurer, who was also
+Bishop of Teano, took possession of the city in her name.
+
+September 25th Alexander himself, accompanied by four cardinals, went to
+Nepi. In the castle, which he had restored, he met Lucretia and her
+husband, and also her brother Don Giuffre. He returned to Rome almost
+immediately--October 1st. On the tenth he addressed a brief from there
+to the city of Nepi, in which he commanded the municipality thenceforth
+to obey Lucretia, Duchess of Biselli, as their true sovereign. On the
+twelfth he sent his daughter a communication in which he empowered her
+to remit certain taxes to which the citizens of Nepi had hitherto been
+subject.[67]
+
+Lucretia, therefore, had become the mistress of two large domains--a
+fact which clearly shows that she stood in high favor with her father.
+She did not again return to Spoleto, but entrusted its government to a
+lieutenant. Although Alexander made Cardinal Gurk legate for Perugia
+and Todi early in October, he reserved Spoleto for his daughter. Later,
+August 10, 1500, he made Ludovico Borgia--who was Archbishop of
+Valencia--governor of this city, without, however, impairing his
+daughter's rights to the large revenue which the territory yielded.
+
+As early as October 14th Lucretia returned to Rome. November 1, 1499,
+she gave birth to a son, who was named, in honor of the Pope, Rodrigo.
+Her firstborn was baptized with great pomp November 11th in the Sistine
+Chapel--not the chapel now known by that name, but the one which Sixtus
+IV had built in S. Peter's. Giovanni Cervillon held the child in his
+arms, and near by were the Governor of Rome and a representative of the
+Emperor Maximilian. All the cardinals, the ambassadors of England,
+Venice, Naples, Savoy, Siena, and the Republic of Florence were present
+at the ceremony. The governor of the city held the child over the font.
+The godfathers were Podocatharo, Bishop of Caputaqua, and Ferrari,
+Bishop of Modena.
+
+In the meantime, October 6th, Louis XII had taken possession of Milan,
+Ludovico Sforza having fled, on the approach of the French forces, to
+the Emperor Maximilian. In accordance with his agreement with Alexander,
+the king now lent troops to Caesar Borgia to enable him to seize the
+Romagna, where it was proclaimed that the vassals of the Church, the
+Malatesta of Rimini, the Sforza of Pesaro, the Riario of Imola and
+Forli, the Varano of Camerino, and the Manfredi of Faenza had forfeited
+their fiefs to the Pope.
+
+Caesar went to Rome, November 18, 1499. He stayed in the Vatican three
+days and then set forth again to join his army, which was besieging
+Imola. It was his intention first to take this city and then attack
+Forli, in the castle of which the mistress of the two cities, Catarina
+Sforza, had established herself for the purpose of resisting him.
+
+While he was engaged in his campaigns in Romagna, his father was
+endeavoring to seize the hereditary possessions of the Roman barons. He
+first attacked the Gaetani. From the end of the thirteenth century this
+ancient family had held large landed estates in the Campagna and
+Maritima. It had divided into several branches, one of which was settled
+in the vicinity of Naples. There the Gaetani were Dukes of Traetto,
+Counts of Fundi and Caserta, and likewise vassals and favorites of the
+crown of Naples.
+
+Sermoneta, the center of the domain of the Gaetani family in the Roman
+Campagna, was an ancient city with a feudal castle, situated in the
+foothills of the Volscian mountains. Above it and to one side were the
+ruins of the great castle of Norba; below were the beautiful remains of
+Nymsa; while at its foot, extending to the sea, lay the Pontine marshes.
+The greater part of this territory, which was traversed by the Appian
+Way, including the Cape of Circello, was the property of the Gaetani, to
+whom it still belongs.
+
+At the time of which we are speaking it was ruled by the sons of
+Honoratus II, a powerful personality, who had raised his house from
+ruin. He died in the year 1490, leaving a widow, Catarina Orsini, and
+three sons--Nicola the prothonotary; Giacomo, and Guglielmo. His
+daughter Giovanella was the wife of Pierluigi Farnese and mother of
+Giulia. Nicola, who had married Eleonora Orsini, died in the year 1494;
+consequently, next to the prothonotary Giacomo, Guglielmo Gaetani was
+head of the house of Sermoneta.
+
+Alexander lured the prothonotary to Rome and, having confined him in
+the castle of S. Angelo, began a process against him. Guglielmo
+succeeded in escaping to Mantua, but Nicola's little son Bernardino was
+murdered by the Borgia hirelings. Sermoneta was besieged, and its
+inhabitants surrendered without resistance.
+
+As early as March 9, 1499, Alexander compelled the apostolic chamber to
+sell his daughter the possessions of the Gaetani for eighty thousand
+ducats. He stated in a document, which was signed by eighteen cardinals,
+that the magnitude of the expenditures which he had recently made in the
+interests of the Holy See compelled him to increase the Church property;
+and for this purpose there were Sermoneta, Bassiano, Ninfa and Norma,
+Tivera, Cisterna, San Felice (the Cape of Circello), and San Donato,
+which, owing to the rebellion of the Gaetani, might be confiscated. This
+transaction was concluded in February, 1500, and Lucretia, who was
+already mistress of Spoleto and Nepi, thus became ruler of
+Sermoneta.[68] In vain did the unfortunate Giacomo Gaetani protest from
+his prison; July 5, 1500, he was poisoned. His mother and sisters buried
+him in S. Bartolomeo, which stands on an island in the Tiber, where the
+Gaetani had owned a palace for a great many years.
+
+Giulia Farnese, therefore, was unable to save her own uncle. She was
+reminded that Giacomo and Nicola had stood beside her when she was
+married to the youthful Orsini in 1489 in the Borgia palace. We do not
+know whether Giulia was living in Rome at this time. We occasionally
+find her name in the epigrams of the day, and it appears in a satire,
+_Dialogue between Death and the Pope, sick of a Fever_, in which he
+called upon Giulia to save him, whereupon Death replied that his
+mistress had borne him three or four children. As the satire was written
+in the summer of 1500, when Alexander was suffering from the fever, it
+is probable that his relations with Giulia still continued.
+
+Caesar, who had taken Imola, December 1, 1499, was far from pleased when
+he saw the great estates of the Gaetani, whose revenues he himself could
+use to good advantage, bestowed upon his sister; and, as he himself
+wished absolutely to control the will of his father, her growing
+influence in the Vatican caused him no little annoyance. He had sinister
+plans for whose execution the time was soon to prove propitious.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[60] Despatch of Joh. Lucidus Cataneus, Rome, August 8, 1498. Gonzaga
+archives.
+
+[61] The briefs are in the state archives of Venice.
+
+[62] The instrument is in Beneimbene's protocol-book.
+
+[63] The instrument is in Beneimbene's protocol-book.
+
+[64] Diary of Marino Saruto, ii, 751.
+
+[65] This brief is in the state archives of Spoleto.
+
+[66] The Bull of Investiture, written on parchment, is dated Rome, 1499,
+Non. (the month is not given). It is an absolute _donum_. The document
+is now in the archives of Modena.
+
+[67] Both briefs are preserved in the archives of the State-house of
+Nepi.
+
+[68] The documents concerning this sale, dated February 11 to 15, 1500,
+are preserved in the archives of Modena.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+SOCIAL LIFE OF THE BORGIAS
+
+
+Lucretia certainly must have been pleased by her brother's long absence;
+the Vatican was less turbulent. Besides herself only Don Giuffre and
+Donna Sancia, who had effected her return, maintained a court there.
+
+We might avail ourselves of this period of quiet to depict Lucretia's
+private life, her court, and the people about her; but it is impossible
+to do this, none of her contemporaries having left any description of
+it. Even Burchard shows us Lucretia but rarely, and when he does it is
+always in connection with affairs in the Vatican. Only once does he give
+us a fleeting view of her palace--on February 27, 1496--when Giovanni
+Borgia, Juan de Castro, and the recently created Cardinal Martinus of
+Segovia were calling upon her.
+
+None of the foreign diplomatists of that time, so far as we may learn
+from their despatches, made any reports regarding Lucretia's private
+life. We have only a few letters written by her during her residence in
+Rome, and there is not a single poem dedicated to her or which mentions
+her; therefore it is due to the malicious epigrams of Sannazzaro and
+Pontanus that she has been branded as the most depraved of courtesans.
+If there ever was a young woman, however, likely to excite the
+imagination of the poet, Lucretia Borgia in the bloom of her youth and
+beauty was that woman. Her connection with the Vatican, the mystery
+which surrounded her, and the fate she suffered, make her one of the
+most fascinating women of her age. Doubtless there are buried in various
+libraries numerous verses dedicated to her by the Roman poets who must
+have swarmed at the court of the Pope's daughter to render homage to her
+beauty and to seek her patronage.
+
+In Rome, Lucretia had an opportunity to enjoy, if she were so disposed,
+the society of many brilliant men, for even during the sovereignty of
+the Borgias the Muses were banished neither from the Vatican nor from
+Rome. It can not be denied, however, that the daughters of princely
+houses were allowed to devote themselves to the cultivation of the
+intellect more freely at the secular courts of Italy than they were at
+the papal court. Not until Lucretia went to Ferrara to live was she able
+to endeavor to emulate the example of the princesses of Mantua and
+Urbino. While living in Rome she was too young and her environment too
+narrow for her to have had any influence upon the literary and aesthetic
+circles of that city, although, owing to her position, she must have
+been acquainted with them.
+
+Her father was not incapable of intellectual pleasures; he had his court
+minstrels and poets. The famous Aurelio Brandolini, who died in 1497,
+was wont to improvise to the strains of the lute during banquets in the
+Vatican and in Lucretia's palace. Caesar's favorite, Serafino of Aquila,
+the Petrarch of his age, who died in Rome in the year 1500, still a
+young man, aspired to the same honor.
+
+Caesar himself was interested in poetry and the arts, just as were all
+the cultivated men and tyrants of the Renaissance. His court poet was
+Francesco Sperulo, who served under his standard, and who sang his
+campaigns in Romagna and in the neighborhood of Camerino.[69] A number
+of Roman poets who subsequently became famous recited their verses in
+the presence of Lucretia, among them Emilio Voccabella and Evangelista
+Fausto Maddaleni. Even at that time the three brothers Mario, Girolamo,
+and Celso Mellini enjoyed great renown as poets and orators, while the
+brothers of the house of Porcaro--Camillo, Valerio, and Antonio--were
+equally famous. We have already noted that Antonio was one of the
+witnesses at the marriage of Girolama Borgia in the year 1482, and that
+he subsequently was Lucretia's proxy when she was betrothed to Centelles
+in 1491. These facts show how closely and how long the Porcaro were
+allied to the Borgias.
+
+This Roman family had been made famous in the history of the city by the
+fate of Stefano, Cola di Rienzi's successor. The Porcaro claimed descent
+from the Catos, and for this reason many of them adopted the name
+Porcius. Enjoying friendly relations with the Borgias, they claimed them
+as kinsmen, stating that Isabella, the mother of Alexander VI, was
+descended from the Roman Porcaro, who somehow had passed to Spain. The
+similarity of sound in the Latin names Borgius and Porcius gave some
+appearance of truth to this pretension.
+
+Next to Antonio, Hieronymus Porcius was one of the most brilliant
+retainers of the house of Borgia. Alexander, upon his election to the
+papal throne, made him auditor of the Ruota (the Papal Court of
+Appeals). He was the author of a work printed in Rome in September,
+1493, under the title _Commentarius Porcius_, which was dedicated to the
+King and Queen of Spain. In it he describes the election and coronation
+of Alexander VI, and quotes portions of the declarations of loyalty
+which the Italian envoys addressed to the Pope. Court flattery could not
+be carried further than it was in this case by Hieronymus, an affected
+pedant, an empty-headed braggart, a fanatical papist. Alexander made him
+Bishop of Andria and Governor of the Romagna. In 1497 Hieronymus, then
+in Cesena, composed a dialogue on Savonarola and his "heresy concerning
+the power of the Pope." The kernel of the whole thing was the
+fundamental doctrine of the infallibilists; namely, that only those who
+blindly obey the Pope are good Christians.[70]
+
+Porcius also essayed poetry, celebrating the magnificence of the Pope
+and Cardinal Caesar, whom, in his verses on the Borgia Steer, he
+described as his greatest benefactor. Apparently he was also the author
+of the elegy on the death of the Duke of Gandia, which is still
+preserved.
+
+Phaedra Inghirami, the famous student of Cicero, whom Erasmus admired and
+whom Raphael rendered immortal by his portrait, doubtless made the
+acquaintance of the Borgias and of Lucretia through the Porcaro. Even as
+early as this he was attracting the attention of Rome. Inghirami
+delivered an oration at the mass which the Spanish ambassador had said
+for the Infante Don Juan, January 16, 1498, in S. Jacopo in Navona,
+which was greatly admired. He also made a reputation as an actor in
+Cardinal Rafael Riario's theater.
+
+The drama was then putting forth its first fruits, not only at the
+courts of the Este and Gonzaga families, but also in Rome. Alexander
+himself, owing to his sensuous nature, was especially fond of it, and
+had comedies and ballets performed at all the family festivities in the
+Vatican. The actors were young students from the Academy of Pomponius
+Laetus, and we have every reason to believe that Inghirami, the Mellini,
+and the Porcaro took part in these performances whenever the
+opportunity was offered. Carlo Canale, Vannozza's consort, must also
+have lent valuable assistance, for he had been familiar with the stage
+in Mantua; and no less important was the aid of Pandolfo Collenuccio,
+who had repeatedly been Ferrara's ambassador in Rome, where he enjoyed
+daily intercourse with the Borgias.
+
+The celebrated Pomponius, to whom Rome was indebted for the revival of
+the theater, spent his last years, during the reign of Alexander, in the
+enjoyment of the highest popular esteem. Alexander himself may have been
+one of his pupils, as Cardinal Farnese certainly was. Pomponius died
+June 6, 1498, and the same pope who had sent Savonarola to the stake had
+his court attend the obsequies of the great representative of classic
+paganism, which were held in the Church of Aracoeli, a fact which lends
+additional support to the belief that he was personally known to the
+Borgias. Moreover, one of his most devoted pupils, Michele Ferno, had
+for a long time been a firm adherent of Alexander. Although the Pope in
+1501 issued the first edict of censorship, he was not an enemy of the
+sciences. He fostered the University of Rome, several of whose chairs
+were at that time held by men of note; for example, Petrus Sabinus and
+John Argyropulos. One of the greatest geniuses--one whose light has
+blessed all mankind--was for a year an ornament of this university and
+of the reign of Alexander; Copernicus came to Rome from far away Prussia
+in the jubilee year 1500, and lectured on mathematics and astronomy.
+
+Among Alexander's courtiers there were many brilliant men whose society
+Lucretia must have had an opportunity to enjoy. Burchard, the master of
+ceremonies, laid down the rules for all the functions in which the
+Pope's daughter took part. He must have called upon her frequently, but
+she could scarcely have foreseen that, centuries later, this Alsatian's
+notes would constitute the mirror in which posterity would see the
+reflections of the Borgias. His diary, however, gives no details
+concerning Lucretia's private life--this did not come within his duties.
+
+Never did any other chronicler describe the things about him so clearly
+and so concisely, so dryly, and with so little feeling--things which
+were worthy of the pen of a Tacitus. That Burchard was not friendly to
+the Borgias is proved by the way his diary is written; it, however, is
+absolutely truthful. This man well knew how to conceal his feelings--if
+the dull routine of his office had left him any. He went through the
+daily ceremonial of the Vatican mechanically, and kept his place there
+under five popes. Burchard must have seemed to the Borgias a harmless
+pedant; for if not, would they have permitted him to behold and describe
+their doings and yet live? Even the little which he did write in his
+diary concerning events of the day would have cost him his head had it
+come to the knowledge of Alexander or Caesar. It appears, however, that
+the diaries of the masters of ceremony were not subjected to official
+censorship. Caesar would have spared him no more than he did his father's
+favorite, Pedro Calderon Perotto, whom he stabbed, and Cervillon, whom
+he had killed--both of whom frequently performed important parts in the
+ceremonies in the Vatican.
+
+Nor did he spare the private secretary, Francesco Troche, whom Alexander
+VI had often employed in diplomatic affairs. Troche, according to a
+Venetian report a Spaniard, was, like Canale, a cultivated humanist, and
+like him, he was also on friendly terms with the house of Gonzaga. There
+are still in existence letters of his to the Marchioness Gonzaga, in
+which he asks her to send him certain sonnets she had composed. She
+likewise writes to him regarding family matters, and also asks him to
+find her an antique cupid in Rome. There is no doubt but that he was one
+of Lucretia's most intimate acquaintances. In June, 1503, Caesar had also
+this favorite of his father strangled.
+
+Besides Burchard and Lorenz Behaim, there was another German who was
+familiar with the family affairs of the Borgias, Goritz of Luxemburg,
+who subsequently, during the reigns of Julius II and Leo X, became
+famous as an academician. Even in Alexander's time the cultivated world
+of Rome was in the habit of meeting at Goritz's house in Trajan's Forum
+for the purpose of engaging in academic discussions. All the Germans who
+came to Rome sought him out, and he must have received Reuchlin, who
+visited that city in 1498, and subsequently Copernicus, Erasmus, and
+Ulrich von Hutten, who remembered him with gratitude; it is also
+probable that Luther visited his hospitable home. Goritz was _supplicant
+referent_, and as such he must have known Lucretia personally, because
+the influential daughter of the Pope was the constant recipient of
+petitions of various sorts. He had ample opportunity to observe events
+in the Vatican, but of his experiences he recorded nothing; or, if he
+did, his diary was destroyed in the sack of Rome in 1527, when he lost
+all his belongings.
+
+Among Lucretia's personal acquaintances was still another man, one who
+was in a better position than any one else to write the history of the
+Borgias. This was the Nestor of Roman notaries, old Camillo Beneimbene,
+the trusted legal adviser of Alexander and of most of the cardinals and
+grandees of Rome. He knew the Borgias in their private as well as in
+their public character; he had been acquainted with Lucretia from her
+childhood; he drew up all her marriage contracts. His office was on the
+Lombard Piazza, now known as S. Luigi dei Francesi. Here he worked,
+drawing up legal documents until the year 1505, as is shown by
+instruments in his handwriting.[71] A man who had been the official
+witness and legal adviser in the most important family affairs of the
+Borgias for so long a time, and who, therefore, was familiar with all
+their secrets, must have occupied, so far as their house, and especially
+Lucretia, were concerned, the position of a close friend. Beneimbene
+records none of his personal experiences, but his protocol-book is still
+preserved in the archives of the notary of the Capitol.
+
+Adriano Castelli of Corneto, a highly cultivated humanist, and
+privy-secretary to Alexander, who subsequently made him a cardinal, was
+very close to the Borgias. As the Pope's secretary he must have
+frequently come in contact with Lucretia. Among her intimate
+acquaintances were also the famous Latinist, Cortesi; the youthful
+Sardoleto, the familiar of Cardinal Cibo; young Aldo Manuzio; the
+intellectual brothers Rafael and Mario Maffei of Volterra; and Egidio of
+Viterbo, who subsequently became famous as a pulpit orator and was made
+a cardinal. The last maintained his connection with Lucretia while she
+was Duchess of Ferrara. He exercised a deep influence upon the religious
+turn which her nature took during this the second period of her life.
+
+The youthful Duchess of Biselli certainly enjoyed the lively society of
+the cultured and gallant ecclesiastics about her--Cardinals Medici,
+Riario, Orsini, Cesarini, and Farnese--not to mention the Borgias and
+the Spanish prelates. We may look for her, too, at the banquets in the
+palaces of Rome's great families, the Massimi and Orsini, the Santa
+Croce, Altieri, and Valle, and in the homes of the wealthy bankers
+Altoviti, Spanocchi, and Mariano Chigi, whose sons Lorenzo and
+Agostino--the latter eventually became famous--enjoyed the confidence of
+the Borgias.
+
+Lucretia was able in Rome to gratify a taste for the fine arts.
+Alexander found employment for the great artists of the day in the
+Vatican, where Perugino executed some paintings for him, and where,
+under the picture of the holy Virgin, Pinturicchio, who was his court
+artist, painted the portrait of the adulteress, Giulia Farnese. He also
+painted portraits of several members of the Borgia family in the castle
+of S. Angelo.
+
+"In the castle of S. Angelo," says Vasari, "he painted many of the rooms
+_a grotesche_; but in the tower below, in the garden, he depicted scenes
+from the life of Alexander VI. There he painted the Catholic Queen
+Isabella; Niccolo Orsini, Count of Pitigliano; Giangiacomo Trivulzio;
+and many other kinsmen and friends of the Pope, and especially Caesar
+Borgia and his brother and sisters, as well as numerous great men of the
+age." Lorenz Behaim copied the epigrams which were placed under six of
+these paintings in the "castle of S. Angelo, below in the papal
+gardens." All represented scenes from the critical period of the
+invasion of Italy by Charles VIII, and they were painted in such a way
+as to make Alexander appear as having been victorious. One showed the
+king prostrating himself at the Pope's feet in this same garden of the
+castle of S. Angelo; another represented Charles declaring his loyalty
+before the consistory; another, Philip of Sens and Guillaume of S. Malo
+receiving the cardinal's hat; another, the mass in S. Peter's at which
+Charles VIII assisted; the subject of another was the passage to S.
+Paul's, with the king holding the Pope's stirrup; and, lastly, a scene
+depicting the departure of Charles for Naples, accompanied by Caesar
+Borgia and the Sultan Djem.[72]
+
+These paintings are now lost, and with them the portraits of the members
+of the Borgia family. Pinturicchio doubtless painted several likenesses
+of the beautiful Lucretia. Probably many of the figures in the paintings
+of this master resemble the Borgias, but of this we are not certain. In
+the collections of antiquaries, and among the innumerable old portraits
+which may be seen hanging in rows on the discolored walls in the palaces
+of Rome and in the castles in Romagna, there doubtless are likenesses of
+Lucretia, of Caesar, and of his brothers, which the beholder never
+suspects as such. It is well known that there was a faithful portrait of
+Alexander VI and his children above the altar of S. Lucia in the Church
+of S. Maria del Popolo, the work of Pinturicchio. Later, when Alexander
+restored this church, the painting was removed to the court of the
+cloister, and eventually it was lost.[73]
+
+Of the famous artists of the day, Lucretia must likewise have known
+Antonio di Sangallo, her father's architect, and also Antonio
+Pollajuolo, the most renowned sculptor of the Florentine school in Rome
+during the last decades of the fifteenth century. He died there in 1498.
+
+But the most famous of all the artists then in Rome was Michael Angelo.
+He appeared there first in 1498, an ambitious young man of three and
+twenty. At that time the city of Rome was an enchanting environment for
+an artistic nature. The boundless immorality of her great past, speaking
+so eloquently from innumerable monuments of the pagan and Christian
+worlds; her majesty and holy calm; the sudden breaking loose of furious
+passions--all this is beyond the imaginative power of modern men, just
+as is the wickedly secular nature of the papacy and the spirit of the
+Renaissance which swept over these ruins. We are unable to comprehend in
+their entirety the soul-activities of this great race, which was both
+creative and destructive. For to the same feeling which impelled men to
+commit great crimes do we owe the great works of art of the Renaissance.
+In those days evil, as well as good, was in the _grand style_. Alexander
+VI displayed himself to the world, for whose opinion he had supreme
+contempt, as shamelessly and fearlessly as did Nero.
+
+The Renaissance, owing to the violent contrasts which it presents, now
+naively and now in full consciousness of their incongruity, and also on
+account of the fiendish traits by which it is characterized, will always
+constitute one of the greatest psychologic problems in the history of
+civilization.
+
+All virtues, all crimes, all forces were set in motion by a feverish
+yearning for immaterial pleasures, beauty, power, and immortality. The
+Renaissance has been called an intellectual bacchanalia, and when we
+examine the features of the bacchantes they become distorted like those
+of the suitors in Homer, who anticipated their fall; for this society,
+this Church, these cities and states--in fine, this culture in its
+entirety--toppled over into the abyss which was yawning for it. The
+reflection that men like Copernicus, Michael Angelo, and Bramante,
+Alexander VI and Caesar Borgia could live in Rome at one and the same
+time is well nigh overpowering.
+
+Did Lucretia ever see the youthful artist, subsequently the friend of
+the noble lady, Vittoria Colonna, whose portrait he painted? We know
+not; but there is no reason to doubt that she did. The curiosity of the
+artist and of the man would have induced Michael Angelo to endeavor to
+gain a glimpse of the most charming woman in Rome. Although only a
+beginner, he was already recognized as an artist of great talent. As he
+had just been taken up by Gallo the Roman and Cardinal La Grolaye, it is
+altogether probable that he would have been the subject also of
+Lucretia's curiosity.
+
+Affected by the recent tragedies in the house of Borgia--for example,
+the murder of the Duke of Gandia--Michael Angelo was engaged upon the
+great work which was the first to attract the attention of the city, the
+Pieta, which Cardinal La Grolaye had commissioned him to paint. This
+work he completed in 1499, about the time the great Bramante came to
+Rome. The group should be studied with the epoch of the Borgias for
+background; the Pieta rises supreme in ethical significance, and in the
+moral darkness about her she seems a pure sacrificial fire lighted by a
+great and earnest spirit in the dishonored realm of the Church. Lucretia
+stood before the Pieta, and the masterpiece must have affected this
+unhappy daughter of a sinful pope more powerfully than the words of her
+confessor or than the admonitions of the abbesses of S. Sisto.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[69] Manuscript in the Vatican, No. 5205.
+
+[70] Collocutores itinerantes Tuscus et Remus, Romae in Campo Florae,
+1497.
+
+[71] See the author's essay, Das Archiv der Notare des Capitols in Rom,
+and the protocol-book of the Notary Camillus de Beneimbene, 1457 to
+1505. Proceedings of k. bayr. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Muenchen,
+1872. Part iv.
+
+[72] In the Codex Hartmann Schedel in the state library of Munich.
+
+[73] Piazza (Gerarchia Cardinalizia) states that he saw it as late as
+1712.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+MISFORTUNES OF CATARINA SFORZA
+
+
+The jubilee year 1500 was a fortunate one for Caesar, but an unhappy one
+for Lucretia. She began it January 1st with a formal passage to the
+Lateran, whither she went to make the prescribed pilgrimage to the Roman
+churches. She rode upon a richly caparisoned jennet, her escort
+consisting of two hundred mounted nobles, men and women. On her left was
+her consort, Don Alfonso; on her right one of the ladies of her court;
+and behind them came the captain of the papal guard, Rodrigo Borgia.
+While she and her retinue were crossing over the Bridge of S. Angelo,
+her father stood in a loggia of the castle, feasting his eyes upon his
+beloved daughter.
+
+The new year brought Alexander only good news--if we except that of the
+death of the Cardinal-legate Giovanni Borgia, Bishop of Melfi and
+Archbishop of Capua, who was known as the "younger," to distinguish him
+from another cardinal of the same name. He died in Urbino, January 8,
+1500, of a fever, according to a statement made by Elisabetta, consort
+of Guidobaldo, to her brother Gonzaga, in a letter written from
+Fossombrone on the same day.[74]
+
+Caesar was in Forli when he received the news of the cardinal's death,
+the very morning--January 12th--on which the stronghold surrendered to
+him. He at once conveyed the information to the Duke of Ferrara in a
+letter, in which he said that Giovanni Borgia had been called to Rome
+by the Pope, and having set out from Forli, had died suddenly in Urbino
+of a flux. The fact that he had been in Caesar's camp, and that,
+according to Elisabetta's letter, he had been taken sick in Urbino, lent
+some probability to the suspicion that he had been poisoned.
+
+It is worthy of note that Caesar, in his letter to the duke, speaks of
+the deceased as his brother;[75] and Ercole, in offering him his
+condolences, January 18th, on the death of the cardinal, also called him
+Caesar's brother. Are we thereby warranted in concluding that the younger
+Giovanni Borgia was a son of Alexander VI? Further, the Ferrarese
+chronicler Zambotto, speaking of the cardinal's death, uses the
+expression, "son of Pope Alexander."[76] If this was the case, the
+number of Alexander's children must be increased, for Ludovico Borgia
+was also his son. This Borgia, who succeeded to Giovanni's benefices,
+was Archbishop of Valencia and subsequently cardinal. He reported his
+promotion to the Marchioness Gonzaga in a letter in which he everywhere
+speaks of the deceased as "his brother," just as Caesar had done.[77]
+
+These statements, however, do not refute the hitherto generally accepted
+opinion regarding the descent of Giovanni Borgia, "the younger," and
+Zambotta certainly was in error--the word _fratre_, which he uses in his
+letter means merely "dear cousin," _fratello cugino_.[78]
+
+January 14th news reached the Vatican that Caesar had taken the castle of
+Forli. After a brave resistance Catarina Sforza Riario, together with
+her two brothers, was compelled to surrender. The grandchild of the
+great Francesco Sforza of Milan, the natural daughter of Galeazzo Maria
+and the illegitimate sister of Blanca, wife of Emperor Maximilian, was
+the ideal of the heroic women of Italy, who were found not only in
+Bojardo's and Ariosto's poems, but also in real life. Her nature
+exceeded the feminine and verged on caricature. To understand the
+evolution of such personalities, in whom beauty and culture, courage and
+reason, sensuality and cruelty combined to produce a strange organism,
+we must be familiar with the conditions from which they sprang. Catarina
+Sforza's experiences made her the amazon that she was.
+
+At an early age she was married to the rude nephew of Sixtus IV,
+Girolamo Riario, Count of Forli. Shortly afterwards her terrible father
+met a tyrant's death in Milan. Then her husband fell beneath the daggers
+of the conspirators, who flung his naked body from a window of the
+stronghold of Forli. Catarina, however, with determined courage,
+succeeded in keeping the castle for her children, and she avenged her
+husband's death with ferocious cruelty. Subsequently she was known--to
+quote Marino Sanuto's words--as "a courageous woman and cruel
+virago."[79] Six years later she saw her brother Giangaleazzo die of
+poison administered by Ludovico il Moro, while before her very eyes her
+second, but not openly recognized, husband, Giacomo Feo of Savona, was
+slain in Forli by conspirators. She immediately mounted her charger, and
+at the head of her guard pursued the murderers to their quarter, where
+she had every living being--men, women, and children--hacked to pieces.
+She buried a third lover, Giovanni Medici, in 1497.
+
+With cunning and force this amazon ruled her little domain until she
+herself finally fell into Caesar's hands. Few lamented her fate. When the
+news reached Milan that she was in the duke's power, and consequently
+also in that of Pope Alexander, the celebrated General Giangiacomo
+Trivulzio made a jesting remark which clearly shows how little her fate
+grieved the people. According to the stories of the day, Caesar led her
+to Rome in golden chains, like another Queen of Palmyra. He entered the
+city in triumph, February 26th, and the Pope assigned the Belvedere to
+the captive for her abode.
+
+The city was filled at that time with the faithful, who had come to
+receive absolution for their sins, this the jubilee year,--and from a
+Borgia. Among the number was Elisabetta Gonzaga, consort of Guidobaldo
+of Urbino. The pilgrimage of this famous woman was a dangerous
+experiment, the Pope having secretly placed Urbino on the list of
+proscribed cities included in the Church fiefs. Caesar already looked
+upon it as his property. The thought of meeting this Borgia in Rome must
+have been exceedingly painful to her. How easily might he have found a
+pretext for keeping her prisoner! Her brother, Francesco Gonzaga, warned
+her against her decision, but on her way to Rome she wrote him a letter
+so remarkable and so amiable that we quote it at length:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE AND LORD, HONORED BROTHER: I have left
+     Urbino and set out for Rome for the purpose of receiving
+     absolution, this the jubilee year. Several days ago I informed your
+     Excellency of my prospective journey. Only to-day, in Assisi, did I
+     receive your letter; I understand from what you write that you
+     wish me to abandon this journey--perhaps thinking that I have not
+     yet set out--which grieves me greatly, and causes me unspeakable
+     pain, because I wish in this as in all other things to do your
+     Majesty's will, having always looked upon you as my most honored
+     father, and never having had any thought or purpose but to follow
+     your wishes. However, as I have said, I am now on the way and am
+     out of the country. With the help of Fabritius (Colonna) and
+     Madonna Agnesina, my honored sister-in-law and sister, I have made
+     arrangements for a residence in Rome, and for whatever may be
+     necessary for my comfort. I have also informed them that I would be
+     in Marino four days hence, and consequently Fabritius has gone to
+     the trouble of securing an escort for me; further, my departure and
+     journey have been noised about; therefore, I see no way to abandon
+     this pilgrimage without affecting my honor and that of my
+     husband--since the thing has gone so far--the more so as the
+     journey was undertaken with the full knowledge and consent of my
+     lord, and all and everything carefully considered. Your Majesty
+     must not be distressed or annoyed by this, my journey, and in order
+     that you may know everything, I will tell you that I am first going
+     to Marino, and thence, accompanied by Madonna Agnesina, and
+     incognito, shall go to Rome for the purpose of receiving absolution
+     at this the holy jubilee of the Church. I need not see any one
+     there, for during my stay in Rome I shall live in the palace of the
+     deceased Cardinal Savelli. The house is a good one, and is exactly
+     what I want, and it is within reach of the Colonna. It is my
+     intention to return soon to Marino, there to spend the greater part
+     of the time. Your Majesty, therefore, need have no further anxiety
+     about my journey, and must not be displeased by it. Although these
+     reasons are sufficient to induce me not only to continue the
+     journey, but to begin it, if I had not already set out I would
+     relinquish it, not on account of any fear of anything unpleasant
+     that might attend my pilgrimage, but simply to comply with the wish
+     expressed in your Majesty's letter, as I desire to do always. But
+     as I am now here, and as your Excellency will soon receive this
+     letter, I am sure you will approve of my course. I earnestly beg
+     you to do so, and to assure me by letter, addressed to Rome, that
+     you are not displeased, so that I may receive absolution in
+     greater peace and tranquillity. If you do not I shall suffer great
+     anxiety and grief. I commend myself to your Excellency's merciful
+     benevolence as your Majesty's youngest sister,
+
+  ELISABETTA.
+
+  ASSISI, _March 21, 1500_.
+
+Agnesina di Montefeltre mentioned in the letter, Guidobaldo's soulful
+sister, was married to Fabritius Colonna, who subsequently became one of
+Italy's greatest captains. She was then twenty-eight years of age. She
+and her husband lived at the castle of Marino in the Alban mountains,
+where, in 1490, she bore him Vittoria Colonna, the future ornament of
+her house. Elisabetta found this beautiful child already betrothed to
+Ferrante d'Avalos, son of Marquis Alfonso of Pescara; Ferdinand II of
+Naples having brought about the betrothal of the two children as early
+as 1495 for the purpose of winning over the Colonna, the retainers of
+the house of Aragon.
+
+The Duchess of Urbino actually went to Rome for the purpose of
+protecting her noble kinswoman, whom she kept incognito. She remained
+there until Easter. On her way to S. Peter's she directed anxious
+glances toward the Belvedere, where the bravest woman of Italy, a
+prisoner, was grieving her life away, Catarina Sforza having been
+confined there since Caesar's return, February 26th, as is attested by a
+letter of that date written by the Venetian ambassador in Rome to his
+Signory. Elisabetta's feelings must have been rendered still more
+painful by the fact that her own husband, as well as her brother
+Gonzaga, both of whom were in the service of France, had given the
+princess up for lost.
+
+She had scarcely left Rome when Catarina received news that her uncles
+Ludovico and Ascanio had fallen into the hands of the King of France.
+Having, with the aid of Swiss troops, again secured possession of Milan
+in 1500, they were ignominiously betrayed by the mercenaries at Novara,
+April 10th. Ludovico was carried away to France, where he died in
+misery, having spent ten years a prisoner in the tower of Loches; the
+once powerful cardinal was likewise taken a captive to France. A great
+tragedy had occurred in the house of Sforza. What must have been
+Catarina's distress when she, in her prison, learned that fate had
+overthrown all her race! Could one transport himself to that environment
+he would breathe the oppressive atmosphere with which Shakespeare
+enveloped his characters.
+
+Catarina's jailers were the two most dreaded men of the age--the Pope
+and his son. The very thought of what surrounded her must have filled
+her with terror. In the Belvedere she was in constant dread of Caesar's
+poison, and it is indeed a wonder that she did escape it. She made an
+unsuccessful attempt at flight, whereupon Alexander had her removed to
+the castle of S. Angelo. However, certain French gentlemen in the
+service of the one who was bent on her destruction--especially Ivo
+d'Allegre--interceded for her; and the Pope, after she had spent a year
+and a half in captivity, allowed her to choose Florence for her asylum.
+He himself commended her to the Signory in the following letter:
+
+     UNTO MY BELOVED SONS: Greeting and the Apostolic Blessing.
+     Our beloved daughter in Christ, the noble lady Catarina Sforza, is
+     on her way to you. She, as you are aware, having for good reasons
+     been held a prisoner by Us for a time, has again become the object
+     of Our mercy. We, according to Our custom and to Our pastoral
+     duties, have not only exercised mercy with regard to this Catarina,
+     but also, so far as We with God's help were able, have looked with
+     paternal solicitude after her welfare; therefore We deem it proper
+     to write you for the purpose of commending this Catarina to your
+     protection, so that she, having full confidence in Our good will
+     towards you, and returning, so to speak, into her own country, may
+     not be deluded in her expectations and by Our recommendation. We,
+     therefore, shall be glad to learn that she has been well received
+     and treated by you, in gratitude to her for having chosen your city
+     for her abode, and owing to your feelings toward Us. Given at Rome,
+     in S. Peter's, under the Apostolic seal, July 13, 1501. In the
+     ninth year of our pontificate.
+
+     HADRIANUS.
+
+Catarina Sforza died in a convent in Florence in 1509. In her fatherland
+she left a son of the same mettle as herself, Giovanni Medici, the last
+of the great condottieri of the country, who became famous as leader of
+the Black Bands. There is a seated figure in marble of this captain, of
+herculean strength, with the neck of a centaur, near the church of S.
+Lorenzo in Florence.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[74] In the Gonzaga archives.
+
+[75] In questa mattina ho hauto lo adviso de la morte del Rmo Card.
+Borgia _mio fratre_ passato de questa vita in Urbino. Forli, January 16,
+1500. Archives of Modena.
+
+[76] A. 1500, Jan. 22 (this is incorrect), mori il Carle Borgia fiolo de
+Papa Alexo a Orbino. Silva Cronicarum Bernardini Zambotti. Ms. in the
+library of Ferrara.
+
+[77] La bona memoria del Cardinale Borgia mio fratre. Rome, July 30,
+1500. Gonzaga archives.
+
+[78] Cittadella's opinion that Giovanni Borgia, junior, was a son of
+Pierluigi, Alexander's brother, is also incorrect.
+
+[79] Femina quasi virago crudelissima et di gran animo. Venuta di Carlo
+VIII, p. 811, Ms. Virago here means amazon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MURDER OF ALFONSO OF ARAGON
+
+
+After the fall of the Riario, of Imola, and Forli, all the tyrants in
+the domain of the Church trembled before Caesar; and greater princes,
+like those of the Gonzaga and Este families, who were either entirely
+independent or were semi-independent vassals of the Church, courted the
+friendship of the Pope and his dreaded son. Caesar, as an ally of France,
+had secured for himself the services of these princes, and since 1499
+they had helped him in his schemes in the Romagna. He engaged in a
+lively correspondence with Ercole d'Este, whom he treated as his equal,
+as his brother and friend, although he was a young and immature man. To
+him he reported his successes, and in return received congratulations,
+equally confidential in tone, all of which consisted of diplomatic lies
+inspired by fear. The correspondence between Caesar and Ercole, which is
+very voluminous, is still preserved in the Este archives in Modena. It
+began August 30, 1498, when Caesar was still a cardinal. In this letter,
+which is written in Latin, he announces to the duke that he is about to
+set out for France, and asks him for a saddle horse.
+
+Caesar engaged in an equally confidential correspondence with Francesco
+Gonzaga, with whom he entered into intimate relations which endured
+until his death. In the archives of the Gonzaga family in Mantua there
+are preserved forty-one letters written by Caesar to the marquis and his
+consort Isabella. The first is dated October 31, 1498, from Avignon; the
+second, January 12, 1500, from Forli; the third is as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER: From your
+     Excellency's letter we have learned of the birth of your
+     illustrious son, which has occasioned us no less joy than we would
+     have felt on the birth of an heir to ourselves. As we, owing to our
+     sincere and brotherly goodwill for you, wish you all increase and
+     fortune, we willingly consent to be godfather, and will appoint for
+     our proxy anyone whom your Excellency may choose. May he in our
+     stead watch over the child from the moment of his baptism. We
+     earnestly pray to God to preserve the same to you.
+
+     Your Majesty will not fail to congratulate your illustrious consort
+     in our name. She will, we hope, through this son prepare the way
+     for a numerous posterity to perpetuate the fame of their
+     illustrious parents. Rome, in the Apostolic Palace, May 24, 1500.
+
+  CAESAR BORGIA of France, Duke of Valentinois,
+  Gonfallonier, and Captain-General
+  of the Holy Roman Church.
+
+This son of the Marquis of Mantua was the hereditary Prince Federico,
+born May 17, 1500. Two years later, when Caesar was at the zenith of his
+power, Gonzaga requested the honor of the betrothal of this son and the
+duke's little daughter Luisa.
+
+Caesar remained in Rome several months to secure funds for carrying out
+his plans in Romagna. All his projects would have been wrecked in a
+moment if his father had not escaped, almost unharmed, when the walls of
+a room in the Vatican collapsed, June 27, 1500. He was extricated from
+the rubbish only slightly hurt. He would allow no one but his daughter
+to care for him. When the Venetian ambassador called, July 3d, he found
+Madonna Lucretia, Sancia, the latter's husband, Giuffre, and one of
+Lucretia's ladies-in-waiting, who was the Pope's "favorite," with him.
+Alexander was then seventy years of age. He ascribed his escape to the
+Virgin Mary, just as Pius IX did his own when the house near S. Agnese
+tumbled down. July 5th Alexander held a service in her honor, and on his
+recovery he had himself borne in a procession to S. Maria del Popolo,
+where he offered the Virgin a goblet containing three hundred ducats.
+Cardinal Piccolomini ostentatiously scattered the gold pieces over the
+altar before all the people.
+
+The saints had saved a great sinner from the falling walls in the
+Vatican, but they refrained from interfering eighteen days later to
+prevent a hideous crime--the attempted murder of a guiltless person. In
+vain had the youthful Alfonso of Biselli been warned by his own
+premonitions and by his friends during the past year to seek safety in
+flight. He had followed his wife to Rome like a lamb to the slaughter,
+only to fall under the daggers of the assassins from whom she was
+powerless to save him. Caesar hated him, as he did the entire house of
+Aragon, and in his opinion his sister's marriage to a Neapolitan prince
+had become as useless as had been her union with Sforza of Pesaro;
+moreover, it interfered with the plans of Caesar, who had a matrimonial
+alliance in mind for his sister which would be more advantageous to
+himself. As her marriage with the Duke of Biselli had not been
+childless, and, consequently, could not be set aside, he determined upon
+a radical separation of the couple.
+
+July 15, 1500, about eleven o'clock at night, Alfonso was on his way
+from his palace to the Vatican to see his consort; near the steps
+leading to S. Peter's a number of masked men fell upon him with daggers.
+Severely wounded in the head, arm, and thigh, the prince succeeded in
+reaching the Pope's chamber. At the sight of her spouse covered with
+blood, Lucretia sank to the floor in a swoon.
+
+Alfonso was carried to another room in the Vatican, and a cardinal
+administered the extreme unction; his youth, however, triumphed, and he
+recovered. Although Lucretia, owing to her fright, fell sick of a fever,
+she and his sister Sancia took care of him; they cooked his food, while
+the Pope himself placed a guard over him. In Rome there was endless
+gossip about the crime and its perpetrators. July 19th the Venetian
+ambassador wrote to his Signory: "It is not known who wounded the duke,
+but it is said that it was the same person who killed the Duke of Gandia
+and threw him into the Tiber. Monsignor of Valentinois has issued an
+edict that no one shall be found with arms between the castle of S.
+Angelo and S. Peter's, on pain of death."
+
+Caesar remarked to the ambassador, "I did not wound the duke, but if I
+had, it would have been nothing more than he deserved." His hatred of
+his brother-in-law must have been inspired also by personal reasons of
+which we are ignorant. He even ventured to call upon the wounded man,
+remarking on leaving, "What is not accomplished at noon may be done at
+night."
+
+The days passed slowly; finally the murderer lost patience. At nine
+o'clock in the evening of August 18th, he came again; Lucretia and
+Sancia drove him from the room, whereupon he called his captain,
+Micheletto, who strangled the duke. There was no noise, not a sound; it
+was like a pantomime; amid a terrible silence the dead prince was borne
+away to S. Peter's.
+
+The affair was no longer a secret. Caesar openly stated that he had
+destroyed the duke because the latter was seeking his life, and he
+claimed that by Alfonso's orders some archers had shot at him when he
+was strolling in the Vatican gardens.
+
+[Illustration: CAESAR BORGIA.
+
+From a painting by Giorgione.]
+
+Nothing so clearly discloses the terrible influence which Caesar
+exercised over his wicked father as this deed, and the way in which the
+Pope regarded it. From the Venetian ambassador's report it appears that
+it was contrary to Alexander's wishes, and that he had even attempted to
+save the unfortunate prince's life. After the crime had been committed,
+however, the Pope dismissed it from his mind, both because he did not
+dare to bring Caesar--whom he had forgiven for the murder of his
+brother--to a reckoning, and because the murder would result in offering
+him opportunities which he desired. He spared himself the trouble of
+directing useless reproaches to his son, for Caesar would only have
+laughed at them. Was the care with which Alexander had his unfortunate
+son-in-law watched merely a bit of deceit? There are no grounds for
+believing that the Pope either planned the murder himself or that he
+consented to it.
+
+Never was bloody deed so soon forgotten. The murder of a prince of the
+royal house of Naples made no more impression than the death of a
+Vatican stable boy would have done. No one avoided Caesar; none of the
+priests refused him admission to the Church, and all the cardinals
+continued to show him the deepest reverence and respect. Prelates vied
+with each other to receive the red hat from the hand of the all-powerful
+murderer, who offered the dignity to the highest bidders. He needed
+money for carrying out his schemes of confiscation in the Romagna. His
+condottieri, Paolo Orsini, Giuliano Orsini, Vitellozzo Vitelli, and
+Ercole Bentivoglio were with him during these autumn days. His father
+had equipped seven hundred heavy men at arms for him, and, August 18th,
+the Venetian ambassador reported to the signory that he had been
+requested by the Pope to ask the Doge to withdraw their protection from
+Rimini and Faenza. Negotiations were in progress with France to secure
+her active support for Caesar. August 24th the French ambassador, Louis
+de Villeneuve, made his entry into Rome; near S. Spirito a masked man
+rode up and embraced him. The man was Caesar. However openly he committed
+his crimes, he frequently went about Rome in disguise.
+
+The murder of the youthful Alfonso of Aragon was by far the most tragic
+deed committed by the Borgias, and his fate was more terrible than even
+that of Astorre Manfredi. If Lucretia really loved her husband, as there
+is every reason to suppose she did, his end must have caused her the
+greatest anguish; and, even if she had no affection for him, all her
+feelings must have been aroused against the murderer to whose fiendish
+ambition the tragedy was due. She must also have rebelled against her
+father, who regarded the crime with such indifference.
+
+None of the reports of the day describe the circumstances in which she
+found herself immediately after the murder, nor events in the Vatican
+just preceding it. Although Lucretia was suffering from a fever, she did
+not die of grief, nor did she rise to avenge her husband's murder, or to
+flee from the terrible Vatican.
+
+She was in a position similar to that of her sister-in-law, Dona Maria
+Enriquez, after Gandia's death; but while the latter and her sons had
+found safety in Spain, Lucretia had no retreat to which she could retire
+without the consent of her father and brother.
+
+It would be wrong to blame the unfortunate woman because at this fateful
+moment of her life she did not make herself the subject of a tragedy. Of
+a truth, she appears very weak and characterless. We must not look for
+great qualities of soul in Lucretia, for she possessed them not. We are
+endeavoring to represent her only as she actually was, and, if we judge
+rightly, she was merely a woman differentiated from the great mass of
+women, not by the strength, but by the graciousness, of her nature. This
+young woman, regarded by posterity as a Medea or as a loathsomely
+passionate creature, probably never experienced any real feeling. During
+the years she lived in Rome she was always subject to the will of
+others, for her destiny was controlled, first, by her father, and
+subsequently by her brother. We know not how much of an effort, in view
+of the circumstances by which she was trammeled, she could make to
+maintain the dignity of woman. If Lucretia, however, ever did possess
+the courage to assert her individuality and rights before those who
+injured her, she certainly would have done so when her husband was
+murdered. Perhaps she did assail her sinister brother with
+recriminations and her father with tears. She was troublesome to Caesar,
+who wished her away from the Vatican, consequently Alexander banished
+her for a time; and apparently she herself was not unwilling to go. The
+Venetian ambassador Paolo Capello refers to some quarrel between
+Lucretia and her father. He departed from Rome, September 16, 1500, and
+on his return to Venice made a report to his government on the condition
+of affairs, in which he says: "Madonna Lucretia, who is gracious and
+generous, formerly was in high favor with the Pope, but she is so no
+longer."
+
+August 30th, Lucretia, accompanied by a retinue of six hundred riders,
+set out from Rome for Nepi, of which city she was mistress. There,
+according to Burchard, she hoped to recover from the perturbation which
+the death of the Duke of Biselli had caused her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+LUCRETIA AT NEPI
+
+
+Travelers from Rome to Nepi, then as now, followed the Via Cassia,
+passing Isola Farnese, Baccano, and Monterosi. The road consisted in
+part of the ancient highway, but it was in the worst possible condition.
+Near Monterosi the traveler turned into the Via Amerina, much of the
+pavement of which is still preserved, even up to the walls of Nepi.
+
+Like most of the cities of Etruria, Nepi (Nepe or Nepete) was situated
+on a high plain bordered by deep ravines, through which flowed small
+streams, called _rii_. The bare cliffs of tuff constituted a natural
+means of defense, and where they were low, walls were built.
+
+The southern side of the city of Nepi, where the Falisco River flows and
+empties into a deep chasm, was in ancient times fortified with high
+walls built of long, square blocks of tuff laid upon each other without
+mortar, like the walls of neighboring Falerii. Some remains of Nepi's
+walls may still be seen near the Porta Romana, although much of the
+material has been used in constructing the castle and for the high
+arches of the Farnese aqueduct.
+
+The castle defended the weakest side of Nepi, where, in the old days,
+stood the city fortress. In the eighth century it was the seat of a
+powerful duke, Toto, who made a name for himself also in the history of
+Rome. Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia gave it the form it now has, rebuilding
+the castle and enlarging the two great towers inside the walls, the
+larger of which is round and the smaller square. Later the castle was
+restored and furnished with bastions by Paul III and his son, Pierluigi
+Farnese, the first Duke of Castro and Nepi.[80]
+
+In 1500 this castle was as strong as that of Civitacastellana, which
+Alexander VI rebuilt. Unfortunately, it is now in ruins. The remains of
+the castle-palace and all the outer walls are covered with thick ivy.
+Time has spared nothing but the two great towers.
+
+On the side toward the city the ruined stronghold is entered through a
+gateway above which is inscribed in the fair characters of the
+Renaissance, YSV VNICVS CVSTOS. PROCVL HINC TIMORES. YSV. This leads
+into a rectangular court surrounded by walls now in ruins. The beholder
+is confronted by the facade of the castle, a two-storied structure in
+the style of the Renaissance, with windows whose casements are made of
+peperino (cement). The inscription P. LOISIVS FAR DVX PRIMVS CASTRI on
+the door frame shows that this was also the work of the Farnese.
+
+The interior is a mass of ruins, all the walls having fallen in. This
+notable monument of the past has been suffered to go to decay; it was
+only eighty years ago that the walls of the last remaining salon fell
+in. The only room left is an upper chamber, reached by climbing a
+ladder. The place where the hearth was is still discernible, as is also
+the paneled ceiling found in so many of the buildings of the early
+Renaissance. The ends of the rafters are supported by beautifully
+carved consoles. All the woodwork is stained dark brown, and here and
+there on the ceiling are wooden shields, on which are painted the Borgia
+arms in colors.
+
+In various places in the interior, and also without, on the towers of
+the stronghold, the same arms may be seen carved in stone. There are
+also two stones, with the arms very carefully chiseled, set in the walls
+of the entrance hall of the town house of Nepi, which were originally in
+the castle where they had been placed by Lucretia's orders. The Borgia
+arms and those of the house of Aragon, which Lucretia, as Duchess of
+Biselli, had adopted, are united under a ducal crown.
+
+Lonely Nepi, which now has only 2,500 inhabitants, had but few more in
+the year 1500. It was a little town in Campagna, whose streets were
+bordered by Gothic buildings, with a few old palaces and towers
+belonging to the nobles, among the most important of whom were the
+Celsi. There is a small public square, formerly the forum, on which the
+town hall faces, and also an old church, originally built upon the ruins
+of the temple of Jupiter. There were a few other ancient churches and
+cloisters, such as S. Vito and S. Eleuterio, and other remains of
+antiquity, which have now disappeared. There are only two ancient
+statues left--the figures of two of Nepi's citizens whose names are now
+unknown--they are on the facade of the palace, a beautiful building
+dating from the late Renaissance. Owing to the topography of the region
+and the general decadence peculiar to all Etruria, the country about
+Nepi is forbidding and melancholy. The dark and rugged chasms, with
+their huge blocks of stone and steep walls of black and dark red tuff,
+with rushing torrents in their depths, cause an impression of grandeur,
+but also of sadness, with which the broad and peaceful highlands and the
+idyllic pastures, where one constantly hears the melancholy bleating of
+the sheep, and the sad notes of the shepherds' flutes are in perfect
+accord.
+
+Here and there dark oak forests may still be seen, but four hundred
+years ago, in the neighborhood of Nepi, they were more numerous and
+denser than they are to-day; in the direction of Sutri and
+Civitacastellana they are well cleared up; but there are still many fine
+groves. From the top of the castle may be seen a magnificent panorama,
+which is even more extensive than that which greets the eye from the
+castle of Spoleto. There on the horizon are the dark volcano of
+Bracciano and Monte di Rocca Romana, and here the mountains of Viterbo,
+on whose wide slopes the town of Caprarola, which belonged to the
+Farnese, is visible. On the other side rises Soracte. Towards the north
+the plateau slopes gently down to the valley of the Tiber, across which,
+in the misty distance, the blue chain of the Sabine mountains stands out
+boldly, with numerous fortresses scattered about the declivities.
+
+August 31st Alfonso's young widow went to the castle of Nepi, taking
+with her part of her court and her child Rodrigo. These knights and
+ladies, all generally so merry, were now either oppressed by a real
+sorrow or were required by court etiquette to renounce all pleasures. In
+this lonely stronghold Lucretia could lament, undisturbed, the
+taking-off of the handsome youth who had been her husband for two years,
+and together with whom she had dwelt in this same castle scarcely a
+twelve-month before. There was nothing to disturb her melancholy
+brooding; but, instead, castle, city, and landscape all harmonized with
+it.
+
+Some of Lucretia's letters written during her stay at the castle of
+Nepi are still in existence, and they are especially valuable, being the
+only ones we have which date from what is known as the Roman period of
+the life of the famous woman. Lucretia addressed them to her trusted
+servant in Rome, Vincenzo Giordano; some are in her own handwriting, and
+others in that of her secretary, Cristoforo. She signs herself "the most
+unhappy Princess of Salerno," although she herself afterwards struck out
+the words, _principessa de Salerno_, and left only the words, _La
+infelicissima_. In only a single letter--and this one has no date--did
+she allow the whole signature to stand.
+
+The first letters, dated September 15th and October 24, 1500, "in our
+city of Nepi," are devoted to domestic affairs, especially clothes, of
+which she was in need. Two days later she states that she had written to
+the Cardinal of Lisbon, her godfather, in the interest of the bearer of
+the letter, Giovanni of Prato. October 28th she directs Vincenzo to have
+certain clothes made for the little Rodrigo and to send them to her
+immediately by a courier. She also orders him to have prayers said for
+her in all the convents "on account of this, my new sorrow." October
+30th she wrote as follows:
+
+     VINCENZO: As we have decided that the memorial service for
+     the soul of his Lordship, the duke, my husband--may the glory of
+     the saints be his--shall be held, you will, with this end in view,
+     go to his Eminence the Lord Cardinal of Colenzo, whom we have
+     charged with this office, and will do whatever his Eminence
+     commands you, both in regard to paying for the mass and also for
+     performing whatever his Majesty directs; and you will keep account
+     of what you spend of the five hundred which you have, for I will
+     see that you are reimbursed, so it will be necessary. From the
+     castle of Nepi, next to the last day of October, 1500.
+
+     THE UNHAPPY PRINCESS OF SALERNO.
+
+There is an undated letter written by Lucretia which, apparently,
+belongs to the same period, because it is written in a melancholy tone,
+and in it she asks Heaven to watch over her bed. The last dated letters,
+which are of October 31st and November 2d, are devoted to unimportant
+domestic affairs; they show that Lucretia was in Nepi as late as
+November. Another undated letter to the same Vincenzo Giordano refers to
+her return to Rome; it purposely contains obscurities which it is now
+impossible to decipher and fictitious names which had been agreed upon
+with her servant. Even the signature is a conventional sign. The epistle
+is word for word as follows: "I am so filled with misgivings and anxiety
+on account of my returning to Rome that I can scarcely write--I can only
+weep. And all this time when I found that Farina neither answered nor
+wrote to me I was able neither to eat nor sleep, and wept continually.
+God forgive Farina, who could have made everything turn out better and
+did not do so. I will see whether I can send him Roble before I set
+out--for I wish to send him. No more for the present. Again look well to
+that matter, and on no account let Rexa see this letter."
+
+Lucretia, it appears, wished to leave Nepi and return to Rome, for which
+her father at first might refuse his permission. Perhaps Rexa in this
+letter means Alexander, and the name Farina may signify Cardinal
+Farnese, upon whose intermediation she counted. Vincenzo finally wrote
+her that he had spoken to the Pope himself, and Lucretia, in an undated
+letter, showed her servant how pleased she was because everything had
+turned out better than she had expected. This is the only letter in
+which the signature, "The unhappy Princess of Salerno" is not stricken
+out.
+
+We do not know how long Lucretia remained in Nepi, where, in summer,
+the moisture rising from the rocky chasms caused deadly fevers, and
+still renders that place and Civitacastellana unhealthful. Her father
+recalled her to Rome before Christmas, and received her again into his
+favor as soon as her brother left the city. Only a few months had passed
+when Lucretia's soul was again filled with visions of a brilliant
+future, before which the vague form of the unfortunate Alfonso sank into
+oblivion. Her tears dried so quickly that, on the expiration of a year,
+no one would have recognized in this young and frivolous woman the widow
+of a trusted consort who had been foully murdered. From her father
+Lucretia had inherited, if not inexhaustible vitality, at least the
+lightness of mind which her contemporaries, under the name of joy of
+living, discovered in her and in the Pope.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[80] Over the Porta Romana and on the bastions may still be seen the
+colossal arms of Paul III and those of his son carved in stone. The
+inscription reads:
+
+P. ALOISIVS FARNESIVS DVX I. CASTRI ET NEPETE MVNIMENTVM HOC AD TVTELAM
+CIVITATIS EXSTRVXIT. MDXL.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+CAESAR AT PESARO
+
+
+Towards the end of September, Caesar entered Romagna with seven hundred
+heavy men at arms, two hundred light horsemen, and six thousand foot
+soldiers. First he advanced against Pesaro for the purpose of driving
+out his former brother-in-law. Sforza, on hearing of the terrible fate
+of his successor as husband of Lucretia, had good reason to congratulate
+himself on his escape. He was literally consuming with hate of all the
+Borgias, but, instead of being able to avenge himself for the injury
+they had done him, he found himself threatened with another, a greater
+and almost unavoidable one. He had been informed by his representative
+in Rome and by the ambassador of Spain, who was friendly to him, of the
+preparations his enemy was making, a fact proved by his letter to
+Francesco Gonzaga, the brother of his first wife, Maddalena.[81]
+
+September 1, 1500, he informed the Marquis of Caesar's intention to
+attack Pesaro, and asked him to endeavor to interest the Emperor
+Maximilian in his behalf. On the twenty-sixth he wrote an urgent appeal
+for help. This the marquis did not refuse, but he sent him only a
+hundred men under the command of an Albanian. Thus do we see how these
+illegitimate dynasties of Italy were in danger of being overthrown by
+every breath. Faenza was the only place where the people loved their
+lord, the young and fair Astorre Manfredi, and remained true to him. In
+all the other cities of Romagna, however, the regime of the tyrants was
+detested. Sforza himself could be cruel and exacting, and not in vain
+had he been a pupil of the Borgias in Rome.
+
+Never was throne so quickly overturned as his, or, rather, so promptly
+abandoned before it was attacked. Caesar was some distance from Pesaro
+when there was a movement in his favor among the people; a party hostile
+to the Sforza was formed, while the whole populace, excited by the
+thought of what might follow the storming of the city by the heartless
+enemy, was anxious to make terms with him. In vain did the poet, Guido
+Posthumus, who had recently returned from Padua to his fatherland, urge
+his fellow citizens, in ardent verses, to resist the enemy.[82] The
+people rose Sunday, October 11th, even before Caesar had appeared under
+the city walls. What then happened is told in Sforza's letter to
+Gonzaga:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER-IN-LAW: Your
+     Excellency doubtless has learned ere this how the people of Pesaro,
+     last Sunday morning, incited by four scoundrels, rose in arms, and
+     how I, with a few who remained faithful, was forced to retire to
+     the castle as best I could. When I saw that the enemy was
+     approaching, and that Ercole Bentivoglio, who was near Rimini, was
+     pressing forward, I left the castle at night to avoid being shut
+     in--this was on the advice and with the help of the Albanian
+     Jacomo. In spite of the bad roads and great obstacles, I escaped to
+     this place, for which I have, first of all, to thank your
+     Excellency--you having sent me Jacomo--and next, to thank him for
+     bringing me through safely. What I shall now do, I know not; but if
+     I do not succeed in getting to your Excellency within four days, I
+     will send Jacomo, who will tell you how everything happened, and
+     what my plans are. In the meantime I wish you to know that I am
+     safe, and that I commend myself to you. Bologna, October 17, 1500.
+     Your Excellency's Brother-in-Law and Servant,
+
+  JOHANNES SFORZA of Aragon, Count of Cotignola and Pesaro.
+
+October 19th he again wrote from Bologna, saying he was going to
+Ravenna, and intended to return from there to Pesaro, where the castle
+was still bravely holding out; he also asked the marquis to send him
+three hundred men. Three days later, however, he reported from Ravenna
+that the castle had capitulated.
+
+Caesar Borgia had taken the city of Pesaro, not only without resistance,
+but with the full consent of the people, and with public honors he
+entered the Sforza palace, where only four years before his sister had
+held her court. He took possession of the castle October 28th, summoned
+a painter and commanded him to draw a picture of it on paper for him to
+send the Pope. From the battlements of the castle of the Sforza twelve
+trumpeters sounded the glad tidings, and the heralds saluted Caesar as
+Lord of Pesaro. October 29th he set out for the castle of Gradara.[83]
+
+Among those who witnessed his entry into Pesaro was Pandolfo
+Collenuccio. On receiving news of the fall of the city, Duke Ercole,
+owing to fear, and also on account of a certain bargain between himself
+and the Pope, of which we shall soon speak, sent this man, whom Sforza
+had banished, and who had found an asylum in Ferrara, to Caesar to
+congratulate him. Collenuccio gave the duke a report of his mission,
+October 29th, in the following remarkable letter:
+
+     MY ILLUSTRIOUS MASTER: Having left your Excellency, I
+     reached Pesaro two and a half days ago, arriving there Thursday at
+     the twenty-fourth hour. At exactly the same time the Duke of
+     Valentino made his entry. The entire populace was gathered about
+     the city gate, and he was received during a heavy fall of rain, and
+     was presented with the keys of the city. He took up his abode in
+     the palace, in the room formerly occupied by Signor Giovanni. His
+     entry, according to the reports of some of my people who witnessed
+     it, was very impressive. It was orderly, and he was accompanied by
+     numerous horse and foot soldiers. The same evening I notified him
+     of my arrival, and requested an audience whenever it should suit
+     his Majesty's convenience. About two o'clock at night (eight
+     o'clock in the evening) he sent Signor Ramiro and his majordomo to
+     call upon me and to ask, in the most courteous manner, whether I
+     was comfortably lodged, and whether, owing to the great number of
+     people in the city, I lacked for anything. He had instructed them
+     to tell me to rest myself thoroughly, and that he would receive me
+     the following day. Early Wednesday he sent me by a courier, as a
+     present, a sack of barley, a cask of wine, a wether, eight pairs of
+     capons and hens, two large torches, two bundles of wax candles, and
+     two boxes of sweetmeats. He, however, did not appoint an hour for
+     an audience, but sent his excuses and said I must not think it
+     strange. The reason was that he had risen at the twentieth hour
+     (two o'clock in the afternoon) and had dined, after which he had
+     gone to the castle, where he remained until night, and whence he
+     returned greatly exhausted owing to a sore he had in the groin.
+
+     To-day, about the twenty-second hour (four in the afternoon), after
+     he had dined, he had Signor Ramiro fetch me to him; and with great
+     frankness and amiability his Majesty first made his excuses for not
+     granting me an audience the preceding day, owing to his having so
+     much to do in the castle and also on account of the pain caused by
+     his ulcer. Following this, and after I had stated that the sole
+     object of my mission was to wait upon his Majesty to congratulate
+     and thank him, and to offer your services, he answered me in
+     carefully chosen words, covering each point and very fluently. The
+     gist of it was, that knowing your Excellency's ability and
+     goodness, he had always loved you and had hoped to enjoy personal
+     relations with you. He had looked forward to this when you were in
+     Milan, but events and circumstances then prevented it. But now that
+     he had come to this country, he--determined to have his wish--had
+     written the letter announcing his successes, of his own free will
+     and as proof of his love, and feeling certain that your Majesty
+     would be pleased by it. He says he will continue to keep you
+     informed of his doings, as he desires to establish a firm
+     friendship with your Majesty, and he proffers everything he owns
+     and in his power should you ever have need. He desires to look upon
+     you as a father. He also thanked your Majesty for the letter and
+     for having sent it him by a messenger, although the letter was
+     unnecessary; for even without it he would have known that your
+     Majesty would be pleased by his success. In short, he could not
+     have uttered better and more seemly words than those he used when
+     he referred to you as his father and to himself as your son, which
+     he did repeatedly.
+
+     When I take both the actual facts and his words into consideration,
+     I see why he wishes to establish some sort of friendly alliance
+     with your Majesty. I believe in his professions, and I can see
+     nothing but good in them. He was much pleased by your Majesty's
+     sending a special messenger to him, and I heard that he had
+     informed the Pope of it; to his followers here he spoke of it in a
+     way that showed he considered it of the greatest moment.
+
+     Replying in general terms, I said that I could only commend the
+     wisdom he had shown in regard to your Excellency, owing to our
+     position and to that of our State, which, however, could only
+     redound to his credit; to this he emphatically assented. He gave me
+     to understand that he recognized this perfectly, and thereupon,
+     breaking the thread of our conversation, we came to the subject of
+     Faenza. His Majesty said to me, "I do not know what Faenza wants to
+     do; she can give us no more trouble than did the others; still she
+     may delay matters. I replied that I believed she would do as the
+     others had done; but if she did not, it could only redound to his
+     Majesty's glory; for it would give him another opportunity to
+     display his skill and valor by capturing the place." This seemed to
+     please him, and he answered that he would assuredly crush it.
+     Bologna was not mentioned. He was pleased by the messages which I
+     brought him from your people, from Don Alfonso and the cardinal, of
+     whom he spoke long and with every appearance of affection.
+
+     Thereupon, having been together a full half hour, I took my
+     departure, and his Majesty, mounting his horse, rode forth. This
+     evening he is going to Gradara; to-morrow to Rimini, and then
+     farther. He is accompanied by all his troops, including the
+     artillery. He told me he would not move so slowly but that he did
+     not wish to leave the cannon behind.
+
+     There are more than two thousand men quartered here but they have
+     done no appreciable damage. The surrounding country is swarming
+     with troops; whether they have done much harm we do not know. He
+     granted the city no privileges or exemptions. He left as his
+     lieutenant a certain doctor of Forli. He took seventy pieces of
+     artillery from the castle, and the guard he left there is very
+     small.
+
+     I will tell your Excellency something which a number of people
+     mentioned to me; it was, however, related to me in detail by a
+     Portuguese cavalier, a soldier in the army of the Duke of Valentino
+     who is lodged here in the house of my son-in-law with fifteen
+     troopers--an upright man who was a friend of our lord, Don
+     Fernando, when he was with King Charles. He told me that the Pope
+     intended to give this city to Madonna Lucretia for her portion, and
+     that he had found a husband for her, an Italian, who would always
+     be able to retain the friendship of Valentino. Whether this be true
+     I know not, but it is generally believed.
+
+     As to Fano, the Duke did not retain it. He was there five days. He
+     did not want it, but the burghers presented it to him, and his it
+     will be when he desires it. It is said the Pope commanded him not
+     to take Fano unless the citizens themselves asked him to do so.
+     Therefore it remained in _statu quo_.
+
+     POSTSCRIPT:
+
+     The Duke's daily life is as follows: he goes to bed at eight, nine,
+     or ten o'clock at night (three to five o'clock in the morning).
+     Consequently, the eighteenth hour is his dawn, the nineteenth his
+     sunrise, and the twentieth his time for rising. Immediately on
+     getting up he sits down to the table, and while there and
+     afterwards he attends to his business affairs. He is considered
+     brave, strong, and generous, and it is said he lays great store by
+     straightforward men. He is terrible in revenge--so many tell me. A
+     man of strong good sense, and thirsting for greatness and fame, he
+     seems more eager to seize States than to keep and administer them.
+
+  Your illustrious ducal Majesty's servant,
+
+  PANDULPHUS.
+
+  PESARO, _Thursday, October 29_,
+  Six o'clock at night, 1500.
+
+
+  _The Duke's Retinue_
+
+  Bartolomeo of Capranica, Field-Marshal.}
+  Piero Santa Croce.                     }
+  Giulio Alberino.                       }
+  Mario Don Marian de Stephano.          }    All Noblemen of Rome.
+  A brother of the last.                 }
+  Menico Sanguigni.                      }
+  Jo. Baptista Mancini.                  }
+  Dorio Savello.                         }
+
+  _Prominent Men in the Duke's Household._
+
+  Bishop of Elna,                } Spaniards.
+  Bishop of Sancta Sista,        }
+  Bishop of Trani, an Italian.
+  A Neapolitan abbot.
+  Sigr Ramiro del Orca, Governor; he is the factotum.
+  Don Hieronymo, a Portuguese.
+  Messer Agabito da Amelio, Secretary.
+  Mesr Alexandro Spannocchia, Treasurer, who says that the duke
+     since his departure from Rome up to the present time has spent
+     daily, on the average, eighteen hundred ducats.
+
+Collenuccio in his letter omits to mention the fact that he had
+addressed to Caesar, the new master of Pesaro, a complaint against its
+former lord, Giovanni Sforza, and that the duke had reinstated him in
+the possession of his confiscated property. He was destined a few years
+later bitterly to regret having taken this step. Guido Posthumus, on the
+other hand, whose property Caesar appropriated, fled to the Rangone in
+Modena. Sforza, expelled, reached Venice November 2d, where he
+endeavored, according to Malipiero, to sell the Republic his estates of
+Pesaro--in which attempt he failed. Thence he went to Mantua. At that
+time Modena and Mantua were the asylums of numerous exiled tyrants who
+were hospitably received into the beautiful castle of the Gonzaga, which
+was protected by the swamps of the Mincio.
+
+After the fall of Pesaro, Rimini likewise expelled its hated oppressors,
+the brothers Pandolfo and Carlo Malatesta, whereupon Caesar Borgia laid
+siege to Faenza. The youthful Astorre, its lord, finally surrendered,
+April 25, 1501, to the destroyer, on the duke's promise not to deprive
+him of his liberty. Caesar, however, sent the unfortunate young man to
+Rome, where he and his brother Octavian, together with several other
+victims, were confined in the castle of S. Angelo. This was the same
+Astorre with whom Cardinal Alessandro Farnese wished to unite his sister
+Giulia in marriage, and the unfortunate youth may now have regretted
+that this alliance had not taken place.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[81] His correspondence with Gonzaga is preserved in the archives of
+Mantua.
+
+[82] Ad. Pisaurenses: Guidi Posthumi Silvestris Pisaurensis Elegiarum
+Librii ii, p. 33. Bonon, 1524.
+
+[83] Pietro Marzetti, Memorie di Pesaro. Ms. in the Oliveriana.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+ANOTHER MARRIAGE PLANNED FOR LUCRETIA
+
+
+During this time Lucretia, with her child Rodrigo, was living in the
+palace of S. Peter's. If she was inclined to grieve for her husband, her
+father left her little time to give way to her feelings. He had recourse
+to her thoughtlessness and vanity, for the dead Alfonso was to be
+replaced by another and greater Alfonso. Scarcely was the Duke of
+Biselli interred before a new alliance was planned. As early as
+November, 1500, there was talk of Lucretia's marrying the hereditary
+Prince of Ferrara, who, since 1497, had been a widower; he was
+childless, and was just twenty-four years of age. Marino Zorzi, the new
+Venetian ambassador, first mentioned the project to his signory November
+26th. This union, however, had been considered in the Vatican much
+earlier--in fact while Lucretia's husband was still living. At the
+Christmas holidays of 1500 it was publicly stated that she was to marry
+the Duke of Gravina, an Orsini who, undeterred by the fate of Lucretia's
+former husbands, came to Rome in December to sue for her hand. Some hope
+was held out to him, probably with a view to retaining the friendship of
+his family.
+
+Alexander himself conceived the plan of marrying Lucretia to Alfonso of
+Ferrara. He desired this alliance both on his beloved daughter's account
+and because it could not fail to prove advantageous to Caesar; it would
+not only assure to him the possession of Romagna, which Venice might
+try to wrest from him, but it would also increase his chances of
+consummating his plans regarding Bologna and Florence. At the same time
+it would bring to him the support of the dynasties of Mantua and Urbino,
+which were connected by marriage with the house of Ferrara. It would be
+the nucleus of a great league, including France, the Papacy, Caesar's
+States, Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino, which would be sufficiently strong
+to defend Alexander and his house against all enemies.
+
+If the King of France was to maintain his position in Italy he would
+require, above all else, the help of the Pope. He already occupied
+Milan, and he wished to seize half of the kingdom of Naples and hold it
+as a vassal of the Church; for France and Spain had already agreed upon
+the wicked partition of Naples, to which Alexander had thus far neither
+refused nor given his consent.
+
+In order to win over the Duke of Ferrara to his bold scheme, Alexander
+availed himself, first of all, of Giambattista Ferrari of Modena, an old
+retainer of Ercole, who was wholly devoted to the Pope, and whom he had
+made datarius and subsequently a cardinal. Ferrari ventured to suggest
+the marriage to the duke, "on account," so he wrote him, "of the great
+advantage which would accrue to his State from it."[84] This proposal
+caused Ercole no less embarrassment than King Federico of Naples had
+felt when he was placed in a similar position. His pride rebelled. His
+daughter, the noble Marchioness Isabella of Mantua, and her
+sister-in-law Elisabetta of Urbino, were literally beside themselves.
+The youthful Alfonso objected most vigorously. Moreover, there was a
+plan afoot to marry the hereditary duke to a princess of the royal
+house of France, Louise, widow of the Duke of Angouleme.[85] Ercole
+rejected the offer absolutely.
+
+Alexander had foreseen his opposition, but he felt sure he could
+overcome it. He had the advantages of the alliance pointed out more
+clearly, and also the disadvantages which might result from a refusal;
+on one hand was Ferrara's safety and advancement, and on the other the
+hostility of Caesar and the Pope, and perhaps also that of France.[86]
+Alexander was so certain of his victory that he made no secret of the
+projected marriage, and he even spoke of it with satisfaction in the
+consistory, as if it were an accomplished fact.[87] He succeeded in
+winning the support of the French court, which, however, was not
+difficult, as Louis XII was then very anxious for the Pope to allow him
+to lead his army out of Tuscany, through the States of the Church, into
+Naples, which he could not do without the secret consent of his
+Holiness. Above all, the Pope counted on the help of Cardinal Amboise,
+to whom Caesar had taken the red hat when he went to France, and whose
+ambitious glances were directed toward the papal throne, which, with the
+aid of his friend Caesar and of the Spanish cardinals, he hoped to reach
+on the death of Alexander.
+
+It is, nevertheless, a fact that Louis XII at first was opposed to the
+match, and even endeavored to prevent it. He himself was not only
+determinedly set against everything which would increase the power of
+Caesar and the Pope, but he was also anxious to enhance his own influence
+with Ferrara by bringing about the marriage of Alfonso and some French
+princess. In May Alexander sent a secretary to France to induce the king
+to use his influence to effect the alliance, but this Louis declined to
+do.[88] On the other hand, he was anxious to bring about the marriage of
+Don Ferrante, Alfonso's brother, with Lucretia, and secure for her, as
+portion, the territory of Piombino.[89] He had also placed a check on
+Caesar's operations in Central Italy, in consequence of which the
+latter's attempts against Bologna and Florence had miscarried.
+
+The whole scheme for the marriage would have fallen through if the
+subject of the French expedition against Naples had not just then come
+up. There is ground for believing that the Pope's consent was made
+contingent upon the King's agreeing to the marriage.
+
+June 13, 1501, Caesar himself, now created Duke of Romagna by his father,
+came secretly to Rome, where he remained three weeks, exerting all his
+efforts to further the plan. After this, he and his men at arms followed
+the French Marshal Aubigny, who had set out from near Rome for Naples,
+to engage in a nefarious war of conquest, whose horrors, in the briefest
+of time, overwhelmed the house of Aragon.
+
+As early as June the King of France yielded to the Pope's solicitations,
+and exerted his influence in Ferrara, as appears from a despatch of the
+Ferrarese ambassador to France, dated June 22d. He reported to Ercole
+that he had stated to the king that the Pope threatened to deprive the
+duke of his domain if he did not consent to the marriage; whereupon the
+king replied that Ferrara was under his protection and could fall only
+when France fell. The envoy feared that the Pope might avail himself of
+the question of the investiture of Naples--upon which the king was
+determined--to win him over to his side. He finally wrote the duke that
+Monsignor de Trans, the most influential person at the king's court, had
+advised him to agree to the marriage upon the conditional payment of two
+hundred thousand ducats, the remission of Ferrara's annual dues, and
+certain benefices for the house of Este.[90]
+
+Amboise sent the Archbishop of Narbonne and other agents to Ferrara to
+win over the duke; the King of France himself wrote and urged him to
+give his consent, and he now refused Don Alfonso the hand of the French
+princess. While the French ambassador was presenting his case to the
+duke, the Pope's messengers and Caesar's agents were also endeavoring to
+secure his consent. Caught in a network of intrigue, fear at last forced
+Ercole to yield.
+
+July 8th he had Louis XII notified that he would do as he wished, if he
+and the Pope could agree upon the conditions.[91] He yielded only to the
+demand of the king, who advised the marriage solely because he himself
+had need of the Pope. All the while he was urging Ercole to give his
+consent, he was also counselling him not to be in too great haste to
+send his son Don Ferrante to Rome to conclude the matter, but to hold
+him back as long as possible--until he himself should reach Lombardy,
+which would be in September. He even had Ercole informed that he would
+keep his promise to bestow the hand of Madonna d'Angouleme on Don
+Alfonso, and he made no effort to conceal the displeasure he felt on
+account of the projected alliance with Lucretia.[92] To the Ferrarese
+ambassador he remarked that he would consider the duke unwise if he
+allowed his son to marry the daughter of the Pope, for, on Alexander's
+death, he would no longer know with whom he had concluded the alliance,
+and Alfonso's position would become very uncertain.[93]
+
+The duke did not hurry; it is true he sent his secretary, Hector
+Bellingeri, to Rome, but only for the purpose of telling the Pope that
+he had yielded to the king's wishes upon the condition that his own
+demands would be satisfied. The Pope and Caesar, however, urged that the
+marriage contract be executed at once, and they requested the Cardinal
+of Rouen, who was then in Milan, to induce Ercole to send his son
+Alfonso there (to Milan), so that the transaction might be concluded in
+the cardinal's presence. This the duke refused to do until the Pope
+agreed to the conditions upon which he had based his consent.[94]
+
+While these shameful negotiations regarding Lucretia were dragging on,
+Caesar was in Naples, and was the instrument and witness of the sudden
+overthrow of the hated house of Aragon, whose throne, however, was not
+to fall to his portion. Alexander used this opportunity to appropriate
+the property of the barons of Latium, especially that of the Colonna,
+the Savelli, and Estouteville, all of which, owing to the Neapolitan
+war, had been left without protection. The confiscation of this property
+was, as we shall soon see, part of the scheme which included the
+marriage. As early as June, 1501, he had taken possession of a number
+of cities belonging to these families. Alexander, accompanied by troops,
+horse and foot-soldiers, went to Sermoneta July 27th.
+
+This was the time that--just before his departure--he made Lucretia his
+representative in the Vatican. Following are Burchard's words: "Before
+his Holiness, our Master, left the city, he turned over the palace and
+all the business affairs to his daughter Lucretia, authorizing her to
+open all letters which should come addressed to him. In important
+matters she was to ask advice of the Cardinal of Lisbon.
+
+"When a certain matter came up--I do not know just what it was--it is
+said Lucretia went to the above-named cardinal and informed him of the
+Pope's instructions, and laid the matter before him. Thereupon he said
+to her, that whenever the Pope had anything to submit to the consistory,
+the vice-chancellor, or some other cardinal in his stead, would write it
+down together with the opinions of those present; therefore some one
+should now record what is said. Lucretia replied, 'I can write very
+well.' 'Where is your pen?' asked the cardinal. Lucretia saw that he was
+joking, and she laughed, and thus their conference had a fit ending."
+
+What a scene for the Vatican! A young and beautiful woman, the Pope's
+own daughter, presiding over the cardinals in consistory. This one scene
+is sufficient to show to what depths the Church of Rome had sunk; it is
+more convincing than a thousand satires, than a thousand official
+reports. The affairs which the Pope entrusted to his daughter were--at
+least so we assume--wholly secular and not ecclesiastical; but this bold
+proceeding was entirely unprecedented. The prominence given Lucretia,
+the highest proof of favor her father could show her, was due to
+special reasons. Alexander had just been assured of the consent of
+Alfonso d'Este to the marriage with Lucretia, and in his joy he made her
+regent in the Vatican. This was to show that he recognized in her, the
+prospective Duchess of Ferrara, a person of weight in the politics of
+the peninsula. In doing this he was simply imitating the example of
+Ercole and other princes, who were accustomed, when absent from their
+domains, to confide state business to the women of their families.
+
+The duke had found it difficult to overcome his son's objections, for
+nothing could offend the young prince so deeply as the determination to
+compel him to marry Lucretia; not because she was an illegitimate child,
+for this blot signified little in that age when bastards flourished in
+all Latin countries. Many of the ruling dynasties of Italy bore this
+stain--the Sforza, the Malatesta, the Bentivoglio, and the Aragonese of
+Naples; even the brilliant Borso, the first Duke of Ferrara, was the
+illegitimate brother of his successor, Ercole. Lucretia, however, was
+the daughter of a Pope, the child of a priest, and this, in the eyes of
+the Este, constituted her disgrace. Neither her father's licentiousness
+nor Caesar's crimes could have greatly affected the moral sense of the
+court of Ferrara, but not one of the princely houses of that age was so
+depraved that it was indifferent to the reputation of a woman destined
+to become one of its prominent members.
+
+Alfonso was the prospective husband of a young woman whose career,
+although she was only twenty-one years of age, had been most
+extraordinary. Twice had Lucretia been legally betrothed, twice had she
+been married, and twice had she been made a widow by the wickedness or
+crimes of others. Her reputation, consequently, was bad, therefore
+Alfonso, himself a man of the world, never could feel sure of this
+young woman's virtue, even if he did not believe all the reports which
+were circulated regarding her. The scandalous gossip about everything
+which takes place at court passed from city to city just as quickly then
+as it does now. The duke and his son were informed by their agents of
+everything which actually occurred in the Borgia family, as well as of
+every story which was started concerning its members. The frightful
+reasons which the disgraced Sforza had given Lucretia's father in
+writing as grounds for the annulment of his marriage were at once
+communicated to the duke in Ferrara. The following year his agent in
+Venice informed him that "a report had come from Rome that the Pope's
+daughter had given birth to an illegitimate child."[95] Moreover, all
+the satires with which the enemies of the Borgias persecuted
+them--including Lucretia--were well known at the court of Ferrara, and
+doubtless maliciously enjoyed. Are we warranted in assuming that the
+Este considered these reports and satires as really well founded, and
+yet overcame their scruples sufficiently to receive a Thais into their
+house when they would have incurred much less danger by following the
+example of Federico of Naples, who had persisted in refusing his
+daughter's hand to Caesar Borgia?
+
+It is now time to investigate the charges which were made against
+Lucretia; and, in view of what Roscoe and others have already proved,
+this will not occupy us long. The number of accusers among her
+contemporaries certainly is not small. The following--to name only the
+most important--charged her explicitly or by implication with incest:
+the poets Sannazzaro and Pontanus, and the historians and statesmen
+Matarazzo, Marcus Attilius Alexis, Petrus Martyr, Priuli, Macchiavelli,
+and Guicciardini, and their opinions have been constantly reiterated
+down to the present time. On the other side we have her eulogists among
+her contemporaries and their successors.
+
+Here it should be noted that Lucretia's accusers and their charges can
+refer only to the Roman period of her life, while her admirers appear
+only in the second epoch, when she was Duchess of Ferrara. Among the
+latter are men who are no less famous than her accusers: Tito and Ercole
+Strozzi, Bembo, Aldo Manuzio, Tebaldeo, Ariosto, all the chroniclers of
+Ferrara, and the French biographer Bayard. All these bore witness to the
+uprightness of her life while in Ferrara, but of her career in Rome they
+knew nothing. Lucretia's advocate, therefore, can offer only negative
+proofs of her virtue. Even making allowance for the courtier's flattery,
+we are warranted in assuming that upright men like Aldo, Bembo, and
+Ariosto could never have been so shameless as to pronounce a woman the
+ideal character of her day if they had believed her guilty, or even
+capable, of the hideous crimes with which she had been charged only a
+short time before.
+
+Among Lucretia's accusers only those who were actual witnesses of her
+life in Rome are worthy of attention; and Guicciardini, her bitterest
+enemy, is not of this number. The verdicts of all later writers,
+however, have been based upon his opinion of Lucretia, because of his
+fame as a statesman and historian. He himself made up his estimate from
+current gossip or from the satires of Pontanus and Sannazzaro--two poets
+who lived in Naples and not in Rome. Their epigrams merely show that
+they were inspired by a deep-seated hatred of Alexander and Caesar, who
+had wrought the overthrow of the Aragonese dynasty, and further with
+what crimes men were ready to credit evil-doers.
+
+[Illustration: GUICCIARDINI.
+
+From an engraving by Blanchard.]
+
+The words of Burchard, who was a daily witness of everything that
+occurred in the Vatican, must be considered as of much greater weight.
+Against him in particular has the spleen of the papists been directed,
+for by them his writings are regarded as the poisonous source from which
+the enemies of the papacy, especially the Protestants, have derived
+material for their slanders regarding Alexander VI. Their anger may
+readily be explained, for Burchard's diary is the only work written in
+Rome--with the exception of that of Infessura, which breaks off abruptly
+at the beginning of 1494--which treats of Alexander's court; moreover,
+it possesses an official character. Those, however, who attempt to
+palliate the doings of the papacy would feel less hatred for Burchard if
+they were acquainted with the reports of the Venetian envoys and the
+despatches of innumerable other ambassadors which have been used in this
+work.
+
+Burchard is absolutely free from malice, making no mention whatever of
+Alexander's private conduct. He records only facts--never rumors--and
+these he glosses over or cloaks diplomatically. The Venetian ambassador
+Polo Capello reports how Caesar Borgia stabbed the chamberlain Perotto
+through the Pope's robe, but Burchard makes no mention of the fact. The
+same ambassador explicitly states, as does also a Ferrarese agent, that
+Caesar killed his brother Gandia; Burchard, however, utters not a word
+concerning the subject.[96] Nor does he say anything about the way
+Caesar despatched his brother-in-law Alfonso. The relations of the
+members of the Borgia family to each other and to strangers, such as the
+Farnese, the Pucci, and the Orsini; the intrigues at the papal court;
+the long series of crimes; the extortion of money; the selling of the
+cardinal's hat; and all the other enormities which fill the despatches
+of the ambassadors--regarding all this Burchard is silent. Even Vannozza
+he names but once, and then incorrectly. There are two passages in
+particular in his diary which have given the greatest offense: the
+report of the bacchanal of fifty harlots in the Vatican, and the attack
+made on the Borgias in the anonymous letter to Silvio Savelli. These
+passages are found in all the manuscripts and doubtless also in the
+original of the diary. That the letter to Silvio is a fabrication of
+neither Burchard nor of some malicious Protestant is proved by the fact
+that Marino Sanuto also reproduces it in his diary. Further, that
+neither Burchard nor any subsequent writer concocted the story of the
+Vatican bacchanal is proved by the same letter, whose author relates it
+as a well-known fact. Matarazzo of Perugia also confirms it; his account
+differs from that of Burchard, whose handwriting he could hardly have
+seen at that time, but it agrees with reports which he himself had
+heard. He remarks that he gave it full credence, "for the thing was
+known far and wide, and because my informants were not Romans merely,
+but were the Italian people, therefore have I mentioned it."
+
+This remark indicates the source of the scandalous anecdote--it was
+common talk. It doubtless was based upon an actual banquet which Caesar
+gave in his palace in the Vatican. Some such orgy may have taken place
+there, but who will believe that Lucretia, now the legally recognized
+bride of Alfonso d'Este and about to set out for Ferrara, was an amused
+spectator of it?
+
+This is the only passage in Burchard's diary where Lucretia appears in
+an unfavorable light; nowhere else has he recorded anything
+discreditable to her. The accusations of the Neopolitans and of
+Guicciardini are not substantiated by anything in his diary. In fact we
+find corroboration nowhere unless we regard Matarazzo as an authority,
+which he certainly was not. He states that Giovanni Sforza had
+discovered that criminal relations existed between his wife and Caesar
+and Don Giovanni, to which a still more terrible suspicion was added.
+Sforza, therefore, had murdered Gandia and fled from Rome, and in
+consequence Alexander had dissolved his marriage. Setting aside the
+monstrous idea that the young woman was guilty at one and the same time
+of threefold incest, Matarazzo's account contains an anachronism: Sforza
+left Rome two months before the murder of Gandia.
+
+An authentic despatch of the Ferrarese ambassador in Milan, dated June
+23, 1497, makes it clear that Lucretia's worthless consort was the one
+who started these rumors about her. Certainly no one could have known
+Lucretia's character and mode of life better than her husband.
+Nevertheless Sforza, before the tribunals of every age, would be
+precisely the one whose testimony would receive the least credit.
+Consuming with hate and a desire for revenge, this was the reason he
+ascribed to the evil-minded Pope for dissolving the marriage. Thus the
+suspicion he let drop became a rumor, and the rumor ultimately
+crystallized into a belief. In this connection, however, it is worthy of
+note that Guido Posthumus, Sforza's faithful retainer, who in epigrams
+revenged himself on Alexander for his master's disgrace, neither
+mentions this suspicion nor anywhere refers to Lucretia.[97]
+
+In none of the numerous despatches of the day is this suspicion
+mentioned, although in a private letter of Malipiero's, dated Rome, June
+17, 1497, and in one of Polo Capello's reports, allusion is made to the
+"rumor" regarding the criminal relations of Don Giovanni and his
+sister.[98] Could the fact that Lucretia never engaged in any love
+intrigue--at least she is not charged with having done so--with anyone
+else, when there were in Rome so many courtiers, young nobles, and great
+cardinals who were her daily companions, have given rise to these
+reports? It is a fact that nothing has been discovered which would
+indicate that this beautiful young woman ever did engage in any love
+affair. Even the report of the ambassador, who, writing to Ferrara, not
+from Rome but from Venice, states that Lucretia had given birth to a
+child stands alone. She had at that time been separated from her husband
+Sforza a whole year. But even if we admit that this rumor was well
+founded, and that Lucretia did engage in some illicit love affair, are
+not these relations and slips frequent enough in all societies and at
+all times? Even now nothing is more readily glossed over in the polite
+world.
+
+It is difficult to believe that Lucretia, in the midst of the depravity
+of Rome, and in the environment in which she was placed, could have kept
+herself spotless; but just as little will any unprejudiced person
+believe that she was really guilty of that unmentionable crime. If it
+were possible to conceive that a young woman could have the strength--a
+strength beyond that of the most depraved and hardened man--to hide
+behind a joyous exterior the moral perturbation which the most loathsome
+crime in the world would certainly cause the subject, we should be
+forced to admit that Lucretia Borgia possessed a power of dissimulation
+which passed all human bounds. Nothing, however, charmed the Ferrarese
+so much as the never failing, graceful joyousness of Alfonso's young
+wife. Any woman of feeling can decide correctly whether--if Lucretia
+were guilty of the crimes with which she was charged--she could have
+appeared as she did, and whether the countenance which we behold in the
+portrait of the bride of Alfonso d'Este in 1502 could be the face of the
+inhuman fury described in Sannazzaro's epigram.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[84] Compare Sannazzaro's epitaph on Alexander VI with the epigram of
+Guido Posthumus: In Tumulum Sexti.
+
+[85] Cardinal Ferrari to Ercole, Rome, February 18, 1501. This is the
+first of the letters regarding this subject in the archives of Modena.
+
+[86] Ercole's letter to his ambassador in Florence, Manfredo Manfredi,
+April 25, 1501. Archives of Modena.
+
+[87] Ferrari to Ercole, May 1, 1501.
+
+[88] Girolamo Saerati to Ercole, Rome, May 8, 1501.
+
+[89] Bartolomeo de' Cavallieri, Ferrarese ambassador to France, to
+Ercole, Chalons, May 26, 1501.
+
+[90] At least such was the plan advocated by Monsignor de Trans, French
+ambassador in Rome. Letter of Aldovrandus de Guidonibus to Duke Ercole,
+Lugo, April 25, 1501. State archives of Modena.
+
+[91] Bartolomeo de' Cavallieri to Ercole, Lyons, June 22, 1501.
+
+[92] Ercole to Giovanni Valla, July 8, 1501. Ercole to the Cardinal of
+Rouen, July 8, 1501.
+
+[93] Despatches of Bartolomeo de'Cavallieri, Ferrarese ambassador at the
+court of France, to Ercole, July 10, 14, and 21, 1501.
+
+[94] Despatch of the same, undated.
+
+[95] Ercole to Giovanni Valla, his special envoy to the Cardinal of
+Rouen, in Milan, July 21 and 26, 1501.
+
+[96] Da Roma accertasi, che la figliola del papa ha partorito.... Giov.
+Alberto della Pigna to the duke, Venice, March 15, 1498. Archives of
+Modena.
+
+[97] One of the first statements that Caesar was his brother's murderer
+is found in a despatch of the Ferrarese ambassador at Venice. De novo ho
+inteso, como de la morte del Duca di Candia fo causa el Cardinale suo
+fratello. Pigna's despatch to Ercole, Venice, February 22, 1498.
+
+[98] The Malipiero letter (Archiv. Stor. It. VII, i, 490) contains the
+following: Si dice, que il sig. Giovanni Sforza ha fatto questo effetto
+(the murder of Gandia) perche il Duca (di Gandia) usava con la sorella,
+sua consorte, la qual e fiola del Papa, ma d'un altra madre (which was
+incorrect). The Venetian ambassador, Polo Capello, refers to this rumor
+(si dice) in his well known Relation of September, 1500.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE HOUSE OF ESTE
+
+
+The hereditary Prince of Ferrara made a determined resistance before
+yielding to his father's pressure, but the latter was now so anxious for
+the marriage to take place that he told his son that, if he persisted in
+his refusal, he would be compelled to marry Lucretia himself. After the
+duke had overcome his son's pride and secured his consent, he regarded
+the marriage merely as an advantageous piece of statecraft. He sold the
+honor of his house at the highest price obtainable. The Pope's agents in
+Ferrara, frightened by Ercole's demands, sent Ramondo Remolini to Rome
+to submit them to Alexander, who sought the intervention of the King of
+France to secure more favorable terms from the duke. A letter from the
+Ferrarese ambassador to France to his master throws a bright light on
+this transaction.
+
+     MY ILLUSTRIOUS MASTER: Yesterday the Pope's envoy told me
+     that his Holiness had written him about the messenger your
+     Excellency had sent him demanding two hundred thousand ducats, the
+     remission of the annual tribute, the granting of the _jus
+     patronatus_ for the bishopric of Ferrara, by decree of the
+     consistory, and certain other concessions. He told me that the Pope
+     had offered a hundred thousand, and as to the rest--your Excellency
+     should trust to him, for he would grant them in time and would
+     advance the interests of the house of Este so that everyone would
+     see how high in his favor it stood. In addition, he told me that he
+     was instructed to ask his most Christian Majesty to write to the
+     illustrious cardinal to advise your Excellency to agree. As your
+     Excellency's devoted servant I mention this, although it is
+     superfluous; for if this marriage is to take place, you will
+     arrange it in such a way that "much promising and little
+     fulfillment" will not cause you to regret it. I informed your
+     Excellency in an earlier letter how his most Christian Majesty had
+     told me that his wishes in this affair were the same as your own,
+     and that if the marriage was to be brought about, you might derive
+     as much profit from it as possible, and if it was not to take
+     place, his Majesty stood ready to give Don Alfonso the lady whom
+     your Excellency might select for him in France.
+
+  Your ducal Excellency's servant,
+
+  BARTOLOMEO CAVALERI.
+
+  LYONS, _August 7, 1501_.
+
+Alexander did not wish to send his daughter to Ferrara with empty hands,
+but the portion which Ercole demanded was not a modest one. It was
+larger than Blanca Sforza had brought the Emperor Maximilian; moreover,
+one of the duke's demands involved an infraction of the canon law, for,
+in addition to the large sum of money, he insisted upon the remission of
+the yearly tribute paid the Church by the fief of Ferrara, the cession
+of Cento and Pieve, cities which belonged to the archbishopric of
+Bologna, and even on the relinquishment of Porto Cesenatico and a large
+number of benefices in favor of the house of Este. They wrangled
+violently, but so great was the Pope's desire to secure the ducal throne
+of Ferrara for his daughter that he soon announced that he would
+practically agree to Ercole's demands, which Caesar urged him to do.[99]
+Nor was Lucretia herself less urgent in begging her father to consent;
+she was the duke's most able advocate in Rome, and Ercole knew that it
+was due largely to her skilful pleading that he succeeded in carrying
+his point.
+
+The negotiations took this favorable turn about the end of July or the
+beginning of August, and the earliest of the duke's letters to Lucretia
+and the Pope, among those preserved in the archives of the house of
+Este, belong to this period.
+
+August 6th Ercole wrote his future daughter-in-law, recommending to her
+for her agent one Agostino Huet (a secretary of Caesar's), who had shown
+the greatest interest in conducting the negotiations.
+
+August 10th he reported to the Pope the result of the conferences which
+had taken place, and urged him not to look on his demands as
+unreasonable. This he repeated in a letter dated August 21st, in which
+he stated in plain, commercial terms that the price was low enough; in
+fact, that it was merely nominal.
+
+In the meantime the projected marriage had become known to the world,
+and was the subject of diplomatic consideration, for the strengthening
+of the papacy was agreeable to neither the Powers of Italy nor those
+beyond the peninsula. Florence and Bologna, which Caesar coveted were
+frightened; the Republic of Venice, which was in constant friction with
+Ferrara, and which had designs upon the coast of Romagna, did not
+conceal her annoyance, and she ascribed the whole thing to Caesar's
+ambition.[100] The King of France put a good face upon the matter, as
+did also the King of Spain; but Maximilian was so opposed to the
+marriage that he endeavored to prevent it. Ferrara was just beginning to
+acquire the political importance which Florence had possessed in the
+time of Lorenzo de' Medici, consequently its influence was such that the
+German emperor could not be indifferent to an alliance between it and
+the papacy and France. Moreover, Bianca Sforza was Maximilian's wife,
+and at the German court there were other members and retainers of the
+overthrown house--all bitter enemies of the Borgias.
+
+In August the Emperor despatched letters to Ferrara in which he warned
+Ercole against any marital alliance between his house and that of
+Alexander. This warning of Maximilian's must have been highly acceptable
+to the duke, as he could use it to force the Pope to accede to his
+demands. He mentioned the letter to his Holiness, but assured him that
+his determination would remain unshaken. Then he instructed his
+counselor, Gianluca Pozzi, to answer the Emperor's letter.[101] Ercole's
+letter to his chancellor is dated August 25th, but before its contents
+became known in Rome the Pope hastened to agree to the duke's
+conditions, and to have the marriage contract executed. This was done in
+the Vatican, August 26, 1501.[102]
+
+He immediately despatched Cardinal Ferrari to Ercole with the contract,
+whereupon Don Ramiro Remolini and other proxies hastened to
+Ferrara,[103] where, in the castle of Belfiore, the nuptial contract was
+concluded _ad verba_, September 1, 1501.
+
+On the same day the duke wrote Lucretia, saying that, while he hitherto
+had loved her on account of her virtues and on account of the Pope and
+her brother Caesar, he now loved her more as a daughter. In the same tone
+he wrote to Alexander himself, informing him that the betrothal had
+taken place, and thanking him for bestowing the dignity of Archpriest of
+S. Peter's on his son, Cardinal Ippolito.[104]
+
+Less diplomatic was Ercole's letter to the Marchese Gonzaga informing
+him of the event. It clearly shows what was his real opinion, and he
+tries to excuse himself for consenting by saying he was forced to take
+the step.
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND DEAREST BROTHER: We have informed your
+     Majesty that we have recently decided--owing to practical
+     considerations--to consent to an alliance between our house and
+     that of his Holiness--the marriage of our eldest son, Alfonso, and
+     the illustrious lady Lucretia Borgia, sister of the illustrious
+     Duke of Romagna and Valentinois, chiefly because we were urged to
+     consent by his Most Christian Majesty, and on condition that his
+     Holiness would agree to everything stipulated in the marriage
+     contract. Subsequently his Holiness and ourselves came to an
+     agreement, and the Most Christian King persistently urged us to
+     execute the contract. This was done to-day in God's name, and with
+     the assistance of the (French) ambassador and the proxies of his
+     Holiness, who were present; and it was also published this morning.
+     I hasten to inform your Majesty of the event because our mutual
+     relations and love require that you should be made acquainted with
+     everything which concerns us--and so we offer ourselves to do your
+     pleasure.
+
+     FERRARA, _September 2, 1501_.[105]
+
+September 4th a courier brought the news that the nuptial contract had
+been signed in Ferrara. Alexander immediately had the Vatican
+illuminated and the cannon of Castle S. Angelo announce the glad
+tidings. All Rome resounded with the jubilations of the retainers of the
+house of Borgia.
+
+This moment was the turning point in Lucretia's life. If her soul
+harbored any ambition and yearning for worldly greatness, what must she
+now have felt when the opportunity to ascend the princely throne of one
+of Italy's oldest houses was offered her! If she had any regret and
+loathing for what had surrounded her in Rome, and if longings for a
+better life were stronger in her than were these vain desires, there was
+now held out to her the promise of a haven of rest. She was to become
+the wife of a prince famous, not for grace and culture, but for his good
+sense and earnestness. She had seen him once in Rome, in her early
+youth, when she was Sforza's betrothed. No sacrifice would be too great
+for her if it would wipe out the remembrance of the nine years which had
+followed that day. The victory she had now won by the shameful
+complaisance of the house of Este was associated with deep humiliation,
+for she knew that Alfonso had condescended to accept her hand only after
+long urging and under threats. A bold, intriguing woman might overcome
+this feeling of humiliation by summoning up the consciousness of her
+genius and her charm; while one less strong, but endowed with beauty and
+sweetness, might be fascinated by the idea of disarming a hostile
+husband with the magic of her personality. The question, however,
+whether any honor accrued to her by marrying a man against his will, or
+whether under such circumstances a high-minded woman would not have
+scornfully refused, would probably never arise in the mind of such a
+light-headed woman as Lucretia certainly was, and if it did in her case,
+Caesar and her father would never have allowed her to give voice to any
+such undiplomatic scruples. We can discover no trace of moral pride in
+her; all we discern is a childishly naive joy at her prospective
+happiness.
+
+The Roman populace saw her, accompanied by three hundred knights and
+four bishops, pass along the city streets, September 5th, on her way to
+S. Maria del Popolo to offer prayers of thanksgiving. Following a
+curious custom of the day, which shows Folly and Wisdom side by side,
+just as we find them in Calderon's and Shakespeare's dramas, Lucretia
+presented the costly robe which she wore when she offered up her prayer,
+to one of her court fools, and the clown ran merrily through the streets
+of Rome, bawling out, "Long live the illustrious Duchess of Ferrara!
+Long live Pope Alexander!" With noisy demonstrations the Borgias and
+their retainers celebrated the great event.
+
+Alexander summoned a consistory, as though this family affair were an
+important Church matter. With childish loquacity he extolled Duke
+Ercole, pronouncing him the greatest and wisest of the princes of Italy;
+he described Don Alfonso as a handsomer and greater man than his son
+Caesar, adding that his former wife was a sister-in-law of the Emperor.
+Ferrara was a fortunate State, and the house of Este an ancient one; a
+marriage train of great princes was shortly to come to Rome to take the
+bride away, and the Duchess of Urbino was to accompany it.[106]
+
+September 14th Caesar Borgia returned from Naples, where Federico, the
+last Aragonese king of that country, had been forced to yield to France.
+To his great satisfaction he found Lucretia prospective Duchess of
+Ferrara. On the fifteenth Ercole's envoys, Saraceni and Bellingeri,
+appeared. Their object was to see that the Pope fulfilled his
+obligations promptly. The duke was a practical man; he did not trust
+him. He was unwilling to send the bridal escort until he had the papal
+bull in his own hands. Lucretia supported the ambassador so zealously
+that Saraceni wrote his master that she already appeared to him to be a
+good Ferrarese.[107] She was present in the Vatican while Alexander
+carried on the negotiations. He sometimes used Latin for the purpose of
+displaying his linguistic attainments; but on one occasion, out of
+regard for Lucretia, he ordered that Italian be used, which proves that
+his daughter was not a perfect mistress of the classic tongue.
+
+From this ambassador's despatches it appears that life in the Vatican
+was extremely agreeable. They sang, played and danced every evening. One
+of Alexander's greatest delights was to watch beautiful women dancing,
+and when Lucretia and the ladies of her court were so engaged he was
+careful to summon the Ferrarese ambassadors so that they might note his
+daughter's grace. One evening he remarked laughingly that "they might
+see that the duchess was not lame."[108]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Pope never tired of passing the nights in this way, although Caesar,
+a strong man, was worn out by the ceaseless round of pleasure. When the
+latter consented to grant the ambassadors an audience, a favor which was
+not often bestowed even on cardinals, he received them dressed, but
+lying in bed, which caused Saraceni to remark in his despatch, "I feared
+that he was sick, for last evening he danced without intermission, which
+he will do again tonight at the Pope's palace, where the illustrious
+duchess is going to sup."[109] Lucretia regarded it as a relief when, a
+few days later, the Pope went to Civitacastellana and Nepi. September
+25th the ambassadors wrote to Ferrara, "The illustrious lady continues
+somewhat ailing, and is greatly fatigued; she is not, however, under the
+care of any physician, nor does she neglect her affairs, but grants
+audiences as usual. We think that this indisposition merely indicates
+that her Majesty should take better care of herself. The rest which she
+will have while his Holiness is away will do her good; for whenever she
+is at the Pope's palace, the entire night, until two or three o'clock,
+is spent in dancing and at play, which fatigues her greatly."[110]
+
+About this time occurred a disagreeable episode in connection with
+Giovanni Sforza, Lucretia's divorced husband, which the Pope discussed
+with the Ferrarese ambassadors. What they feared from him is revealed by
+the following despatch:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE AND MASTER: As his Holiness the Pope
+     desires to take all proper precautions to prevent the occurrence of
+     anything that might be unpleasant to your Excellency, to Don
+     Alfonso, and especially to the duchess, and also to himself, he has
+     asked us to write your Excellency and request that you see to it
+     that Lord Giovanni of Pesaro--who, his Holiness has been informed,
+     is in Mantua--shall not be in Ferrara at the time of the marriage
+     festivities. For, although his divorce from the above named
+     illustrious lady was absolutely legal and according to prescribed
+     form, as the records of the proceedings clearly show, he himself
+     fully consenting to it, he may, nevertheless, still harbor some
+     resentment. If he should be in Ferrara there would be a possibility
+     of his seeing the lady, and her Excellency would therefore be
+     compelled to remain in concealment to escape disagreeable
+     memories. He, therefore, requests your Excellency to prevent this
+     possibility with your usual foresight. Thereupon his Holiness
+     freely expressed his opinion of the Marchese of Mantua, and
+     censured him severely because he of all the Italian princes was the
+     only one who offered an asylum to outcasts, and especially to those
+     who were under not only his own ban, but under that of his Most
+     Christian Majesty. We endeavored, however, to excuse the marchese
+     by saying that he, a high-minded man, could not close his domain to
+     such as wished to come to him, especially when they were people of
+     importance, and we used every argument to defend him. His Holiness,
+     however, seemed displeased by our defense of the marchese. Your
+     Excellency may, therefore, make such arrangements as in your wisdom
+     seem proper. And so we, in all humility, commend ourselves to your
+     mercy.
+
+     ROME, _September 23, 1501_.[111]
+
+As a result of Ercole's insistence, the question of the reduction of
+Ferrara's yearly tribute as a fief of the Holy See from four hundred
+ducats to one hundred florins was brought to a vote in the consistory,
+September 17th. It was expected that there would be violent opposition.
+Alexander explained what Ercole had done for Ferrara, his founding
+convents and churches, and his strengthening the city, thus making it a
+bulwark for the States of the Church. The cardinals were induced to
+favor the reduction by the intervention of the Cardinal of Cosenza--one
+of Lucretia's creatures--and of Messer Troche, Caesar's confidant. They
+authorized the reduction and the Pope thanked them, especially praising
+the older cardinals--the younger, those of his own creation, having been
+more obstinate.[112]
+
+The same day he secured possession of the property he had wrested from
+the barons who had been placed under his ban August 20th. These domains,
+which embraced a large part of the Roman Campagna, were divided into two
+districts. The center of one was Nepi; that of the other Sermoneta--two
+cities which Lucretia, their former mistress, immediately renounced.
+Alexander made these duchies over to two children, Giovanni Borgia and
+Rodrigo. At first the Pope ascribed the paternity of the former child to
+his own son Caesar, but subsequently he publicly announced that he
+himself was its father.
+
+It is difficult to believe in such unexampled shamelessness, but the
+legal documents to prove it are in existence. Both bulls are dated
+September 1, 1501, and are addressed to my beloved son, "the noble
+Giovanni de Borgia and Infante of Rome." In the former, Alexander states
+that Giovanni, a child of three years, was the natural son of Caesar
+Borgia, unmarried (which he was at the time of its birth), by a single
+woman. By apostolic authority he legitimated the child and bestowed upon
+it all the rights of a member of his family. In the second brief he
+refers to the proceedings in which the child had been declared to be
+Caesar's son, and says verbatim: "Since it is owing, not to the duke
+named (Caesar), but to us and to the unmarried woman mentioned that you
+bear this stain (of illegitimate birth), which for good reasons we did
+not wish to state in the preceding instrument; and in order that there
+may be no chance of your being caused annoyance in the future, we will
+see to it that that document shall never be declared null, and of our
+own free will, and by virtue of our authority, we confirm you, by these
+presents, in the full enjoyment of everything as provided in that
+instrument." Thereupon he renews the legitimation and announces that
+even if this his child, which had hitherto been declared to be Caesar's,
+shall in future, in any document or act be named and described as his
+(Caesar's), and even if he uses Caesar's arms, it shall in no way inure to
+the disadvantage of the child, and that all such acts shall have the
+same force which they would have had if the boy had been described not
+as Caesar's, but as his own, in the documents referring to his
+legitimation.[113]
+
+It is worthy of note that both these documents were executed on one and
+the same day, but this is explained by the fact that the canon law
+prevented the Pope from acknowledging his own son. Alexander, therefore,
+extricated himself from the difficulty by telling a falsehood in the
+first bull. This lie made the legitimation of the child possible, and
+also conferred upon it the rights of succession; and this having once
+been embodied in a legal document, the Pope could, without injury to the
+child, tell the truth.
+
+September 1, 1501, Caesar was not in Rome. Even a man of his stamp may
+have blushed for his father, when he thus made him the rival of this
+bastard for the possession of the property. Later, after Alexander's
+death, the little Giovanni Borgia passed for Caesar's son; he had,
+moreover, been described as such by the Pope in numerous briefs.[114]
+
+It is not known who was the mother of this mysterious child. Burchard
+speaks of her merely as a "certain Roman." If Alexander, who described
+her as an "unmarried woman," told the truth, Giulia Farnese could not
+have been its mother.
+
+It is possible, however, that the Pope's second statement likewise was
+untrue, and that the "Infante of Rome" was not his son, but was a
+natural child of Lucretia. The reader will remember that in March, 1498,
+the Ferrarese ambassador reported to Duke Ercole that it was rumored in
+Rome that the Pope's daughter had given birth to a child. This date
+agrees perfectly with the age of the Infante Giovanni in September,
+1501. Both documents regarding his legitimation, which are now preserved
+in the Este archives, were originally in Lucretia's chancellery. She may
+have taken them with her from Rome to Ferrara, or they may have been
+brought to her later. Eventually we shall find the Infante at her court
+in Ferrara, where he was spoken of as her "brother." These facts suggest
+that the mysterious Giovanni Borgia was Lucretia's son--this, however,
+is only a hypothesis. The city of Nepi and thirty-six other estates were
+conferred upon the child as his dukedom.
+
+The second domain, including the duchy of Sermoneta and twenty-eight
+castles, was given to little Rodrigo, Lucretia's only son by Alfonso of
+Aragon.
+
+Under Lucretia's changed conditions, this child was an embarrassment to
+her, for she either was not allowed or did not dare to bring a child by
+her former husband to Ferrara. For the sake of her character let us
+assume that she was compelled to leave her child among strangers. The
+order to do so, however, does not appear to have emanated from Ferrara,
+for, September 28th, the ambassador Gerardi gave his master an account
+of a call which he made on Madonna Lucretia, in which he said, "As her
+son was present, I asked her--in such a way that she could not mistake
+my meaning--what was to be done with him; to which she replied, 'He will
+remain in Rome, and will have an allowance of fifteen thousand
+ducats.'"[115] The little Rodrigo was, in truth, provided for in a
+princely manner. He was placed under the guardianship of two
+cardinals--the Patriarch of Alexandria and Francesco Borgia, Archbishop
+of Cosenza. He received the revenues of Sermoneta, and he also owned
+Biselli, his unfortunate father's inheritance; for Ferdinand and
+Isabella of Castile authorized their ambassador in Rome, Francesco de
+Roxas, January 7, 1502, to confirm Rodrigo in the possession of the
+duchy of Biselli and the city of Quadrata. According to this act his
+title was Don Rodrigo Borgia of Aragon, Duke of Biselli and Sermoneta,
+and lord of Quadrata.[116]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[99] Cavallieri to Ercole, Lyons, August 8, 1501. The Pope has written
+his nuncio that he agreed to the duke's demands, for the purpose of
+concluding the marriage, which would be extraordinarily advantageous to
+himself and the Duke of Romagna.
+
+[100] Despatches of the Ferrarese ambassador, Bartolomeo Cartari, from
+Venice, June 25, July 28, and August 2, 1501. Archives of Modena.
+
+[101] Ercole's letter to Pozzi in Ferrara, August 25, 1501. Maximilian's
+letters are not in the Este archives but in Vienna.
+
+[102] The instrument was drawn by Beneimbene.
+
+[103] Cardinal Ferrari to Ercole, Rome, August 27, 1501.
+
+[104] Ducal Records, September 1, 1501.
+
+[105] The letter is reproduced in Zucchetti's Lucrezia Borgia, Duchessa
+di Ferrara, Milan, 1869.
+
+[106] Ed altre cose che egli disse per maggiormente magnificare il
+fatto. Matteo Canale to the Duke of Ferrara, Rome, September 11, 1501.
+
+[107] Quale mi pare gia essere optima Ferrarese. Despatch from Rome,
+September 15th.
+
+[108] Che voleva havessimo veduto che la Duchessa non era zoppa.
+Saraceni to Ercole, Rome, September 16th.
+
+[109] Rome, September 23d, Saraceni.
+
+[110] Despatch, September 25th.
+
+[111] To this Ercole replied in reassuring terms. Letter to his orators
+in Rome, September 18, 1501.
+
+[112] Despatch of Matteo Canale to Ercole, Rome, September 18, 1501.
+
+[113] Both bulls are in the archives of Modena. The first is a copy, the
+second an original. The lead seal is wanting, but the red and yellow
+silk by which it was attached is still preserved. I first discovered the
+facts in a manuscript in the Barberiniana in Rome.
+
+[114] Mandate of the Pope regarding certain taxes, dated July 21, 1502:
+Nobili Infanti Johanni Borgia, nostro secundum carnem nepoti; and in
+another brief, dated June 12, 1502, Dil filii nobilis infantis Johannis
+Borgia ducis Nepesini delecti filii nobilis viri Caesaris Borgia de
+Francia, etc. Archives of Modena.
+
+[115] Geradi to Ercole, Rome, September 28th.
+
+[116] Datum in civitate Hispali, January 7, 1502. Yo el rey. Archives of
+Modena. In Liber Arrendamentorum Terrarum ad Illmos Dnos Rodericum Bor.
+de Aragonia Sermoneti, et Jo. de bor., Nepesin. Duces infantes
+spectantium et alearq. scripturar. status eorundem tangentium. Biselli,
+1502.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE EVE OF THE WEDDING
+
+
+Lucretia was impatient to leave Rome, which, she remarked to the
+ambassador of Ferrara, seemed to her like a prison; the duke himself was
+no less anxious to conclude the transaction. The preparation of the new
+bull of investiture, however, was delayed, and the cession of Cento and
+Pievi could not be effected without the consent of Cardinal Giuliano
+della Rovere, Archbishop of Bologna, who was then living in France.
+Ercole, therefore, postponed despatching the bridal escort, although the
+approach of winter would make the journey, which was severe at any time,
+all the more difficult. Whenever Lucretia saw the Ferrarese ambassadors
+she asked them how soon the escort would come to fetch her. She herself
+endeavored to remove all obstacles. Although the cardinals trembled
+before the Pope and Caesar, they were reluctant to sign a bull which
+would lose Ferrara's tribute to the Church. They were bitterly opposed
+to allowing the descendants of Alfonso and Lucretia, without limitation,
+to profit by a remission of the annual payment; they would suffer this
+privilege to be enjoyed for three generations at most. The duke
+addressed urgent letters to the cardinal and to Lucretia, who finally,
+in October, succeeded in arranging matters, thereby winning high praise
+from her father-in-law. During the first half of October she and the
+duke kept up a lively correspondence, which shows that their mutual
+confidence was increasing. It was plain that Ercole was beginning to
+look upon the unequal match with less displeasure, as he discovered that
+his daughter-in-law possessed greater sense than he had supposed. Her
+letters to him were filled with flattery, especially one she wrote when
+she heard he was sick, and Ercole thanked her for having written it with
+her own hand, which he regarded as special proof of her affection.[117]
+
+The ambassadors reported to him as follows: "When we informed the
+illustrious Duchess of your Excellency's illness, her Majesty displayed
+the greatest concern. She turned pale and stood for a moment bowed in
+thought. She regretted that she was not in Ferrara to take care of you
+herself. When the walls of the Vatican salon tumbled in, she nursed his
+Holiness for two weeks without resting, as the Pope would allow no one
+else to do anything for him."[118]
+
+Well might the illness of Lucretia's father-in-law frighten her. His
+death would have delayed, if not absolutely prevented, her marriage with
+Alfonso; for up to the present time she had no proof that her
+prospective husband's opposition had been overcome.
+
+There are no letters written by either to the other at this time--a
+silence which is, to say the least, singular. Still more disturbing to
+Lucretia must have been the thought that her father himself might die,
+for his death would certainly set aside her betrothal to Alfonso.
+Shortly after Ercole's illness Alexander fell sick. He had caught cold
+and lost a tooth. To prevent exaggerated reports reaching Ferrara, he
+had the duke's envoy summoned, and directed him to write his master that
+his indisposition was insignificant. "If the duke were here," said the
+Pope, "I would--even if my face is tied up--invite him to go and hunt
+wild boars." The ambassador remarked in his despatch that the Pope, if
+he valued his health, had better change his habits, and not leave the
+palace before daybreak, and had better return before nightfall.[119]
+
+Ercole and the Pope received congratulations from all sides. Cardinals
+and ambassadors in their letters proclaimed Lucretia's beauty and
+graciousness. The Spanish envoy in Rome praised her in extravagant
+terms, and Ercole thanked him for his testimony regarding the virtues of
+his daughter-in-law.[120]
+
+Even the King of France displayed the liveliest pleasure at the event,
+which, he now discovered, would redound greatly to Ferrara's advantage.
+The Pope, beaming with joy, read the congratulations of the monarch and
+his consort to the consistory. Louis XII even condescended to address a
+letter to Madonna Lucretia, at the end of which were two words in his
+own hand. Alexander was so delighted thereby that he sent a copy of it
+to Ferrara. The court of Maximilian was the only one from which no
+congratulations were received. The emperor exhibited such displeasure
+that Ercole was worried, as the following letter to his
+plenipotentiaries in Rome shows:
+
+     THE DUKE OF FERRARA, ETC.
+
+     OUR WELL-LOVED: We have given his Holiness, our Lord, no
+     further information regarding the attitude of the illustrious
+     Emperor of the Romans towards him since Messer Michele Remolines
+     departed from here, for we had nothing definite to communicate. We
+     have, however, been told by a trustworthy person with whom the king
+     conversed, that his Majesty was greatly displeased, and that he
+     criticised his Holiness in unmeasured terms on account of the
+     alliance which we have concluded with him, as he also did in
+     letters addressed to us before the betrothal, in which he advised
+     us not to enter into it, as you will learn from the copies of his
+     letters which we send you with this. They were shown and read to
+     his Holiness's ambassador here. Although, so far as we ourselves
+     are concerned, we did not attach much importance to his Majesty's
+     attitude, as we followed the dictates of reason, and are daily
+     becoming more convinced that it will prove advantageous for us; it
+     nevertheless appears proper, in view of our relations with his
+     Holiness, that he should be informed of our position.
+
+     You will, therefore, tell him everything, and also let him see the
+     copies, if you think best, but you must say to him in our name that
+     he is not to ascribe their authorship to us, and that we have not
+     sent you these copies because of any special importance that we
+     attached to them.
+
+     FERRARA, _October 3, 1501_.
+
+The duke now allowed nothing to shake his resolution. Early in October
+he selected the escort whose departure from Ferrara, he frankly stated,
+would depend upon the progress of his negotiations with the Pope. The
+constitution of the bridal trains, both Roman and Ferrarese, was an
+important question, and is referred to in one of Gerardo's despatches.
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS SIR, ETC.: To-day at six o'clock Hector and I
+     were alone with the Pope, having your letters of the twenty-sixth
+     ultimo and of the first of the present month, and also a list of
+     those who are to compose the escort. His Holiness was greatly
+     pleased, the various persons being people of wealth and standing,
+     as he could readily see, the rank and position of each being
+     clearly indicated. I have learned from the best of sources that
+     your Excellency has exceeded all the Pope's expectations. After we
+     had conversed a while with his Holiness, the illustrious Duke of
+     Romagna and Cardinal Orsini were summoned. There were also present
+     Monsignor Elna, Monsignor Troche, and Messer Adriano. The Pope had
+     the list read a second time, and again it was praised, especially
+     by the duke, who said he was acquainted with several of the persons
+     named. He kept the list, thanking me warmly when I gave it to him
+     again, for he had returned it to me.
+
+     We endeavored to get the list of those who are to come with the
+     illustrious Duchess, but it has not yet been prepared. His Holiness
+     said that there would not be many women among the number, as the
+     ladies of Rome were not skilful horsewomen.[121] Hitherto the
+     Duchess has had five or six young ladies at her court--four very
+     young girls and three married women--who will remain with her
+     Majesty. She has, however, been advised not to bring them, as many
+     of the great ladies in Ferrara will offer her their services. She
+     has also a certain Madonna Girolama, Cardinal Borgia's sister, who
+     is married to one of the Orsini. She and three of her women will
+     accompany her. These are the only ladies of honor she has hitherto
+     had. I have heard that she will endeavor to find others in Naples,
+     but it is believed that she will be able to secure only a few, and
+     that these will merely accompany her. The Duchess of Urbino has
+     announced that she expects to come with a mounted escort of fifty
+     persons. So far as the men are concerned, his Holiness said that
+     there would not be many, as there were no Roman noblemen except the
+     Orsini, and they generally were away from the city. Still, he hoped
+     to be able to find sufficient, provided the Duke of Romagna did not
+     take the field, there being a large number of nobles among his
+     followers. His Holiness said that he had plenty of priests and
+     scholars to send, but not such persons as were fit for a mission of
+     this sort. However, the retinue furnished by your Majesty will
+     serve for both, especially as--according to his Holiness--it is
+     better for the more numerous escort to be sent by the groom, and
+     for the bride to come accompanied by a smaller number. Still I do
+     not think her suite will number less than two hundred persons. The
+     Pope is in doubt what route her Majesty will travel. He thinks she
+     ought to go by way of Bologna, and he says that the Florentines
+     likewise have invited her. Although his Holiness has reached no
+     decision, the Duchess has informed us that she would journey
+     through the Marches, and the Pope has just concluded that she might
+     do so. Perhaps he desires her to pass through the estates of the
+     Duke of Romagna on her way to Bologna.
+
+     Regarding your Majesty's wish that a cardinal accompany the
+     Duchess, his Holiness said that it did not seem proper to him for a
+     cardinal to leave Rome with her; but that he had written the
+     Cardinal of Salerno, the Legate in the Marches, to go to the seat
+     of the Duke in Romagna and wait there, and accompany the Duchess to
+     Ferrara to read mass at the wedding. He thought that the cardinal
+     would do this, unless prevented by sickness, in which case his
+     Holiness would provide another.
+
+     When the Pope discovered, during this conversation, that we had so
+     far been unable to secure an audience with the illustrious Duke, he
+     showed great annoyance, declaring it was a mistake which could only
+     injure his Majesty, and he added that the ambassadors of Rimini had
+     been here two months without succeeding in speaking with him, as he
+     was in the habit of turning day into night and night into day. He
+     severely criticized his son's mode of living. On the other hand, he
+     commended the illustrious Duchess, saying that she was always
+     gracious, and granted audiences readily, and that whenever there
+     was need she knew how to cajole. He lauded her highly, and stated
+     that she had ruled Spoleto to the satisfaction of everybody, and he
+     also said that her Majesty always knew how to carry her point--even
+     with himself, the Pope. I think that his Holiness spoke in this way
+     more for the purpose of saying good of her (which according to my
+     opinion she deserved) than to avoid saying anything ill, even if
+     there were occasion for it. Your Majesty's Ever devoted.
+
+     ROME, _October 6th_.
+
+The Pope seldom allowed an opportunity to pass for praising his
+daughter's beauty and graciousness. He frequently compared her with the
+most famous women of Italy--the Marchioness of Mantua and the Duchess of
+Urbino. One day, while conversing with the ambassadors of Ferrara, he
+mentioned her age, saying that in October (1502) she would complete her
+twenty-second year, while Caesar would be twenty-six the same month.[122]
+
+The Pope was greatly pleased with the members of the bridal escort, for
+they all were either princes of the house of Este or prominent persons
+of Ferrara. He also approved the selection of Annibale Bentivoglio, son
+of the Lord of Bologna, and said laughingly to the Ferrarese ambassadors
+that, even if their master had chosen Turks to come to Rome for the
+bride, they would have been welcome.
+
+The Florentines, owing to their fear of Caesar, sent ambassadors to
+Lucretia to ask her to come by way of their city when she went to
+Ferrara; the Pope, however, was determined that she should make the
+journey through Romagna. According to an oppressive custom of the day,
+the people through whose country persons of quality traveled were
+required to provide for them, and, in order not to tax Romagna too
+heavily, it was decided that the Ferrarese escort should come to Rome by
+way of Tuscany. The Republic of Florence firmly refused to entertain the
+escort all the time it was in its territory, although it was willing to
+care for it while in the city or to make a handsome present.[123]
+
+In the meantime preparations were under way in Ferrara for the wedding
+festivities. The Duke invited all the princes who were friendly to him
+to be present. He had even thought of the oration which was to be
+delivered in Ferrara when Lucretia was given to her husband. During the
+Renaissance these orations were regarded as of the greatest importance,
+and he was anxious to secure a speaker who could be depended upon to
+deliver a masterpiece. Ercole had instructed his ambassadors in Rome to
+send him particulars regarding the house of Borgia for the orator to use
+in preparing his speech.[124]
+
+The ambassadors scrupulously carried out their instructions, and wrote
+their sovereign as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE AND MASTER: We have spared no efforts
+     to learn everything possible regarding the illustrious house of
+     Borgia, as your Excellency commanded. We made a thorough
+     investigation, and members of our suite here in Rome, not only the
+     scholars but also those who we knew were loyal to you, did the
+     same. Although we finally succeeded in ascertaining that the house
+     is one of the noblest and most ancient in Spain, we did not
+     discover that its founders ever did anything very remarkable,
+     perhaps because life in that country is quiet and uneventful--your
+     Excellency knows that such is the case in Spain, especially in
+     Valencia.
+
+     Whatever there is worthy of note dates from the time of Calixtus,
+     and, in fact, the deeds of Calixtus himself are those most worthy
+     of comment; Platina, however, has given an account of his life,
+     which, moreover, is well known to everybody. Whoever is to deliver
+     the oration has ample material, therefore, from which to choose.
+     We, illustrious Sir, have been able to learn nothing more regarding
+     this house than what you already know, and this concerns only the
+     members of the family who have been Popes, and is derived chiefly
+     from the audience speeches. In case we succeed in finding out
+     anything more, we shall inform your Excellency, to whom we commend
+     ourselves in all humility.
+
+     ROME, _October 18, 1501_.
+
+When the descendant of the ancient house of Este read this terse
+despatch he must have smiled; its candor was so undiplomatic that it
+bordered on irony. The doughty ambassadors, however, apparently did not
+go to the right sources, for if they had applied to the courtiers who
+were intimate with the Borgia--for example, the Porcaro--they would have
+obtained a genealogical tree showing a descent from the old kings of
+Aragon, if not from Hercules himself.
+
+In the meantime the impatience of the Pope and Lucretia was steadily
+increasing, for the departure of the bridal escort was delayed, and the
+enemies of the Borgia were already beginning to make merry. The duke
+declared that he could not think of sending for Donna Lucretia until the
+bull of investiture was in his hands. He complained at the Pope's delay
+in fulfilling his promises. He also demanded that the part of the
+marriage portion which was to be paid in coin through banking houses in
+Venice, Bologna, and other cities be handed over on the bridal escort's
+entry into Rome, and threatened in case it was not paid in full to have
+his people return to Ferrara without the bride.[125] As it was
+impossible for him to bring about the immediate cession of Cento and
+Pievi, he asked from the Pope as a pledge that either the bishopric of
+Bologna be given his son Ippolito, or that his Holiness furnish a bond.
+He also demanded certain benefices for his natural son Don Giulio, and
+for his ambassador Gianluca Pozzi. Lucretia succeeded in securing the
+bishopric of Reggio for the latter and also a house in Rome for the
+Ferrarese envoy.
+
+Another important question was the dowry of jewels which Lucretia was to
+receive. During the Renaissance the passion for jewels amounted to a
+mania. Ercole sent word to his daughter-in-law that she must not dispose
+of her jewels, but must bring them with her; he also said that he
+would send her a handsome ornament by the bridal escort, gallantly
+adding that, as she herself was a precious jewel, she deserved the most
+beautiful gems--even more magnificent ones than he and his own consort
+had possessed; it is true he was not so wealthy as the Duke of Savoy,
+but, nevertheless, he was in a position to send her jewels no less
+beautiful than those given her by the duke.[126]
+
+The relations between Ercole and his daughter-in-law were as friendly as
+could be desired, for Lucretia exerted herself to secure the Pope's
+consent to his demands. His Holiness, however, was greatly annoyed by
+the duke's conduct; he sent urgent requests to him to despatch the
+escort to Rome, and assured him that the two castles in Romagna would be
+delivered over to him before Lucretia reached Ferrara, but in case she
+did arrive there first that everything she asked would be granted--his
+love for her was such that he even thought of paying her a visit in
+Ferrara in the spring.[127] The Pope suspected, however, that the delay
+in sending the bridal escort was due to the machinations of Maximilian.
+Even as late as November the emperor had despatched his secretary,
+Agostino Semenza, to the duke to warn him not to send the escort to
+Rome, adding that he would show his gratitude to Ercole. November 22d
+the duke wrote the imperial plenipotentiary a letter in which he stated
+that he had immediately sent a courier to his ambassador in Rome; it
+would soon be winter, and the time would therefore be unfavorable for
+bringing Lucretia; if the Pope was willing, he would postpone the
+wedding, but he would not break off with him entirely. His Majesty
+should remember that if he did this, the Pope would become his bitterest
+enemy, and would persecute him, and might even make war on him. It was,
+he stated, for the express purpose of avoiding this that he had
+consented to enter into an alliance with his Holiness. He, therefore,
+hoped that his Majesty would not expose him to this danger, but that,
+with his usual justice, he would appreciate his excuses.[128]
+
+At the same time he instructed his ambassadors in Rome to inform the
+Pope of the emperor's threats, and to say to him that he was ready to
+fulfil his own obligations and also to urge his Holiness to have the
+bulls prepared at once, as further delay was dangerous.
+
+Alexander thereupon fell into a rage; he overwhelmed the ambassadors
+with reproaches, and called the duke a "tradesman." On December 1st
+Ercole announced to the emperor's messenger that he was unable longer to
+delay sending the bridal escort, for, if he did, it would mean a rupture
+with the Pope. The same day he wrote to his ambassadors in Rome and
+complained of the use of the epithet "tradesman," which the Pope had
+applied to him.[129] He, however, reassured his Holiness by informing
+him that he had decided to despatch the bridal escort from Ferrara the
+ninth or tenth of December.[130]
+
+[Illustration: ERCOLE D'ESTE, DUKE OF FERRARA.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[117] Lucretia to Ercole, October 18th; Ercole to Lucretia, October 23d.
+
+[118] Gerardo to Ercole, October 15, 1501.
+
+[119] Ercole to Don Francesco de Roxas, October 24, 1501.
+
+[120] Gerardo Saraceni to Ercole, Rome, October 26, 1501.
+
+[121] Per essere queste romane salvatiche et male apte a cavallo.
+
+[122] Gerardo to Ercole, October 26, 1501.
+
+[123] The orator Manfredo Manfredi to Ercole, Florence, November 22 and
+24, 1501.
+
+[124] The duke to his ambassadors in Rome, October 7, 1501.
+
+[125] Ercole to Gerardo Saraceni, November 24, 1501. Other letters of
+like import were written by the duke to his plenipotentiaries.
+
+[126] Ercole to Gerardo Saraceni in Rome, October 11, 1501.
+
+[127] Despatch of the Ferrarese ambassadors to Ercole, Rome, October 31,
+1501.
+
+[128] Il quale mal effecto volendo nui fugire, seamo condescesi a
+contrahere la affinita cum soa Santita. Responsum illmi Dni ducis
+Ferrarie D. Augustino Semetie Ces Mtis secretario. Ferrara, November 22,
+1501.
+
+[129] Che il procedere del Duca era un procedere da mercatante. Ercole
+to Gerardo Saraceni, December 1, 1501.
+
+[130] Ercole to Alexander VI, December 1, 1501.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+ARRIVAL AND RETURN OF THE BRIDAL ESCORT
+
+
+In the meantime Lucretia's trousseau was being prepared with an expense
+worthy of a king's daughter. On December 13, 1501, the agent in Rome of
+the Marchese Gonzaga wrote his master as follows: "The portion will
+consist of three hundred thousand ducats, not counting the presents
+which Madonna will receive from time to time. First a hundred thousand
+ducats are to be paid in money in instalments in Ferrara. Then there
+will be silverware to the value of three thousand ducats; jewels, fine
+linen, costly trappings for horses and mules, together worth another
+hundred thousand. In her wardrobe she has a trimmed dress worth more
+than fifteen thousand ducats, and two hundred costly shifts, some of
+which are worth a hundred ducats apiece; the sleeves alone of some of
+them cost thirty ducats each, being trimmed with gold fringe." Another
+person reported to the Marchesa Isabella that Lucretia had one dress
+worth twenty thousand ducats, and a hat valued at ten thousand. "It is
+said," so the Mantuan agent writes, "that more gold has been prepared
+and sold here in Naples in six months than has been used heretofore in
+two years. She brings her husband another hundred thousand ducats, the
+value of the castles (Cento and Pieve), and will also secure the
+remission of Ferrara's tribute. The number of horses and persons the
+Pope will place at his daughter's disposal will amount to a thousand.
+There will be two hundred carriages--among them some of French make, if
+there is time--and with these will come the escort which is to take
+her."[131]
+
+The duke finally concluded to send the bridal escort, although the bulls
+were not ready for him. As he was anxious to make the marriage of his
+son with Lucretia an event of the greatest magnificence, he sent a
+cavalcade of more than fifteen hundred persons for her. At their head
+were Cardinal Ippolito and five other members of the ducal house; his
+brothers, Don Ferrante and Don Sigismondo; also Niccolo Maria d'Este,
+Bishop of Adria; Meliaduse d'Este, Bishop of Comacchio; and Don Ercole,
+a nephew of the duke. In the escort were numerous prominent friends and
+kinsmen or vassals of the house of Ferrara, lords of Correggio and
+Mirandola; the Counts Rangone of Modena; one of the Pio of Carpi; the
+Counts Bevilacqua, Roverella, Sagrato, Strozzi of Ferrara, Annibale
+Bentivoglio of Bologna, and many others.
+
+These gentlemen, magnificently clad, and with heavy gold chains about
+their necks, mounted on beautiful horses, left Ferrara December 9th,
+with thirteen trumpeters and eight fifes at their head; and thus this
+wedding cavalcade, led by a worldly cardinal, rode noisily forth upon
+their journey. In our time such an aggregation might easily be mistaken
+for a troop of trick riders. Nowhere did this brave company of knights
+pay their reckoning; in the domain of Ferrara they lived on the duke; in
+other words, at the expense of his subjects. In the lands of other lords
+they did the same, and in the territory of the Church the cities they
+visited were required to provide for them.
+
+In spite of the luxury of the Renaissance, traveling was at that time
+very disagreeable; everywhere in Europe it was as difficult then as it
+is now in the Orient. Great lords and ladies, who to-day flit across the
+country in comfortable railway carriages, traveled in the sixteenth
+century, even in the most civilized states of Europe, mounted on horses
+or mules, or slowly in sedan-chairs, exposed to all the inclemencies of
+wind and weather, and unpaved roads. The cavalcade was thirteen days on
+the way from Ferrara to Rome--a journey which can now be made in a few
+hours.
+
+Finally, on December 22d, it reached Monterosi, a wretched castle
+fifteen miles from Rome. All were in a deplorable condition, wet to the
+skin by winter rains, and covered with mud; and men and horses
+completely tired out. From this place the cardinal sent a messenger with
+a herald to Rome to receive the Pope's commands. Answer was brought that
+they were to enter by the Porta del Popolo.
+
+The entrance of the Ferrarese into Rome was the most theatrical event
+that occurred during the reign of Alexander VI. Processions were the
+favorite spectacles of the Middle Ages; State, Church, and society
+displayed their wealth and power in magnificent cavalcades. The horse
+was symbolic of the world's strength and magnificence, but with the
+disappearance of knighthood it lost its place in the history of
+civilization. How the love of form and color of the people of Italy--the
+home of processions--has changed was shown in Rome, July 2, 1871, when
+Victor Emmanuel entered his new capital. Had this episode--one of the
+weightiest in the whole history of Italy--occurred during the
+Renaissance, it would have been made the occasion of a magnificent
+triumph. The entrance into Rome of the first king of united Italy was
+made, however, in a few dust-covered carriages, which conveyed the
+monarch and his court from the railway station to their lodgings; yet
+in this bourgeois simplicity there was really more moral greatness than
+in any of the triumphs of the Caesars. That the love of parades which
+existed in the Renaissance has died out is, perhaps, to be regretted,
+for occasions still arise when they are necessary.
+
+Alexander's prestige would certainly have suffered if, on the occasion
+of a family function of such importance, he had failed to offer the
+people as evidence of his power a brilliant spectacle of some sort. The
+very fact that Adrian VI did not understand and appreciate this
+requirement of the Renaissance made him the butt of the Romans.
+
+At ten o'clock on the morning of December 23d the Ferrarese reached the
+Ponte Molle, where breakfast was served in a nearby villa. The
+appearance of this neighborhood must at that time have been different
+from what it is to-day. There were casinos and wine houses on the slopes
+of Monte Mario--whose summit was occupied even at that time by a villa
+belonging to the Mellini--and on the hills beyond the Flaminian Way.
+Nicholas V had restored the bridge over the Tiber, and also begun a
+tower nearby, which Calixtus III completed. Between the Ponte Molle and
+the Porta del Popolo there was then,--just as there is now,--a wretched
+suburb.
+
+[Illustration: CASTLE OF S. ANGELO, ROME.]
+
+At the bridge crossing the Tiber they found a wedding escort composed of
+the senators of Rome, the governor of the city, and the captain of
+police, accompanied by two thousand men, some on foot and some mounted.
+Half a bowshot from the gate the cavalcade met Caesar's suite. First came
+six pages, then a hundred mounted noblemen, followed by two hundred
+Swiss clothed in black and yellow velvet with the arms of the Pope,
+birettas on their heads, and bearing halberds. Behind them rode the Duke
+of Romagna with the ambassador of France at his side, who wore a
+French costume and a golden sash. After greeting each other mid the
+blare of trumpets, the gentlemen dismounted from their horses. Caesar
+embraced Cardinal Ippolito and rode at his side as far as the city gate.
+If Valentino's following numbered four thousand and the city officials
+two thousand more, it is difficult to conceive, taking the spectators
+also into account, how so large a number of people could congregate
+before the Porta del Popolo. The rows of houses which now extend from
+this gate could not have been in existence then, and the space occupied
+by the Villa Borghese must have been vacant. At the gate the cavalcade
+was met by nineteen cardinals, each accompanied by two hundred persons.
+The reception here, owing to the oration, required over two hours,
+consequently it was evening when it was over.
+
+Finally, to the din of trumpets, fifes, and horns, the cavalcade set out
+over the Corso, across the Campo di Fiore, for the Vatican, where it was
+saluted from Castle S. Angelo. Alexander stood at a window of the palace
+to see the procession which marked the fulfilment of the dearest wish of
+his house. His chamberlain met the Ferrarese at the steps of the palace
+and conducted them to his Holiness, who, accompanied by twelve
+cardinals, advanced to meet them. They kissed his feet, and he raised
+them up and embraced them. A few moments were spent in animated
+conversation, after which Caesar led the princes to his sister. Leaning
+on the arm of an elderly cavalier dressed in black velvet, with a golden
+chain about his neck, Lucretia went as far as the entrance of her palace
+to greet them. According to the prearranged ceremonial she did not kiss
+her brothers-in-law, but merely bowed to them, following the French
+custom. She wore a dress of some white material embroidered in gold,
+over which there was a garment of dark brown velvet trimmed with sable.
+The sleeves were of white and gold brocade, tight, and barred in the
+Spanish fashion. Her head-dress was of a green gauze, with a fine gold
+band and two rows of pearls. About her neck was a heavy chain of pearls
+with a ruby pendant. Refreshments were served, and Lucretia distributed
+small gifts--the work of Roman jewelers--among those present. The
+princes departed highly pleased with their reception. "This much I
+know," wrote El Prete, "that the eyes of Cardinal Ippolito sparkled, as
+much as to say, She is an enchanting and exceedingly gracious lady."
+
+The cardinal likewise wrote the same evening to his sister Isabella of
+Mantua to satisfy her curiosity regarding Lucretia's costume. Dress was
+then an important matter in the eyes of a court; in fact there never was
+a time when women's costumes were richer and more carefully studied than
+they were during the Renaissance. The Marchioness had sent an agent to
+Rome apparently for the sole purpose of giving her an account of the
+bridal festivities, and she had directed him to pay special attention to
+the dresses. El Prete carried out his instructions as conscientiously as
+a reporter for a daily paper would now do.[132] From his description an
+artist could paint a good portrait of the bride.
+
+The same evening the Ferrarese ambassadors paid their official visit to
+Donna Lucretia, and they promptly wrote the duke regarding the
+impression his daughter-in-law had made upon them.
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS MASTER: To-day after supper Don Gerardo
+     Saraceni and I betook ourselves to the illustrious Madonna
+     Lucretia, to pay our respects in the name of your Excellency and
+     his Majesty Don Alfonso. We had a long conversation regarding
+     various matters. She is a most intelligent and lovely, and also
+     exceedingly gracious lady. Your Excellency and the illustrious Don
+     Alfonso--so we were led to conclude--will be highly pleased with
+     her. Besides being extremely graceful in every way, she is modest,
+     lovable, and decorous. Moreover, she is a devout and God-fearing
+     Christian. To-morrow she is going to confession, and during
+     Christmas week she will receive the communion. She is very
+     beautiful, but her charm of manner is still more striking. In
+     short, her character is such that it is impossible to suspect
+     anything "sinister" of her; but, on the contrary, we look for only
+     the best. It seems to be our duty to tell you the exact truth in
+     this letter. I commend myself to your Highness's merciful
+     benevolence. Rome, December 23, 1501, the sixth hour of the night.
+
+  Your Excellency's servant,
+  JOHANNES LUCAS.
+
+Pozzi's letter shows how anxious were the duke and his son, even up to
+the last. It must have been a humiliation for both of them to have to
+confide their suspicions to their ambassador in Rome, and to ask him to
+find out what he could regarding the character of a lady who was to be
+the future Duchess of Ferrara. The very phrase in Pozzi's letter that
+there was nothing "sinister" to be suspected of Lucretia shows how black
+were the rumors that circulated regarding her. His testimony, therefore,
+is all the more valuable, and it is one of the most important documents
+for forming a judgment of Lucretia's character. Had she been afforded a
+chance to read it, her mortification would, no doubt, have outweighed
+her satisfaction.[133]
+
+The Ferrarese princes took up their abode in the Vatican; other
+gentlemen occupied the Belvedere, while the majority were provided for
+by the citizens, who were compelled to entertain them. At that time the
+popes handled their private matters just as if they were affairs of
+state, and met expenses by taxing the court officials, who, in spite of
+this, made a good living, and even grew rich by the Pope's mercy. The
+merchants likewise were required to bear a part of the expense of these
+ecclesiastical functions. Many of the officials grumbled over
+entertaining the Ferrarese, and provided for them so badly that the Pope
+was compelled to interfere.[134]
+
+During the Christmas festivities the Pope read mass in S. Peter's. The
+princes were present, and the duke's ambassador described Alexander's
+magnificent and also "saintly" bearing in terms more fitting to depict
+the appearance of an accomplished actor.[135]
+
+The Pope now gave orders for the carnival to begin, and there were daily
+banquets and festivities in the Vatican.
+
+El Prete has left a naive account of an evening's entertainment in
+Lucretia's palace, in which he gives us a vivid picture of the customs
+of the day. "The illustrious Madonna," so wrote the reporter, "appears
+in public but little, because she is busy preparing for her departure.
+Sunday evening, S. Stephen's Day, December 26th, I went unexpectedly to
+her residence. Her Majesty was in her chamber, seated by the bed. In a
+corner of the room were about twenty Roman women dressed _a la
+romanesca_, 'wearing certain cloths on their heads'; the ladies of her
+court, to the number of ten, were also present. A nobleman from Valencia
+and a lady of the court, Niccola, led the dance. They were followed by
+Don Ferrante and Madonna, who danced with extreme grace and animation.
+She wore a camorra of black velvet with gold borders and black sleeves;
+the cuffs were tight; the sleeves were slashed at the shoulders; her
+breast was covered up to the neck with a veil made of gold thread. About
+her neck she wore a string of pearls, and on her head a green net and a
+chain of rubies. She had an overskirt of black velvet trimmed with fur,
+colored, and very beautiful. The trousseaux of her ladies-in-waiting are
+not yet ready. Two or three of the women are pretty; one, Catalina, a
+native of Valencia, dances well, and another, Angela, is charming.
+Without telling her, I picked her out as my favorite. Yesterday evening
+(28th) the cardinal, the duke, and Don Ferrante walked about the city
+masked, and afterwards we went to the duchess's house, where there was
+dancing. Everywhere in Rome, from morning till night, one sees nothing
+but courtesans wearing masks, for after the clock strikes the
+twenty-fourth hour they are not permitted to show themselves abroad."
+
+Although the marriage had been performed in Ferrara by proxy, Alexander
+wished the service to be said again in Rome. To prevent repetition, the
+ceremony in Ferrara had been performed only _vis volo_, the exchange of
+rings having been deferred.
+
+On the evening of December 30th, the Ferrarese escorted Madonna Lucretia
+to the Vatican. When Alfonso's bride left her palace she was accompanied
+by her entire court and fifty maids of honor. She was dressed in gold
+brocade and crimson velvet trimmed with ermine; the sleeves of her gown
+reached to the floor; her train was borne by some of her ladies; her
+golden hair was confined by a black ribbon, and about her neck she wore
+a string of pearls with a pendant consisting of an emerald, a ruby, and
+a large pearl.
+
+Don Ferrante and Sigismondo led her by the hands; when the train set
+forth a body of musicians stationed on the steps of S. Peter's began to
+play. The Pope, on the throne in the Sala Paolina, surrounded by
+thirteen cardinals and his son Caesar, awaited her. Among the foreign
+representatives present were the ambassadors of France, Spain, and
+Venice; the German envoy was absent. The ceremony began with the reading
+of the mandate of the Duke of Ferrara, after which the Bishop of Adria
+delivered the wedding sermon, which the Pope, however, commanded to be
+cut short.[136] A table was placed before him, and by it stood Don
+Ferrante--as his brother's representative--and Donna Lucretia. Ferrante
+addressed the formal question to her, and on her answering in the
+affirmative, he placed the ring on her finger with the following words:
+"This ring, illustrious Donna Lucretia, the noble Don Alfonso sends thee
+of his own free will, and in his name I give it thee"; whereupon she
+replied, "And I, of my own free will, thus accept it."
+
+The performance of the ceremony was attested by a notary. Then followed
+the presentation of the jewels to Lucretia by Cardinal Ippolito. The
+duke, who sent her a costly present worth no less than seventy thousand
+ducats, attached special weight to the manner in which it was to be
+given her. On December 21st he wrote his son that in presenting the
+jewels he should use certain words which his ambassador Pozzi would
+give him, and he was told that this was done as a precautionary measure,
+so that, in case Donna Lucretia should prove untrue to Alfonso, the
+jewels would not be lost.[137] Until the very last, the duke handled the
+Borgias with the misgivings of a man who feared he might be cheated. On
+December 30th Pozzi wrote him: "There is a document regarding this
+marriage which simply states that Donna Lucretia will be given, for a
+present, the bridal ring, but nothing is said of any other gift. Your
+Excellency's intention, therefore, was carried out exactly. There was no
+mention of any present, and your Excellency need have no anxiety."
+
+Ippolito performed his part so gracefully that the Pope told him he had
+heightened the beauty of the present. The jewels were in a small box
+which the cardinal first placed before the Pope and then opened. One of
+the keepers of the jewels from Ferrara helped him to display the gems to
+the best advantage. The Pope took the box in his own hand and showed it
+to his daughter. There were chains, rings, earrings, and precious stones
+beautifully set. Especially magnificent was a string of
+pearls--Lucretia's favorite gem. Ippolito also presented his
+sister-in-law with his gifts, among which were four beautifully chased
+crosses. The cardinals sent similar presents.
+
+After this the guests went to the windows of the salon to watch the
+games in the Piazza of S. Peter; these consisted of races and a mimic
+battle for a ship. Eight noblemen defended the vessel against an equal
+number of opponents. They fought with sharp weapons, and five people
+were wounded.
+
+This over, the company repaired to the Chamber of the Parrots, where the
+Pope took his position upon the throne, with the cardinals on his left,
+and Ippolito, Donna Lucretia, and Caesar on his right. El Prete says:
+"Alexander asked Caesar to lead the dance with Donna Lucretia, which he
+did very gracefully. His Holiness was in continual laughter. The ladies
+of the court danced in couples, and extremely well. The dance, which
+lasted more than an hour, was followed by the comedies. The first was
+not finished, as it was too long; the second, which was in Latin verse,
+and in which a shepherd and several children appeared, was very
+beautiful, but I have forgotten what it represented. When the comedies
+were finished all departed except his Holiness, the bride, and her
+brother-in-law. In the evening the Pope gave the wedding banquet, but of
+this I am unable to send any account, as it was a family affair."
+
+The festivities continued for days, and all Rome resounded with the
+noise of the carnival. During the closing days of the year Cardinal
+Sanseverino and Caesar presented some plays. The one given by Caesar was
+an eclogue, with rustic scenery, in which the shepherd sang the praises
+of the young pair, and of Duke Ercole, and the Pope as Ferrara's
+protector.[138]
+
+The first day of the new year (1502) was celebrated with great pomp. The
+various quarters of Rome organized a parade in which were thirteen
+floats led by the gonfalonier of the city and the magistrates, which
+passed from the Piazza Navona to the Vatican, accompanied by the strains
+of music. The first car represented the triumph of Hercules, another
+Julius Caesar, and others various Roman heroes. They stopped before the
+Vatican to enable the Pope and his guests to admire the spectacle from
+the windows. Poems in honor of the young couple were declaimed, and four
+hours were thus passed.
+
+Then followed comedies in the Chamber of the Parrots. Subsequently a
+_moresca_ or ballet was performed in the "sala of the Pope," whose walls
+were decorated with beautiful tapestries which had been executed by
+order of Innocent VIII. Here was erected a low stage decorated with
+foliage and illuminated by torches. The lookers-on took their places on
+benches and on the floor, as they preferred. After a short eclogue, a
+_jongleur_ dressed as a woman danced the _moresca_ to the accompaniment
+of tamborines, and Caesar also took part in it, and was recognized in
+spite of his disguise. Trumpets announced a second performance. A tree
+appeared upon whose top was a Genius who recited verses; these over, he
+dropped down the ends of nine silk ribbons which were taken by nine
+maskers who danced a ballet about the tree. This _moresca_ was loudly
+applauded. In conclusion the Pope asked his daughter to dance, which she
+did with one of her women, a native of Valencia, and they were followed
+by all the men and women who had taken part in the ballet.[139]
+
+Comedies and _moresche_ were in great favor on festal occasions. The
+poets of Rome, the Porcaro, the Mellini, Inghirami, and Evangelista
+Maddaleni, probably composed these pieces, and they may also have taken
+part in them, for it was many years since Rome had been given such a
+brilliant opportunity to show her progress in histrionics. Lucretia was
+showered with sonnets and epithalamia. It is strange that not one of
+these has been preserved, and also that not a single Roman poet of the
+day is mentioned as the author of any of these comedies. On January 2d a
+bull fight was given in the Piazza of S. Peter's. The Spanish bull fight
+was introduced into Italy in the fourteenth century, but not until the
+fifteenth had it become general. The Aragonese brought it to Naples, and
+the Borgias to Rome. Hitherto the only thing of the sort which had been
+seen was the bull-baiting in the Piazza Navona or on the Testaccio.
+Caesar was fond of displaying his agility and strength in this barbarous
+sport. During the jubilee year he excited the wonder of all Rome by
+decapitating a bull with a single stroke in one of these contests. On
+January 2d he and nine other Spaniards, who probably were professional
+matadors, entered the enclosure with two loose bulls, where he mounted
+his horse and with his lance attacked the more ferocious one
+single-handed; then he dismounted, and with the other Spaniards
+continued to goad the animals. After this heroic performance the duke
+left the arena to the matadors. Ten bulls and one buffalo were
+slaughtered.
+
+In the evening the _Menaechmi_ of Plautus and other pieces were
+produced in which was celebrated the majesty of Caesar and Ercole. The
+Ferrarese ambassador sent his master an account of these performances
+which is a valuable picture of the day.
+
+     This evening the _Menaechmi_ was recited in the Pope's room, and
+     the Slave, the Parasite, the Pandor, and the wife of Menaechmus
+     performed their parts well. The Menaechmi themselves, however,
+     played badly. They had no masks, and there was no scenery, for the
+     room was too small. In the scene where Menaechmus, seized by command
+     of his father-in-law, who thinks he is mad, exclaims that he is
+     being subjected to force, he added: "This passes understanding; for
+     Caesar is mighty, Zeus merciful, and Hercules kind."
+
+     Before the performance of this comedy the following play was given:
+     first appeared a boy in woman's clothes who represented Virtue, and
+     another in the character of Fortune. They began to banter each
+     other as to which was the mightier, whereupon Fame suddenly
+     appeared, standing on a globe which rested on a float, upon which
+     were the words, "Gloria Domus Borgiae." Fame, who also called
+     himself Light, awarded Virtue the prize over Fortune, saying that
+     Caesar and Ercole by Virtue had overcome Fortune; thereupon he
+     described a number of the heroic deeds performed by the illustrious
+     Duke of Romagna. Hercules with the lion's skin and club appeared,
+     and Juno sent Fortune to attack him. Hercules, however, overcame
+     Fortune, seized her and chained her; whereupon Juno begged him to
+     free her, and he, gracious and generous, consented to grant Juno's
+     request on the condition that she would never do anything which
+     might injure the house of Ercole or that of Caesar Borgia. To this
+     she agreed, and, in addition, she promised to bless the union of
+     the two houses.
+
+     Then Roma entered upon another float. She complained that
+     Alexander, who occupied Jupiter's place, had been unjust to her in
+     permitting the illustrious Donna Lucretia to go away; she praised
+     the duchess highly, and said that she was the refuge of all Rome.
+     Then came a personification of Ferrara--but not on a float--and
+     said that Lucretia was not going to take up her abode in an
+     unworthy city, and that Rome would not lose her. Mercury followed,
+     having been sent by the gods to reconcile Rome and Ferrara, as it
+     was in accordance with their wish that Donna Lucretia was going to
+     the latter city. Then he invited Ferrara to take a seat by his side
+     in the place of honor on the float.
+
+     All this was accompanied by descriptions in polished hexameters,
+     which celebrated the alliance of Caesar and Ercole, and predicted
+     that together they would overthrow all the latter's enemies. If
+     this prophecy is realized, the marriage will result greatly to our
+     advantage. So we commend ourselves to your Excellency's mercy.
+
+  Your Highness's servants,
+  JOHANN LUCAS and GERARDUS SARACENUS.
+
+  JANUARY 2, 1502.
+
+Finally the date set for Lucretia to leave--January 6th--arrived. The
+Pope was determined that her departure should be attended by a
+magnificent display; she should traverse Italy like a queen. A cardinal
+was to accompany her as legate, Francesco Borgia, Archbishop of Cosenza,
+having been chosen for this purpose. To Lucretia he owed his
+cardinalate, and he was a most devoted retainer; "an elderly man, a
+worthy person of the house of Borgia," so Pozzi wrote to Ferrara.
+Madonna was also accompanied by the bishops of Carniola, Venosa, and
+Orte.
+
+Alexander endeavored to persuade many of the nobles of Rome, men and
+women, to accompany Lucretia, and he succeeded in inducing a large
+number to do so. The city of Rome appointed four special envoys, who
+were to remain in Ferrara as long as the festivities lasted--Stefano del
+Bufalo, Antonio Paoluzzo, Giacomo Frangipane, and Domenico Massimi. The
+Roman nobility selected for the same purpose Francesco Colonna of
+Palestrina and Giuliano, Count of Anguillara. There were also Ranuccio
+Farnese of Matelica and Don Giulio Raimondo Borgia, the Pope's nephew,
+and captain of the papal watch, together with eight other gentlemen
+belonging to the lesser nobility of Rome.
+
+Caesar equipped at his own expense an escort of two hundred cavaliers,
+with musicians and buffoons to entertain his sister on the way. This
+cavalcade, which was composed of Spaniards, Frenchmen, Romans, and
+Italians from various provinces, was joined later by two famous men--Ivo
+d'Allegre and Don Ugo Moncada. Among the Romans were the Chevaliers
+Orsini; Piero Santa Croce; Giangiorgio Cesarini, a brother of Cardinal
+Giuliano; and other gentlemen, members of the Alberini, Sanguigni,
+Crescenzi, and Mancini families.
+
+Lucretia herself had a retinue of a hundred and eighty people. In the
+list--which is still preserved--are the names of many of her maids of
+honor; her first lady-in-waiting was Angela Borgia, _una damigella
+elegantisima_, as one of the chroniclers of Ferrara describes her, who
+is said to have been a very beautiful woman, and who was the subject of
+some verses by the Roman poet Diomede Guidalotto. She was also
+accompanied by her sister Donna Girolama, consort of the youthful Don
+Fabio Orsini. Madonna Adriana Orsini, another woman named Adriana, the
+wife of Don Francesco Colonna, and another lady of the house of Orsini,
+whose name is not given, also accompanied Lucretia. It is not likely,
+however, that the last was Giulia Farnese.
+
+A number of vehicles which the Pope had ordered built in Rome and a
+hundred and fifty mules bore Lucretia's trousseau. Some of this baggage
+was sent on ahead. The duchess took everything that the Pope permitted
+her to remove. He refused to have an inventory made, as Beneimbene the
+notary had advised. "I desire," so he stated to the Ferrarese
+ambassadors, "that the duchess shall do with her property as she
+wishes." He had also given her nine thousand ducats to clothe herself
+and her servants, and also a beautiful sedan-chair of French make, in
+which the Duchess of Urbino was to have a seat by her side when she
+joined the cavalcade.[140]
+
+While Alexander was praising his daughter's graciousness and modesty, he
+expressed the wish that her father-in-law would provide her with no
+courtiers and ladies-in-waiting but those whose character was above
+question. She had told him--so the ambassadors wrote their master--that
+she would never give his Holiness cause to be ashamed of her, and
+"according to our view he certainly never will have occasion, for the
+longer we are with her, and the closer we examine her life, the higher
+is our opinion of her goodness, her decorum, and modesty. We see that
+life in her palace is not only Christian, but also religious."[141]
+
+Even Cardinal Ferrante Ferrari ventured to write Ercole--whose servant
+he had been--a letter in which he spoke of the duke's daughter-in-law in
+unctuous terms and praised her character to the skies.[142]
+
+January 5th the balance of the wedding portion was paid to the Ferrarese
+ambassadors in cash, whereupon they reported to the duke that everything
+had been arranged, that his daughter-in-law would bring the bull with
+her, and that the cavalcade was ready to start.[143]
+
+Alexander had decided at what towns they should stop on their long
+journey. They were as follows: Castelnovo, Civitacastellana, Narni,
+Terni, Spoleto, and Foligno; it was expected the Duke Guidobaldo or his
+wife would meet Lucretia at the last-named place and accompany her to
+Urbino. Thence they were to pass through Caesar's estates, going by way
+of Pesaro, Rimini, Cesena, Forli, Faenza, and Imola to Bologna, and from
+that city to Ferrara by way of the Po.
+
+As the places through which they passed would be subjected to very great
+expense if the entire cavalcade stopped, the retinue was sometimes
+divided, each part taking a different route. The Pope's brief to the
+Priors of Nepi shows to what imposition the people were subjected.
+
+     DEAR SONS: Greeting and the Apostolic Blessing. As our
+     dearly beloved daughter in Christ, the noble lady and Duchess
+     Lucretia de Borgia, who is to leave here next Monday to join her
+     husband Alfonso, the beloved son and first born of the Duke of
+     Ferrara, with a large escort of nobles, two hundred horsemen will
+     pass through your district; therefore we wish and command you, if
+     you value our favor and desire to avoid our displeasure, to provide
+     for the company mentioned above for a day and two nights, the time
+     they will spend with you. By so doing you will receive from us all
+     due approbation. Given in Rome, under the Apostolic seal, December
+     28, 1501, in the tenth year of our Pontificate.[144]
+
+Numerous other places had similar experiences. In every city in which
+the cavalcade stopped, and in some of those where they merely rested for
+a short time, Lucretia, in accordance with the Pope's commands, was
+honored with triumphal arches, illuminations, and processions--all the
+expense of which was borne by the commune.
+
+January 6th Lucretia, leaving her child Rodrigo, her brother Caesar, and
+her parents, departed from Rome. Probably only two persons were present
+when she took leave of Vannozza. None of those who describe the
+festivities in the Vatican mention this woman by name.
+
+The Chamber of the Parrots was the scene of her leave-taking with her
+father. She remained with the Pope some time, departing on Caesar's
+entrance. As she was leaving, Alexander called after her in a loud
+voice, telling her to be of good cheer, and to write him whenever she
+wanted anything, adding that he would do more for her now that she had
+gone from him than he had ever done for her while she was in Rome. Then
+he went from place to place and watched her until she and her retinue
+were lost to sight.[145]
+
+Lucretia set forth from Rome at three o'clock in the afternoon. All the
+cardinals, ambassadors, and magistrates of the city accompanied her as
+far as the Porta del Popolo. She was mounted on a white jennet
+caparisoned with gold, and she wore a riding habit of red silk and
+ermine, and a hat trimmed with feathers. She was surrounded by more than
+a thousand persons. By her side were the princes of Ferrara and the
+Cardinal of Cosenza. Her brother Caesar accompanied her a short distance,
+and then returned to the Vatican with Cardinal Ippolito.
+
+Thus Lucretia Borgia departed, leaving Rome and a terrible past behind
+her forever.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[131] Despatch of Giovanni Lucido, in the archives of Mantua.
+
+[132] The report of this agent, who signs himself El Prete, is preserved
+in the archives of Mantua.
+
+[133] The Farrarese agent, Bartolomeo Bresciani, who had been sent to
+Rome on matters connected with the Church, is no less complimentary. He
+says, la Excell. V. remagnera molto ben satisfacto da questa Illma
+Madona per essere dotada de tanti costumi et buntade. (To the duke,
+October 30, 1501.) He informed him also that Lucretia often conversed
+with a saintly person who had been secluded in the Vatican for eight
+years.
+
+[134] Despatch of Gianluca Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 25, 1501.
+
+[135] Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 25, 1501.
+
+[136] Fu necessario che la abreviasse, Gianluca and Gerardo to Ercole,
+Rome, December 30, 1501.
+
+[137] E cio nello scopo, che se mancasse essa Duchessa verso lo Illmo
+Don Alfonso non fosse piu obbligato di quanto voleva esserlo circa dette
+gioje. Ercole to Cardinal Ippolito, December 21, 1501. There is a letter
+of the same date regarding the subject, written by Ercole to Gianluca
+Pozzi.
+
+[138] Pozzi to Ercole, January 1, 1502. Archives of Modena.
+
+[139] El Prete to Isabella, Rome, January 2, 1502.
+
+[140] Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 28, 1501.
+
+[141] Pozzi and Saraceni, Rome, December 28, 1501.
+
+[142] Rome, January 9, 1502.
+
+[143] La Illma Madama Lucrezia porta tutte le bolle piene et in optima
+forma. Pozzi and Gerardo to Ercole, Rome, January 6, 1502.
+
+[144] In the archives of the municipality of Nepi, where I copied the
+brief from the records. There is a similar letter in the same form and
+of the same date, addressed to the commune of Trevi, in the city
+archives of that place. The latter is printed in Tullio Dandolo's Arte
+christiana--Passeggiate nell' Umbria, 1866, p. 358.
+
+[145] Beltrando Costabili to Ercole, Rome, January 6, 1502.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK THE SECOND
+
+LUCRETIA IN FERRARA
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+LUCRETIA'S JOURNEY TO FERRARA
+
+
+Although the escort which was taking the Duchess Lucretia to Ferrara
+traveled by easy stages, the journey was fatiguing; for the roads,
+especially in winter, were bad, and the weather, even in the vicinity of
+Rome, was frequently wet and cold.
+
+Not until the seventh day did they reach Foligno. As the report which
+the Ferrarese ambassadors sent their lord from that place contains a
+vivid description of the journey, we quote it at length:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS AND HONORED MASTER: Although we wrote your
+     Excellency from Narni that we would travel from Terni to Spoleto,
+     and from Spoleto to this place without stopping, the illustrious
+     Duchess and her ladies were so fatigued that she decided to rest a
+     day in Spoleto and another in Foligno. We, therefore, shall not
+     leave here until to-morrow morning, and shall not arrive at Urbino
+     before next Tuesday, that is the eighteenth of the current month,
+     for to-morrow we shall reach Nocera, Saturday Gualdo, Sunday
+     Gubbio, Monday Cagli, and Tuesday Urbino, where we shall rest
+     another day, that is Wednesday. On the twentieth we shall set out
+     for Pesaro, and so on from city to city, as we have already written
+     your Excellency.
+
+     We feel certain, however, that the duchess will stop frequently to
+     rest, consequently we shall not reach Ferrara before the last of
+     the present or the first of next month, and perhaps not until the
+     second or third. We therefore thought it well to write your
+     Excellency from here, letting you know where we were and where we
+     expected to be, so that you might arrange matters as you thought
+     best. If you wish us not to arrive in Ferrara until the second or
+     third, it would not be difficult so to arrange it; but if you think
+     it would be better for us to reach the city the last of this month
+     or the first of February, write us to that effect, and we will
+     endeavor, as we have hitherto done, to shorten the periods of rest.
+
+     I mention this because the illustrious Donna Lucretia is of a
+     delicate constitution and, like her ladies, is unaccustomed to the
+     saddle, and because we notice that she does not wish to be worn out
+     when she reaches Ferrara.
+
+     In all the cities through which her Majesty passes she is received
+     with every show of affection and with great honors, and presented
+     with numerous gifts by the women. Everything is done for her
+     comfort. She was welcomed everywhere and, as she was formerly ruler
+     of Spoleto, she was well known to the people. Her reception here in
+     Foligno was more cordial and accompanied by greater manifestations
+     of joy than anywhere else outside of Rome, for not only did the
+     signors of the city, as the officials of the commune are called,
+     clad in red silk, come on foot to meet her and accompany her to her
+     inn on the Piazza, but at the gate she was confronted by a float
+     upon which was a person representing the Roman Lucretia with a
+     dagger in her hand, who recited some verses to the effect that her
+     Majesty excelled herself in graciousness, modesty, intelligence,
+     and understanding, and that therefore she would yield her own place
+     to her.
+
+     There was also a float upon which was a cupid, and on the summit,
+     with the golden apple in his hand, stood Paris, who repeated some
+     stanzas, the gist of which was as follows: he had promised the
+     apple to Venus, the only one who excelled both Juno and Pallas in
+     beauty; but he now reversed his decision, and presented it to her
+     Majesty as she, of all women, was the only one who surpassed all
+     the goddesses, possessing greater beauty, wisdom, riches, and power
+     than all three united.
+
+     Finally, on the Piazza we discovered an armed Turkish galley coming
+     toward us, and one of the Turks, who was standing on the bulwarks,
+     repeated some stanzas of the following import: the sultan well knew
+     how powerful was Lucretia in Italy, and he had sent him to greet
+     her, and to say that his master would surrender everything he had
+     taken from the Christians. We made no special effort to remember
+     these verses, for they were not exactly Petrarchian, and, moreover,
+     the ship did not appear to us to be a very happy idea; it was
+     rather out of place.
+
+     We must not forget to tell you that all the reigning Baglione came
+     from Perugia and their castles, and were waiting for Lucretia about
+     four miles from Foligno, and that they invited her to go to
+     Perugia.
+
+     Her Majesty, as we wrote your Excellency from Narni, persists in
+     her wish to journey from Bologna to Ferrara by water to escape the
+     discomfort of riding and traveling by land.
+
+     His Holiness, our Lord, is so concerned for her Majesty that he
+     demands daily and even hourly reports of her journey, and she is
+     required to write him with her own hand from every city regarding
+     her health. This confirms the statement which has frequently been
+     made to your Excellency--that his Holiness loves her more than any
+     other person of his blood.
+
+     We shall not neglect to make a report to your Excellency regarding
+     the journey whenever an opportunity offers.
+
+     Between Terni and Spoleto, in the valley of the Strettura, one of
+     the hostlers of the illustrious Don Sigismondo engaged in a violent
+     altercation about some turtle doves with one of his fellows in the
+     service of the Roman Stefano dei Fabii, who is a member of the
+     duchess's escort. Both grasped their arms, whereupon one
+     Pizaguerra, also in the service of the illustrious Don Sigismondo,
+     happening to ride by on his horse, wounded Stefano's hostler on the
+     head. Thereupon Stefano, who is naturally quarrelsome and
+     vindictive, became so angry that he declared he would accompany the
+     cavalcade no farther. About this time we reached the castle of
+     Spoleto, and he passed the illustrious Don Sigismondo and Don
+     Ferrante without speaking to them or even looking at them. The
+     whole affair was due to a misunderstanding which we all regretted
+     very much, and as Pizaguerra and Don Sigismondo's hostler had fled,
+     there was nothing more to be done; the Cardinal of Cosenza, the
+     illustrious Madonna, and all the others agreed that Stefano was in
+     the wrong. He, therefore, was mollified, and continued on the
+     journey. We commend ourselves to your Excellency's mercy. From
+     Foligno, January 13, 1502.
+
+  Your Majesty's servants,
+  JOHANNES LUCAS and GIRARDUS SARACENUS.
+
+     POSTSCRIPT: The worthy Cardinal of Cosenza, we understand,
+     is unwilling to pass through the territory of the illustrious Duke
+     of Urbino.
+
+From Foligno the journey was continued by way of Nocera and Gualdo to
+Gubbio, one of the most important cities in the duchy of Urbino. About
+two miles from that place the Duchess Elisabetta met Lucretia and
+accompanied her to the city palace. After this the two remained
+constantly in each other's company, for Elisabetta kept her promise and
+accompanied Lucretia to Ferrara.
+
+Cardinal Borgia returned to Rome from Gubbio, and the two ladies
+occupied the comfortable sedan-chair which Alexander had presented his
+daughter. January 18th, when the cavalcade was near Urbino, Lucretia was
+greeted by Duke Guidobaldo, who had come with his entire court to meet
+her. He accompanied Lucretia to the residence set apart for
+her--Federico's beautiful palace--where she and the princes of Este were
+lodged, the duke and duchess having vacated it for them. The artful
+Guidobaldo had set up the Borgia arms and those of the King of France in
+conspicuous places in Urbino and throughout the various cities of his
+domain.
+
+Although Lucretia's wedding was regarded by the Montrefeltre with great
+displeasure, they now, on account of Ferrara and because of their fear
+of the Pope, hastened to show her every honor. They had been acquainted
+with Lucretia in Rome when Guidobaldo, Alexander's condottiere,
+conducted the unsuccessful war against the Orsini, and they had also
+known her in Pesaro. Perhaps they now hoped that Urbino's safety would
+be assured by Lucretia's influence and friendship. However, only a few
+months were to pass before Guidobaldo and his consort were to be undone
+by the fiendishness of their guest's brother and driven from their
+domain.
+
+After resting a day, Lucretia and the duchess, accompanied for a short
+distance by Guidobaldo, set out from Urbino, January 20th, for Pesaro,
+which they reached late in the evening. The road connecting these cities
+is now a comfortable highway, traversing a beautiful, undulating
+country, but at that time it was little more than a bridlepath;
+consequently the travelers were thoroughly fatigued when they reached
+their destination.
+
+When Lucretia entered the latter city she must have been overcome by
+painful emotions, for she could not fail to have been reminded of
+Sforza, her discarded husband, who was now an exile in Mantua, brooding
+on revenge, and who might appear at any moment in Ferrara to mar the
+wedding festivities. Pesaro now belonged to her brother Caesar, and he
+had given orders that his sister should be royally received in all the
+cities she visited in his domain. A hundred children clad in his
+colors--yellow and red--with olive branches in their hands, greeted her
+at the gates of Pesaro with the cry, "Duca! Duca! Lucretia! Lucretia!"
+and the city officials accompanied her to her former residence.[146]
+
+Lucretia was received with every evidence of joy by her former subjects,
+and the most prominent of the noble women of the city, among whom was
+the matron Lucretia Lopez, once her lady-in-waiting, and now wife of
+Gianfrancesco Ardizi.[147]
+
+Lucretia remained a day in Pesaro without allowing herself to be seen.
+In the evening she permitted the ladies of her suite to dance with those
+of the city, but she herself took no part in the festivities. Pozzi
+wrote the duke that she spent the entire time in her chamber "for the
+purpose of washing her head, and because she was naturally inclined to
+solitude." Her seclusion while in Pesaro may be explained as more likely
+due to the gloomy thoughts which filled her mind.[148]
+
+In every town belonging to the Duke of Romagna there was a similar
+reception; everywhere the magistrates presented Lucretia with the keys
+of the city. She was now accompanied by her brother's lieutenant in
+Cesena, Don Ramiro d'Orco,--a monster who was quartered by Caesar's
+orders a few months later.
+
+Passing Rimini and Cesena she reached Forli, January 25th. The salon of
+the palace was hung with costly tapestries, and even the ceiling was
+covered with many-colored cloth; a tribune was erected for the ladies.
+Presents of food, sweetmeats, and wax tapers were offered the duchess.
+In spite of the stringent laws which Caesar's rectors, especially Ramiro,
+had passed, bands of robbers made the roads unsafe. Fearing that the
+bold bandit Giambattista Carraro might overtake the bridal train after
+it had left the boundaries of Cervia, a guard of a thousand men on foot
+and a hundred and fifty troopers was furnished by the people, apparently
+as an escort of honor.[149]
+
+In Faenza Lucretia announced that she would be obliged to spend Friday
+in Imola to wash her head, as she would not have an opportunity to do
+this again until the end of the carnival. This washing of the head,
+which we have already had occasion to notice as an important part of the
+toilet in those days, must, therefore, have been in some manner
+connected with dressing the hair.[150] The Ferrarese ambassador spoke of
+this practice of Lucretia's as a repeated obstacle which might delay the
+entrance of her Majesty into Ferrara until February 2d. Don Ferrante
+likewise wrote from Imola that she would rest there a day to put her
+clothes in order and wash her head, which, said she, had not been done
+for eight days, and she, therefore, was suffering with headache.[151]
+
+On the way from Faenza to Imola the cavalcade stopped at Castle
+Bolognese, which had been abandoned by Giovanni Bentivoglio when he was
+threatened by Caesar. They found the walls of the town razed, the moat
+filled up, and even its name changed to Cesarina.
+
+After resting a day in Imola the cavalcade set out January 28th for
+Bologna. When they reached the borders of the territory belonging to the
+city they were met by Bentivoglio's sons and his consort Ginevra, with a
+brilliant retinue, and two miles from the city gate Giovanni himself was
+waiting to greet them.
+
+The tyrant of Bologna, who owed his escape from Caesar wholly to the
+protection of the French, spared nothing to honor his enemy's sister.
+Accompanied by several hundred riders, he led her in triumph through the
+city, where the arms of the Borgias, of Caesar, the Pope, and Lucretia,
+and those of France, and of the Este met her eye on every side. The
+proud matron Ginevra, surrounded by a large number of noble ladies,
+received Lucretia at the portals of her magnificent palace. How this
+famous woman, the aunt of Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro, must in her soul
+have hated this Borgia! However, it was neither Alexander nor Caesar, but
+Giuliano della Rovere, subsequently Julius II, who was destined, only
+four years later, to drive her and all her race from Bologna forever.
+
+January 30th was devoted to gorgeous festivities, and in the evening the
+Bentivoglio gave a ball and a banquet.
+
+The following day they accompanied Lucretia for a part of the way, as it
+was her purpose to continue her journey to Ferrara, which now was not
+far distant, by boat on the canal, which at that time ran from Bologna
+to the Po.
+
+The same day--January 31st--towards evening, Lucretia reached Castle
+Bentivoglio, which was but twenty miles from Ferrara. She had no sooner
+arrived at that place than her consort Alfonso suddenly appeared. She
+was greatly overcome, but promptly recovered herself and received him
+"with many professions of esteem and most graciously," to all of which
+he responded with great gallantry.[152] Hitherto the hereditary Prince
+of Ferrara had sullenly held aloof from the wife that had been forced
+upon him. Men of that age had not a trace of the tenderness or
+sentimentality of those of to-day, but, even admitting this, it is
+certainly strange that there is no evidence of any correspondence
+between Lucretia and Alfonso during the time the marriage was being
+arranged, although a great many letters then passed between the duchess
+and Ercole. Either owing to a desire to please his father or to his own
+curiosity or cunning, the rough and reticent Alfonso now threw off his
+reserve. He came in disguise, remained two hours, and then suddenly left
+for Ferrara.
+
+During this short interview he was greatly impressed by his wife.
+Lucretia in those two hours had certainly brought Alfonso under the
+spell of her personality, even if she had not completely disarmed him.
+Not wholly without reason had the gallant burghers of Foligno awarded
+the apple of Paris to Lucretia. Speaking of this meeting, one of the
+chroniclers of Ferrara says, "The entire people rejoiced greatly, as did
+also the bride and her own followers, because his Majesty had shown a
+desire to see her and had received her so well--an indication that she
+would be accepted and treated still better."[153]
+
+Probably no one was more pleased than the Pope. His daughter immediately
+informed him of her reception, for she sent him daily letters giving an
+account of her journey; and he also received numerous despatches from
+other persons in her train. Up to this time he had felt some misgivings
+as to her reception by the Este, but now he was relieved. After she had
+left Rome he frequently asked Cardinal Ferrari to warn the duke to treat
+his daughter-in-law kindly, remarking, at the same time, that he had
+done a great deal for her, and would do still more. He declared that the
+remission of Ferrara's tribute would, if paid for in money, require not
+less than two hundred thousand ducats, and that the officials of the
+chancellery had demanded between five and six thousand ducats merely for
+preparing the bulls. The kings of France and Spain had been compelled to
+pay the Duke of Romagna a yearly tribute of twenty thousand ducats for
+the remission of the taxes of Naples, which consisted only in the
+payment of a single white horse. Ferrara, on the other hand, had been
+granted everything.[154]
+
+The duke replied to the cardinal January 22d, assuring him that his
+daughter-in-law would meet with a most affectionate reception.[155]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[146] Lucretia's colors were yellow and dark brown (morrelo aperto),
+while Alexander's were yellow and black.
+
+[147] Spogli di Giambattista Almerici. i, 284. Ms. in the Oliveriana in
+Pesaro.
+
+[148] Si per attendere a lavarse il capo, como anche per essere assai
+solitaria et remota di soa natura. Despatch from Rimini, January 22,
+1502.
+
+[149] Ferrante to Ercole, Rimini, January 23, 1502.
+
+[150] The expression is lavarsi il capo.
+
+[151] Ferrante to Ercole, Imola, January 27, 1502.
+
+[152] Gianluca to Ercole, January 31, 1502.
+
+[153] Bernardino Zambotto. See Monsignor Giuseppe Antonelli's work,
+Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara, sposa a Don Alfonso d'Este, Memorie
+storiche.... Ferrara, 1867.
+
+[154] The ambassador Beltrando Costabili to Duke Ercole, Rome, January
+7, 1502.
+
+[155] The duke to his ambassador in Rome, Ferrara, January 22, 1502, in
+the Minute Ducali a Costabili Beltrando Oratore a Roma.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+FORMAL ENTRY INTO FERRARA
+
+
+February 1st Lucretia continued her journey to Ferrara by the canal.
+Near Malalbergo she found Isabella Gonzaga waiting to meet her. At the
+urgent request of her father, the marchioness, much against her will,
+had come to do the honors during the festivities in his palace. "In
+violent anger," so she wrote her husband, who remained at home, she
+greeted and embraced her sister-in-law. She accompanied her by boat to
+Torre della Fossa, where the canal empties into a branch of the Po. This
+river, a majestic stream, flows four miles from Ferrara, and only a
+branch--Po di Ferrara--now known as the Canale di Cento, reaches the
+city, where it divides into two arms, the Volano and Primaro, both of
+which empty into the Adriatic. They are very small canals, and,
+therefore, it could have been no pleasure to travel on them, nor was it
+an imposing spectacle.
+
+The duke, with Don Alfonso and his court, awaited Lucretia at Torre
+della Fossa. When she left the boat the duke saluted her on the cheek,
+she having first respectfully kissed his hand. Thereupon, all mounted a
+magnificently decorated float, to which the foreign ambassadors and
+numerous cavaliers came to kiss the bride's hand. To the strains of
+music and the thunder of cannon the cavalcade proceeded to the Borgo S.
+Luca, where they all descended. Lucretia took up her residence in the
+palace of Alberto d'Este, Ercole's illegitimate brother. Here she was
+received by Lucretia Bentivigolio, natural daughter of Ercole, and
+numerous ladies of her court. The duke's seneschal brought to her Madonna
+Teodora and twelve young women who were to serve her as
+ladies-in-waiting. Five beautiful carriages, each drawn by four horses,
+a present from her father-in-law, were placed at her disposal. In this
+villa, which is no longer in existence, Lucretia spent the night. The
+suburb of S. Luca is still there, but the entire locality is so changed
+that it would be impossible to recognize it.
+
+The seat of the Este was thronged with thousands of sightseers, some of
+whom had been invited by the duke and others drawn thither by curiosity.
+All the vassals of the State, but not the reigning princes, were
+present. The lords of Urbino and Mantua were represented by the ladies
+of their families, and the house of Bentivoglio by Annibale. Rome,
+Venice, Florence, Lucca, Siena, and the King of France had sent
+ambassadors, who were lodged in the palaces of the nobles. The Duke of
+Romagna had remained in Rome and sent a representative. It had been
+Alexander's wish that Caesar's wife, Charlotte d'Albret, should come from
+France to attend the wedding festivities in Ferrara and remain a month,
+but she did not appear.
+
+With royal extravagance Ercole had prepared for the festivities; the
+magazines of the court and the warehouses of the city had been filled
+with supplies for weeks past. Whatever the Renaissance had to offer,
+that she provided in Ferrara; for the city was the seat of a cultivated
+court and the home of a hospitable bourgeoisie, and also a town where
+science, art, and industry thrived.
+
+Lucretia's entrance, February 2d, was, therefore, one of the most
+brilliant spectacles of the age, and, as far as she herself was
+concerned, it was the greatest moment of her life; for she was entering
+into the enjoyment of the highest and best of which her nature was
+capable.
+
+At two o'clock in the afternoon, the duke and all the ambassadors betook
+themselves to Alberto's villa to fetch his daughter-in-law to the city.
+The cavalcade set out over the bridge, crossing the branch of the Po, to
+pass through the gate of Castle Tedaldo, a fortress no longer in
+existence.
+
+At its head were seventy-five mounted archers in the livery of the house
+of Este--white and red--who were accompanied by eighty trumpeters and a
+number of fifes. Then came the nobility of Ferrara without regard to
+rank, followed by the members of the courts of the Marchioness of
+Mantua, who remained behind in the palace, and of the Duchess of Urbino.
+Behind them rode Alfonso, with his brother-in-law, Annibale Bentivoglio,
+at his side, and accompanied by eight pages. He was dressed in red
+velvet in the French fashion, and on his head he wore a black velvet
+biretta, upon which was an ornament of wrought gold. He wore small red
+boots and French gaiters of black velvet. His bay horse was caparisoned
+in crimson and gold.
+
+On the way to Ferrara, Don Alfonso did not ride by the side of his
+consort as this would have been contrary to the etiquette of the day.
+The bridegroom led the procession, near the middle of which was the
+bride, while the father-in-law came last. This arrangement was intended
+to indicate that Lucretia was the chief personage in the parade. Just
+behind Alfonso came her escort, pages, and court officials, among whom
+were several Spanish cavaliers; then five bishops, followed by the
+ambassadors according to rank; the four deputies of Rome, mounted upon
+beautiful horses and wearing long brocade cloaks and black birettas
+coming next. These were followed by six tambourines and two of
+Lucretia's favorite clowns.
+
+Then came the bride herself, radiantly beautiful and happy, mounted upon
+a white jennet with scarlet trappings, and followed by her master of
+horse. Lucretia was dressed in a loose-sleeved camorra of black velvet
+with a narrow gold border, and a cape of gold brocade trimmed with
+ermine. On her head she wore a sort of net glittering with diamonds and
+gold--a present from her father-in-law. She did not wear a diadem. About
+her neck she had a chain of pearls and rubies which had once belonged to
+the Duchess of Ferrara--as Isabella noticed with tears in her eyes. Her
+beautiful hair fell down unconfined on her shoulders. She rode beneath a
+purple baldachin, which the doctors of Ferrara--that is, the members of
+the faculties of law, medicine, and mathematics--supported in turn.
+
+For the purpose of honoring the King of France, the protector of Ferrara
+and of the Borgias, Lucretia had summoned the French ambassador, Philipp
+della Rocca Berti, to ride at her left, near her, but not under the
+baldachin. This was intended to show that it was owing to this powerful
+monarch that the bride was entering the palace of the Este.
+
+Behind Lucretia came the duke, in black velvet, on a dark horse with
+trappings of the same material. On his right was the Duchess of Urbino
+clad in a dark velvet gown.[156]
+
+Then followed nobles, pages, and other personages of the house of Este,
+each of whom was accompanied by one of Lucretia's ladies. The only
+important member of the family not present was Cardinal Ippolito, who
+had remained in Rome, and who, from that city, wrote Lucretia, January
+16th, saying he had called on her son Rodrigo and found him asleep.
+February 9th he wrote that the Pope had invited Caesar and himself
+together with Cardinal Borgia and the Signora Principessa--this was
+Sancia--to supper.[157] Of the women who accompanied Lucretia, only
+three were mounted--Girolama Borgia, wife of Fabio Orsini; another
+Orsini, who is not described more explicitly; and Madonna Adriana, "a
+widowed noblewoman, a kinswoman of the Pope."[158]
+
+Behind them came fourteen floats upon which were seated a number of the
+noble women of Ferrara, beautifully dressed, including the twelve young
+ladies who had been allotted to Lucretia as maids of honor. Then
+followed two white mules and two white horses decked with velvet and
+silk and costly gold trappings. Eighty-six mules accompanied the train
+bearing the bride's trousseau and jewels. When the good people of
+Ferrara saw them slowly wending their way through the streets, they must
+have thought that Alfonso had chosen a rich bride. It never occurred to
+them that these chests, boxes, and bales which were being carried
+through the streets with such ostentation were filled with the plunder
+of various cities of Christendom.
+
+At the gate near Castle Tedaldo, Lucretia's horse was frightened by the
+discharge of a cannon, and the chief actor was thrown. The bride rose
+without assistance, and the duke placed her upon another horse,
+whereupon the cortege started again. In honor of Lucretia there were
+triumphal arches, tribunes, orations, and mythological scenes. Among the
+last was a procession of nymphs, with their queen at their head, riding
+upon a bull, with satyrs disporting themselves about her. Sannazzaro may
+have thought that the epigram in which he had referred to Giulia Farnese
+as Europa on the bull suggested this representation of the Borgia arms.
+
+When the cavalcade reached the Piazza before the church, two
+rope-walkers descended from the towers and addressed compliments to the
+bride; thus was the ludicrous introduced into public festivities at that
+time.
+
+It was now night, and the procession had reached the palace of the duke,
+and at the moment it did so all prisoners were given their liberty. At
+this point all the trumpeters and fifes were massed.
+
+It is impossible to tell exactly where the palace was situated to which
+Lucretia was conducted. The Este had built a number of residences in the
+city, which they occupied in turn. Among them were Schifanoja, Diamanti,
+Paradiso, Belvedere, Belfiore, and Castle Vecchio. A local chronicler in
+the year 1494 mentions, in enumerating the palaces of the lords of the
+house of Este, the Palazzo del Cortile and Castle Vecchio as belonging
+to the duke; Castle Vecchio to Alfonso and the palace of the Certosa to
+Cardinal Ippolito.[159] Ercole, therefore, in the year 1502, was
+residing in one of the two palaces mentioned above, which were connected
+with each other by a row of structures extending from the old castle to
+the Piazza before the church, which ended in the Palazzo della Ragione.
+They are still connected, although the locality has greatly changed.
+
+The duke's palace was opposite the church. It had a large court with a
+marble stairway, and was therefore called the Palazzo del Cortile. This
+court is doubtless the one now known as the Cortile Ducale. It was
+entered from the Piazza through a high archway, at the sides of which
+were columns which formerly supported statues of Niccolo III and Borso.
+The writers who describe Lucretia's entrance into the city say that she
+dismounted from her horse at the steps of the marble court (a le scale
+del Cortile di Marmo).
+
+Here she was received by the Marchioness Gonzaga and numerous other
+prominent ladies. Alfonso's young wife must have smiled--if in the
+excitement of the moment she noticed it--when she found that the noble
+house of Este had selected such a large number of their bastard
+daughters to welcome her. She was greeted at the stairway by Lucretia,
+Ercole's natural daughter, wife of Annibale Bentivoglio, and three
+illegitimate daughters of Sigismondo d'Este--Lucretia, Countess of
+Carrara; the beautiful Diana, Countess of Uguzoni; and Bianca
+Sanseverino.[160]
+
+It was night, and lights and torches illuminated the palace. To the
+sound of music the young couple was conducted to the reception hall,
+where they took their places on a throne. Here followed the formal
+introduction of the court officials, and an orator delivered a speech
+apparently based upon the information which the duke had instructed his
+ambassadors to secure regarding the house of Borgia. It is not known who
+was the fortunate orator, but we are familiar with the names of some of
+the poets who addressed epithalamia to the beautiful princess. Nicolaus
+Marius Paniciatus composed a number of spirituelle Latin poems and
+epigrams in honor of Lucretia, Alfonso, and Ercole, which were collected
+under the title of "Borgias." Among them are some ardent wishes for the
+prosperity of the young couple. Lucretia's beauty is described as
+excelling that of Helen because it was accompanied by incomparable
+modesty.[161]
+
+Apparently this youthful poet did not have his stanzas printed, for they
+exist only in a manuscript in the library of Ferrara. Before Lucretia's
+entry the printer Laurentius published an epithalamium by a young
+Latinist, the celebrated Celio Calcagnini, who subsequently became
+famous as a mathematician. He was a favorite of Cardinal Ippolito, and a
+friend of the great Erasmus. The subject matter of the poem is very
+simple. Venus leaves Rome and accompanies Lucretia. Mnemosyne admonishes
+her daughters, the Muses, to celebrate the noble princess, which they
+accordingly do. The princes of the house are not forgotten, for Euterpe
+sings the praises of Ercole, Terpsicore lauds Alfonso, and Caliope
+recites Caesar's victories in the Romagna.[162]
+
+Another Ferrarese poet makes his appearance on this occasion, a man of
+whom much was expected, Ariosto, who was then twenty-seven years old,
+and already known at the court of the Este and in the cultivated circles
+of Italy as a Latinist and a writer of comedies. He also wrote an
+epithalamium addressed to Lucretia. It is graceful, and not burdened
+with mythological pedantry, but it lacks invention. The poet
+congratulates Ferrara,--which will henceforth be the envy of all other
+cities,--for having won an incomparable jewel. He sympathizes with Rome
+for the loss of Lucretia, saying that it has again fallen into
+ruins.[163] He describes the young princess as "pulcherrima virgo," and
+refers to Lucretia of ancient times.
+
+On the conclusion of the festivities which greeted her on her arrival,
+the duke accompanied Lucretia to the apartments which had been prepared
+for her. She must have been pleased with her reception by the house of
+Este, and the impression made by her own personality was most favorable.
+The chronicler Bernardino Zambotto speaks of her as follows: "The bride
+is twenty-four years of age (this is incorrect); she has a beautiful
+countenance, sparkling and animated eyes; a slender figure; she is keen
+and intellectual, joyous and human, and possesses good reasoning powers.
+She pleased the people so greatly that they are perfectly satisfied with
+her, and they look to her Majesty for protection and good government.
+They are truly delighted, for they think that the city will greatly
+profit through her, especially as the Pope will refuse her nothing, as
+is shown by the portion he gave her, and by presenting Don Alfonso with
+certain cities."
+
+Lucretia's face, judging by the medal, must have been fascinating.
+Cagnolo of Parma describes her as follows: "She is of medium height and
+slender figure. Her face is long, the nose well defined and beautiful;
+her hair a bright gold, and her eyes blue; her mouth is somewhat large,
+the teeth dazzlingly white; her neck white and slender, but at the same
+time well rounded. She is always cheerful and good-humored."[164]
+
+To indicate the color of the eyes, Cagnolo uses the word "bianco," which
+in the language of the people still means blue. In the folk songs of
+Tuscany collected by Tigri, there is frequent mention of _occhi
+bianchi_,--that is, "blue eyes." The Florentine Firenzuola, in his work
+on "the perfect beauty of woman," says she must have blond hair and blue
+eyes, with the pupil not quite black, although the Greeks and Italians
+preferred it so. The most beautiful color for the eyes, according to
+this writer, is tane.[165] The poets of Ferrara, who immediately began
+to sing the dazzling power of the eyes of their beautiful duchess, did
+not mention their color.
+
+This remarkable woman charmed all beholders with her indescribable
+grace, to which there was added something of mystery, and not by any
+classic beauty or dignity. Vivacity, gentleness, and amiability are the
+qualities which all Lucretia's contemporaries discovered in her.[166]
+This animated and delicate face, with large blue eyes, and surrounded
+with golden hair, suggests the ethereal beauty of Shakespeare's Imogene.
+
+[Illustration: ARIOSTO.
+
+From a painting by Titian.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[156] Isabella Gonzaga, who watched the parade from a window of the
+palace, describes this scene to the duke. Letter to her husband,
+Ferrara, February 2d, in the Archivio Storico Ital. App. ii, 305. Her
+report excels in some particulars the picture given by Marino Sanuo
+(Diar. vol. iv, fol. 104, sq.). Ordine di le pompe e spectaculi di le
+noze de mad. Lucretia Borgia. Reprinted in Rawdon Brown's Ragguaglio
+sulla vita e le opere di M. Sanudo, ii, 197, sq.
+
+[157] Letters in the archives of Modena.
+
+[158] This is according to Isabella Gonzaga; Cagnolo's report mentioned,
+instead of this woman, another Adriana, the wife of Francesco Colonna of
+Palestrina.
+
+[159] Ms. chronicle of Mario Equicola in the library of Ferrara, in the
+University, formerly the Paradiso.
+
+[160] Paolo Zerbinati, Memorie, Ms. in the library of Ferrara, p. 3.
+
+[161] The Ms. is in the library of Ferrara: Nicolai Marii Paniciati
+ferrariensis, Borgias. Ad. Excell. D. Lucretiam Borgiarm III. Alphonsi
+Estensis Sponsam celeber MDII. One epigram is as follows:
+
+    Tyndaridem jactant Heroica secula cujus
+  Armavit varies forma superba Duces,
+    Haec collata tibi, merito Luoretia cedit,
+  Nam tuus omne Helenes lumen obumbrat honor:
+    Illa neces populis, diuturnaque bella paravit:
+  Tu bona tranquillae pacis opima refers.
+    Moribus illa suis speciem temeravit honestam:
+  Innumeris speciem dotibus ipsa colis:
+    Ore deam praestas: virtute venustior alma:
+  Foeda Helenae facies aequiparata tuae.
+
+[162] Caelii Calcagnini Ferrariensis. In Illustriss. Divi Alphonsi
+Primogeniti Herculis Ducis Ferr. ac Divae Lucretiae Borgiae Nuptias
+Epithalamium. Laurentius de Valentia Imprimebat Ferrariae Deo Opt. Max.
+Favente. Calend. Febr. MDII.
+
+[163]
+
+  Est levis haec jactura tamen, ruat hoc quoque quicquid
+  Est reliquum, juvet et nudis habitare sub antris,
+  Vivere dura liceat tecum pulcherrima virgo.
+
+Ludovici Areosti Ferrariensis Epithalamion, in vol. i of Carmina
+Illustrium Poetarum Italorum, p. 342-346.
+
+[164] Di mediocre statura, gracile in aspetto, di faccia alquanto lunga,
+il naso profilato e bello, li capelli aurei, gli occhi bianchi, la bocca
+alquanto grande con li denti candidissimi; la gola schietta e bianca
+ornata con decente valore, ed in essere continuamente allegra e ridente.
+See Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara. Ferrara, 1867.
+
+[165] Agnolo Firenzuola, vol. i. Della perfetto bellezza di una donna.
+
+[166] Fu essa Lucrezia di venusto e mansueto aspetto, prudente, di
+gratissime maniere negli atti, e nel parlare di molta grazia e
+allegrezza, says Alfonso's secretary, Bonaventura Pistofilo, in his Vita
+di Alfonso I d'Este. The epithets venusta, gentile, graziosa, amabile,
+are conferred upon her by all her contemporaries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+FETES GIVEN IN LUCRETIA'S HONOR
+
+
+The wedding festivities in Ferrara continued for six days during the
+carnival. At the period of the Renaissance, court functions and
+festivities, so far as the intellectual part is concerned, were not
+unlike those of the present day; but the magnificent costumes, the
+highly developed sense of material beauty, and the more elaborate
+etiquette of the age which gave birth to Castiglione's _Cortegiano_ lent
+these festivities a higher character.
+
+The sixteenth century was far behind our own in many of its
+productions--theatrical performances, displays of fireworks, and concert
+music. There were illuminations, and mounted torchlight processions; and
+rockets were frequently used; but an illuminated garden fete such as the
+Emperor of Austria gave for the Shah of Persia at Schoenbrunn would at
+that time have been impossible. The same might be said of certain forms
+of musical entertainment; for example, concerts. Society in that age
+would have shuddered at the orchestral music of to-day, and the
+ear-splitting drums would have appeared barbarous to the Italians of the
+Renaissance, just as would the military parades, which are still among
+the favorite spectacles with which distinguished guests are either
+honored or intimidated at the great courts of Europe. Even then tourneys
+were rare, although there were occasional combats of gladiators, whose
+costumes were greatly admired.
+
+The duke and his master of ceremonies had spent weeks in preparing the
+program for the wedding festivities, although these did not admit of any
+great variety, being limited as they are now to banquets, balls, and
+theatrical productions. It was from the last-named form of entertainment
+that Ercole promised himself the most, and which, he expected, would win
+for him the applause of the cultivated world.
+
+He was one of the most active patrons of the theater during the
+Renaissance. Several years before he had commissioned the poets at his
+court to translate some of the plays of Plautus and Terence into _terza
+rima_, and had produced them. Guarino, Berardo, Collenuccio, and even
+Bojordo had been employed in this work by him. As early as 1486 an
+Italian version of the _Menaechmi_, the favorite play of Plautus, had
+been produced in Ferrara. In February, 1491, when Ercole, with most
+brilliant festivities, celebrated the betrothal of his son Alfonso and
+Anna Sforza, the _Menaechmi_ and one of the comedies of Terence were
+given. The _Amphitryon_, which Cagnolo had prepared for the stage, was
+also played.
+
+There was no permanent theater in Ferrara, but a temporary one had been
+erected which served for the production of plays which were given only
+during the carnival and on other important occasions. Ercole had
+arranged a salon in the palace of the Podesta--a Gothic building
+opposite the church--which is still standing and is known as the Palazzo
+della Ragione. The salon was connected with the palace itself by a
+passage way.
+
+A raised stage called the tribune was erected. It was about one hundred
+and twenty feet long and a hundred and fifty feet wide. It had houses of
+painted wood, and whatever was necessary in the way of scenery, rocks,
+trees, etc. It was separated from the audience by a wooden partition in
+which was a sheet-metal curtain. On the forward part of the stage--the
+orchestra--sat the princes and other important personages, and in the
+amphitheater were thirteen rows of cushioned seats, those in the middle
+being occupied by the women, and those at the sides by the men. This
+space accommodated about three thousand people.
+
+According to Strozzi, Ariosto, Calcagnini, and other humanists of
+Ferrara, it was Ercole himself who constructed this theatre. They and
+other academicians probably took part in the performances, but the duke
+also brought actors from abroad, from Mantua, Siena, and Rome. They
+numbered in all no less than a hundred and ten persons, and it was
+necessary to build a new dressing-room for them. The theatrical
+performances on this brilliant occasion must, therefore, have aroused
+great expectations.
+
+The festivities began February 3d, and it was soon apparent that the
+chief attraction would be the beauty of three famous women--Lucretia,
+Isabella, and the Duchess of Urbino. They were regarded as the three
+handsomest women of the age, and it was difficult to decide which was
+the fairer, Isabella or Lucretia. The Duchess of Mantua was six years
+older than her sister-in-law, but a most beautiful woman, and with
+feminine curiosity she studied Lucretia's appearance. In the letters
+which she daily wrote to her husband in Mantua, she carefully described
+the dress of her rival, but said not a word regarding her personal
+charms. "Concerning Donna Lucretia's figure," so she wrote February 1st,
+"I shall say nothing, for I am aware that your Majesty knows her by
+sight." She was unable to conceal her vanity, and in another letter,
+written February 3d, she gave her husband to understand that she hoped,
+so far as her own personality and her retinue were concerned, to be able
+to stand comparison with any of the others and even to bear away the
+prize. One of the ladies of her suite, the Marchesana of Cotrone, wrote
+the duke, saying, "The bride is not especially handsome, but she has an
+animated face, and in spite of her having such a large number of ladies
+with her, and notwithstanding the presence of the illustrious lady of
+Urbino, who is very beautiful, and who clearly shows that she is your
+Excellency's sister, my illustrious mistress Isabella, according to our
+opinion and of those who came with the Duchess of Ferrara, is the most
+beautiful of all. There is no doubt about this; compared with her
+Majesty, all the others are as nothing. Therefore we shall bring the
+prize home to the house of our mistress."[167]
+
+The first evening of the festivities a ball was given in the great salon
+of the palace at which the attendance was so large that many were unable
+to gain admission. Lucretia was enthroned upon a tribune, and near her
+were the princesses of Mantua and Urbino. Other prominent ladies and the
+ambassadors also came and took up a position near her. The guests,
+therefore, in spite of the crowd, had a chance to admire the beautiful
+women, and their gowns and jewels. During the Renaissance, balls were
+less formal than they are now. Pleasures then were more natural and
+simple; frequently the ladies danced with each other, and sometimes even
+alone. The dances were almost exclusively French, for even at that time
+France had begun to impose her customs on all the rest of the world;
+still there were some Spanish and Italian ones. Lucretia was a graceful
+dancer, and she was always ready to display her skill. She frequently
+descended from the tribune and executed Spanish and Roman dances to the
+sound of the tambourine.[168]
+
+The following day the eagerly expected dramatic performances were given.
+First the duke had the actors appear in masks and costumes for the
+purpose of reviewing them. The director of the troop then came forward
+in the character of Plautus and read the program and the argument of
+each piece which was to be rendered during the five evenings. The
+selection of comedies by living dramatists in the year 1502 could not
+have cost the duke much thought, for there were none of any special
+importance. The _Calandra_ of Dovizi, which a few years later caused
+such a sensation, was not yet written. It is true Ariosto had already
+composed his _Cassaria_ and the _Suppositi_, but he had not yet won
+sufficient renown for him to be honored by their presentation at the
+wedding festivities.[169] Moreover, the duke would have none but classic
+productions. He wanted to set all the world talking; and, in truth,
+Italy had never seen any theatrical performances equal to these. We
+possess careful descriptions of them which have not yet been
+incorporated in the history of the stage. They show more clearly than do
+the reports regarding the Vatican theater in the time of Leo X what was
+the real nature of theatrical performances during the Renaissance;
+consequently, they constitute a valuable picture of the times.
+
+If one could follow the reports of Gagnolo, Zambotto, and Isabella, and
+reproduce in imagination the brilliant wedding and the guests in their
+rich costumes seated in rows, he would behold one of the fairest and
+most illustrious gatherings of the Renaissance. This scene, rich in form
+and color, taken in conjunction with the stage, and the performances of
+the comedies of Plautus, and with the pantomimes and the _moresche_
+which occupied the time between the acts, is so romantic that we might
+imagine ourselves translated to Shakespeare's _Midsummer-Night's Dream_,
+and that Duke Ercole had changed places with Theseus, Duke of Athens,
+and that the comedies were being performed before him and the happy
+bridal pair.
+
+According to the program, from February 3d to February 8th--with the
+exception of one evening--five of the plays of Plautus were to be given.
+The intermissions were to be devoted to music and _moresche_. The
+_moresca_ resembled the modern ballet; that is, a pantomime dance. It is
+of very ancient origin, and traces of it appear in the Middle Ages. At
+first it was a war dance in costume, which character it preserved for a
+long time. The name is, I believe, derived from the fact that in all the
+Latin countries which suffered from the invasions of the Saracens,
+dances in which the participants were armed and which simulated the
+battles of the Moor and Christian were executed. The Moors, for the sake
+of contrast, were represented as black. Subsequently the meaning of the
+term _moresca_ was extended to include the ballet in general, and all
+sorts of scenes in which dances accompanied by flutes and violins were
+introduced. The subjects were derived from mythology, the age of
+chivalry, and everyday life.
+
+There were also comic dances performed by fantastic monsters, peasants,
+clowns, wild animals, and satyrs, during which blows were freely dealt
+right and left. The classico-romantic ballet appears to have reached a
+high development in Ferrara, which was the home of the romantic
+epics--the _Mambriano_ and the _Orlando_. It is needless to say that the
+ballet possessed great attraction for the public in those days, just as it
+now does. The presentation of the comedies of Plautus would have no more
+effect upon people of this age than would a puppet show. They lasted
+from four to five hours--from six in the evening until midnight.
+
+The first evening the duke conducted his guests into the theater, and
+when they had taken their seats, Plautus appeared before the bridal
+couple and addressed some complimentary verses to them. After this the
+_Epidicus_ was presented. Each act was followed by a ballet, and five
+beautiful _moresche_ were given during the interludes of the play. First
+entered ten armed gladiators, who danced to the sound of tambourines;
+then followed a mimic battle between twelve people in different
+costumes; the third _moresca_ was led by a young woman upon a car which
+was drawn by a unicorn, and upon it were several persons bound to the
+trunk of a tree, while seated under the bushes were four lute players.
+The young woman loosed the bonds of the captives, who immediately
+descended and danced while the lute players sang beautiful canzone--at
+least so says Gagnolo; the cultured Duchess of Mantua, however, wrote
+that the music was so doleful that it was scarcely worth listening to.
+Isabella, however, judging by her remarkable letters, was a severe
+critic, not only of the plays but of all the festivities. The fourth
+_moresca_ was danced by ten Moors holding burning tapers in their
+mouths. In the fifth there were ten fantastically dressed men with
+feathers on their heads, and bearing lances with small lighted torches
+at their tips. On the conclusion of the _Epidicus_ there was a
+performance by several jugglers.
+
+Friday, February 4th, Lucretia did not appear until the afternoon. In
+the morning the duke showed his guests about the city, and they went to
+see a famous saint, Sister Lucia of Viterbo, whom the devout Ercole had
+brought to Ferrara as a great attraction. Every Friday the five wounds
+of Christ appeared on the body of this saint. She presented the
+ambassador of France with a rag with which she had touched her scars,
+and which Monseigneur Rocca Berti received with great respect. At the
+castle the duke showed his guests the artillery, to the study of which
+his son Alfonso was eagerly devoted. Here they waited for Lucretia, who,
+accompanied by all the ambassadors, soon appeared in the great salon. A
+dance was given which lasted until six in the evening. Then followed a
+presentation of the _Bacchides_ which required five hours. Isabella
+found these performances excessively long and tiresome. Ballets similar
+to those which accompanied the _Epidicus_ were given; men dressed in
+flesh-colored tights with torches in their hands, which diffused
+agreeable odors, danced fantastic figures, and engaged in a battle with
+a dragon.
+
+The following day Lucretia did not appear, as she was engaged in writing
+letters and in washing her hair, and the guests amused themselves by
+wandering about the city. No entertainments were given for the populace.
+The French ambassador, in the name of the King of France, sent presents
+to the princes of the house. The duke received a golden shield with a
+picture of S. Francis in enamel, the work of a Parisian artist, which
+was highly valued; to the hereditary Prince Alfonso was given a similar
+shield with a portrait of Mary of Magdala, the ambassador remarking that
+his Majesty had chosen a wife who resembled the Magdalene in character:
+_Quae multum meruit, quia multum credidit._ Perhaps presenting Alfonso
+with a gift suggestive of the Magdalene was an intentional bit of irony
+on the part of the French king. In addition to this he received a
+written description of a process for casting cannon. A golden shield was
+likewise presented to Don Ferrante. Lucretia's gift was a string of gold
+beads filled with musk, while her charming maid of honor, Angela, was
+honored with a costly chain.
+
+Everything was done to flatter the French ambassador. He was invited to
+dinner in the evening by the Marchioness of Mantua, and was placed
+between his hostess and the Duchess of Urbino. The evening was passed,
+according to Gagnolo, in gallant and cultivated conversation. On leaving
+the table the marchioness sang the most beautiful songs to the
+accompaniment of the lute, for the entertainment of the French
+ambassador. After this she conducted him to her chamber, where, in the
+presence of two of her ladies-in-waiting, they held an animated
+conversation for almost an hour, at the conclusion of which she drew off
+her gloves and presented them to him, "and the ambassador received them
+with assurances of his loyalty and his love, as they came from such a
+charming source; he told her that he would preserve them until the end
+of time, as a precious relic." We may believe Gagnolo, for doubtless the
+fortunate ambassador regarded this memento of a beautiful woman as no
+less precious than the rag poor Saint Lucia had given him.
+
+Sunday, February 6th, there was a magnificent ceremony in the church;
+one of the Pope's chamberlains in the name of his Holiness presented Don
+Alfonso with a hat and also a sword which the Holy Father had blessed,
+and which the archbishop girded on him at the altar. In the afternoon
+the princes and the princesses of the house of Este went to Lucretia's
+apartments to fetch her to the banquet hall. They danced for two hours;
+Lucretia herself, with one of her ladies-in-waiting, taking part in some
+French dances. In the evening the _Miles Gloriosus_ was presented; it
+was followed by a _moresca_ in which ten shepherds with horns on their
+heads fought with each other.
+
+February 7th there was a tourney in the piazza before the church between
+two mounted knights, one of whom was a native of Bologna and the other a
+citizen of Imola. No blood was shed. In the evening the _Asinaria_ was
+presented, together with a wonderful _moresca_ in which appeared
+fourteen satyrs, one of which carried a silvered ass's head in his
+hands, in which there was a music-box, to the strains of which the
+clowns danced. This play of the satyrs was followed by an interlude
+performed by sixteen vocalists,--men and women,--and a virtuoso from
+Mantua who played on three lutes. In conclusion there was a _moresca_ in
+which was simulated the agricultural work of the peasants. The fields
+were prepared, the seed sown, the grain cut and threshed, and the
+harvest feast followed. Finally a native dance to the accompaniment of
+the bagpipe was executed.
+
+The last day of the festivities, February 8th, also marked the end of
+the carnival. The ambassadors, who were soon to depart, presented the
+bride with costly gifts consisting of beautiful stuffs and silverware.
+The most remarkable present was brought by the representatives of
+Venice. The Republic at its own expense had sent two noblemen to the
+festivities, Niccolo Dolfini and Andrea Foscolo, both of whom were
+magnificently clothed. In those days dress was as costly as it was
+beautiful, and the artists who made the clothes for the men and women of
+the Renaissance would look with contempt upon those of the present time,
+for in that aesthetic age their productions were works of art. The most
+magnificent stuffs, velvet, silk, and gold embroidery were used, and
+painters did not scorn to design the color schemes and the shapes and
+folds of the garments. Dress, therefore, was a most weighty
+consideration, and one to which great value was attached, as it
+indicated the importance of the wearer. All who have left accounts of
+the festivities in Ferrara describe in detail the costumes worn on each
+occasion by Donna Lucretia and the other prominent women, and even those
+of the men. The reports which the Venetians sent home and the
+description in the diary of Marino Sanuto show how great was the
+importance attached to these matters. The following is even more
+striking evidence: before the two ambassadors of Venice set out for
+Ferrara they were required to appear before the whole senate in their
+robes of crimson velvet trimmed with fur, and wearing capes of similar
+material. More than four thousand persons were present in the great
+council hall, and the Piazza of S. Marco was crowded with people who
+gazed with wonder on these strange creatures. One of these robes
+contained thirty-two and the other twenty-eight yards of velvet.[170]
+Following the instructions of the Seignory of Venice, the ambassadors
+sent their robes to Duchess Lucretia as a bridal gift.[171] This
+wonderful gift was presented in the most naive way imaginable. One of
+the noble gentlemen delivered a Latin oration, and the other followed
+with a long discourse in Italian; thereupon they retired to an adjoining
+room, removed their magnificent robes, and sent them to the bride. This
+present and the pedantry of the two Venetians excited the greatest mirth
+at the Ferrarese court.[172]
+
+In the evening they danced for the last time, and attended the final
+theatrical performance, the _Casina_. Before the comedy began, music
+composed by Rombonzino was rendered, and songs in honor of the young
+couple were sung. Everywhere throughout the _Casina_, musical interludes
+were introduced. During the intermission six violinists, among them Don
+Alfonso, the hereditary prince, who was a magnificent amateur performer,
+played. The violin seems to have been held in great esteem in Ferrara,
+for when Caesar Borgia was about to set out for France he asked Duke
+Ercole for a violin player to accompany him, as they were much sought
+after in that country.[173]
+
+The ballet which followed was a dance of savages contending for the
+possession of a beautiful woman. Suddenly the god of love appeared,
+accompanied by musicians, and set her free. Hereupon the spectators
+discovered a great globe which suddenly split in halves and began to
+give forth beautiful strains. In conclusion twelve Swiss armed with
+halberds and wearing their national colors entered, and executed an
+artistic dance, fencing the while.
+
+If this scene, as Cagnolo says, ended the dramatic performances we are
+forced to conclude that they were exceedingly dull and spiritless. The
+_moresca_ partook of the character of both the opera and ballet. It was
+the only new form of spectacle offered during all the festivities.
+Compared with those which were given in Rome on the occasion of
+Lucretia's betrothal, they were much inferior. Among the former we
+noticed several pastoral comedies with allegorical allusions to
+Lucretia, Ferrara, Caesar, and Alexander.
+
+In spite of the outlay the duke had made, his entertainments lacked
+novelty and variety, although they probably pleased most of those
+present. Isabella, however, did not hesitate to mention the fact that
+she was bored. "In truth," so she wrote her husband, "the wedding was a
+very cold affair. It seems a thousand years before I shall be in Mantua
+again, I am so anxious to see your Majesty and my son, and also to get
+away from this place where I find absolutely no pleasure. Your
+Excellency, therefore, need not envy me my presence at this wedding; it
+is so stiff I have much more cause to envy those who remained in
+Mantua." Apparently the noble lady's opinion was influenced by the
+displeasure she still felt on account of her brother's marriage with
+Lucretia, but it may also have been due partly to the character of the
+festivities themselves, for the marchesa in all her letters complains of
+their being tiresome.[174]
+
+Soon after the conclusion of the festivities the marchioness returned to
+Mantua; her last letter from Ferrara to her husband is dated February
+9th. Her first letter from Mantua to her sister-in-law, which was
+written February 18th, is as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS LADY: The love which I feel for your Majesty,
+     and my hope that you continue in the same good health in which you
+     were at the time of my departure, cause me to believe that you have
+     the same feelings for me; therefore I inform you--hoping that it
+     will be pleasant news to you--that I returned to this city on
+     Monday in the best of health, and that I found my illustrious
+     consort also well. There is nothing more for me to write but to ask
+     your Majesty to tell me how you are, for I rejoice like an own
+     sister in your welfare. Although I regard it as superfluous to
+     offer you what belongs to you, I will remind you once for all, I
+     and mine are ever at your disposal. I am also much beholden to you,
+     and I ask you to remember me to your illustrious consort, my most
+     honored brother.
+
+Lucretia replied to the marchioness's letter as follows:
+
+     MY ILLUSTRIOUS LADY, SISTER-IN-LAW, AND MOST HONORED
+     SISTER: Although it was my duty to anticipate your Excellency
+     in the proof of affection which you have given me, this neglect on
+     my part only makes me all the more beholden to you. I can never
+     tell you with what pleasure and relief I learned that you had
+     reached Mantua safely and had found your illustrious husband well.
+     May he and your Majesty, with God's help, continue to enjoy all
+     happiness, and the increase of all good things, according to your
+     desires. In obedience to your Majesty's commands I am compelled,
+     and I also desire, to let you know that I, by God's mercy, am well,
+     and shall ever be disposed to serve you.
+
+  Your devoted sister, who is anxious to serve you,
+
+  LUCREZIA ESTENSIS DE BORGIA.[175]
+
+  FERRARA, _February 22, 1502_.
+
+These letters, written with diplomatic cunning, are the beginning of the
+correspondence of these two famous women which was carried on for
+seventeen years, and which shows that Isabella's displeasure gradually
+passed away, and that she became a real friend of her sister-in-law.
+
+The duke was heartily glad when his guests finally departed. Madonna
+Adriana, Girolama, and the woman described simply as "an Orsini" seemed
+in no haste to return to Rome. Alexander had instructed them to remain
+until Caesar's wife arrived. They were to wait for her in Lombardy, and
+then accompany her to Rome. The Duchess of Romagna, however, in spite of
+the urgent requests of the nuncio, refused to leave France. Her brother,
+Cardinal d'Albret, reached Ferrara February 6th, and shortly afterwards
+set out for Rome.
+
+Adriana, as a near connection of the Pope and Lucretia, had been treated
+with the highest respect at Ercole's court, where she had enjoyed a
+close intimacy with the Marchioness Isabella, as is shown by a letter
+which the latter addressed to Adriana, February 18th, the same day on
+which she wrote Lucretia. It is regarding a certain person whom Adriana
+while in Ferrara had recommended to her in her own name and also in that
+of Donna Giulia. It, therefore, appears that the anonymous Orsini was
+not Giulia Farnese.
+
+Ercole was exceedingly anxious for the women to leave. In a letter,
+dated February 14th, to his ambassador in Rome, Costabili, he complains
+bitterly about their "useless" stay at his court. "I tell you," so he
+wrote, "that these women by remaining here cause a large number of other
+persons, men as well as women, to linger, for all wish to depart at the
+same time, and it is a great burden and causes heavy expense. The
+retinue of these ladies, taken into consideration with the other people,
+numbers not far from four hundred and fifty persons and three hundred
+and fifty horses." Ercole instructed his ambassador to inform the Pope
+of this, also to tell him that the supplies were about exhausted, and
+that the Duchess of Romagna would not arrive before Easter, and that he
+could stand the expense no longer, as the wedding festivities had
+already cost twenty-five thousand ducats. The Pope should therefore
+direct the ladies to return. In a postscript to the same letter the duke
+says: "After the noble ladies of the Duchess of Romagna had been here
+twelve days, I sent them away because they were impertinent, and because
+their presence would not do his Holiness or the duchess any good."[176]
+
+The troublesome women finally departed. There is a despatch of the
+orator Girardo Saraceni, dated Rome, May 4th, in which he informs the
+duke that Monsignor Venosa and Donna Adriana had returned from Ferrara,
+and had expressed to the Pope their gratitude for the affectionate
+reception which had been accorded them.
+
+February 14th Ercole wrote the Pope a letter whose meaning is perfectly
+clear, if we eliminate one or two phrases.
+
+     HOLY FATHER AND MASTER: Before the illustrious Duchess,
+     our daughter, came here, it was my firm determination to receive
+     her, as was meet, with all friendliness and honor, and to show her
+     in every way how great was the affection I felt for her. Now that
+     her Majesty is here, I am so pleased with her on account of the
+     virtues and good qualities which I have discovered in her that I am
+     not only strengthened in that determination, but also am resolved
+     to do even more than I had intended, and all the more because your
+     Holiness has asked me to do so in the autographic letter which you
+     wrote me. Your Holiness need have no fears, for I shall treat the
+     Duchess in such a way that your Holiness will see that I regard her
+     as the most precious jewel I have in the world.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[167] Isabella's remarkable letters regarding the marriage festivities
+in Ferrara are printed in the Notizie di Isabella Estense by Carlo
+d'Arco. Archivio Storico Ital. App. ii. 223, sq. The letter of the
+Marchesa of Cotrone of February 1st is in the library of Mantua, and
+there are several other letters in the archives of that city written by
+her to Gonzaga regarding the festivities.
+
+[168] Qual Madama Sposa danzo molte danze al suono delli suoi Tamburini
+alla Romanesca e Spagnuola: report of Niccolo Gagnolo of Parma, who had
+accompanied the French ambassador to Ferrara. Zambotto used this
+description of the wedding festivities in his chronicle, and it was
+subsequently reprinted in Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara, etc.
+
+[169] The Cassaria was first produced in 1508, and the Suppositi in
+1509. Giuseppe Campori, Notizie per la vita di Lod. Ariosto, 2d ed.
+Modena, 1871, p. 67.
+
+[170] Despatch of the Ferrarese orator, Bartolomeo Cartari, to Ercole,
+Venice, January 25, 1502. Archives of Modena.
+
+[171] Cartari says in the same despatch that the robes he had described
+were intended for presents. Li Ambasciatori Veneziani le presentarono
+due vesti grandi in forma di palii velluto Cremesino foderati di
+ermelini, quali levatesi di sopra loro le presentarono. Cagnolo.
+
+[172] Ano dato materia di ridere ad hogni homo cum suo presente. The
+Marchesana of Cotrone to the Marquis of Mantua, Ferrara, February 8th.
+
+[173] Violas arcu pulsantes. Caesar Borgia to Ercole, Rome, September 3,
+1498.
+
+[174] See Isabella's letters of February 3d and 5th.
+
+[175] Zuccheti reproduces the letter.
+
+[176] P.S. Li gentilhomini de lo Illmo. Sig. Duca de Romagna poiche
+sono stati qui XII giorni sono stati da me licentiate per essere
+impertinente e senza fructo alcuno a la Santita de N.S. et allo Illmo.
+Sig. Duca de Romagna. Minute Ducali a Costabili Beltrando, February 14,
+1502.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE ESTE DYNASTY--DESCRIPTION OF FERRARA
+
+
+On entering the castle of the Este, Lucretia found a new environment,
+new interests--one might almost say a new world. She was a princess in
+one of the most important Italian States, and in a strange city, which,
+during the latter half of the century, had assumed a place of the first
+importance, for the spirit of Italian culture had there developed new
+forms. She had been received with the highest honors into a family
+famous and princely; one of the oldest and most brilliant in the
+peninsula. It was a piece of supreme good fortune that had brought her
+to this house, and now she would endeavor to make herself worthy of it.
+
+The family of Este, next to that of Savoy, was the oldest and most
+illustrious in Italy, and it forced the latter into the background by
+assuming the important position which the State of Ferrara, owing to its
+geographical position, afforded it.
+
+The history of the Este is briefly as follows:
+
+These lords, whose name is derived from a small castle between Padua and
+Ferrara, and who first appeared about the time of the Lombard invasion,
+were descended from a family whose remote ancestor was one Albert. The
+names Adalbert and Albert assume in Italian the form Oberto, from which
+we have the diminutives Obizzo and Azzo. In the tenth century there
+appears a Marquis Oberto who was first a retainer of King Berengar and
+later of Otto the Great. It is not known from what domain he and his
+immediate successors derived their title of marquis; they were, however,
+powerful lords in Lombardy as well as in Tuscany. One of Oberto's
+ancestors, Alberto Azzo II, who is originally mentioned as Marchio de
+Longobardia, governed the territory from Mantua to the Adriatic and the
+region about the Po, where he owned Este and Rovigo. He married
+Kunigunde, sister of Count Guelf III of Swabia, and in this way the
+famous German family of Guelf became connected with the Oberti and drawn
+into Italian politics. When Alberto Azzo died in the year 1096--more
+than a hundred years old--he left two sons, Guelf and Folco, who were
+the founders of the house of Este in Italy and the Guelf house of
+Braunschweig in Germany, for Guelf inherited the property of his
+maternal grandfather, Guelf III, in whom the male line of the house
+became extinct in the year 1055. He went to Germany, where he became
+Duke of Bavaria and founded the Guelf line.
+
+Folco inherited his father's Italian possessions, and in the great
+struggle of the German emperor with the papacy, the Margraves of Este
+were aggressive and determined soldiers. At first they were simply
+members of the Guelf faction, but subsequently they became its leaders,
+and thus were able to establish their power in Ferrara.
+
+The origin of the city is lost in the mists of antiquity. By the gift of
+Pipin and Charles it passed to the Church. It was also included in the
+deed of Matilda. In the war between the Pope and the Emperor, occasioned
+by this gift of Matilda, Ferrara succeeded in regaining its independence
+as a republic.
+
+The Este first appeared there about the end of the twelfth century.
+Folco's grandson, Azzo V, married Marchesella Adelardi, who was the heir
+of the leader of the Guelfs in that city, where Salinguerra was the head
+of the Ghibellines. From that time the Margraves of Este possessed great
+influence in Ferrara. They were likewise leaders of the Guelf party in
+the north of Italy.
+
+In the year 1208 Azzo VI succeeded in driving Salinguerra out of
+Ferrara, and the city having wearied of the long feud made the victor
+its hereditary Podesta. This is the first example of a free republic
+voluntarily submitting to a lord. In this way the Este established the
+first tyranny on the ruins of a commune. The brave Salinguerra, one of
+the greatest captains of Italy in the time of the Hohenstaufen,
+repeatedly drove Azzo VI and his successor, Azzo VII, from Ferrara, but
+he himself was finally defeated in 1240 and cast into prison, where he
+died. Thenceforth the Este ruled Ferrara.
+
+About the time of the removal of the papacy to Avignon they were
+expelled from the city by the Church, but they returned on the
+invitation of the citizens who had risen against the papal legate. John
+XXII issued a diploma of investiture by the terms of which they were to
+hold Ferrara as a fief of the Church on payment of an annual tribute of
+ten thousand gold ducats. The Este now set themselves up as tyrants in
+Ferrara, and in spite of numerous wars maintained the dynasty for a
+great many years. This dominion was not, like that in many other Italian
+States, due to a lucky stroke on the part of an upstart, but it was
+ancient, hereditary, and firmly established.
+
+It was due to a succession of remarkable princes, beginning with
+Aldobrandino, Lord of Ferrara, Modena, Rovigo, and Comacchio, that
+Ferrara succeeded in winning the important position she held at the
+beginning of the sixteenth century. Aldobrandino was followed by his
+brothers, Niccolo, from 1361 to 1388, and Alberto until 1393. After that
+his son Niccolo III, a powerful and bellicose man, ruled until the year
+1441. As his legitimate children Ercole and Sigismondo were minors, he
+was succeeded by his natural son Lionello. This prince not only
+continued the work begun by his father, but also beautified Ferrara. In
+the year 1444 the great Alfonso of Naples gave him his daughter Maria as
+wife, and the Este thus entered into close relations with the royal
+house of Aragon. Lionello was intelligent and liberal, a patron of all
+the arts and sciences, a "prince of immortal name." In the year 1450 he
+was succeeded by his brother Borso, illegitimate like himself, as an
+effort was being made to displace the legitimate sons of Niccolo II.
+
+Borso was one of the most magnificent princes of his age. Frederick II,
+when he stopped in Ferrara on his return from his coronation in Rome,
+made him Duke of Modena and Reggio, and Count of Rovigo and Comacchio,
+all of which territories belonged to the empire. The Este thereupon
+adopted for their arms, instead of the white eagle they had hitherto
+borne, the black eagle of the empire, to which were added the lilies of
+France, the use of which had been granted them by Charles VII. April 14,
+1471, Paul VII in Rome created Borso Duke of Ferrara. Soon after
+this--May 27th--this celebrated prince died unmarried and childless.
+
+He was succeeded by Ercole, the legitimate son of Niccolo II, the direct
+line of the Este thereby reacquiring the government of Ferrara, the
+importance of the State having been greatly increased by the efforts of
+the two illegitimate sons. In June, 1473, amid magnificent festivities,
+Ercole married Eleonora of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand of Naples.
+Twenty-nine years--years of conflict--had passed when the second Duke of
+Ferrara married his son to Lucretia with similar pomp. By putting an end
+to the war with Venice and Pope Sixtus IV, in the year 1482, Ercole had
+succeeded in saving his State from the great danger which threatened it,
+although he had been forced to relinquish certain territory to the
+Venetians. This danger, however, might arise again, for Venice and the
+Pope continued to be Ferrara's bitterest enemies. Political
+considerations, therefore, compelled her to form an alliance with
+France, whose king already owned Milan and might permanently secure
+possession of Naples. For the same reason he had married his son to
+Lucretia on the best terms he was able to make. She, therefore, must
+have been conscious of her great importance to the State of Ferrara, and
+this it was which gave her a sense of security with regard to the noble
+house to which she now belonged.
+
+The Duke presented the young couple Castle Vecchio for their residence,
+and there Lucretia established her court. This stronghold, which is
+still in existence, is one of the most imposing monuments of the Middle
+Ages. It overlooks all Ferrara, and may be seen for miles around. Its
+dark red color; its gloominess, which is partly due to its architectural
+severity; its four mighty towers--all combine to cause a feeling of
+fear, especially on moonlight nights, when the shadows of the towers
+fall on the water in the moat, which still surrounds the castle as in
+days of old. The figures of the great ones who once lived in the
+stronghold--Ugo and Parisina Malatesta, Borso, Lucretia Borgia and
+Alfonso, Renee of France, and Calvin, Ariosto, Alfonso II, the
+unfortunate Tasso and Eleonora--seem to rise before the beholder.
+
+[Illustration: CASTLE VECCHIO AT FERRARA.]
+
+The Marchese Niccolo, owing to an uprising of the citizens began Castle
+Vecchio in the year 1385, and his successor completed it and decorated
+the interior. It is connected by covered passage-ways with the palace
+opposite the church. Before Ercole extended Ferrara on the north, the
+castle marked the boundary of the city. One of the towers, called the
+Tower of the Lions, protected the city gate. A branch of the Po, which
+at that time flowed near by, supplied the moat--over which there were
+several drawbridges--with water.
+
+In Lucretia's time only the main features of the stronghold were the
+same as they are now; the cornices of the towers are of a later date,
+and the towers themselves were somewhat lower; the walls were embattled
+like those of the Gonzaga castle in Mantua. Cannon, cast under the
+direction of Alfonso, were placed at various points. There is an
+interior quadrangular court with arcades, and there Lucretia was shown
+the place where Niccolo II had caused his son Ugo and his stepmother,
+the beautiful Parisina, to be beheaded. This gruesome deed was a warning
+to Alexander's daughter to be true to her husband.
+
+A wide marble stairway led to the two upper stories of the castle, one
+of which, the lower, consisting of a series of chambers and salons, was
+set aside for the princes. In the course of time this has suffered so
+many changes that even those most thoroughly acquainted with Ferrara do
+not know just where Lucretia's apartments were.[177] Very few of the
+paintings with which the Este adorned the castle are left. There are
+still some frescoes by Dossi and another unknown master.
+
+The castle was always a gloomy and oppressive residence. It was in
+perfect accord with the character of Ferrara, which even now is
+forbidding. Standing on the battlements, and looking across the broad,
+highly cultivated, but monotonous fields, whose horizon is not
+attractive, because the Veronese Alps are too far distant, and the
+Apennines, which are closer, are not clearly defined; and gazing down
+upon the black mass of the city itself, one wonders how Ariosto's
+exuberant creation could have been produced here. Greater inspiration
+would be found in the sky, the land, and the sea of idyllic Sorrento,
+which was Tasso's birthplace, but this is only another proof of the
+theory that the poet's fancy is independent of his environment.
+
+Ferrara is situated in an unhealthful plain which is traversed by a
+branch of the Po and several canals. The principal stream does not
+contribute to the life of the city or its suburbs, as it is several
+miles distant. The town is surrounded by strong walls in which are four
+gates. In addition to Castle Vecchio on the north, there was, in
+Lucretia's time, another at the southwest--Castle Tealto or
+Tedaldo--which was situated on one of the branches of the Po, and which
+had a gate opening into the city and a pontoon bridge connecting it with
+the suburb S. Giorgio. Lucretia had entered by this gate. Nothing is now
+left of Castle Tedaldo, as it was razed at the beginning of the
+seventeenth century, when the Pope, having driven out Alfonso's
+successors, erected the new fortress.
+
+Ferrara has a large public square, and regular streets with arcades. The
+church, which faces the principal piazza, and which was consecrated in
+the year 1135, is an imposing structure in the Lombardo-Gothic style.
+Its high facade is divided in three parts and gabled, and it has three
+rows of half Roman and half Gothic arches supported on columns. With its
+ancient sculptures, black with time, it presents a strange appearance of
+mediaeval originality and romance. In Ferrara there is now nothing else
+so impressive on first sight as this church. It seems as if one of the
+structures of Ariosto's fairy world had suddenly risen before us.
+Opposite one side of the castle, the Palazzo del Ragione is still
+standing, and there are also two old towers, one of which is called the
+Rigobello. Opposite the facade was the Este palace in which Ercole
+lived, and which Eugene IV occupied when he held the famous council in
+Ferrara. In front of it rose the monuments of the two great princes of
+the house of Este, Niccolo III and Borso. One is an equestrian statue,
+the other a sitting figure; both were placed upon columns, and therefore
+are small. The crumbling pillars by the entrance archway are still
+standing, but the statues were destroyed in 1796.
+
+The Este vied with the other princes and republics in building churches
+and convents, of which Ferrara still possesses a large number. In the
+year 1500 the most important were: S. Domenico, S. Francesco, S. Maria
+in Vado, S. Antonio, S. Giorgio before the Porta Romana, the convent
+Corpus Domini, and the Certosa. All have been restored more or less, and
+although some of them are roomy and beautiful, none have any special
+artistic individuality.
+
+As early as the fifteenth century there were numerous palaces in Ferrara
+which are still numbered among the attractions of the gloomy city, and
+which are regarded as important structures in the history of
+architecture, from the early Renaissance until the appearance of the
+rococo style. Many of them, however, are in a deplorable state of
+decay. Marchese Alberto built the Palazzo del Paradiso (now the
+University) and Schifanoja at the end of the sixteenth century. Ercole
+erected the Palazzo Pareschi. He also restored a large part of Ferrara
+and extended the city by adding a new quarter on the north, the
+Addizione Erculea, which is still the handsomest part of Ferrara. The
+city is traversed by two long, wide streets--the Corso di Porta Po, with
+its continuation, the Corso di Porta Mare, and the Strada dei Piopponi.
+Strolling through these quiet streets one is astonished at the long rows
+of beautiful palaces of the Renaissance, reminders of a teeming life now
+passed away. Ercole laid out a large square which is surrounded by noble
+palaces, and which is now known as the Piazza Ariostea, from the
+monument of the great poet which stands in the center. This is,
+doubtless, the most beautiful memorial ever erected to a poet. The
+marble statue stands upon a high column and looks down upon the entire
+city. The history of the monument is interesting. Originally it was
+intended that an equestrian statue of Ercole on two columns should
+occupy this position. When the columns were being brought down the Po on
+a raft, one of them rolled overboard and was lost; the other was used in
+the year 1675 to support the statue of Pope Alexander VII, which was
+pulled down during the revolution of 1796 and replaced with a statue of
+Liberty, the unveiling of which was attended by General Napoleon
+Bonaparte. Three years later the Austrians overthrew the statue of
+Liberty, leaving the column standing, and in the year 1810 a statue of
+the Emperor Napoleon was placed upon it. This fell with the emperor. In
+the year 1833 Ferrara set Ariosto's statue upon the column, where it
+will remain in spite of all political change.
+
+Magnificent palaces rose in Ercole's new suburb. His brother Sigismondo
+erected the splendid Palazzo Diamanti, now Ferrara's art gallery, while
+the Trotti, Castelli, Sacrati, and Bevilacqua families built palaces
+there which are still in existence. Ferrara was the home of a wealthy
+nobility, some of whom belonged to the old baronial families. In
+addition there were the Contrarii, Pio, Costabili, the Strozzi,
+Saraceni, Boschetti, the Roverella, the Muzzarelli, and Pendaglia.
+
+The Ferrarese aristocracy had long ago emerged from the state of
+municipal strife and feudal dependence, and had set up their courts. The
+Este, especially the warlike Niccolo III, had subjugated the barons, who
+originally lived upon their estates beyond the city walls, and who were
+now in the service of the ruling family, holding the most important
+court and city offices; they were also commanders in the army. They took
+part, probably more actively than did the nobility of the other Italian
+States, in the intellectual movement of the age, which was fostered by
+the princes of the house of Este. Consequently many of these great lords
+won prominent places in the history of literature in Ferrara.
+
+The university, which had flourished there since the middle of the
+fifteenth century, was, excepting those of Padua and Bologna, the most
+famous in Italy. Founded by the Margrave Alberto in 1391, and
+subsequently remodeled by Niccolo III, it reached the zenith of its fame
+in the time of Lionello and Borso. The former was a pupil of the
+celebrated Guarino of Verona, and was himself acquainted with all the
+sciences. The friend and idol of the humanists of his age, he collected
+rare manuscripts and disseminated copies of them. He founded the
+library, and Borso continued the work begun by him.
+
+As early as 1474 the University of Ferrara had forty-five well paid
+professors, and Ercole increased their number. Printing was introduced
+during his reign. The earliest printer in Ferrara after 1471 was the
+Frenchman Andreas, called Belforte.[178]
+
+Like the city, the people seemed to have been of a serious cast of mind,
+which led to speculation, criticism, and the cultivation of the exact
+sciences. From Ferrara came Savonarola, the fanatical prophet who
+appeared during the moral blight which characterized the age of the
+Borgias, and Lucretia must frequently have recalled this man in whom her
+father, by the executioner's hand, sought to stifle the protestations of
+the faithful and upright against the immorality of his rule.
+
+Astronomy and mathematics, and especially the natural sciences and
+medicine, which at that time were part of the school of philosophy, were
+extensively cultivated in Ferrara. It is stated that Savonarola himself
+had studied medicine; his grandfather Michele, a famous physician of
+Padua, had been called to Ferrara by Niccolo II.[179] Niccolo Leoniceno,
+a native of Vincenza, at whose feet many of the most famous scholars and
+poets had sat, enjoyed great renown in Ferrara about 1464 as a
+physician, mathematician, philosopher, and philologist. He was still the
+pride of the city when Lucretia arrived there, as the great
+mathematician, Domenico Maria Novara, was then teaching in Bologna,
+where Copernicus had been his pupil.
+
+Many famous humanists, who at the time of Lucretia's arrival were still
+children or youths--for example, the Giraldi and genial Celio
+Calcagnini, who dedicated an epithalamium to her on her appearance in
+the city--were members of the Ferrarese university. All of these men
+were welcome at the court of the Este because they were accomplished and
+versatile. It was not until later, after the sciences had been
+classified and their boundaries defined, that the graceful learning of
+the humanists degenerated into pedantry.
+
+It was, however, especially the art of poetry which gave Ferrara, in
+Lucretia's time, a peculiarly romantic cast. This it was which first
+attracted attention to the city as one of the main centers of the
+intellectual movement. Ferrara produced numerous poets who composed in
+both tongues--Latin and Italian. Almost all the scholars of the day
+wrote Latin verses; most of them, however, it must be admitted, were
+lacking in poetic fire. Some of the Ferrarese, however, rose to high
+positions in poetry and are still remembered; preeminent were the two
+Strozzi, father and son, and Antonio Tebaldeo. The poets, however, who
+originated the romantic epic in Italian were much more important than
+the writers of Latin verse. The brilliant and sensuous court of Ferrara,
+together with the fascinating romance of the house of Este--which really
+belongs to the Middle Ages--and the charming nobility and modern
+chivalry, all contributed to the production of the epic, while the city
+of Ferrara, with its eventful history and its striking style of
+architecture, was a most favorable soil for it. Monuments of Roman
+antiquity are as rare in Ferrara as they are in Florence; everything is
+of the Middle Ages. Lucretia did not meet Bojardo, the famous author of
+the _Orlando Inamorato_, at the court of his friend Ercole, but the
+blind singer of the _Mambriano_, Francesco Cieco, probably was still
+living. We have seen how Ariosto, who was soon to eclipse all his
+predecessors, greeted Lucretia on her arrival.
+
+The graphic arts had made much less progress in Ferrara than had poetry
+and the sciences; but while no master of the first rank, no Raphael or
+Titian appeared, there were, nevertheless, some who won a not
+unimportant place in the history of Italian culture. The Este were
+patrons of painting; they had their palaces decorated with frescoes,
+some of which, still considered noteworthy on account of their
+originality, are preserved in the Palazzo Schifanoja, where they were
+rediscovered in the year 1840. About the middle of the fifteenth
+century, Ferrara had its own school, the chief of which was Cosimo Tura.
+It produced two remarkable painters, Dosso Dossi and Benvenuto Tisio,
+the latter of whom, under the name of Garofalo, became famous as one of
+Raphael's greatest pupils. The works of these artists, who were
+Lucretia's contemporaries--Garofalo being a year younger--still adorn
+many of the churches, and are the chief attractions in the galleries of
+the city.
+
+Such, broadly sketched, was the intellectual life of Ferrara in the year
+1502. We, therefore, see that in addition to her brilliant court and her
+political importance as the capital of the State, she possessed a highly
+developed spiritual life. The chroniclers state that her population at
+that time numbered a hundred thousand souls; and at the beginning of the
+sixteenth century--her most flourishing period--she was probably more
+populous than Rome. In addition to the nobility there was an active
+bourgeoisie engaged in commerce and manufacturing, especially weaving,
+who enjoyed life.
+
+[Illustration: BENVENUTO GAROFALO.
+
+From an engraving by G. Batt. Cecchi.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[177] Cittadella (Guida del Forestiere in Ferrara, Ferrara, 1873)
+ridicules the story of the looking-glass that disclosed the love of Ugo
+and Parisina. See his Castello di Ferrara, Turin, 1873, and the
+description of the castle in the Notizie storico-artistiche sui primarii
+palazzi d'Italia, Firenze, Cennini, 1871.
+
+[178] Luigi Napoleone Cittadella, La Stampa in Ferrara. Ferrara, 1873.
+
+[179] See first part of Villari's well known biography of Savonarola.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DEATH OF ALEXANDER VI
+
+
+Alexander carefully followed everything that took place in Ferrara. He
+never lost sight of his daughter. She and his agents reported every mark
+of favor or disfavor which she received. Following the excitement of the
+wedding festivities there were painful days for Lucretia, as she was
+forced to meet envy and contempt, and to win for herself a secure place
+at the court.
+
+Alexander was greatly pleased by her reports, especially those
+concerning her relations with Alfonso. He never for a moment supposed
+that the hereditary prince loved his daughter. All he required was that
+he should treat her as his wife, and that she should become the mother
+of a prince. With great satisfaction he remarked to the Ferrarese
+ambassador on hearing that Alfonso spent his nights with Lucretia,
+"During the day he goes wherever he likes, as he is young, and in doing
+this he does right."[180]
+
+Alexander also induced the duke to grant his daughter-in-law a larger
+allowance than he had agreed to give her. The sum stipulated was six
+thousand ducats. Lucretia was extravagant, and needed a large income.
+The amount she received from her father-in-law did not, however, exceed
+ten thousand ducats.
+
+In the meantime Caesar was pursuing his own schemes, the success of which
+was apparently insured by his alliance with Ferrara and the sanction of
+France. The youthful Astorre Manfredi having been strangled in the
+castle of S. Angelo by his orders, Valentino set out for Romagna, June
+13th, where he succeeded in ensnaring the unsuspecting Guidobaldo of
+Urbino and in seizing his estates, June 21st. Guidobaldo fled and found
+an asylum in Mantua, whence he and his wife eventually went to Venice.
+
+Caesar now turned toward Camerino, where he surprised the Varano,
+destroying all but one of them. He reported these doings to the court of
+Ferrara, and the duke did not hesitate to congratulate him for a crime
+which had resulted in the overthrow of princes who were not only
+friendly to himself but were also closely connected with him. From
+Urbino Caesar wrote his sister as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS LADY AND DEAREST SISTER: I know nothing could
+     be better medicine for your Excellency in your present illness than
+     the good news which I have to impart. I must tell you that I have
+     just had information that Camerino will yield. We trust that on
+     receiving this news your condition will rapidly improve, and that
+     you will inform us at once of it. For your indisposition prevents
+     us from deriving any pleasure from this and other news. We ask you
+     to tell the illustrious Duke Don Alfonso, your husband, our
+     brother-in-law, at once, as, owing to want of time, we have not
+     been able to write him direct.
+
+     Your Majesty's brother, who loves you better than he does himself,
+
+  CAESAR.
+
+  URBINO, _July 20, 1502_.
+
+Shortly after this he surprised his sister by visiting her in the palace
+of Belfiore, whither he came in disguise with five cavaliers. He
+remained with her scarcely two hours, and then hastily departed,
+accompanied by his brother-in-law Alfonso as far as Modena, intending to
+go to the King of France, who was in Lombardy.
+
+[Illustration: Reduced facsimile of a letter written by Alexander VI to
+his daughter, Lucretia.]
+
+In the meantime Alexander had arrived at a decision regarding the
+seizure of Camerino which conflicted with Caesar's plans, and which shows
+that the father's will was not wholly under his son's control. September
+2, 1502, Alexander bestowed Camerino as a duchy upon the Infante
+Giovanni Borgia, whom he sometimes described as his own son and at
+others as Caesar's. Giovanni had already been invested with the title of
+Nepi, and Francesco Borgia, Cardinal of Cosenza, as the child's
+guardian, administered these estates. There are coins of this ephemeral
+Duke of Camerino still in existence.[181]
+
+September 5th Lucretia gave birth to a still-born daughter, to the great
+disappointment of Alexander, who desired an heir to the throne. She was
+sick unto death, and her husband showed the deepest concern, seldom
+leaving her for a moment. September 7th Valentino came to see her. The
+secretary Castellus sent a report of this visit to Ercole, who was in
+Reggio, whither he had gone to meet Caesar, who was returning from
+Lombardy. "To-day," he wrote, "at the twentieth hour, we bled Madama on
+the right foot. It was exceedingly difficult to accomplish it, and we
+could not have done it but for the Duke of Romagna, who held her foot.
+Her Majesty spent two hours with the duke, who made her laugh and
+cheered her greatly." Lucretia had a codicil added to her will, which
+she had made before leaving for Ferrara, in the presence of her
+brother's secretary and some monks. She, however, recovered. Caesar
+remained with her two days and then departed for Imola. When Ercole
+returned he found his daughter-in-law attended by Alexander's most
+skilful physician, the Bishop of Venosa, and out of all danger.[182]
+
+As Lucretia felt oppressed in Castle Vecchio, and yearned for the free
+air, she removed October 8th, accompanied by the entire court, to the
+convent of Corpus Domini. Her recovery was so rapid that she was able
+again to take up her residence in the castle, October 22d, to the great
+joy of every one, as Duke Ercole wrote to Rome. Alfonso even went to
+Loretto in fulfilment of a vow he had made for the recovery of his wife.
+The solicitude which was displayed for Lucretia on this occasion shows
+that she had begun to make herself beloved in Ferrara.[183]
+
+In this same month of October occurred the disaffection of Caesar's
+condottieri which nearly ended in his overthrow. In consequence of the
+desertion of his generals, the country about Urbino rose, and Guidobaldo
+even succeeded in reentering his capital city, October 18th. The
+protection of France and the lack of decision on the part of his
+enemies, however, saved the Duke of Romagna from the danger which
+threatened him. December 31st he relieved himself of the barons by the
+well-known coup of Sinigaglia. This was his masterstroke. He had
+Vitellozzo and Oliverotto strangled forthwith; the Orsini--Paolo,
+father-in-law of Girolama Borgia, and Francesco, Duke of Gravina, who
+had once been mentioned as a possible husband for Lucretia--suffered the
+same fate January 18, 1503.
+
+The Duke of Ferrara congratulated Caesar, as did also the Gonzaga. Even
+Isabella did not hesitate to write a graceful letter to the man that had
+driven her dear sister-in-law,--whose husband had been forced to flee a
+second time,--from Urbino. The Gonzaga, who were anxious to marry the
+little hereditary Prince Federico to his daughter Luisa, were
+endeavoring to secure this end with the help of Francesco Trochio in
+Rome. Isabella's contemptible letter to Caesar is as follows:
+
+     TO HIS HIGHNESS, THE DUKE OF VALENTINO.
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS SIR: The happy progress of which your
+     Excellency has been good enough to inform us in your amiable letter
+     has caused us all the liveliest joy, owing to the friendship and
+     interest which you and my illustrious husband feel for each other.
+     We, therefore, congratulate you in his and our own name for the
+     good fortune which has befallen you, and for your safety, and we
+     thank you for informing us of it and for your offer to keep us
+     advised of future events, which we hope will be no less favorable,
+     for, loving you as we do, we hope to hear from you often regarding
+     your plans so that we may be able to rejoice with you at the
+     success and advancement of your Excellency. Believing that you,
+     after the excitement and fatigue which you have suffered while
+     engaged in your glorious undertakings, will be disposed to give
+     some time to recreation, it seems proper to me to send you by our
+     courier, Giovanni, a hundred masks. We, of course, know how slight
+     is this present in proportion to the greatness of your Excellency,
+     and also in proportion to our desires; still it indicates that if
+     there were anything more worthy and more suitable in this our
+     country, we certainly would send it you. If the masks, however,
+     are not as beautiful as they ought to be, your Highness will know
+     that this is due to the makers in Ferrara, who, as it has been for
+     years against the law to wear masks, long ago ceased making them.
+     May, however, our good intentions and our love make up for their
+     shortcomings. So far as our own affairs are concerned there is
+     nothing new to tell you until your Excellency informs us as to the
+     decision of his Holiness, our Master, concerning the articles of
+     guaranty upon which we, through Brognolo, have agreed. We,
+     therefore, look forward to this, and hope to reach a satisfactory
+     conclusion. We commend ourselves to your service.
+
+  JANUARY 15, 1503.
+
+Caesar replied to the marchioness from Aquapendente as follows:
+
+     MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LADY, FRIEND, AND HONORED SISTER: We have
+     received your Excellency's present of the hundred masks, which,
+     owing to their diversity and beauty, are very welcome, and because
+     the time and place of their arrival could not have been more
+     propitious. If we neglected to inform your Excellency of all our
+     plans and of our intended return to Rome, it was because it was
+     only to-day that we succeeded in taking the city and territory
+     adjacent to Sinigaglia together with the fortress, and punished our
+     enemies for their treachery; freed Citta di Castello, Fermo,
+     Cisterna, Montone, and Perugia from their tyrants, and rendered
+     them again subject to his Holiness, our Master; and deposed
+     Pandolfo Petrucci from the tyranny which he had established in
+     Siena, where he had shown himself such a determined enemy of
+     ourselves. The masks are welcome especially because I know that the
+     present is due to the affection which you and your illustrious
+     husband feel for us, which is also shown by the letter which you
+     send with it. Therefore we thank you a thousand times, although the
+     magnitude of your and your husband's deserts exceeds the power of
+     words. We shall use the masks, and they are so beautiful that we
+     shall be saved the trouble of providing ourselves with any other
+     adornment. On returning to Rome we will see that his Holiness, our
+     Master, does whatever is necessary to further our mutual interests.
+     We, in compliance with your Excellency's request, will grant the
+     prisoner his liberty. We will inform your Illustrious Majesty at
+     once, so that you may rejoice in it the moment he is free. We
+     commend ourselves to you. From the papal camp near Aquapendente,
+     February 1st.
+
+     Your Excellency's friend and brother, the Duke of Romagna, etc.
+
+  CAESAR.
+
+Caesar was then near the zenith of his desires--a king's throne in
+central Italy. This project, however, was never realized; Louis XII
+forbade him further conquests. The Orsini (the cardinal of this house
+had just been poisoned in the castle of S. Angelo) and other barons
+whose estates were in the vicinity of Rome rose for a final struggle,
+and Caesar was compelled to hasten back to the papal city. Alexander and
+his son now turned toward Spain, as Gonsalvo had defeated the French in
+Naples and had entered the capital of the kingdom May 14th. Louis XII,
+however, despatched a new army under La Tremouille to recapture Naples.
+The Marquis of Mantua was likewise in his pay, and in August, 1503, the
+army entered the Patrimonium Petri.
+
+Alexander and Caesar were suddenly taken sick at the same moment. The
+Pope died August 18th. It has been affirmed and also denied that both
+were poisoned, and proofs equally good in support of both views have
+been adduced; it is, therefore, a mooted question.
+
+Aside from her grief due to affection, the death of Lucretia's father
+was a serious event for her, as it might weaken her position in Ferrara.
+Alexander's power was all that had given her a sense of security, and
+now she could no longer feel certain of the continuance of the affection
+of her father-in-law or of that of her husband. Well might Alfonso now
+recall the words Louis XII had uttered to the effect that on the death
+of Alexander he would not know who the lady was whom he had married. The
+king one day asked the Ferrarese plenipotentiary at his court how
+Madonna Lucretia had taken the Pope's death. When the ambassador replied
+that he did not know, Louis remarked, "I know that you were never
+satisfied with this marriage; this Madonna Lucretia is not Don Alfonso's
+real wife."[184]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lucretia would have been frightened had she read a letter which Ercole
+wrote to Giangiorgio Seregni, then his ambassador in Milan, which at
+that time was under French control, and in which he disclosed his real
+feelings on the Pope's demise.
+
+     GIANGIORGIO: Knowing that many will ask you how we are
+     affected by the Pope's death, this is to inform you that he was in
+     no way displeasing to us. At one time we wished, for the honor of
+     God, our Master, and for the general good of Christendom, that God
+     in his goodness and foresight would provide a worthy shepherd, and
+     that his Church would be relieved of this great scandal. Personally
+     we had nothing to wish for; we were concerned chiefly with the
+     honor of God and the general welfare. We may add, however, that
+     there was never a Pope from whom we received fewer favors than from
+     this one, and this, even after concluding an alliance with him. It
+     was only with the greatest difficulty that we secured from him what
+     he had promised, but beyond this he never did anything for us. For
+     this we hold the Duke of Romagna responsible; for, although he
+     could not do with us as he wished, he treated us as if we were
+     perfect strangers. He was never frank with us; he never confided
+     his plans to us, although we always informed him of ours. Finally
+     as he inclined to Spain, and we remained good Frenchmen, we had
+     little to look for either from the Pope or his Majesty. Therefore
+     his death caused us little grief, as we had nothing but evil to
+     expect from the advancement of the above-named duke. We want you to
+     give this our confidential statement to Chaumont, word for word, as
+     we do not wish to conceal our true feelings from him--but speak
+     cautiously to others about the subject and then return this letter
+     to our worthy councilor Gianluca.
+
+  BELRIGUARDO, _August 24, 1503_.
+
+This statement was very candid. In view of the advantages which had
+accrued to Ercole's State through the marriage with Lucretia, he might
+be regarded as ungrateful; he had, however, never looked upon this
+alliance as anything more than a business transaction, and so far as his
+relations with Caesar were concerned his view was entirely correct.
+
+Let us now hear what another famous prince--one who was in the
+confidence of the Borgias--says regarding the Pope's death. At the time
+of this occurrence the Marquis of Mantua was at his headquarters with
+the French army in Isola Farnese, a few miles from Rome. From there,
+September 22, 1503, he wrote his consort, Isabella, as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS LADY AND DEAREST WIFE: In order that your
+     Majesty may be familiar with the circumstances attending the Pope's
+     death, we send you the following particulars. When he fell sick, he
+     began to talk in such a way that anyone who did not know what was
+     in his mind would have thought that he was wandering, although he
+     was perfectly conscious of what he said; his words were, "I come;
+     it is right; wait a moment." Those who know the secret say that in
+     the conclave following the death of Innocent he made a compact with
+     the devil, and purchased the papacy from him at the price of his
+     soul. Among the other provisions of the agreement was one which
+     said that he should be allowed to occupy the Holy See twelve years,
+     and this he did with the addition of four days. There are some who
+     affirm that at the moment he gave up his spirit seven devils were
+     seen in his chamber. As soon as he was dead his body began to
+     putrefy and his mouth to foam like a kettle over the fire, which
+     continued as long as it was on earth. The body swelled up so that
+     it lost all human form. It was nearly as broad as it was long. It
+     was carried to the grave with little ceremony; a porter dragged it
+     from the bed by means of a cord fastened to the foot to the place
+     where it was buried, as all refused to touch it. It was given a
+     wretched interment, in comparison with which that of the cripple's
+     dwarf wife in Mantua was ceremonious. Scandalous epigrams are every
+     day published regarding him.
+
+The reports of Burchard, of the Venetian ambassador Giustinian, of the
+Ferrarese envoy Beltrando, and of numerous others describe Alexander's
+end in almost precisely the same way, and the fable of the devil or
+"babuino" that carried Alexander's soul off is also found in Marino
+Sanuto's diary. The highly educated Marquis of Gonzaga, with a
+simplicity equal to that of the people of Rome, believed it.
+
+The Mephisto legend of Faust and Don Juan, which was immediately
+associated with Alexander's death--even the black dog running about
+excitedly in St. Peter's is included--shows what was the opinion of
+Alexander's contemporaries regarding the terrible life of the Borgia,
+and the extraordinary success which followed him all his days.
+Alexander's moral character is, however, so incomprehensible that even
+the keenest psychologists have failed to fathom it.
+
+In him neither ambition nor the desire for power, which, in the majority
+of rulers, is the motive of their crimes, was the cause of his evil
+deeds. Nor was it hate of his fellows, nor cruelty, nor yet a vicious
+pleasure in doing evil. It was, however, his sensuality and also his
+love for his children--one of the noblest of human sentiments. All
+psychological theory would lead us to expect that the weight of his sins
+would have made Alexander a gloomy man with reason clouded by fear and
+madness, like Tiberius or Louis XI; but instead of this we have ever
+before us the cheerful, active man of the world--even until his last
+years. "Nothing worries him; he seems to grow younger every day," wrote
+the Venetian ambassador scarcely two years before his death.
+
+It is not his passions or his crimes that are incomprehensible, for
+similar and even greater crimes have been committed by other princes
+both before and after him, but it is the fact that he committed them
+while he was Pope. How could Alexander VI reconcile his sensuality and
+his cruelty with the consciousness that he was the High Priest of the
+Church, God's representative on earth? There are abysses in the human
+soul to the depths of which no glance can penetrate. How did he overcome
+the warnings, the qualms of conscience, and how was it possible for him
+constantly to conceal them under a joyous exterior? Could he believe in
+the immortality of the soul and the existence of a divine Being?
+
+When we consider the utter abandon with which Alexander committed his
+crimes, we are forced to conclude that he was an atheist and a
+materialist. There is a time in the life of every philosophic and
+unhappy soul when all human endeavor seems nothing more than the
+despairing, purposeless activity of an aggregation of puppets. But in
+Alexander VI we discover no trace of a Faust, nothing of his supreme
+contempt of the world, of his Titanic skepticism; but we find, on the
+contrary, that he possessed an amazingly simple faith, coupled with a
+capacity for every crime. The Pope who had Christ's mother painted
+with the features of the adulteress Giulia Farnese believed that he
+himself enjoyed the special protection of the Virgin.
+
+[Illustration: CARDINAL BEMBO.
+
+From an engraving by G. Benaglia.]
+
+Alexander's life is the very antithesis of the Christian ideal. To be
+convinced of this it is only necessary to compare the Pope's deeds with
+the teachings of the Gospel. Compare his actions with the Commandments:
+"Thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not
+bear false witness."
+
+The fact that Rodrigo Borgia was a pope must seem to all the members of
+the Church the most unholy thing connected with it, and one which they
+have reason bitterly to regret. This fact, however, can never lessen the
+dignity of the Church--the greatest production of the human mind--but
+does it not destroy a number of transcendental theories which have been
+associated with the papacy?
+
+The execrations which all Italy directed against Alexander could
+scarcely have reached Lucretia's ears, but she doubtless anticipated
+them. Her distress must have been great. Her entire life in Rome
+returned and overwhelmed her. Her father had been the cause, first, of
+all her unhappiness, and subsequently of all her good fortune. Filial
+affection and religious fears must have assailed her at one and the same
+time. Bembo describes her suffering. This man, subsequently so famous,
+came to Ferrara in 1503, a young Venetian nobleman of the highest
+culture and fairest presence. He was warmly received by Lucretia, for
+whom he conceived great admiration. The accomplished cavalier wrote her
+the following letter of condolence:
+
+     I called upon your Majesty yesterday partly for the purpose of
+     telling you how great was my grief on account of your loss, and
+     partly to endeavor to console you, and to urge you to compose
+     yourself, for I knew that you were suffering a measureless sorrow.
+     I was able to do neither the one nor the other; for, as soon as I
+     saw you in that dark room, in your black gown, lying weeping, I was
+     so overcome by my feelings that I stood still, unable to speak, not
+     knowing what to say. Instead of giving sympathy, I myself was in
+     need of it, therefore I departed, completely overcome by the sad
+     sight, mumbling and speechless, as you noticed or might have
+     noticed. Perhaps this happened to me because you had need of
+     neither my sympathy nor my condolences; for, knowing my devotion
+     and fidelity, you would also be aware of the pain which I felt on
+     account of your sorrow, and you in your wisdom may find consolation
+     within and not look to others for it. The best way to convey to you
+     an idea of my grief is for me to say that fate could cause me no
+     greater sorrow than by afflicting you. No other shot could so
+     deeply penetrate my soul as one accompanied by your tears.
+     Regarding condolence, I can only say to you, as you yourself must
+     have thought, that time soothes and lessens all our griefs. So high
+     is my opinion of your intelligence and so numerous the proofs of
+     your strength of character that I know that you will find
+     consolation, and will not grieve too long. For, although you have
+     now lost your father, who was so great that Fortune herself could
+     not have given you a greater one, this is not the first blow which
+     you have received from an evil and hostile destiny. You have
+     suffered so much before that your soul must now be inured to
+     misfortune. Present circumstances, moreover, require that you
+     should not give any one cause to think that you grieve less on
+     account of the shock than you do on account of any anxiety as to
+     your future position. It is foolish for me to write this to you,
+     therefore I will close, commending myself to you in all humility.
+     Farewell. In Ostellato.[185]
+
+  AUGUST 22, 1503.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[180] Maxime intendendo che continuano dormire insieme la nocte. Se ben
+intende ch'el Sig. Don Alfonso el di va a piacere in diversi loci come
+giovene; il quale, dice S. Sta. fa molto bene. Beltrando Costabili to
+the duke, Rome, April 1, 1502.
+
+[181] Silver carlins. Obverse: JOANNES. BOR. DVX. CAMERINI; the Borgia
+arms surrounded with lilies and the crest of the Lenzuoli. Reverse: S.
+VENANTIVS DE CAMERI. They are described in the Periodico di Numismatica
+e Sfragistica per la Storia d'Italia diretto dal March. C. Strozzi,
+Flor. 1870, A. III, Fascic. ii, 70-77, by G. Amati, and also in A. IV,
+fasc. vi, 259-265, by M. Santoni. Both writers erroneously describe this
+Giov. Borgia as the son of the Duke of Gandia, and Amati even confuses
+Valence in Dauphine with Valencia in Spain.
+
+[182] In the state archives of Modena there are several letters
+regarding Lucretia's illness written by the Ferrarese physicians
+Ludovicus Carrus and J. Castellus.
+
+[183] The duke to Costabili, his ambassador in Rome, October 9-23, 1502.
+
+[184] Despatch of Bartolomeo Cavalieri to Ercole, Macon, September 8,
+1503.
+
+[185] Bembo, Opp. iii, 309.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+EVENTS FOLLOWING THE POPE'S DEATH
+
+
+After Lucretia's first transports had passed she may well have blessed
+her good fortune, for to what danger would she have been exposed if she
+now, instead of being Alfonso's wife, was still forced to share the
+destiny of the Borgias! She was soon able to convince herself that her
+position in Ferrara was unshaken. She owed this to her own personality
+and to the permanent advantages which she had brought to the house of
+Este. She saw, however, that the lives of her kinsmen in Rome were in
+danger; there were her sick brother, her child Rodrigo, and Giovanni,
+Duke of Nepi; while the Orsini, burning with a desire to wipe out old
+scores, were hastening thither to avenge themselves for the blood of
+their kinsmen.
+
+She besought her father-in-law to help Caesar and to preserve his estates
+for him. Ercole thought that it would be more to his own advantage for
+Caesar to hold the Romagna than to have it fall into the hands of Venice.
+He, therefore, sent Pandolfo Collenuccio thither to urge the people to
+remain true to their lord. To his ambassador in Rome he confided his joy
+that Caesar was on the road to recovery.[186]
+
+With the exception of the Romagna, the empire of Alexander's son at once
+began to crumble away. The tyrants he had expelled returned to their
+cities. Guidobaldo and Elisabetta hastened from Venice to Urbino and
+were received with open arms. Still more promptly Giovanni Sforza had
+returned from Mantua to Pesaro. The Marquis Gonzaga had sent him the
+first news of Alexander's death and of Caesar's illness, and Sforza
+thanked him in the following letter:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER: I thank your
+     Excellency for the good news which you have given me in your
+     letter, especially regarding the condition of Valentino. My joy is
+     great because I believe my misfortunes are now at an end. I assure
+     you that if I return to my country, I shall regard myself as your
+     Excellency's creature, and you may dispose of my person and my
+     property as you will. I ask you, in case you learn anything more
+     regarding Valentino, and especially of his death, that you will
+     send me the news, for by so doing you will afford me great joy. I
+     commend myself to you at all times.
+
+  MANTUA, _August 25, 1503_.
+
+As early as September 3d, Sforza was able to inform the Marquis that he
+had entered Pesaro amid the acclamations of the people. He immediately
+had a medal struck in commemoration of the happy event. On one side is
+his bust and on the other a broken yoke with the words PATRIA
+RECEPTA.[187] Filled with the desire for revenge he punished the rebels
+of Pesaro by confiscating their property, casting them into prison, or
+by putting them to death. He had a number of the burghers hanged at the
+windows of his castle. Even Collenuccio, who had placed himself under
+the protection of Lucretia and the duke, in Ferrara, was soon to fall
+into his hands. With flattering promises Giovanni induced him to come to
+Pesaro, and then on the ground of the complaint he had addressed to
+Caesar Borgia, which Sforza claimed he had only just discovered, he cast
+him into prison. Collenuccio, not wholly guiltless as far as his former
+master and friend was concerned, resigned himself to his fate and died
+in July, 1504.[188]
+
+Meanwhile Lucretia was anxiously following the course of events in Rome.
+None of her letters to Caesar written at this time are preserved, nor are
+any of Caesar's to her. The only ones we have are those which he
+exchanged with the Duke of Ferrara, who continued to write him.
+September 13th Ercole wrote congratulating him on his recovery, and
+informing him that he had sent a messenger to the people of Romagna
+urging them to remain true to him.
+
+Caesar was in Nepi when he received this letter, having gone there
+September 2d after he had arranged with the French ambassador in Rome,
+on the suggestion of the cardinal, to place himself under the protection
+of France. He was accompanied by his mother, Vannozza, his brother
+Giuffre, and, doubtless, also by his little daughter Luisa and the two
+children Rodrigo and Giovanni, the latter of whom was Duke of Nepi.
+There he was safe, as the French army was camped in the neighborhood.
+Just as if nothing had happened, he wrote letters to the Marquis
+Gonzaga, who was then at his headquarters in Campagnano. He even sent
+him some hunting dogs as a present. There is also in existence a letter
+written by Giuffre to the same Gonzaga, dated Nepi, September 18th.
+While here Caesar learned that his protector and friend, Amboise, had
+not been elected pope as he had hoped, but that Piccolomini had been
+chosen. September 22d this cardinal, senile and moribund, ascended the
+papal throne, assuming the name Pius III. He was the happy father of no
+less than twelve children, boys and girls, who would have been brought
+up in the Vatican as princes but for his early death. He permitted Caesar
+to return to Rome and even showed him some favor; but scarcely had the
+Borgia appeared--October 3d--when the Orsini rose in their wrath and
+clamored for the death of their enemy. He and the two children took
+refuge in Castle S. Angelo, and October 18th Piccolomini died.
+
+The two children now had no protector but Caesar and the cardinals whom
+Alexander had appointed as their guardians. On the death of the Pope
+their duchies crumbled away. The Gaetani returned from Mantua and again
+took possession of Sermoneta and all the other estates which had been
+bestowed upon the little Rodrigo. Ascanio Sforza demanded either Nepi or
+the position of chamberlain, and the last Varano again secured Camerino.
+
+Rodrigo was Duke of Biselli, and as such under the protection of Spain,
+Alexander having succeeded in obtaining, May 20, 1502, from Ferdinand
+and Isabella of Castile, a diploma by virtue of which the royal house of
+Spain confirmed the Borgia family in the possession of all their
+Neapolitan estates. In this act Caesar and his heirs, Don Giuffre of
+Squillace; Don Juan, son of the murdered Gandia; Lucretia, as Duchess of
+Biselli, and her son and heir Rodrigo are explicitly named.[189] There
+is likewise in the Este archives an instrument which was drawn up in
+Lucretia's chancellery, referring to the control of Rodrigo's property,
+and also others regarding the little Giovanni.[190] The two children,
+Rodrigo and Giovanni, during their early years were reared together.
+Lucretia provided for them from Ferrara, as is shown by the record of
+her household expenses in 1502 and 1503. There are numerous entries for
+velvet and silk and gold brocade which she bought for the purpose of
+clothing the children.[191]
+
+In spite of the protection of Spain, Lucretia's son's life was in danger
+in Rome, and it was her duty to have the child brought to her; but this
+she neglected to do, either because she did not dare to do so, or she
+was not strong enough to bring it about, or because she perhaps feared
+that the child would be in still greater danger in Ferrara. The Cardinal
+of Cosenza, Rodrigo's guardian, suggested to her that she sell all his
+personal property and send him to Spain, where he would be safe. In a
+letter she informed her father-in-law of this, and he replied as
+follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS LADY, OUR DEAREST DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AND
+     DAUGHTER: We have received your Majesty's letter, and also the
+     one which his Eminence the Cardinal of Cosenza addressed to you and
+     which you sent us; this we return to you with our letter; no one
+     but ourselves read it. We note the unanimity with which your
+     Majesty and the cardinal write. His advice shows such solicitude
+     that it is at once apparent that it is due to his affection and
+     wisdom. We have considered everything carefully, and it seems to us
+     that your Majesty can and ought to do what the worthy monsignor
+     suggests. In fact I think your Majesty is bound to do as he advises
+     on account of the affection which he displays for you and the
+     illustrious Don Rodrigo, your son, who, I am told, owes his life to
+     the cardinal. Although Don Rodrigo will be at a distance from you,
+     it is better for him to be away and safe than for him to be near
+     and in danger, as the cardinal thinks he would be. Your mutual love
+     would in no way suffer by this separation. When he grows up he can
+     decide, according to circumstances, whether it is best for him to
+     return to Italy or remain away. The cardinal's suggestion to
+     convert his personal property into money to provide for his support
+     and to increase his income--as he states he is anxious to do--is a
+     good idea. In brief, as we have said, it seems to us that you had
+     best consent. Nevertheless, if your Majesty, who is perfectly
+     competent to decide this, determine otherwise, we are perfectly
+     willing. Farewell.
+
+  HERCULES, Duke of Ferrara, etc.
+
+  CODEGORIO, _October 4, 1503_.
+
+In the meantime, November 1, 1503, Della Rovere ascended the papal
+throne as Julius II. The Rovere, the Borgias, and the Medici, each gave
+the Church two popes, and they impressed upon the papacy the political
+form of the modern state. In the entire annals of the Church there are
+no other families which have so deeply affected the course of history.
+Their names suggest innumerable political and moral revolutions. Della
+Rovere now released Caesar, whose bitterest enemy he had once been. It
+was apparent that Valentino's destruction was imminent.
+
+Elsewhere we may read how Julius II first used Caesar for the purpose of
+assuring his election by means of his influence on the Spanish
+cardinals, and how he subsequently--after the surrender of the
+fortresses in the Romagna--cast him aside. Caesar threw himself into
+the arms of Spain, going from Ostia to Naples in October, 1504, where
+the great Captain Gonsalvo represented Ferdinand the Catholic. Don
+Giuffre accompanied him. Cardinals Francesco Remolini of Sorrento and
+Ludovico Borgia had preceded him to Naples to escape a prosecution with
+which they were threatened. There Gonsalvo broke the safe-conduct which
+he had given Caesar. May 27th he seized him in the name of King Ferdinand
+and confined him in the castle of Ischia.
+
+[Illustration: JULIUS II.
+
+From an engraving published in 1580.]
+
+We hear nothing of the fate of the Borgia children; apparently they
+remained under the protection of the Spanish cardinals in Rome or
+Naples. Caesar, saving nothing, and barely escaping with his life, set
+out for Spain. He had previously placed his valuables in the hands of
+his friends in Rome to keep for him or to send to Ferrara. December 31,
+1503, Duke Ercole wrote his ambassador in Rome to take charge of Caesar's
+chests when the Cardinal of Sorrento should send them to him, and
+forward them to Ferrara as the property of the Cardinal d'Este.[192]
+Cardinal Remolini died in May, 1507, and Julius II confiscated in his
+house twelve chests and eighty-four bales which contained tapestries,
+rich stuffs, and other property belonging to Caesar.[193] The Pope
+ordered the Florentines to return certain other property of Caesar's
+consisting of gold, silver, and similar valuables which he had sent to
+their city. The Florentine Signory,[194] however, stated that they would
+have nothing to do with the matter.
+
+The removal of Caesar to Spain caused great excitement. No one, neither
+Gonsalvo, the Pope, nor King Ferdinand was willing to assume the
+responsibility for it. It was even stated that it was due to Gandia's
+widow, who was at the Castilian court endeavoring to secure the arrest
+of her husband's murderer.[195] The Spanish cardinals and Lucretia
+exerted themselves to obtain Caesar's release. The first news of him came
+from Spain in October, 1504. Costabili wrote to Ferrara: "The affairs of
+the Duke of Valentino do not appear to be in such a desperate condition
+as has been represented, for the Cardinal of Salerno has a letter of the
+third instant from Requesenz, the duke's majordomo, which his Majesty
+despatched before he reached there, and letters from several cardinals
+to his Majesty of Spain. Requesenz writes that the duke was confined
+with one servant in the castle of Seville, which, although very strong,
+is roomy. He was soon furnished with eight servants. He also writes that
+he has spoken to the king regarding freeing Caesar, and that his Majesty
+stated that he had not ordered the duke's confinement but had given
+instructions for him to be brought to Spain on account of certain
+charges which Gonsalvo had made against him. If these were found to be
+untrue he would do as the cardinal requested concerning Caesar. However,
+nothing could be done until the queen recovered. He made the same answer
+to the ambassador of the King and Queen of Navarre, who endeavored to
+secure the duke's release, and consequently Requesenz hoped that he
+would soon be set free."[196]
+
+From this letter of Requesenz it appears that Caesar was first taken to
+Seville and from there was sent to the castle of Medina del Campo in
+Castile. The King of France turned a deaf ear to his petitions. No one
+in Italy wanted him set free. His sister was the only person in the
+peninsula who took any interest in the overthrown upstart, and her
+appeals found little support among the Este. It was well known that if
+Caesar returned to Italy he would only cause uneasiness at the court of
+Ferrara, and would in all probability make it the center of his
+intrigues. The Gonzaga alone appeared not to have entirely withdrawn
+their favor from him, although, instead of wishing, as they once had
+done, to establish a matrimonial alliance with him, they now connected
+themselves with the Rovere, the Marquis of Mantua marrying his young
+daughter Leonora to Julius's nephew, Francesco Maria della Rovere, heir
+of Urbino, April 9, 1505.[197] It was especially Isabella who, owing to
+her affection for her sister-in-law Lucretia, seconded her appeals to
+her husband. In the archives of the house of Gonzaga are several letters
+written by Lucretia to the marquis in the interests of her brother.
+
+[Illustration: Reduced facsimile of a letter written by Lucretia Borgia
+to Marchese Gonzaga.]
+
+August 18, 1505, she wrote him from Reggio that she had taken steps in
+Rome to induce the Pope to permit Cardinal Petro Isualles to go to the
+Spanish court to endeavor to secure Caesar's freedom, and she hoped to
+succeed. She, therefore, asked the marquis himself to request the Pope
+to allow the cardinal to undertake this mission. She wrote to him again
+from Belriguardo thanking him for his promise to despatch an agent to
+Spain, and she sent him a letter for King Ferdinand and another for her
+brother. It is not known whether the cardinal actually undertook this
+journey to Madrid, but it is hardly likely that Julius would have
+allowed him to do so.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[186] Minute Ducali a Costabili Beltrando, Ferrara, August 28, 1503.
+
+[187] One of these medals is preserved in the cabinet of the Oliveriana
+in Pesaro. It is reproduced in the Nuova Raccolta delle Monete e Zecche
+d'Italia di Guidantonio Zanetti, p. 1.
+
+[188] See Giulio Perticari, Op. Bol. 1839, vol. ii. Intorno la morte di
+Pandolfo Collenuccio. Perticari's opinion is too one-sided and
+optimistic. The beautiful elegy which he states Collenuccio wrote
+shortly before his death was written at a much happier time.
+
+[189] The document is in the Este archives.
+
+[190] This is the record already mentioned, Liber Arrendamentorum
+terrarum ad IIImos Dominos Rodericum Borgiam de Aragonia, Sermoneti,
+etc., et Johannem Borgiam Nepesini Duces, infantes spectantium. Biselli,
+1502
+
+[191] Raxo pavonazo trovato in Guardaroba. De dito raso se ne fodrato
+dui ziponi e dui boniti per Don Rodrigo e Don Joanne (Braccia 6). De
+dito raso se ne posto in la capa de Don Rodrigo--Tela d'oro. De dita
+tela se ne posto a fodrare due cape de raxo pavonazo per Don Rodrigo e
+Don Joane--braza 12. Dite peze de fuxo doro tirato se ne pose per
+commission de la Signora nei saioni de Don Rodrigo e Don Joanne, etc.
+Estratti dall' inventario di roba di Lucrezia Borgia, 1502-1503.
+Archives of Modena.
+
+[192] Ercole to his ambassador in Rome, December 31, 1503.
+
+[193] Costabili to Ercole, May 6, 1507.
+
+[194] Manfredo Manfredi's despatch to Ercole, Florence, August 20, 1504.
+
+[195] Perche la mogliera del Duca di Candia, che fu morto dal Duca
+Valentino ha procurato questo acto de tencione et vendicta et che Lei e
+parente del Re di Spagna. Letter of Giovanni Alberto della Pigna to
+Ercole, Venice, June 18, 1504.
+
+[196] Costabili's despatch to Duke Ercole, Rome, October 27, 1504.
+
+[197] The contract is in Beneimbene's protocol-book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+COURT POETS--GIULIA BELLA AND JULIUS II--THE ESTE DYNASTY ENDANGERED
+
+
+During the year, when Lucretia, filled with a sister's love, was
+grieving over the fate of her terrible brother, a great change occurred
+in her own circumstances, she having become Duchess of Ferrara, January
+25, 1505. Her husband, Alfonso, in compliance with his father's wishes,
+had undertaken a journey to France, Flanders, and England for the
+purpose of becoming acquainted with the courts of those countries. He
+was to return to Italy by way of Spain, but while he was at the court of
+Henry VII of England he received despatches informing him that his
+father was sick. He hastened back to Ferrara, and Ercole died shortly
+after his return.
+
+Alfonso ascended the ducal throne at a time when a strong hand and high
+intelligence were required to save his State from the dangers which
+threatened it. The Republic of Venice had already secured possession of
+a part of Romagna, and was planning to cut Ferrara off from the mouth of
+the Po; at the same time Julius II was scheming to take Bologna, and if
+he succeeded in this he would doubtless also attack Ferrara. In view of
+these circumstances it was a fortunate thing for the State that its
+chief was a practical, cool-headed man like Alfonso. He was neither
+extravagant nor fond of display, and he cared nothing for a brilliant
+court. He was indifferent to externals, even to his own clothing. His
+chief concern was to increase the efficiency of the army, build
+fortresses, and cast cannon. When the affairs of state left him any
+leisure he amused himself at a turning-lathe which he had set up, and
+also in painting majolica vases, in which art he was exceedingly
+skilful. He had no inclination for the higher culture--this he left to
+his wife.
+
+The small collection of books which Lucretia brought with her from Rome
+shows that she possessed some education and an inclination to take part
+in the intellectual movement of Ferrara. We have a catalogue of these
+books, of the years 1502 and 1503, which shows what were Lucretia's
+tastes. According to this list she possessed a number of books, many of
+which were beautifully bound in purple velvet, with gold and silver
+mountings: a breviary; a book with the seven psalms and other prayers; a
+parchment with miniatures in gold, called _De Coppelle ala Spagnola_;
+the printed letters of Saint Catharine of Siena; the Epistles and
+Gospels in the vulgar tongue; a religious work in Castilian; a
+manuscript collection of Spanish canzone with the proverbs of Domenico
+Lopez; a printed work entitled _Aquilla Volante_; another, called
+_Supplement of Chronicles_, in the vulgar tongue; the _Mirror of Faith_,
+in Italian; a printed copy of Dante, with a commentary; a work in
+Italian, on philosophy; the _Legend of the Saints_ in the vulgar tongue;
+an old work, _De Ventura_; a _Donatus_; a _Life of Christ_ in Spanish; a
+manuscript of Petrarch on parchment, in duodecimo. From this catalogue
+it is evident that Lucretia's studies were not very profound. Her books
+were confined to religious works and belles-lettres.[198]
+
+[Illustration: ALPHONSO D'ESTE, DUKE OF FERRARA.]
+
+Lucretia established her ducal court in accordance with the dictates of
+her own fancy. She was now the soul and center of the intellectual life
+of Ferrara. Her cultivated intellect, her beauty, and the irresistible
+joyousness of her being charmed all who came into her presence. The
+opposition which the members of the house of Este at first had shown her
+had disappeared, and, especially in the case of Isabella Gonzaga, had
+changed into affection, as is proved by the extensive correspondence
+which the two women maintained up to the time of Lucretia's death. In
+the archives of the house of Gonzaga there are several hundred of her
+letters to the Marchesa of Mantua.
+
+Her relations with the house of Urbino were no less pleasant, and they
+continued so even after the death of Guidobaldo in April, 1508, for his
+successor was Francesco Maria della Rovere, son-in-law of Isabella
+Gonzaga. She was frequently visited by these princes, and she enjoyed
+the friendship of a number of remarkable men--Baldassar Castiglione,
+Ottaviano Fregoso, Aldus Manutius, and Bembo.
+
+Bembo, who was in love with the beautiful duchess, constantly sang her
+praises, and, August 1, 1504, he dedicated to her his dialogue on love,
+the _Asolani_, in a letter in which he celebrated her virtues. His
+friend Aldo first spent some time in Ferrara at the court of Ercole, and
+subsequently went to the Pio at Carpi; finally he settled in Venice,
+where he printed the _Asolani_ in the year 1505 and dedicated it to
+Lucretia. There is no doubt about Bembo's passion for the duchess, but
+it would be a fruitless undertaking to endeavor to prove, from the
+evidences of affection which the beautiful woman bestowed upon him,
+that it passed the bounds of propriety. The belief that it did is due to
+the letters which Bembo wrote her, and which are printed in his works,
+and still more to those which Lucretia addressed to him. From 1503 to
+1506--in which year he removed to the court of Guidobaldo--the
+intellectual Venetian enjoyed the closest friendship with Lucretia. He
+corresponded with her while he was living with his friends the Strozzi
+in Villa Ostellato. These letters, especially those addressed to an
+"anonymous friend," by which designation he clearly meant Lucretia, are
+inspired by friendship, and display a tender confidence. Lucretia's
+letters to Bembo are preserved in the Ambrosiana in Milan, where they
+and the lock of blond hair near them are examined by every one who
+visits the famous library. The letters are written in her own hand, and
+there is no doubt of their authenticity; concerning the lock of hair
+there is some uncertainty; still it may be one of the pledges of
+affection which the happy Bembo carried away with him. Lucretia's
+letters to Bembo were first examined and described by Baldassare
+Oltrocchi, and subsequently by Lord Byron; in 1859 they were published
+in Milan by Bernardo Gatti.[199] There are nine in all--seven in Italian
+and two in Spanish. They are accompanied by a Castilian canzone.
+
+It seems certain that she felt more than mere friendship for Bembo, for
+she was young, and he was an accomplished cavalier, fair, amiable, and
+witty, who cast the rough Alfonso completely in the shade. He excited
+the latter's jealousy, and the danger which threatened him may have
+been the cause of his removal to Urbino. Lucretia kept up her friendly
+relations with him until the year 1513.
+
+Several other poets in Ferrara devoted their talents to her
+glorification. The verses which the two Strozzi addressed to her are
+even more ardent than those of Bembo--perhaps because their authors
+possessed greater poetical talent. Tito, the father, experienced the
+same feelings for the beautiful duchess as did his genial son Ercole,
+and he expressed them in the same poetical forms and imagery. This very
+similarity indicates that their devotion was merely aesthetic. Tito sang
+of a rose which Lucretia had sent him, but his son excelled him in an
+epigram on the _Rose of Lucretia_, which could hardly have been the same
+one his father had received.[200]
+
+Tito, in his epigram, described himself as senescent, and consequently
+not likely to be wounded by Cupid's darts, but he, nevertheless, was
+ensnared by Lucretia's charms. "In her," so he says, "all the majesty of
+heaven and earth are personified, and her like is not to be found on
+earth." He addressed an epigram to Bembo, with whose passion for
+Lucretia he was acquainted, in which he derives the name Lucretia from
+"_lux_" and "_retia_," and makes merry over the _net_ in which Bembo was
+caught.[201]
+
+His son Ercole describes her as a Juno in good works, a Pallas in
+decorum, and a Venus in beauty. In verses in imitation of Catullus he
+sang of the marble Cupid which the duchess had set up in her salon,
+saying that the god of Love had been turned into stone by her glance. He
+compared Lucretia's beautiful eyes with the sun, that blinds whosoever
+ventures to look at it; like Medusa, whose glance turned the beholder to
+stone, yet in this case "the pains of love still continued immortalized
+in the stone."
+
+Is it possible to believe that these poets would have written such
+verses if they had considered Lucretia Borgia guilty of the crimes
+which, even after her father's death, had been ascribed to her by
+Sannazzaro?
+
+Antonio Tebaldeo, Calcagnini, and Giraldi sang of Lucretia's beauty and
+virtue. Marcelle Filosseno dedicated a number of charming sonnets to
+her, in which he compared her with Minerva and Venus. Jacopo Caviceo,
+who in the last years of his life (he died in 1511) was vicar of the
+bishopric of Ferrara, dedicated to her his wonderful romance
+"Peregrino," with an inscription in which he describes her as beautiful,
+learned, wise, and modest. The number of poets who threw themselves at
+her feet was certainly large, and she doubtless received their flattery
+with the same satisfied vanity with which a beautiful woman of to-day
+would accept such offerings. Some of these poets may really have been in
+love with her, while others burned their incense as court flatterers;
+all, doubtless, were glad to find in her an ideal to serve as a platonic
+inspiration for their rhymes and verses.
+
+Ariosto excepted, these poets are to us nothing more than names in the
+history of literature. The great poet's relations with the princely
+house of Ferrara began about 1503, when he entered the service of
+Cardinal Ippolito. Soon after this--in the year 1505--he began his great
+epic, and the beautiful duchess appears to have had very little
+influence on his work. He refers to her occasionally, especially in a
+stanza for which she owed the poet little thanks if she foresaw his
+immortality--the eighty-third stanza in the forty-second canto of the
+_Orlando Furioso_, in which he places Lucretia's portrait in the temple
+to woman. The inscription under her portrait says that her fatherland,
+Rome, on account of her beauty and modesty must regard her as excelling
+Lucretia of old.[202]
+
+A recent Italian writer, speaking of Ariosto's adulation, says, "However
+much of it may be looked upon as court flattery, and as due to the
+poet's obligations to the house of Este, we know that the art of
+flattery had also its laws and bounds, and that one who ascribed such
+qualities to a prince who was known to be entirely lacking in them would
+be regarded as little acquainted with the world and with court manners,
+for he would cause the person to be publicly ridiculed. In this case the
+praise would degenerate into satire and the incautious flatterer would
+fare badly."[203] Flattery has always been the return which court poets
+make for their slavery. Ariosto and Tasso were no more free from it than
+were Horace and Virgil. When the poet of the _Orlando Furioso_
+discovered that Cardinal Ippolito was beginning to treat him coldly, he
+thought to strike out everything he had said in his praise. Although it
+was probably merely the name Lucretia which Ariosto and other poets
+used--comparing it with the classic ideal of feminine honor--it is,
+nevertheless, difficult wholly to reject the interpretation of
+Lucretia's modern advocates, for, even when this comparison was not
+made, other admirers--Ariosto especially--praised the beautiful duchess
+for her decorum. This much is certain: her life in Ferrara was regarded
+as a model of feminine virtue.
+
+There was a young woman in her household who charmed all who came in
+contact with her until she became the cause of a tragedy at the court.
+This was the Angela Borgia whom Lucretia had brought with her from Rome,
+and who had been affianced to Francesco Maria Rovere. It is not known
+when the betrothal was set aside, although it may have been shortly
+after Alexander's death. The heir of Urbino married, as has been stated,
+Eleonora Gonzaga. Among Angela's admirers were two of Alfonso's
+brothers, who were equally depraved, Cardinal Ippolito and Giulio, a
+natural son of Ercole. One day when Ippolito was assuring Angela of his
+devotion, she began to praise the beauty of Giulio's eyes, which so
+enraged his utterly degenerate rival that he planned a horrible revenge.
+The cardinal hired assassins and commanded them to seize his brother
+when he was returning from the hunt, and to tear out the eyes which
+Donna Angela had found so beautiful. The attempt was made in the
+presence of the cardinal, but it did not succeed as completely as he had
+wished. The wounded man was carried to his palace, where the physicians
+succeeded in saving one of his eyes. This crime, which occurred November
+3, 1505,[204] aroused the whole court. The unfortunate Giulio demanded
+that it be paid in kind, but the duke merely banished the cardinal. The
+injured man brooded on revenge, and the direst consequences followed.
+
+Ariosto, the wicked cardinal's courtier, fell into difficulties from
+which he escaped in a way not altogether honorable, which lessens the
+worth of the praise he bestowed upon Lucretia. He wrote a poem in which
+he endeavored to clear the murderer by blackening Giulio's character and
+concealing the motive for the crime. In this same eclogue he poured
+forth the most ardent praise of Lucretia. He lauded not only her beauty,
+her good works, and her intellect, but above all her modesty, for which
+she was famous before coming to Ferrara.[205]
+
+A year later, December 6, 1506, Lucretia married Donna Angela to Count
+Alessandro Pio of Sassuolo, and by a remarkable coincidence her son
+Giberto subsequently became the husband of Isabella, a natural daughter
+of Cardinal Ippolito.
+
+In November, 1505, an event occurred in the Vatican which aroused great
+interest on the part of Lucretia, and likewise caused her most painful
+memories. Giulia Farnese, the companion of her unhappy youth, made her
+appearance there under circumstances which must have overcome her. We
+know nothing of the life of Alexander's mistress during the years
+immediately preceding and following his death. She and her husband,
+Orsini, were living in Castle Bassanello, to which her mother Adriana
+had also removed. At least Giulia was there in 1504, about which time
+one of the Orsini committed one of those crimes with which the history
+of the great families of Italy is filled. Her sister, Girolama Farnese,
+widow of Puccio Pucci, had entered into a second marriage--this time
+with Count Giuliano Orsini of Anguillara--and had been murdered by her
+stepson, Giambattista of Stabbia, because, as it was alleged, she had
+tried to poison him. Giulia buried her deceased sister in 1504, at
+Bassanello.
+
+She must have gone to Rome the following year and taken up her abode in
+the Orsini palace. Her husband was not living, and Adriana may also have
+been dead, for she was not present at the ceremony in the Vatican in
+November, 1505, when Giulia, to the great astonishment of all Rome,
+married her only daughter, Laura, to the nephew of the Pope, Niccolo
+Rovere, brother of Cardinal Galeotto.
+
+Laura passed among all those who were acquainted with her mother's
+secrets as the child of Alexander VI and natural sister of the Duchess
+of Ferrara. When she was only seven years old her mother had betrothed
+her to Federico, the twelve-year-old son of Raimondo Farnese; this was
+April 2, 1499. This alliance was subsequently dissolved to enable her to
+enter into a union as brilliant as her heart could possibly desire.
+
+The consent of Julius II to the betrothal of his nephew with the bastard
+daughter of Alexander VI is one of the most astonishing facts in the
+life of this pope. It perhaps marks his reconciliation with the Borgia.
+He had hated the men of this family while he was hostile to them, but
+his hatred was not due to any moral feelings. Julius II felt no contempt
+for Alexander and Caesar, but, on the other hand, it is more likely that
+he marveled at their strength as did Macchiavelli. We do not know that
+he had any personal relations with Lucretia Borgia after he ascended
+the papal throne, although this certainly would have been probable owing
+to the position of the house of Este. On one occasion he deeply offended
+Lucretia when, in reinstating Guglielmo Gaetani in possession of
+Sermoneta by a bull dated January 24, 1504, he applied the most
+uncomplimentary epithets to Alexander VI, describing him as a "swindler"
+who had enriched his own children by plundering others.[206] This
+especially concerned Lucretia, for she had been mistress of Sermoneta,
+which had subsequently been given to her son Rodrigo.
+
+Later, after Alfonso ascended the ducal throne, the relations between
+the Pope and Lucretia must have become more friendly. She kept up a
+lively correspondence with Giulia Farnese, and doubtless received from
+her the news of the betrothal of her daughter to a member of the Pope's
+family.[207]
+
+The betrothal took place in the Vatican, in the presence of Julius II,
+Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, and the mother of the young bride. This was
+one of the greatest triumphs of Giulia's romantic life--she had overcome
+the opposition of another pope, and one who had been the enemy of
+Alexander VI, and the man who had ruined Caesar. She, the adulteress, who
+had been branded by the satirists of Rome and of all Italy as mistress
+of Alexander VI, now appeared in the Vatican as one of the most
+respectable women of the Roman aristocracy, "the illustrious Donna
+Giulia de Farnesio," Orsini's widow, for the purpose of betrothing the
+daughter of Alexander and herself to the Pope's nephew, thereby
+receiving absolution for the sins of her youth. She was still a
+beautiful and fascinating woman, and at most not more than thirty years
+of age.
+
+This good fortune and the rehabilitation of her character (if, in view
+of the morals of the time, we may so describe it) she owed to the
+intercession of her brother the cardinal. Political considerations
+likewise induced the Pope to consent to the alliance, for, in order to
+carry out his plan for extending the pontifical States, it was necessary
+for him to win over the great families of Rome. He secured the support
+of the Farnese and of the Orsini; in May, 1506, he married his own
+natural daughter Felice to Giangiordano Orsini of Bracciano, and in July
+of the same year he gave his niece, Lucretia Gara Rovere, sister of
+Niccolo, to Marcantonio Colonna as wife.
+
+Again Giulia Farnese vanished from sight, and neither under Julius II
+nor Leo X does she reappear. March 14, 1524, she made a will which was
+to be in favor of her nieces Isabella and Costanza in case her daughter
+should die without issue. March 23d the Venetian ambassador in Rome,
+Marco Foscari, informed his Signory that Cardinal Farnese's sister,
+Madama Giulia, formerly mistress of Pope Alexander VI, was dead. From
+this we are led to assume that she died in Rome. No authentic likeness
+of Giulia Bella has come down to us, but tradition says that one of the
+two reclining marble figures which adorn the monument of Paul
+III--Farnese--in St. Peter's, Justice, represents his sister, Giulia
+Farnese, while the other, Wisdom, is the likeness of his mother,
+Giovanella Gaetani.
+
+Giulia's daughter was mistress of Bassanello and Carbognano. She had one
+son, Giulio della Rovere, who subsequently became famous as a
+scholar.[208]
+
+In the meantime the attempt against Giulio d'Este had been attended by
+such consequences that the princely house of Ferrara found itself
+confronted by a grave danger. Giulio complained to Alfonso of injustice,
+while the cardinal's numerous friends considered his banishment too
+severe a punishment. Ippolito had a great following in Ferrara. He was a
+lavish man of the world, while the duke, owing to his utilitarian ways
+and practical life, repelled the nobility. A party was formed which
+advocated a revolution. The house of Este had survived many of these
+attempts. One had occurred when Ercole ascended the throne.
+
+Giulio succeeded in winning over to his cause certain disaffected nobles
+and conscienceless men who were in the service of the duke; among them
+Count Albertino Boschetti of San Cesario; his son-in-law, the captain of
+the palace guard; a chamberlain; one of the duke's minstrels, and a few
+others. Even Don Ferrante, Alfonso's own brother, who had been his proxy
+when he married Lucretia in Rome, entered into the conspiracy. The plan
+was, first to despatch the cardinal with poison; and, as this act would
+be punished if the duke were allowed to live, he was to be destroyed at
+a masked ball, and Don Ferrante was to be placed on the throne.
+
+The cardinal, who was well served by his spies in Ferrara, received news
+of what was going on and immediately informed his brother Alfonso. This
+was in July, 1506. The conspirators sought safety in flight, but only
+Giulio and the minstrel Guasconi succeeded in escaping, the former to
+Mantua and the latter to Rome. Count Boschetti was captured in the
+vicinity of Ferrara. Don Ferrante apparently made no effort to escape.
+When he was brought before the duke he threw himself at his feet and
+begged for mercy; but Alfonso in his wrath lost control of himself, and
+not only cast him from him but struck out one of his eyes with a staff
+which he had in his hand. He had him confined in the tower of the
+castle, whither Don Giulio, whom the Marchese of Mantua had delivered
+after a short resistance, was soon brought. The trial for treason was
+quickly ended, and sentence of death passed upon the guilty. First
+Boschetti and two of his companions were beheaded in front of the
+Palazzo della Ragione. This scene is faithfully described in a
+contemporaneous Ferrarese manuscript on criminology now preserved in the
+library of the university.
+
+The two princes were to be executed in the court of the castle, August
+12th. The scaffold was erected, the tribunes were filled, the duke took
+his place, and the unfortunate wretches were led to the block. Alfonso
+made a signal--he was about to show mercy to his brothers. They lost
+consciousness and were carried back to prison. Their punishment had been
+commuted to life imprisonment. They spent years in captivity, surviving
+Alfonso himself. Apparently it caused him no contrition to know that his
+miserable brothers were confined in the castle where he dwelt and held
+his festivities. Such were the Este whom Ariosto in his poem lauded to
+the skies. Not until February 22, 1540, did death release Don Ferrante,
+then in the sixty-third year of his age. Don Giulio was granted his
+freedom in 1559, and died March 24, 1561, aged eighty-three.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[198] Another list of the year 1516 contains a number of magnificently
+bound breviaries and books of offices, but there are no additional works
+of a secular nature. For this catalogue I am indebted to Foucard, who
+copied it from an inventory of the personal property of Lucretia Borgia
+in the archives of Modena.
+
+[199] Dissertazione del Sig. Dottor Baldassare Oltrocchi sopra i primi
+amori di Pietro Bembo, indirizzata al sig. Conte Giammaria Mazzucchelli
+Bresciana. In the Nuova Raccolta d'Opuscoli Scientifici del Calogera,
+vol. iv. Lettere di Lucrezia Borgia a messer Pietro Bembo dagli
+autografi conservati in un Codice della Bibl. Ambrosiana. Milano eoi
+Tipi dell' Ambrosiana, 1859.
+
+[200]
+
+  Laeto nata solo, dextra, rosa, pollice carpta;
+    Unde tibi solito pulcrior, unde color?
+  Num te iterum tinxit Venus? an potius tibi tantum
+    Borgia purpureo praebuit ore decus?
+
+[201]
+
+    Ad Bembum de Lucretia.
+  Si mutatur in X. C. tertia nominis hujus
+    Littera lux fiet, quod modo luc fuerat.
+  Retia subsequitur, cui tu haec subiunge paraque,
+    Subscribens lux haec retia, Bembe, parat.
+
+[202]
+
+  La prima inscrizion ch'agli occhi occorre,
+    Con lungo honor Lucrezia Borgia noma,
+  La cui bellezza ed onesta preporre
+    Debbe all' antiqua la sua patria Roma.
+  I duo che voluto han sopra se torre
+    Tanto eccellente ed onorata soma,
+  Noma lo scritto: Antonio Tebaldeo,
+    Ercole Strozza: un Lino, e un Orfeo.
+
+[203] See the Marquis Giuseppe Campori's work: Una Vittima della Storia,
+Lucrezia Borgia, in the Nuova Antologia, August 31, 1866.
+
+[204] Frizzi Storia di Ferrara, iv, 205.
+
+[205] Cose tutte che sono in onta del vero, says Antonio Cappelli.
+Introduction to his Lettere di Lodovico Ariosto, Bologna, 1866. The
+eclogue is in Ariosto's Opere Minori i. 267. Angela Borgia is mentioned
+in the last canto (stanza 4) of the Orlando.
+
+[206] The bull is in the archives of the house of Gaetani.
+
+[207] As late as January 15, 1519, a few months before her death,
+Lucretia wrote to Giulia. The 13th of that month, Pietro Torelli, the
+Ferrarese ambassador in Florence, reported that he had received a letter
+for Giulia and would attend to it. Archives of Modena.
+
+[208] Fioravanti Martinelli Carbognano illustrado, Rome, 1644.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+ESCAPE AND DEATH OF CAESAR
+
+
+It was at the time of this great tragedy in Ferrara, which must have
+vividly reminded Lucretia of her own experiences in the papal city, that
+Julius II left Rome for the purpose of carrying out his bold plans for
+reestablishing the pontifical states by driving out the tyrants who had
+succeeded in escaping Caesar's sword. Alfonso, as a vassal of the Church,
+sent him some troops, but he did not take part personally in the
+expedition. Guidobaldo of Urbino, who had adopted Francesco Maria Rovere
+as his son and heir, and the Marchese Gonzaga served in the army of
+Julius II. September 12, 1506, the Pope entered Perugia, whose tyrants,
+the Baglioni, surrendered. November 11th he made his entry into Bologna,
+Giovanni Bentivoglio and his wife Ginevra having fled with their
+children. There Julius halted, casting longing looks at Romagna,
+formerly Caesar's domain, but now occupied by the Venetian army.
+
+It is a curious coincidence that it was at this very moment that the
+Duke of Romagna, who had vanished from the stage, again appeared. In
+November Lucretia received news that her brother had escaped from his
+prison in Spain, and she immediately communicated the fact to the
+Marchese Gonzaga, who, as field marshal of the Church, was in
+Bologna.[209]
+
+Lucretia had frequently exerted herself to secure Caesar's freedom and
+had remained in constant communication with him by messenger. Her
+petitions, however, had produced no effect upon the King of Spain.
+Finally, owing to favorable circumstances, Caesar succeeded in effecting
+his escape. Zurita says that Ferdinand the Catholic intended to remove
+him from his prison in the spring of 1506 to Aragon, and then to take
+him to Naples, whither he was going to place the affairs of the kingdom
+in order, and to assure himself of Gonsalvo, whose loyalty he suspected.
+His son-in-law, the Archduke Philip, with whom he was at variance on
+account of his pretensions to the kingdom of Castile, refused to allow
+Caesar to be released from Medina, a Castilian place. While Ferdinand was
+absent on his journey, Philip died at Burgos, September 5, 1506, and
+Caesar took advantage of this opportunity and the king's absence to
+escape. This he did with the help of the Castilian party, who hoped to
+profit by the services of the famous condottiere.
+
+October 25th he escaped from the castle of Medina to the estates of the
+Count of Benavente, where he remained. Some of the barons who wished to
+place the government of Castile in the hands of Maximilian, Philip's
+father, were anxious to send him to Flanders as their messenger to the
+emperor's court. As this plan fell through, Caesar betook himself to
+Pamplona to his brother-in-law, the King of Navarre, who had become
+embroiled in this Castilian intrigue and was at war with his rebellious
+constable the Count of Lerin.
+
+From that place Caesar wrote the Marchese of Mantua, and this is the
+last letter written by him which has been discovered.
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE: I inform you that after innumerable
+     disappointments it has pleased God, our Master, to free me and to
+     release me from prison. How this happened you will learn from my
+     secretary Federigo, the bearer. May this, by God's never-failing
+     mercy, redound to his great service. At present I am with the
+     illustrious King and Queen of Navarre in Pamplona, where I arrived
+     December 3d, as your Majesty will learn from the above-named
+     Federigo, who will also inform you of all that has occurred. You
+     may believe whatever he tells you in my name, just as if I myself
+     were speaking to you.
+
+     I commend myself to your Excellency forever. From Pamplona,
+     December 7, 1506. Your Majesty's friend and younger brother,
+
+  CAESAR.
+
+The letter has a wafer bearing the combined arms of Caesar with the
+inscription _Caesar Borgia de Francia Dux Romandiolae_. One shield has the
+Borgia arms, with the French lilies, and a helmet from which seven
+snarling dragons issue; the other the arms of Caesar's wife, with the
+lilies of France, and a winged horse rising from the casque.
+
+Caesar's secretary reached Ferrara the last day of December. This same
+Federigo had been in that city once before,--during July of the year
+1506, and had been sent back to Spain by the duchess.[210] He now
+returned to Italy, not for the purpose of bringing the news of his
+master's escape, but to learn how matters stood and to ascertain whether
+there was any prospect of restoring the Duke of Romagna. His majordomo,
+Requesenz, who was in Ferrara in January, had come for the same
+purpose. No time, however, could have been less favorable for such
+schemes than the year 1506, for Julius II had just taken possession of
+Bologna. The Marchese Gonzaga, upon whose good will Caesar still
+reckoned, was commander of the papal army, which--it was believed--was
+planning an expedition into the Romagna. This was the only country where
+there was the slightest possibility of Caesar's succeeding in reacquiring
+his power, for his good government had left a favorable impression on
+the Romagnoles, who would have preferred his authority to that of the
+Church. Zurita, the historian of Aragon, is correct when he says:
+"Caesar's escape caused the Pope great anxiety, for the duke was a man
+who would not have hesitated to throw all Italy in turmoil for the
+purpose of carrying out his own plans; he was greatly beloved, not only
+by the men of war, but also by many people in Ferrara and in the States
+of the Church--something which seldom falls to the lot of a tyrant."
+
+Caesar's messenger ventured to Bologna in spite of the presence of the
+Pope, and there the latter had him seized. This was reported to
+Lucretia, who immediately wrote to the Marchese of Gonzaga as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS BROTHER-IN-LAW AND HONORED BROTHER: I have
+     just learned that by command of his Holiness our Federigo, the
+     chancellor of the duke, my brother, has been seized in Bologna; I
+     am sure he has done nothing to deserve this, for he did not come
+     here with the intention of doing or saying anything that would
+     displease or injure his Holiness--his Excellency would not
+     countenance or risk anything of this sort against his Holiness. If
+     Federigo had been given any order of this nature he would have
+     first informed me of it, and I should never have permitted him to
+     give any ground for complaint, for I am a devoted and faithful
+     servant of the Pope, as is also my illustrious husband. I know of
+     no other reason for his coming than to inform us of the duke's
+     escape. Therefore I consider his innocence as beyond question. This
+     apprehension of the courier is especially displeasing to me because
+     it will injure my brother, the duke, making it appear that he is
+     not in his Holiness's favor, and the same may be said of myself. I,
+     therefore, urgently request your Excellency--of course if you are
+     disposed to do me a favor--to use every means to induce his
+     Holiness to release the messenger promptly, which I trust he will
+     do out of his own goodness, and owing to the mediation of your
+     Excellency. There is no way your Majesty could give me greater
+     pleasure than by doing this, for the sake of my own honor and every
+     other consideration, and in no way could I become more beholden to
+     you. Therefore, I commend myself again to you with all my heart.
+     Your Majesty's Sister and Servant,
+
+  THE DUCHESS OF FERRARA.
+
+  FERRARA, _January 15, 1507_.
+
+Caesar had sent his former majordomo, Don Jaime de Requesenz, from
+Pamplona to the King of France to ask him to allow him to return to his
+court and enter his service. To this, however, Louis XII would not
+listen. The messenger met with a severe rebuff when he demanded in
+Caesar's name the duchy of Valentinois and the revenue which he had
+formerly enjoyed as a prince of the French house.[211]
+
+Death soon put an end to the hopes of the famous adventurer. While in
+the service of his brother-in-law, the King of Navarre, he conducted the
+siege of the castle of Viana, which was defended by the king's vassal
+Don Loys de Beamonte, Count of Lerin. There he fell, bravely fighting,
+March 12, 1507. This place is situated in the diocese of Pamplona, and,
+as Zurita remarks, Caesar's death by a curious coincidence occurred on
+the anniversary of the day on which to him had been given the bishopric
+of Pamplona. There he was interred with high honors. Like Nero he was
+only thirty-one years of age at the time of his demise.
+
+The fall of this terrible man, before whom all Italy had once trembled,
+and whose name was celebrated far and wide, relieved Julius II of a
+pretender who in time might have been a hindrance to him; for Caesar, as
+an ally and a condottiere of Venice, would have spared no effort to
+force him into a war with the Republic for the possession of Romagna, or
+into a war with France on his withdrawal from the League of Cambray, and
+the revengeful Louis XII would certainly have brought Caesar back to the
+Romagna for the purpose of availing himself both of his former
+connections in that country, and also of his great talents as a soldier.
+
+The news of Caesar's death reached Ferrara while the duke was absent, in
+April, 1507, by way of Rome and Naples. His counselor Magnanini and
+Cardinal Ippolito withheld the news from the duchess, who was near her
+confinement. She was merely told that her brother had been wounded in
+battle. Greatly distressed, she betook herself to one of the convents in
+the city, where she spent two days in prayer before returning to the
+castle. As soon as the talk regarding Caesar's death reached her ears she
+despatched her servant Tullio for Navarre, but on the way he received a
+report of the burial and turned back to Ferrara. Grasica, one of
+Cassar's equerries, also came to Ferrara and gave a full report of the
+circumstances attending the death of his master, at whose interment in
+Pamplona he had been present. The cardinal therefore decided to tell
+Lucretia the truth, and gave her her husband's letter containing the
+news of Caesar's death.[212]
+
+The duchess displayed more self-control than had been expected. Her
+sorrow was mingled with the bitter recollection of all she had
+experienced and suffered in Rome, the memory of which had been dulled
+but not wholly obliterated by her life in Ferrara. Twice the murder of
+her young husband Alfonso must have come back to her in all its
+horror--once on the death of her father and again on that of her
+terrible brother. If her grief was not inspired by the overwhelming
+memories of former times, the sight of Lucretia weeping for Caesar Borgia
+is a beautiful example of sisterly love--the purest and most noble of
+human sentiments.
+
+Valentino certainly did not appear to his sister or to his
+contemporaries in the form in which we now behold him, for his crimes
+seem blacker and blacker, while his good qualities and that
+which--following Macchiavelli--we may call his political worth, are
+constantly diminishing. To every thinking man the power which this young
+upstart, owing to an unusual combination of circumstances, acquired is
+merely a proof of what the timid, short-sighted generality of mankind
+will tolerate. They tolerated the immature greatness of Caesar Borgia,
+before whom princes and states trembled for years, and he was not the
+last bold but empty idol of history before whom the world has tottered.
+
+Although Lucretia may not have had a very clearly defined opinion of her
+brother, neither her memory nor her sight could have been wholly dulled.
+She herself forgave him, but she must, nevertheless, have asked herself
+whether the incorruptible Judge of all mankind would forgive him--for
+she was a devout and faithful Catholic according to the religious
+standards of the age. She doubtless had innumerable masses said for his
+soul, and assailed heaven with endless prayers.
+
+Ercole Strozzi sought to console her in pompous verse; in 1508 he
+dedicated to her his elegy on Caesar. This fantastic poem is remarkable
+as having been the production of this man, and it might be defined as
+the poetic counterpart of Macchiavelli's "Prince." First the poet
+describes the deep sorrow of the two women, Lucretia and Charlotte,
+lamenting the deceased with burning tears, even as Cassandra and
+Polyxena bewailed the loss of Achilles. He depicts the triumphant
+progress of Caesar, who resembled the great Roman by his deeds as well as
+in name. He enumerated the various cities he had seized in Romagna, and
+complained that an envious Fate had not permitted him to subjugate more
+of them, for if it had, the fame of the capture of Bologna would not
+have fallen to Julius II. The poet says that the Genius of Rome had once
+appeared to the people and foretold the fall of Alexander and Caesar,
+complaining that all hope of the savior of the line of Calixtus,--whom
+the gods had promised,--would expire with them. Eratus had told the poet
+of these promises made in Olympus. Pallas and Venus, one as the friend
+of Caesar and Spain, the other as the patron of Italy, unwilling that
+strangers should rule over the descendants of the Trojans, had
+complained to Jupiter of his failure to fulfil his promise to give Italy
+a great king who would be likewise her savior. Jupiter had reassured
+them by saying that fate was inexorable. Caesar like Achilles had to die,
+but from the two lines of Este and Borgia, which sprang from Troy and
+Greece, the promised hero would come. Pallas thereupon appeared in Nepi,
+where, after Alexander's death, Caesar lay sick of the pest, in his camp,
+and, in the form of his father, informed him of his approaching end,
+which he, conscious of his fame, must suffer like a hero. Then she
+disappeared in the form of a bird and hastened to Lucretia in Ferrara.
+After the poet described Caesar's fall in Spain he sought to console the
+sister with philosophic platitudes, and then with the assurance that she
+was to be the mother of the child who was destined for such a great
+career.[213]
+
+According to Zurita, Caesar left but one legitimate child, a daughter,
+who was living with her mother under the protection of the King of
+Navarre. Her name was Luisa; later she married Louis de la Tremouille,
+and on his death Philipp of Bourbon, Baron of Busset. Her mother,
+Charlotte d'Albret, having suffered much in life, gave herself up to
+holy works. She retired from the world, and died March 11, 1504. Two
+natural children of Caesar, a son Girolamo and a daughter Lucretia were
+living in Ferrara, where the latter became a nun and died in 1573, she
+being at the time abbess of San Bernardino.[214] As late as February,
+1550, an illegitimate son of Caesar's appeared in Paris. He was a priest,
+and he announced that he was the natural son of the Duke of Romagna, and
+called himself Don Luigi. He had come from Rome to ask assistance of the
+King of France, because, as he said, his father had met his death while
+he was in the service of the French crown in the kingdom of Navarre.
+They gave him a hundred ducats, with which he returned to Rome.[215]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[209] In the record of her household expenses, under date of November
+20, 1506, there is the following entry: A Garzia Spagnolo per andare a
+Venezia per la nova del Duca Valentino che era fugito de progione.
+November 27, she wrote to Gonzaga.
+
+[210] Record of Lucretia's household expenses for the year 1506
+(Archives of Modena): July 31, 1506, a Federigo Cancelliere del Duca
+Valentino per andare per le poste in Spagna dal Duca.
+
+[211] Despatch of the Ferrarese ambassador to France, Manfredo Manfredi,
+to Duke Alfonso, January, 1507.
+
+[212] Letters of Hieronymus Magnaninus to his master, Alfonso, Ferrara,
+April 11 to 22, archives of the Este.
+
+[213] Caesaris Borgiae Ducis Epicedium per Herculem Strozzam ad Divam
+Lucretiam Borgiam Ferrariae Ducem. In Strozzi Poetae Pater et Filius,
+Paris, 1530.
+
+[214] See Cittadella's genealogy of the house of Borgia.
+
+[215] Letter of Giulio Alvarotti from France, February 14, 1550, in the
+archives of Modena.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+MURDER OF ERCOLE STROZZI--DEATH OF GIOVANNI SFORZA AND OF LUCRETIA'S
+ELDEST SON
+
+
+Alfonso's hopes of having an heir had twice been disappointed by
+miscarriages, but April 4, 1508, his wife bore him a son, who was
+baptized with the name of his grandfather.
+
+Ercole Strozzi regarded the birth of this heir to the throne as the
+fulfilment of his prophesy. In a _genethliakon_ he flatters the duchess
+with the hope that the deeds of her brother Caesar and of her father
+Alexander would be an incentive to her son--both would remind him of
+Camillus and the Scipios as well as of the heroes of Greece.
+
+Only a few weeks after this the genial poet met with a terrible end. His
+devotion to Lucretia was doubtless merely that of a court gallant and
+poet celebrating the beauty of his patroness. The real object of his
+affections was Barbara Torelli, the youthful widow of Ercole
+Bentivoglio, who gave him the preference over another nobleman. Strozzi
+married her in May, 1508.
+
+Thirteen days later, on the morning of June 6th, the poet's dead body
+was found near the Este palace, which is now known as the Pareschi,
+wrapped in his mantle, some of his hair torn out by the roots, and
+wounded in two and twenty places. All Ferrara was in an uproar, for she
+owed her fame to Strozzi, one of the most imaginative poets of his time,
+the pet of everybody, the friend of Bembo and Ariosto, the favorite of
+the duchess and of the entire court. On his father's death he had
+succeeded to his position as chief of the twelve judges of Ferrara. He
+was still in the flower of his youth, being only twenty-seven years old.
+
+This terrible event must have reminded Lucretia of the day when her
+brother Gandia was slain. The mystery attending these crimes has never
+been dispelled. "No one named the author of the murder, for the pretor
+was silent," says Paul Jovius in his eulogy of the poet. But who, except
+those who had the power to do so could have compelled the court to
+remain silent?
+
+Some have ascribed the deed to Alfonso, stating that he destroyed
+Strozzi on account of his passion for the latter's wife; others claim
+that he simply revenged himself for the favor which Lucretia had shown
+the poet. Recent writers who have endeavored to fathom the mystery and
+who have availed themselves of authentic records of the time regard
+Alfonso as the guilty one.[216] One of the strongest proofs of his guilt
+is found in the fact that the duke, who not only had punished the
+conspirators against his own life so cruelly, and who had always shown
+himself an unyielding supporter of the law, allowed the matter to drop.
+
+Lucretia has even been charged with the murder on the ground of her
+jealousy of Barbara Torelli, or owing to her fear that Strozzi might
+disclose her relations with Bembo, especially as he had hoped to obtain
+the cardinal's hat through the influence of the duchess, in which he was
+disappointed. None of the later historians has given any credence to
+this theory. Ariosto did not believe it, for if he did how could he have
+made Ercole Strozzi the herald of her fame in the temple of honor in
+which he placed the women of the house of Este? Even if he wrote this
+stanza before the poet's death--which is not probable--he would
+certainly have changed it before the publication of the poem, which was
+in 1516.
+
+Nor did Aldo Manuzio believe in Lucretia's guilt, for in 1513 he
+dedicated to her an edition of the poems of the two Strozzi, father and
+son, accompanied by an introduction in which he praises her to the
+skies.
+
+In the meantime Julius II had formed the League of Cambray, which was to
+crush Venice, and which Ferrara had also joined. The war kept Alfonso
+away from his domain much of the time, and consequently he made Lucretia
+regent during his absence. In former days she had occasionally acted as
+regent in the Vatican and in Spoleto--but in a different way. In 1509
+she saw the war clouds gathering about Ferrara, for it was in that year
+that her husband and the cardinal attacked the Venetian fleet on the Po.
+August 25th of this same year Lucretia bore a second son, Ippolito.
+
+The war which convulsed the entire peninsula immediately drew Ferrara
+into the great movement which did not subside until Charles V imposed a
+new order of things on the affairs of Italy. Lucretia's subsequent life,
+therefore, was largely influenced by politics. Her first peaceful years
+in Ferrara, like her youth, were past. She now devoted herself to the
+education of her children, the princes of Este, and to affairs of state
+whenever her husband entrusted them to her. She was a capable woman; her
+father was not mistaken in his opinion of her intellect. She made
+herself felt as regent in Ferrara. She was regent for the first time
+in May, 1506, and she acquitted herself most creditably. The Jews in
+Ferrara were being oppressed, and Lucretia had a law passed to protect
+them, and all who transgressed it were severely punished. In the
+dedication of the poems of the Strozzi addressed to her by Aldo, he
+lauds, among her other good qualities, not only her fear of God, her
+benevolence to the poor, and her kindness toward her relatives, but also
+her ability as a ruler, saying that she made an excellent regent, whose
+sound opinions and perspicacity were greatly admired by the burghers.
+Even if we make allowances for the flattery, there is still much truth
+in what he says.
+
+[Illustration: ALDO MANUZIO.
+
+From an engraving by Angustin de St. Aubin.]
+
+Owing to these facts it is not strange that Lucretia's personality was
+quite obliterated or eclipsed by the political history of Ferrara during
+this period. The chroniclers of the city make no mention of her except
+on the occasion of the birth of her children, and Paul Jovius speaks of
+her only two or three times in his biography of Alfonso, although in
+each case with the greatest respect. The personal interest which the
+early career of this woman had excited died out with the change in her
+life. Even her letters to Alfonso and those to her friend Isabella
+Gonzaga contain little of importance to her biographers. No one now
+questioned her virtues; even the Emperor Maximilian, who had endeavored
+to prevent her marriage with Alfonso, acknowledged them. One day in
+February, 1510, in Augsburg, while in conversation with the Ferrarese
+ambassador, Girolamo Cassola--having discussed the ladies and the
+festivities of Augsburg at length--he questioned the ambassador about
+the women of Italy, and especially about those of Ferrara, whereupon
+"much was said regarding the good qualities of our duchess. I spoke of
+her beauty, her graciousness, her modesty, and her virtues. The emperor
+asked me what other beauties there were in Ferrara, and I named Donna
+Diana and Donna Agnola, one the sister and the other the wife of Ercole
+d'Este." Such was the report the ambassador sent to Ferrara.[217]
+
+Lucretia's nature had become more composed, thanks to the stability of
+the world to which she now belonged and owing to the important duties
+she now had, and only rarely was it disturbed by any reminder of her
+experiences in Rome. The death of Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro, however, in
+1510, served to recall her early life.
+
+On returning to his State, Sforza had been confirmed in its possession
+as a vassal of the Church by a bull of Julius II. He endeavored to rule
+wisely, made many improvements, and strengthened the castle of Pesaro.
+He was a cultivated man given over to the study of philosophy. Ratti, a
+biographer of the house of Sforza, mentions a catalogue which he
+compiled of the entire archives of Pesaro. In 1504 he married a noble
+Venetian, Ginevra, of the house of Tiepolo, whose acquaintance he had
+made while in exile. November 4, 1505, she bore him a son,
+Costanzo.[218]
+
+What were his exact relations with the Este, with whom he was connected,
+we do not know, although they, doubtless, were not altogether pleasant.
+Sforza could not have found much pleasure in life, for his famous house
+was fast becoming extinct, and he could not foresee a long future for
+his race. He died peacefully July 27, 1510, in the castle of Gradara,
+where he had been in the habit of spending much of his time alone.
+
+As his son was still a small child his natural brother Galeazzo, who
+had married Ginevra, a daughter of Ercole Bentivoglio, assumed the
+government of Pesaro. Giovanni's child died August 15, 1512, whereupon
+Pope Julius II withdrew his support from Galeazzo, and forced the last
+of the Sforza of Pesaro to enter into an agreement by which, October 30,
+1512, he surrendered the castle and domain to Francesco Maria Rovere,
+who had been Duke of Urbino since the death of Guidobaldo in April,
+1508. Pesaro therefore was united with this State. Galeazzo died in
+Milan in 1515, having made the Duke Maximilian Sforza his heir. The line
+of the lords of Pesaro thus became extinct, for Giovanni Sforza had left
+only a natural daughter, Isabella, who in 1520 married Sernigi Cipriano,
+a noble Florentine, and who died in Rome in 1561, famous for her culture
+and intellect. Her epitaph may still be read on a stone in the wall of
+the passageway behind the tribune in the Lateran basilica.[219]
+
+The death of Lucretia's first husband must have vividly reminded her of
+the wrong she had done him, because she had now reached the age when
+frivolity no longer dulled conscience; but the times were so troublous
+that she directed her thoughts into other channels. August 9, 1510, a
+few days after the death of Sforza, Julius II placed Alfonso under his
+ban and declared that he had forfeited all his Church fiefs. The Pope
+again took up the plans of his uncle Sixtus, who, in conjunction with
+the Venetians, had schemed to wrest Ferrara from the Este. After the
+Venetians had appeased him by withdrawing from the cities of Romagna, he
+had made peace with the Republic, and commanded Alfonso to withdraw from
+the League and to cease warring against Venice. The duke refused, and
+this was the reason for the ban. Ferrara thereupon, together with
+France, found itself drawn into a ruinous war which led to the famous
+battle of Ravenna, April 1, 1512, which was won by Alfonso's artillery.
+
+It was during this war, and on the occasion of the attempt of Julius II
+to capture Ferrara by surprise, that the famous Bayard made the
+acquaintance of Lucretia. After the French cavaliers, with their
+companions in arms, the Ferrarese, had captured the fortress they
+returned in triumph to Ferrara where they were received with the
+greatest honors. In remembrance of this occasion the biographer Bayard
+wrote in praise of Lucretia as follows: "The good duchess received the
+French before all the others with every mark of favor. She is a pearl in
+this world. She daily gave the most wonderful festivals and banquets in
+the Italian fashion. I venture to say that neither in her time nor for
+many years before has there been such a glorious princess, for she is
+beautiful and good, gentle and amiable to everyone, and nothing is more
+certain than this, that, although her husband is a skilful and brave
+prince, the above-named lady, by her graciousness, has been of great
+service to him."[220]
+
+Owing to the death of Gaston de Foix at the battle of Ravenna, the
+victory of the French turned to defeat and the rout of the Pope into
+victory. Alfonso finding himself defenseless, hastened to Rome in July,
+1512, to ask forgiveness from Julius, and, although this was accorded
+him, he was saved from destruction, or a fate similar to Caesar Borgia's,
+only by secret flight. With the help of the Colonna, who conducted him
+to Marino, he reached Ferrara in disguise.
+
+These were anxious days for Lucretia; for, while she was trembling for
+the life of her husband, she received news of the death, abroad, of her
+son. August 28, 1512, the Mantuan agent Stazio Gadio wrote his master
+Gonzaga from Rome, saying news had reached there that the Duke of
+Biselli, son of the Duchess of Ferrara and Don Alfonso of Aragon, had
+died at Bari, where he was living under the care of the duchess of that
+place.[221] Lucretia herself gave this information to a person whose
+name is not known, in a letter dated October 1st, saying, "I am wholly
+lost in bitterness and tears on account of the death of the Duke of
+Biselli, my dearest son, concerning which the bearer of this will give
+you further particulars."[222]
+
+We do not know how the unfortunate Rodrigo spent the first years
+following Alexander's death and Caesar's exile in Spain, but there is
+ground for believing that he was left in Naples under the guardianship
+of the cardinals Ludovico Borgia and Romolini of Sorrento. By virtue of
+a previous agreement, the King of Spain recognized Lucretia's son as
+Duke of Biselli, and there is an official document of September, 1505,
+according to which the representative of the little duke placed his oath
+of allegiance in the hands of the two cardinals above named.[223]
+Rodrigo may have been brought up by his aunt, Donna Sancia, for she was
+living with her husband in the kingdom of Naples, where Don Giuffre had
+been confirmed in the possession of his property. Sancia died childless
+in the year 1506, just as Ferdinand the Catholic appeared in Naples. The
+king, consequently, appropriated a large part of Don Giuffre's estates,
+although the latter remained Prince of Squillace. He married a second
+time and left several heirs. Of his end we know nothing. One of his
+grandchildren, Anna de Borgia, Princess of Squillace, the last of her
+race, brought these estates to the house of Gandia by her marriage with
+Don Francesco Borgia at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
+
+It may have been on the death of Sancia that Rodrigo was placed under
+the protection of another aunt, Isabella d'Aragona, his father's eldest
+sister, the most unfortunate woman of the age, wife of Giangaleazzo of
+Milan, who had been poisoned by Ludovico il Moro. The figure of Isabella
+of Milan is the most tragic in the history of Italy of the period
+beginning with the invasion of Charles VIII--an epoch filled with a
+series of disasters that involved every dynasty of the country. For she
+was affected at one and the same time by the fall of two great houses,
+that of Sforza and that of Aragon. The saying of Caracciolo in his work,
+_De varietate fortunae_, regarding the Sforza, namely, that there is no
+tragedy however terrible for which this house would not furnish an
+abundance of material may well be applied to both these families.
+Isabella had beheld the fall of her once mighty house, and she had seen
+her own son Francesco seized and taken to France by Louis XII, where he
+died, a priest, in his early manhood. She herself had retired to Bari, a
+city which Ludovico il Moro had given up to her in 1499, and of which
+she remained duchess until her death, February 11, 1524.
+
+Donna Isabella had taken Lucretia's son to herself, and from the records
+of the household expenses of the Duchess of Ferrara it appears that he
+was with her in Bari in March, 1505, for on the twenty-sixth of that
+month there is the following entry: "A suit of damask and brocade which
+her Majesty sent her son Don Rodrigo in Bari as a present."[224] April
+3d his mother sent his tutor, Baldassare Bonfiglio, who had come to
+Naples, back to him. This man is named in the register under date of
+February 25, 1506, as tutor of Don Giovanni. It appears, therefore, that
+this child also was in Bari, and was being educated with his playfellow
+Rodrigo. In October, 1506, we find the little Giovanni in Carpi, where
+he was probably placed at the court of the Pio. From there Lucretia had
+him brought to the court of Ferrara on the date mentioned. She therefore
+was allowed to have this mysterious infante, but not her own child
+Rodrigo, with her. In November, 1506, Giovanni must again have been in
+Carpi, for Lucretia sent him some fine linen apparel to that place.[225]
+
+Both children were together again in Bari in April, 1508, for in the
+record of the household expenses the expenditures for both, beginning
+with May of that year, are given together, and a certain Don Bartolommeo
+Grotto is mentioned as instructor to both.[226] The son of Lucretia and
+of the murdered Alfonso, therefore, died in the home of Donna Isabella
+in Bari, which was not far from his hereditary duchy of Biselli.
+
+We have a letter written by this unhappy Princess Isabella a few weeks
+after the death of the youthful Rodrigo, to Perot Castellar, Governor of
+Biselli:
+
+     MONSIGNOR PEROT: We write this merely to ask you to compel
+     those of Corato to pay us what they have to pay, from the revenue
+     of the illustrious Duke of Biselli, our nephew of blessed memory,
+     for shortly a bill will come from the illustrious Duchess of
+     Ferrara, and in case the money is not ready we might be caused
+     great inconvenience. Those of Corato may delay, and we might be
+     compelled to find the money at once. Therefore you must see to it
+     that we are not subjected to any further inconvenience, and that we
+     are paid immediately; for by so doing you will oblige us, and we
+     offer ourselves to your service.
+
+  ISABELLA OF ARAGON, Duchess of Milan, alone in
+  misfortune.[227]
+
+  BARI, _October 14, 1592_.
+
+Rodrigo's[228] mother laid claim to the property he left, which, as is
+shown by certain documents, she recovered from Isabella d'Aragona as
+guardian of the deceased, to the amount of several thousand ducats. To
+do this she was forced to engage in a long suit, and as late as March,
+1518, she sent her agent, Giacomo Naselli, to Rome and Naples regarding
+it. His report to Cardinal Ippolito is still in existence.
+
+Whatever were the circumstances which had compelled Lucretia to send her
+son away, on whom, as we have shown, she always lavished her maternal
+care, the unfortunate child's experience will always be a blot on her
+memory.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[216] Campori; Una Vittima della Storia; Antonio Capelli, Lettere di L.
+Ariosto, Introduction, p. lxi. Also W. Gilbert, Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess
+of Ferrara, ii, 240.
+
+[217] Despatch of Girolamo Cassola, Augsburg, February 27, 1510.
+Archives of Modena.
+
+[218] This he announced to the Marchese Gonzaga from Pesaro, November 4,
+1505. Archives of Mantua.
+
+[219] Copies of the following instruments concerning the last Sforza of
+Pesaro are in the archives of Florence: will of Giovanni Sforza, July
+24, 1510; agreement between Galeazzo and the Papal Legate, October 30,
+1512; Galeazzo's will, March 23, 1515; Isabella's marriage contract,
+Pesaro, September 29, 1520. The epitaph in the Lateran is as follows:
+Isabellas Sfortiae Joannis Pisaurensium P. Feminae Sui Temporis Prudentia
+Ac Pietate Insigni Exec. Test. P. Vix. Ann LVII. M. VII. D. III Obiit
+Ann. MDLXI. XI Kal. Febr. Consensu Nobilium De Mutis De Papazurris.
+Above is a profile in marble.
+
+[220] J'ose bien dire que, de son temps, ni beaucoup avant, il ne s'est
+point trouve de plus triomphante princesse, car elle etait belle, bonne,
+douce et courtoise, a toutes gens. Le Loyal Serviteur Histoire du bon
+Chevalier, le seigneur de Bayard, chap. xlv.
+
+[221] Despatch of this ambassador in the archives of Mantua.
+
+[222] Per trovarmi tuttavia involta in lachryme et amaritudine per la
+morte del Duca di Biselli mio figliolo carrissimo.
+
+[223] The instrument is in the Liber Arrendamentorum, from Lucretia's
+chancellery.
+
+[224] El quale zipon de Dernascho e brochato, sua Signoria el manda a
+donare a don Rodrigo suo figliolo a Barri.
+
+[225] October 24, 1506. Spesa per un nocchiero, che ha condotto Don
+Giovanni Borgia de Finale a Ferrara. November 5, 1506. Tela di renso
+sottile per far camicie mandato a Carpi al sig. Don Giovanni Borgia.
+
+[226] May 15, 1508. Berette per Don Giovanni e Don Rodrigo Borgia. May
+25th. Spesa per guanti a Don Giovanni e Don Rodrigo Borgia. October
+16th. Bartolommeo Grotto, maestro de li ragazzi, per pagare certi libri
+zoe Donati e regule per detti ragazzi. December 15. Per un Virgilio
+comprato da Don Bartolommeo Grotto a don Giovanni.
+
+[227] Unica in disgracia.
+
+[228] Letters in the Este archives show that there was another Don
+Rodrigo Borgia, who, in the year 1518, was described as the "brother" of
+the Duchess Lucretia, and was then under the care of tutors in Salerno.
+His guardians were Madama Elisabetta--who may have been his mother--and
+her daughter Giulia. Lucretia, to whom the letters of Giovanni Cases
+(Rome, May 12, September 3, 1518) and another by Don Giorgio de Ferrara
+(Rome, December, 1518,) are addressed, seems to have acted as a mother
+to this child. This second Rodrigo died, a young clerk, in 1527. August
+30th of that year the Ferrarese ambassador in Naples, Baldassare da
+Fino, wrote from Posilipo as follows: Lo Illmo et Rev. Signor Don
+Rodrico de Casa Borgia, stando in Ciciano, cum la Signora Madama sua
+matre, sono da 15 giorni che, prima vexato da Febre continua, se ne
+morse--a sheet without any address, in the archives of Modena. Again, in
+January, 1535, this deceased son of Alexander VI is mentioned in a
+report sent from Rome, which contains the following words: Era venuta
+nuovamente un Vescovo fratello di Don Roderico Borgia, figliuolo che fu
+di Papa Alessandro.... Avvisi di Roma. State archives of Modena.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+EFFECTS OF THE WAR--THE ROMAN INFANTE
+
+
+The war about Ferrara, thanks to Alfonso's skill and the determined
+resistance of the State, had ended. Julius II had seized Modena and
+Reggio, which was a great loss to the State of Ferrara, and consequently
+the history of that country for many years hence is taken up with her
+efforts to regain these cities. Fortunately for Alfonso, Julius II died
+in February, 1513, and Leo X ascended the papal throne. Hitherto he had
+maintained friendly relations with the princes of Urbino and Ferrara,
+who continued to look for only amicable treatment from him; but both
+houses were destined to be bitterly deceived by the faithless Medici,
+who deceived all the world. Alfonso hastened to attend Leo's coronation
+in Rome, and, believing a complete reconciliation with the Holy See
+would soon be effected, he returned to Ferrara.
+
+There Lucretia had won universal esteem and affection; she had become
+the mother of the people. She lent a ready ear to the suffering and
+helped all who were in need. Famine, high prices, and depletion of the
+treasury were the consequences of the war; Lucretia had even pawned her
+jewels. She put aside, as Jovius says, "the pomps and vanities of the
+world to which she had been accustomed from childhood, and gave herself
+up to pious works, and founded convents and hospitals. This was due as
+much to her own nature as it was to her past life and the fate she
+had suffered. Most women who have lived much and loved much finally
+become fanatics; bigotry is often only the last form which feminine
+vanity assumes. The recollection of a world of vice, and of crimes
+committed by her nearest kinsmen, and also of her own sins, must have
+constantly disturbed Lucretia's conscience. Other women who, like her,
+were among the chief characters in the history of the Borgias developed
+precisely the same frame of mind and experienced a similar need of
+religious consolation. Caesar's widow ended her life in a convent;
+Gandia's did the same; Alexander's mistress became a fanatic; and if we
+had any record of the adulteress Giulia Farnese we should certainly find
+that she passed the closing years of her life either as a saint in a
+convent or engaged in pious works."
+
+[Illustration: LEO X.
+
+From an engraving published in 1580.]
+
+The year 1513, following the war in Ferarra, marked a decided change in
+Lucretia's life, for from that time it took a special religious turn. It
+did not, however, degenerate into bigotry or fanaticism; this was
+prevented by the vigorous Alfonso and her children, and by her court
+duties. The war had deprived Ferrara of much of its brilliancy, although
+it was still one of the most attractive of the princely courts of Italy.
+During the following years of peace Alfonso devoted himself to the
+cultivation of the arts. The most famous masters of Ferrara--Dossi,
+Garofalo, and Michele Costa--worked for him in the castle, in
+Belriguardo, and Belfiore. Titian, who was frequently a guest in
+Ferrara, executed some paintings for him, and the duke likewise gave
+Raphael some commissions. He even founded a museum of antiquities. In
+Lucretia's cabinet there was a Cupid by Michael Angelo. The predilection
+of the duchess for the fine arts, however, was not very strong; in this
+respect she was not to be compared with her sister-in-law, Isabella of
+Mantua, who maintained constant relations with all the prominent artists
+of the age and had her agents in all the large cities of Italy to keep
+her informed regarding noteworthy productions in the domain of the arts.
+
+From 1513 Ferrara's brilliancy was somewhat dimmed by the greater fame
+of the court of Leo X. The passion of this member of the Medici family
+for the arts attracted to Rome the most brilliant men of Italy, among
+whom were the poets Tebaldeo, Sadoleto, and Bembo--the last became Leo's
+secretary. Both the Strozzi were dead. Aldo, upon whose career as a
+printer and scholar during his early years Lucretia had not been without
+influence, was living in Venice, and from there he kept up a literary
+correspondence with his patroness. Celio Calcagnini remained true to
+Ferrara. The university continued to flourish. Lucretia was very
+friendly with the noble Venetian, Trissino, Ariosto's not altogether
+successful rival in epic poetry. There are in existence five letters
+written by Trissino to Lucretia in her last years.[229] Ferrara's pride,
+however, was Ariosto, and Lucretia knew him when he was at the zenith of
+his fame. He, however, dedicated his poem neither to her nor to Alfonso,
+but to the unworthy Cardinal Ippolito, in whose service a combination of
+circumstances had placed him. No princely house was ever glorified more
+highly than was the house of Este by Ariosto, for the _Orlando Furioso_
+will cause it to be remembered for all time; so long as the Italian
+language endures it will hold an immortal place in literature. Lucretia
+too was given a position of honor in the poem; but however beautiful the
+place which she there holds, Ariosto ought to have bestowed greater
+praise on her if she was the inspiration which he required for his great
+work.
+
+Lucretia's relations with her husband, which had never been based upon
+love, and which were not of a passionate nature, apparently continued to
+grow more favorable for her. In April, 1514, she had borne him a third
+son, Alessandro, who died at the age of two years; July 4, 1515, she
+bore a daughter, Leonora, and November 1, 1516, another son, Francesco.
+With no little satisfaction Alfonso found himself the father of a number
+of children--all his legitimate heirs. He was engrossed in his own
+affairs, but, nevertheless, he was highly pleased with the esteem and
+admiration now bestowed upon his wife. While the admiration she excited
+in former years was due to her youthful beauty, it was now owing to her
+virtues. She who was once the most execrated woman of her age had won a
+place of the highest honor. Caviceo even ventured, when he wished to
+praise the famous Isabella Gonzaga, to say that she approached the
+perfection of Lucretia. Her past, apparently, was so completely
+forgotten that even her name, Borgia, was always mentioned with respect.
+
+About this time Lucretia was reminded of her life in Rome by a member of
+her family who was very near to her, Giovanni Borgia, the mysterious
+Infante of Rome, formerly Duke of Nepi and Camerino, and companion in
+destiny of the little Rodrigo who died in Bari. He had disappeared from
+the stage in 1508, and where he was during several succeeding years we
+do not know; but in 1517, a young man of nineteen or twenty, he came
+from Naples to Romagna, where he was shipwrecked. His baggage had been
+saved by the commune of Pesaro, and was claimed by a representative of
+Lucretia, December 2d; in the legal document Giovanni Borgia was
+described as her "brother." Other instruments show that he remained at
+his sister's court as late as December, 1517.[230] Her husband,
+therefore, did not refuse to allow her to shelter her kinsman. In
+December, 1518, Don Giovanni went to France, where the Duke Alfonso had
+him presented to the king. Lucretia had given him presents to take to
+the king and queen.[231]
+
+He remained at the French court some time for the purpose of making his
+fortune, in which, however, he did not succeed.
+
+Thereupon the Infante of Rome again disappeared from view until the year
+1530, when we find him in Rome, laying claim to the Duchy of Camerino.
+The last Varano, Giammaria, had returned thither on Caesar's overthrow,
+and had been recognized by Julius II as a vassal of the Church. In
+April, 1515, Leo X made him Duke of Camerino and married him to his own
+niece, the beautiful Catarina Cibo. Giammaria died in August, 1527,
+leaving as his sole heir his daughter Giulia, who was not yet of age. An
+illegitimate son of the house of Varano laid claim to Camerino, and he
+was ready to enforce his demands with arms, but he was frustrated in his
+attempt by a suit brought by Giovanni Borgia, the first duke, who was
+supported by Alfonso of Ferrara in his efforts. He furnished him with
+several documents dating from the time of Alexander VI which referred to
+his rights to Camerino, and which had been placed by Lucretia in the
+chancellery of the house of Este. Don Giovanni had even gone to Charles
+V, in Bologna, where the famous congress had been sitting since
+December, 1529. The emperor had advised him to endeavor to secure his
+rights by process of law in Rome, through the Pope. From that city, in
+1530, the infante wrote a letter to Duke Alfonso, in which he informed
+him of his affairs, and asked him to have further search made in the
+archives of the Este for documents concerning himself.
+
+Don Giovanni began suit. In a voluminous document dated June 29, 1530,
+he describes himself not only as Domicellus Romanus Principalis, but
+also as "orator of the Pope." From this it appears that he--one of the
+illegitimate sons of Alexander VI--was a prominent gentleman in Rome,
+and was even in the Pope's service. The Roman Ruota decided the suit
+against Giovanni, who had to pay the costs. In a brief dated June 7,
+1532, Clement VII commanded him to cease annoying Giulia Varano and her
+mother with any further claims.[232] From that time we hear nothing more
+of this Borgia except from a letter written in Rome, November 19, 1547,
+apparently by a Ferrarese agent to Ercole II, then reigning duke. In it
+he mentions the death of Don Giovanni. The letter is as follows:
+
+     Don Giovanni Borgia has just died in Genoa; it is said he left many
+     thousand ducats in Valencia. Here (in Rome) he had a little
+     clothing, two horses, and a vineyard worth about three hundred
+     ducats. As he left no will the property will be divided between
+     your Excellency, your brothers, and among others the nobles of the
+     Mattei family here, the Duke of Gandia, and the children of the
+     Duke of Valentino, provided their rights are not prejudiced by the
+     fact that they are natural children. I will not omit to inform
+     myself regarding the money in Valencia, and will report to your
+     Excellency.[233]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[229] Printed in the Italian edition of Roscoe's Life of Leo X, vii,
+300.
+
+[230] Cittadella N 31. She endeavored to secure the Prebend of S. Jacopo
+for him. In her record of household expenses there are entries of
+purchases of clothing for him, beginning with December 23, 1517.
+
+[231] Two golden bracelets--per donare alla Regina de Franza, 27 Aprile,
+1518; other articles of personal adornment--mandati per lo Illmo D.
+Joanne Borgia al Re de Franza (November 16, 1518). The ambassadors Carlo
+da Correggio and Pistofilo Bonaventura informed Lucretia of his
+favorable reception at the court of France, in letters dated December,
+1518, and January to March, 1519. State archives of Modena.
+
+[232] Documents in the State archives of Florence, among the papers
+regarding Urbino. CI. I. Div. C. Fil. xiv. In 1534 Giulia Varano married
+Guidobaldo II of Urbino and brought him Camerino, which, however, he was
+compelled to relinquish in 1539 to Paul III, who gave it to his nephew
+Octavio Farnese.
+
+[233] Copia di una lettera da Roma di 19 Novembre, 1547. State archives
+of Modena.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF VANNOZZA
+
+
+In the same year that this her father's last son appeared at her court
+Lucretia also learned of the death of her mother. Vannozza was already a
+widow when Alexander VI died. During his last illness she had placed
+herself under the protection of the troops of her son Caesar. This she
+was able to do as he himself was sick at the same time. There are
+documents in existence which show that immediately after Alexander's
+death, and while the papal throne was vacant, she was living in the
+palace of the Cardinal of S. Clemente in the Borgo. As Caesar was
+compelled to betake himself to Nepi she accompanied him thither, and on
+the election of Piccolomini she returned to the papal city.
+
+She did not follow her sons to Naples, but remained in Rome, where
+affairs became normal after the election of Rovere to the papacy. The
+retainers of the Borgia feared that certain suits would be brought
+against them. March 6, 1504, a chamberlain of Cardinal S. Angelo, who
+had been poisoned, was condemned to death, and in a loud voice he
+proclaimed that he had committed the murder on the explicit command of
+Alexander and Caesar.[234] Cardinals Romolini and Ludovico Borgia at once
+fled to Naples. Don Micheletto, the man who executed Caesar's bloody
+orders, was a prisoner in the castle of S. Angelo. The Venetian
+ambassador, Giustinian, informed his government in May, 1504, that
+Micheletto was charged with having caused the death of a number of
+persons, among them the Duke of Gandia, Varano of Camerino, Astorre and
+Ottaviano Manfredi, the Duke of Biselli, the youthful Bernardino of
+Sermoneta, and the Bishop of Cagli. Micheletto was brought before the
+representatives of the Senate for examination. He was placed upon the
+rack and confessed, among other things, that it was the Pope Alexander
+himself who had given the command for the murder of the youthful Alfonso
+of Biselli. This the magistrate immediately reported to Ferrara.[235]
+
+As Caesar was out of the way, Vannozza was still able to reckon on the
+protection of certain powerful friends, especially the Farnese, the
+Cesarini, and several cardinals. She feared her property would be
+confiscated, for the title to much of it was questionable. Early in 1504
+Ludovico Mattei charged her with having stolen, in March, 1503, through
+her paid servants, eleven hundred and sixty sheep while Caesar was
+carrying on his war against the Orsini. These sheep had been sent by
+Maria d'Aragona, wife of Giovanni Giordano Orsini, to Mattei's pastures
+for safety. Vannozza was found guilty.[236]
+
+She endeavored in every way to save her property. December 4, 1503, she
+gave the Church of S. Maria del Popolo a deed of her house on the Piazza
+Pizzo di Merlo and of her family chapel, reserving the use of it during
+her life. The Augustinians on their part bound themselves to say a mass
+for Carlo Canale March 24th, another October 13th for Giorgio di Croce,
+and a third on the day of Vannozza's own death. In this instrument she
+calls herself widow of Carlo Canale of Mantua, apostolic secretary of
+the deceased Alexander VI, and she speaks of Giorgio di Croce as her
+first husband. This deed was executed in the Borgo of St. Peter's in the
+residence of Agapitus of Emelia.[237] From this it appears that at the
+close of December Vannozza was still living in the Borgo, and under the
+protection of her son's own chancellor, while Caesar himself was a
+prisoner in the Torre Borgia in the Vatican, and not until he left Rome
+forever did she remove from the Borgo.
+
+April 1, 1504, a dwelling on the Piazza of the Holy Apostles in the
+Trevi quarter, which was situated in a district where the Colonna were
+all-powerful, was specified as her residence. The Colonna had suffered
+less than others from Caesar, and by virtue of an agreement made with him
+they were enabled to retain their property after the death of Alexander.
+Vannozza had sold certain other houses which she owned to the Roman
+Giuliano de Lenis, and April 1, 1504, he annulled the sale, declaring
+that it was only through fear of force in consequence of the death of
+Alexander that it had taken place.[238]
+
+As she now had nothing more to fear, she again took up her abode in the
+house on the Piazza Branca, as is shown by an instrument of November,
+1502, in which she is described as "Donna Vannozza de Cataneis of the
+Regola Quarter," where this house was situated. This document is
+regarding a complaint which the goldsmith Nardo Antonazzi of this same
+quarter had lodged against her.
+
+The artist demanded payment for a silver cross which he had made for
+Vannozza in the year 1500; he charged her with having appropriated this
+work of art without paying for it, which, he stated, frequently happened
+"at the time when the Duke of Valentino controlled the whole city and
+nearly all of Italy." We have not all the documents bearing on the case,
+but from the statements of witnesses for the accused it appears that she
+had grounds for bringing a suit for libel.[239]
+
+While Vannozza may not have been actually placed in possession of the
+castle of Bleda near Viterbo by Alexander VI, some of its appanages were
+allotted to her. July 6, 1513, she complained to the Cardinal-Vicar
+Rafael Riario that the commune of the place was withholding certain sums
+of money which, she claimed, belonged to her. This document, which is on
+parchment, is couched in pompous phraseology and is addressed to all the
+magistrates of the world by name and title.[240]
+
+Vannozza lived to witness the changes in affairs in the Vatican under
+three of Alexander's successors. There the Rovere and the Medici
+occupied the place once held by her own all-powerful children. She saw
+the Papacy changing into a secular power, and she must have known that
+but for Alexander and Caesar it could never have done this. If,
+perchance, she saw from a distance the mighty Julius II, for example,
+when he returned to Rome after seizing Bologna, entering the city with
+the pomp of an emperor, this woman, lost in the multitude, must have
+exclaimed with bitter irony that her own son Caesar had a part in this
+triumph, and that he had been instrumental in raising Julius II to the
+Papacy. It must have been a source of no little satisfaction to her to
+know that this pope recognized her son's importance when he wrote to the
+Florentines in November, 1503, saying that "on account of the preeminent
+virtues and great services of the Duke of Romagna" he loved him with a
+father's love. She may also have been acquainted with Macchiavelli's
+"Prince," in which the genial statesman describes Caesar as the ideal
+ruler.
+
+Although the power of the Borgias had passed away and their children
+were either dead or scattered, their greatness was felt in the city as
+long as Vannozza lived. Her past experiences caused her to be looked
+upon as one of the most noteworthy personalities of Rome, where every
+one was curious to make her acquaintance. If we may compare two persons
+who differed in greatness, but whose destinies and positions were not
+dissimilar, it might be said that Vannozza at that time occupied the
+same position in Rome in which Letitia Bonaparte found herself after the
+overthrow of her powerful offspring.
+
+She looked with pride on her daughter, the Duchess of Ferrara, "la plus
+triomphante princesse," as the biographer Bayard calls her. She never
+saw her again, for she would scarcely have ventured to undertake a
+journey to Ferrara, but she continued to correspond with her. In the
+archives of the house of Este are nine letters written by Vannozza in
+the years 1515, 1516, and 1517. Seven of them are addressed to Cardinal
+Ippolito and two to Lucretia. These letters are not in her own
+handwriting but are dictated. They disclose a powerful will, a cast of
+mind that might be described as rude and egotistical, and an insinuating
+character. They are devoted chiefly to practical matters and to
+requests of various sorts. On one occasion she sent the cardinal a
+present of two antique columns which had been exhumed in her vineyard.
+She also kept up her intercourse with her son Giuffre, Prince of
+Squillace. In 1515 she had received his ten-year-old son into her house
+in Rome apparently for the purpose of educating him.[241]
+
+An expression which Vannozza used in signing her letters defines her
+attitude and position,--"The fortunate and unfortunate Vannozza de
+Cataneis," or "Your fortunate and unfortunate mother, Vannozza
+Borgia,"--she used the family name in her private affairs, but not
+officially.
+
+Her last letter to Lucretia, written December 19, 1515, which refers to
+her son Caesar's former secretary, Agapitus of Emelia, is as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS LADY: My greeting and respects. Your
+     Excellency will certainly remember favorably the services of Messer
+     Agapitus of Emelia to his Excellency our duke, and the love which
+     he has always shown us. It is, therefore, meet that his kinsmen be
+     helped and advanced in every way possible. Shortly before his death
+     he relinquished all his benefices in favor of his nephew
+     Giambattista of Aquila; among them are some in the bishopric of
+     Capua which are worth very little. If your Excellency wishes to do
+     me a kindness I will ask you, for the reasons above mentioned, to
+     interest yourself in behalf of these nephews to whom I have
+     referred. Nicola, the bearer of this, who is himself a nephew of
+     Agapitus, will explain to your Excellency at length what should be
+     done. And now farewell to your Excellency, to whom I commend
+     myself.
+
+  ROME, _December 19, 1515_.
+
+     POSTSCRIPT: In this matter your Excellency will do as you
+     think best, as I have written the above from a sense of
+     obligation. Therefore you may do only what you know will please his
+     Worthiness and, so far as the present is concerned, you may answer
+     as you see fit.
+
+  VANNOZZA, who prays for you constantly.
+
+Vannozza clearly was an honor to the Borgia school of diplomacy.
+
+Agapitus dei Gerardi, who wrote so many of Caesar's letters and
+documents, had remained true to the Borgias, as is shown by this letter,
+until his death, which occurred in Rome, August 2, 1515. Vannozza, of a
+truth, had seen many of the former friends, flatterers, and parasites of
+her house desert it; but a number, among whom were several important
+personages, remained true. She, as mother of the Duchess of Ferrara, was
+still able to exert some influence; she was living a respectable life,
+in comfortable circumstances, as a woman of position, and was described
+as _la magnifica e nobile_ Madanna Vannozza. She also kept up her
+relations with such of the cardinals as were Spaniards and relatives of
+Alexander VI, or who were his creatures. She survived most of them. Of
+the two cardinals Giovanni Borgia, one had passed away in 1500, the
+other in 1503; Francesco and Ludovico died in 1511 and 1512
+respectively. Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini passed away in 1510. Vannozza,
+in fact, survived all the favorites and creatures of Alexander in the
+College of Cardinals with the exception of Farnese, Adrian Castellesi,
+and d'Albret,--Caesar's brother-in-law.
+
+By that sort of piety to which senescent female sinners everywhere and
+at all times devote themselves she secured new friends. She was an
+active fanatic and was constantly seen in the churches, at the
+confessionals, and in intimate intercourse with the pious brothers and
+hospitalers. In this way she made the acquaintance of Paul Jovius, who
+describes her as an upright woman (donna dabbene). If she had lived
+another decade she would probably have been canonized. She endowed a
+number of religious foundations--the hospitals of S. Salvator in the
+Lateran, of S. Maria in Porticu, the Consolazione for the Company of the
+Annunziata in the Minerva, and the S. Lorenzo in Damaso, as is shown by
+her will, which is dated January 15, 1517.[242]
+
+For years there were inscriptions in the hospitals of the Lateran and of
+the Consolazione which referred to her endowments and also to provisions
+for masses on the anniversaries of her death and those of her two
+husbands.
+
+Vannozza died in Rome, November 26, 1518. Her death did not pass
+unnoticed, as the following letter, written by a Venetian, shows:
+
+     The day before yesterday died Madonna Vannozza, once the mistress
+     of Pope Alexander and mother of the Duchess of Ferrara and the Duke
+     of Valentino. That night I happened to be at a place where I heard
+     the death announced, according to the Roman custom, in the
+     following formal words: 'Messer Paolo gives notice of the death of
+     Madonna Vannozza, mother of the Duke of Gandia; she belonged to the
+     Gonfalone Company.' She was buried yesterday in S. Maria del
+     Popolo, with the greatest honors,--almost like a cardinal. She was
+     sixty-six years of age. She left all her property,--which was not
+     inconsiderable,--to S. Giovanni in Laterano. The Pope's chamberlain
+     attended the obsequies, which was unusual.[243]
+
+Marcantonio Altieri, one of the foremost men of Rome, who was guardian
+of the Company of the Gonfalone _ad Sancta Sanctorum_, and as such made
+an inventory of the property of the brotherhood in 1527, drew up a
+memorial regarding her, the manuscript of which is still preserved in
+the archives of the association, and is as follows:
+
+     We must not forget the endowments made by the respected and honored
+     lady, Madonna Vannozza of the house of Catanei, the happy mother of
+     the illustrious gentlemen, the Duke of Gandia, the Duke of
+     Valentino, the Prince of Squillace, and of Madonna Lucretia,
+     Duchess of Ferrara. As she wished to endow the Company with her
+     worldly goods she gave it her jewels, which were of no slight
+     value, and so much more that the Company in a few years was able to
+     discharge certain obligations, with the help also of the noble
+     gentlemen, Messer Mariano Castellano, and my dear Messer Rafael
+     Casale, who had recently been guardians. She made an agreement with
+     the great and famous silversmith Caradosso by which she gave him
+     two thousand ducats so that he with his magnificent work of art
+     might gratify the wish of that noble and honorable woman. In
+     addition she left us so much property that we shall be able to take
+     care of the annual rent of four hundred ducats and also feed the
+     poor and the sick, who, unfortunately, are very numerous. Out of
+     gratitude for her piety and devout mind and for these endowments
+     our honorable society unanimously and cheerfully decided not only
+     to celebrate her obsequies with magnificent pomp, but also to honor
+     the deceased with a proud and splendid monument. It was also
+     decided from that time forth to have mass said on the anniversary
+     of her death in the Church del Popolo, where she is buried, and to
+     provide for other ceremonies, with an attendance of men bearing
+     torches and tapers, in all devotion, for the purpose of commending
+     her soul's salvation to God, and also to show the world that we
+     hate and loathe ingratitude.
+
+Thus this woman's vanity led her to provide for a ceremonious funeral;
+she wanted all Rome to talk of her on that day as the mistress of
+Alexander VI and the mother of so many famous children. Leo X bestowed
+an official character upon her funeral by having his court attend it; by
+doing this he recognized Vannozza either as the widow of Alexander VI
+or as the mother of the Duchess of Ferrara. As the Company of the
+Gonfalone was composed of the foremost burghers and nobles of Rome,
+almost the entire city attended her funeral. Vannozza was buried in S.
+Maria del Popolo in her family chapel, by the side of her unfortunate
+son Giovanni, Duke of Gandia. We do not know whether a marble monument
+was erected to her memory, but the following inscription was placed over
+her grave by her executor: "To Vanotia Catanea, mother of the Duke Caesar
+of Valentino, Giovanni of Gandia, Giuffre of Squillace, and Lucretia of
+Ferrara, conspicuous for her uprightness, her piety, her discretion, and
+her intelligence, and deserving much on account of what she did for the
+Lateran Hospital. Erected by Hieronymus Picus, fiduciary-commissioner
+and executor of her will. She lived seventy-seven years, four months,
+and thirteen days. She died in the year 1518, November 26th."
+
+Vannozza doubtless had passed away believing that she had expiated her
+sins and purchased heaven with gold and silver and pious legacies. She
+had even purchased the pomp of a ceremonious funeral and a lie which was
+graven deep on her tombstone. For more than two hundred years the
+priests in S. Maria del Popolo sang masses for the repose of her soul,
+and when they ceased it was perhaps less owing to their conviction that
+enough of them had been said for this woman than from a growing belief
+in the trustworthiness of historical criticism. Later, owing either to
+hate or a sense of shame, her very tombstone disappeared, not a trace of
+it being left.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[234] Despatch of Beltrando Costabili to Ercole, Rome, March 7, 1504.
+
+[235] Magnifico et prestanti viro maiori honorandmo D. Ludovico
+Romanellio Ducali Secretario Ferrarie. Omissis. Il Papa mi ha mandato
+Don Michiele il quale habiamo cominciato examinare cum turtura de queste
+sue sceleranze fin qui [=e] sta saldo et nulla confessa non so m[=o] se
+fara cussi in futurum. Omissis. Dixe che Papa Alexandro fu quello che
+fece ammazzare Don Alfonso, marito che fu della Ducessa. Rome XX. Lulii,
+1504. Thadeus Locumtenens Senatus. In the archives of Modena.
+
+[236] The documents are in the archives of the Sancta Sanctorum.
+
+[237] Act of December 4, 1503, in the same archives.
+
+[238] Archives of the Sancta Sanctorum. The instrument is dated April 1,
+1504.
+
+[239] Archives of the Sancta Sanctorum.
+
+[240] Ibid.
+
+[241] This was reported to Cardinal Ippolito by Girolamo Sacrati from
+Rome, November 2, 1515. Archives of Modena.
+
+[242] Vannozza's will, in the archives of the Capitol, Cred. xiv, T. 72,
+p. 305, among the instruments drawn by the notary Andrea Carosi.
+
+[243] In the diary of Marino Sanuto, vol. xxvi, fol. 135.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+DEATH OF LUCRETIA BORGIA--CONCLUSION
+
+
+The State of Ferrara again found itself in serious difficulties, for Leo
+X, following the example of Alexander VI, was trying to build up a
+kingdom for his nephew Lorenzo de' Medici. As early as 1516 Leo had made
+him Duke of Urbino, having expelled Guidobaldo's legitimate heirs from
+their city. Francesco Maria Rovere, his wife, and his adopted mother,
+Elisabetta, were in Mantua,--the asylum of all exiled princes. Leo was
+consuming with a desire also to drive the Este out of Ferrara, and it
+was only the protection of France that saved Alfonso from a war with the
+Pope. The duke, to whom the Pope refused to restore the cities of Modena
+and Reggio, therefore went to the court of Louis XII in November, 1518,
+for the purpose of interesting him in his affairs. In February, 1519, he
+returned to Ferrara, where he learned of the death of his
+brother-in-law, the Marchese Francesco Gonzaga, of Mantua, which
+occurred February 20th. The last of March Lucretia wrote to his widow,
+Isabella, as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS LADY, SISTER-IN-LAW, AND MOST HONORED SISTER:
+     The great loss by death of your Excellency's husband, of blessed
+     memory, has caused me such profound grief, that instead of being
+     able to offer consolation I myself am in need of it. I sympathize
+     with your Excellency in this loss, and I cannot tell you how
+     grieved and depressed I am, but, as it has occurred and it has
+     pleased our Lord so to do, we must acquiesce in his will. Therefore
+     I beg and urge your Majesty to bear up under this misfortune as
+     befits your position, and I know that you will do so. I will at
+     present merely add that I commend myself and offer my services to
+     you at all times.
+
+  YOUR SISTER-IN-LAW LUCRETIA, Duchess of Ferrara.
+
+  FERRARA, _the last of March, 1519_.
+
+The Marchese was succeeded by his eldest son, Federico. In 1530 the
+Emperor Charles V created him first Duke of Mantua. The following year
+he married Margherita di Montferrat. This was the same Federico who had
+formerly been selected to be the husband of Caesar's daughter Luisa. His
+famous mother lived, a widow, until February 13, 1539.
+
+Alfonso again found his wife in a precarious condition. She was near her
+confinement, and June 14, 1519, she bore a child which was still-born.
+Eight days later, knowing that her end was near, she dictated an epistle
+to Pope Leo. It is the last letter we have of Lucretia, and as it was
+written while she was dying, it is of the deepest import, enabling us to
+look into her soul, which for the last time was tormented by the
+recollection of the terrors and errors of her past life of which she had
+long since purged herself.
+
+     MOST HOLY FATHER AND HONORED MASTER: With all respect I
+     kiss your Holiness's feet and commend myself in all humility to
+     your holy mercy. Having suffered for more than two months, early on
+     the morning of the 14th of the present, as it pleased God, I gave
+     birth to a daughter, and hoped then to find relief from my
+     sufferings, but I did not, and shall be compelled to pay my debt to
+     nature. So great is the favor which our merciful Creator has shown
+     me, that I approach the end of my life with pleasure, knowing that
+     in a few hours, after receiving for the last time all the holy
+     sacraments of the Church, I shall be released. Having arrived at
+     this moment, I desire as a Christian, although I am a sinner, to
+     ask your Holiness, in your mercy, to give me all possible spiritual
+     consolation and your Holiness's blessing for my soul. Therefore I
+     offer myself to you in all humility and commend my husband and my
+     children, all of whom are your servants, to your Holiness's mercy.
+     In Ferrara, June 22, 1519, at the fourteenth hour.
+
+  Your Holiness's humble servant,
+
+  LUCRETIA D'ESTE.
+
+The letter is so calm and contained, so free from affectation, that one
+is inclined to ask whether a dying woman could have written it if her
+conscience had been burdened with the crimes with which Alexander's
+unfortunate daughter had been charged.
+
+She died in the presence of Alfonso on the night of June 24th, and the
+duke immediately wrote his nephew Federico Gonzaga as follows:
+
+     ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER AND NEPHEW: It has
+     just pleased our Lord to summon unto Himself the soul of the
+     illustrious lady, the duchess, my dearest wife. I hasten to inform
+     you of the fact as our mutual love leads me to believe that the
+     happiness or unhappiness of one is likewise the happiness or
+     unhappiness of the other. I cannot write this without tears,
+     knowing myself to be deprived of such a dear and sweet companion.
+     For such her exemplary conduct and the tender love which existed
+     between us made her to me. On this sad occasion I would indeed seek
+     consolation from your Excellency, but I know that you will
+     participate in my grief, and I prefer to have some one mingle his
+     tears with mine rather than endeavor to console me. I commend
+     myself to your Majesty. Ferrara, June 24, 1519, at the fifth hour
+     of the night.
+
+  ALFONSUS, Duke of Ferrara.[244]
+
+The Marchese Federico sent his uncle Giovanni Gonzaga to Ferrara, who
+wrote him from there as follows:
+
+     Your Excellency must not be surprised when I tell you that I shall
+     leave here to-morrow, for no obsequies will be celebrated, only
+     the offices said in the parish church. His Excellency the Duke
+     accompanied his illustrious consort's body to the grave. She is
+     buried in the Convent of the Sisters of Corpus Christi in the same
+     vault where repose the remains of his mother. Her death has caused
+     the greatest grief throughout the entire city, and his ducal
+     majesty displays the most profound sorrow. Great things are
+     reported concerning her life, and it is said that she has worn the
+     cilice for about ten years, and has gone to confession daily during
+     the last two years, and has received the communion three or four
+     times every month. Your Excellency's ever devoted servant,
+
+  JOHANNES DE GONZAGA, Marquis.[245]
+
+  FERRARA, _June 28, 1519_.
+
+Among the numerous letters of condolence which the duke received was one
+in Spanish from the mysterious Infante Don Giovanni Borgia, who was then
+in Poissy, France. The duke himself had informed him of the death of his
+consort, and Don Giovanni lamented the loss of his "sister," who had
+also been his greatest patron.
+
+The graves of Lucretia and Alfonso and numerous other members of the
+house of Este in Ferrara have disappeared. No picture of the famous
+woman exists either in that city or in Modena. Although many, doubtless,
+were painted, none has been preserved. In Ferrara there were numerous
+artists, Dossi, Garofalo, Cosma, and others. Titian may have painted the
+beautiful duchess's portrait. His likeness of Isabella d'Este Gonzaga,
+Lucretia's rival in beauty, is preserved in the Belvedere gallery in
+Vienna; it shows a charming feminine face of oval contour, with regular
+lines, brown eyes, and an expression of gentle womanliness. There is no
+portrait of Lucretia from this master's hand, for the one in the Doria
+Gallery in Rome, which some ascribe to him and others to Paul
+Veronese,--although this artist was not born until 1528,--is one of the
+many fictions we find in galleries. In the Doria Gallery there is a
+life-sized figure of an Amazon with a helmet in her hand, ascribed to
+Dosso Dossi, which is said to be a likeness of Vannozza.
+
+Monsignor Antonelli, custodian of the numismatic collection of Ferrara,
+has a portrait in oil which may be that of Lucretia Borgia,--not because
+it has her name in somewhat archaic letters, but because the features
+are not unlike those of her medals. This portrait, however (the eyes are
+gray), is uncertain, as are also two portraits in majolica in the
+possession of Rawdon Brown, in Venice, which he regards as the work of
+Alfonso himself, who amused himself in making this ware. Even if there
+were any ground for this belief, the portraits, as they are merely in
+the decorative style of majolica, would resemble the original but
+slightly.
+
+The portrait in the Dresden gallery which is catalogued as a likeness of
+Lucretia Borgia is not authentic. There are no undoubted portraits of
+her except those on the medals which were struck during her life in
+Ferrara. One of these is reproduced as the frontispiece[246] of the
+present volume; it is the finest of all and is one of the most
+noteworthy medals of the Renaissance. It probably was engraved by
+Filippino Lippi in 1502, on the occasion of Lucretia's marriage. On the
+reverse is a design characteristic not only of the age but especially of
+Lucretia. It is a Cupid with out-stretched wings bound to a laurel,
+suspended from which are a violin and a roll of music. The quiver of the
+god of love hangs broken on a branch of the laurel, and his bow, with
+the cord snapped, lies on the ground. The inscription on the reverse is
+as follows: "Virtuti Ac Formae Pudicitia Praeciosissimum." Perhaps the
+artist by this symbolism wished to convey the idea that the time for
+love's free play had passed and by the laurel tree intended to suggest
+the famous house of Este. Although this interpretation might apply to
+every bride, it is especially appropriate for Lucretia Borgia.
+
+Whoever examines this girlish head with its long flowing tresses will be
+surprised, for no contrast could be greater than that between this
+portrait and the common conception of Lucretia Borgia. The likeness
+shows a maidenly, almost childish face, of a peculiar expression,
+without any classic lines. It could scarcely be described as beautiful.
+The Marchesana of Cotrone spoke the truth when in writing to Francesco
+she said that Lucretia was not especially beautiful, but that she had
+what might be called a "dolce ciera,"--a sweet face. The face resembles
+that of her father--as shown by the best medals which we have of
+him--but slightly; the only likeness is in the strongly outlined nose.
+Lucretia's forehead was arched, while Alexander's was flat; her chin was
+somewhat retreating while his was in line with the lips.
+
+Another medal shows Lucretia with the hair confined and the head covered
+with a net, and has the so-called _lenza_, a sort of fillet set with
+precious stones or pearls. The hair covers the ear and descends to the
+neck, according to the fashion of the day, which we also see in a
+beautiful medal of Elizabetta Gonzaga of Urbino.
+
+The original sources from which the material for this book has been
+derived would place the reader in a position to form his own opinion
+regarding Lucretia Borgia, and his view would approximate a correct one,
+or at least would be nearer correct than the common conception of
+this woman. Men of past ages are merely problems which we endeavor to
+solve. If we err in our conception of our contemporaries how much more
+likely are we to be wrong when we endeavor to analyze men whose very
+forms are shadowy. All the circumstances of their personal life, of
+their nature, the times, and their environment,--of which they were the
+product,--all the secrets of their being exist only as disconnected
+fragments from which we are forced to frame our conception of their
+characters. History is merely a world-judgment based upon the law of
+causality. Many of the characters of history would regard their
+portraits in books as wholly distorted and would smile at the opinion
+formed of them.
+
+[Illustration: LUCRETIA BORGIA.
+
+From a painting in the Musee de Nimes.]
+
+Lucretia Borgia might correspond with the one derived from the documents
+of her time, which show her as an amiable, gentle, thoughtless, and
+unfortunate woman. Her misfortunes, in life, were due in part to a fate
+for which she was in no way responsible, and, after her death, in the
+opinion which was formed regarding her character. The brand which had
+been set upon her forehead was removed by herself when she became
+Duchess of Ferrara, but on her death it reappeared. How soon this
+happened is shown by what the Rovere in Urbino said of her. In the year
+1532 it was arranged that Guidobaldo II, son of Francesco Maria and
+Eleonora Gonzaga, should marry Giulia Varano, although he himself wished
+to marry a certain Orsini. His father directed his attention to the
+unequal alliances into which princes were prone to enter, and among
+others to that of Alfonso of Ferrara, who, he said, had married Lucretia
+Borgia, a woman "of the sort which everybody knows," and who had given
+his son a monster (Renee) for wife. Guidobaldo acquiesced in this view
+and replied that he knew he had a father who would never compel him to
+take a wife like Lucretia Borgia, "one as bad as she and of so many
+disreputable connections."[247] Thus the impression grew and Lucretia
+Borgia became the type of all feminine depravity until finally Victor
+Hugo in his drama, and Donizetti in his opera, placed her upon the stage
+in that character.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In conclusion a few words regarding the descendants of Lucretia and
+Alfonso,--the Duke of Ferrara survived his wife fifteen stormy years.
+He, however, succeeded in defending himself against the popes of the
+Medici family, and he revenged himself on Clement VII by sacking Rome
+with the aid of the emperor's troops. Charles V gave him Modena and
+Reggio, and he was therefore able to leave his heir the estates of the
+house of Este in their integrity. He never married again, but a
+beautiful bourgeoise, Laura Eustochia Dianti, became his mistress. She
+bore him two sons, Alfonso and Alfonsino. The duke died October 31,
+1534, at the age of fifty-eight; his brothers, Cardinal Ippolito and Don
+Sigismondo, having passed away before him, the former in 1520 and the
+latter in 1524.
+
+By Lucretia Borgia he had five children. Ercole succeeded him; Ippolito
+became a cardinal, and died December 2, 1572, in Tivoli, where the Villa
+d'Este remains as his monument; Elenora died, a nun, in the Convent of
+Corpus Domini, July 15, 1575; Francesco finally became Marchese of
+Massalombarda, and died February 22, 1578.
+
+Lucretia's son Ercole reigned until October, 1559. In 1528 his father
+had married him to Renee, the plain but intellectual daughter of Louis
+XII. Lucretia had never seen her daughter-in-law nor had she ever had
+any intimation that it was to be Renee. The life of this famous duchess
+forms a noteworthy part of the history of Ferrara. She was an active
+supporter of the Reformation, which was inaugurated to free the world
+from a church which was governed by the Borgia, the Rovere, and the
+Medici. Renee was therefore described as a monster by the Rovere. She
+kept Calvin and Clement Marot in concealment at her court a long time.
+
+By a curious coincidence, in the year 1550 a man appeared at the court
+of Lucretia's son, who vividly recalled to the Borgias who were still
+living their family history, which was already becoming legendary. This
+man was Don Francesco Borgia, Duke of Gandia, now a Jesuit. His sudden
+appearance in Ferrara gives us an opportunity briefly to describe the
+fortunes of the house of Gandia.
+
+Of all the progeny of Alexander VI the most fortunate were those who
+were the descendants of the murdered Don Giovanni. His widow, Donna
+Maria, lived for a long time highly respected at the court of Queen
+Isabella of Castile, and subsequently she became an ascetic bigot and
+entered a convent. Her daughter Isabella did the same, dying in 1537.
+Her only son, Don Giovanni, while a child, had succeeded his unfortunate
+father as Duke of Gandia and had managed to retain his Neapolitan
+estates, which included an extensive domain in Terra di Lavoro, with the
+cities of Suessa, Teano, Carinola, Montefuscolo, Fiume, and others. In
+1506 the youthful Gandia relinquished these towns to the King of Spain
+on payment of a sum of money. To the great Captain Gonsalvo was given
+the Principality of Suessa.
+
+Don Giovanni remained in Spain a highly respected grandee. He married
+Giovanna d'Aragona, a princess of the deposed royal house of Naples; his
+second wife was a daughter of the Viscount of Eval, Donna Francesca de
+Castro y Pinos, whom he married in 1520. The marriages of the Borgias
+were as a rule exceedingly fruitful. When this grandson of Alexander VI
+died in 1543 he left no fewer than fifteen children. His daughters
+married among the grandees of Spain and his sons were numbered among the
+great nobles of the country, where they enjoyed the highest honors. The
+eldest, Don Francesco Borgia, born in 1510, became Duke of Gandia and a
+great lord in Spain and highly honored at the court of Charles V, who
+made him Vice-Regent of Catalonia and Commander of San Iago. He
+accompanied the emperor on his expedition against France and even to
+Africa. In 1529 he married one of the ladies in waiting to the empress,
+Eleonora de Castro, who bore him five sons and three daughters. When she
+died, in 1546, the Duke of Gandia yielded to his long-standing desire to
+enter the Society of Jesus and to relinquish his brilliant position
+forever. It seemed as if a mysterious force was impelling him thus to
+expiate the crimes of his house. It is not strange, however, to find a
+descendant of Alexander VI in the garb of a Jesuit, for the diabolic
+force of will which had characterized that Borgia lived again in the
+person of his countryman, Loyola, in another form and directed to
+another end. The maxims of Macchiavelli's "Prince" thus became part of
+the political programme of the Jesuits.
+
+In 1550 the Duke of Gandia went to Rome to cast himself at the feet of
+the Pope and to become a member of the Order. Paul III, brother of
+Giulia Farnese, had just died, and del Monte as Julius III had ascended
+the papal throne. Ercole II, cousin of Don Francesco, still occupied the
+ducal throne of Ferrara. He remembered the relationship and invited the
+traveler to stop at his city on his way to Rome. Francesco spent three
+days at the court of Lucretia's son, where he was received by Renee.
+Whether Loyola's brilliant pupil had any knowledge of the religious
+attitude of Calvin's friend is not known. The presence of this man in
+Savonarola's native city and at Lucretia's former residence is, on
+account of the contrast, remarkable. Francesco left for Rome almost
+immediately, and then returned to Spain. On the death of Lainez, in
+1565, he became general,--the third in order,--of the Society of Jesus.
+He still held this position at the time of his death, which occurred in
+Rome in the year 1572. The Church pronounced him holy, and thus a
+descendant of Alexander VI became a saint.[248]
+
+The descendants of this Borgia married into the greatest families of
+Spain. His eldest son, Don Carlos, Duke of Gandia, married Donna
+Maddalena, daughter of the Count of Oliva, of the house of Centelles,
+and thus the family to which Lucretia's first suitor belonged, after the
+lapse of fifty years, became connected with the Borgias. The Gandia
+branch survived until the eighteenth century, when there were two
+cardinals of the name of Borgia who were members of it.
+
+Ercole II did not discover the heretical tendencies of his wife Renee
+until 1554, when he placed her in a convent. The noble princess remained
+true to the Reformation. As the Inquisition stamped out the reform
+movement in Ferrara while her son was reigning duke, she returned to
+France, where she lived with the Huguenots in her Castle of Montargis,
+dying in 1575. It is worthy of note that the Duke of Guise was her
+son-in-law.
+
+Renee had borne her husband several children,--the hereditary Prince
+Alfonso Luigi, who subsequently became a cardinal; Donna Anna, who
+married the Duke of Guise; Donna Lucretia, who became Duchess of Urbino;
+and Donna Leonora, who remained single.
+
+Her son Alfonso II succeeded to the throne of Ferrara in 1559. This was
+the duke whom Tasso made immortal. Just as Ariosto, during the reign of
+the first Alfonso and Lucretia, had celebrated the house of Este in a
+monumental poem, so Torquato Tasso now continued to do at the home of
+his descendant, Alfonso II. By a curious coincidence the two greatest
+epic poets of Italy were in the service of the same family. Tasso's fate
+is one of the darkest memories of the house of Este, and is also the
+last of any special importance in the history of the court of Ferrara.
+His poem may be regarded as the death song of this famous family, for
+the legitimate line of the house of Este died out October 27, 1597, in
+Alfonso II, Lucretia Borgia's grandson. Don Caesar, a grandson of Alfonso
+I, and son of that Alfonso whom Laura Dianti had borne him and of Donna
+Giulia Rovere of Urbino, ascended the ducal throne of Ferrara on the
+death of Alfonso II as his heir. The Pope, however, would not recognize
+him. In vain he endeavored to prove that his grandfather, shortly before
+his death, had legally married Laura Dianti, and that consequently he
+was the legitimate heir to the throne. It availed nothing for the
+contestants to appear before the tribunal of emperor and pope and
+endeavor to make Don Caesar's pretensions good, nor does it now avail for
+the Ferrarese, who, following Muratori, still seek to substantiate these
+claims. Don Caesar was forced to yield to Clement VIII, January 13, 1598,
+the grandson of Alfonso I renouncing the Duchy of Ferrara. Together with
+his wife, Virginia Medici and his children, he left the old palace of
+his ancestors and betook himself to Modena, the title of duke of that
+city and the estates of Reggio and Carpi having been conferred upon him.
+
+Don Caesar continued the branch line of the Este. At the end of the
+eighteenth century it passed into the Austrian Este house in the person
+of Archduke Ferdinand, and in the nineteenth century this line also
+became extinct.
+
+No longer do the popes control Ferrara. Where the castle of Tedaldo
+stood when Lucretia made her entry into the city in 1502, where Clement
+VIII later erected the great castle which was razed in 1859, there is
+now a wide field in the middle of which, lost and forgotten, is a
+melancholy statue of Paul V, and all about is a waste. There is still
+standing before the castle of Giovanni Sforza in Pesaro a column from
+which the statue has been overturned, and on the base is the
+inscription: "Statue of Urban VII--That is all that is left of it."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[244] This letter is quoted by Zucchetti.
+
+[245] Printed in Zucchetti's work. Che da forse dieci anni in qua la
+portava el silizio.... This is not, as Zucchetti supposes, the goat-hair
+shirt.
+
+[246] In this translation it appears on the cover.
+
+[247] Di quella mala sorte che fu quella, e con tante disoneste parti.
+See Ugolino Storia dei Duchi d'Urbino, ii, 242.
+
+[248] J. M. S. Daurignac, Histoire de S. Francois de Borgia, Duc de
+Gandie, Troisieme General de la Compagnie de Jesus. Paris, 1863.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Adriana de Mila, see Mila, Adriana de.
+
+  Albret, Charlotte d', married to Caesar Borgia, 115, 325.
+
+  Aldo Manuzio, 132, 305, 327;
+    in Venice, 340.
+
+  Alexander VI, see Borgia, Rodrigo.
+
+  Alfonso d'Este, see Este.
+
+  Alfonso of Biselli, see Alfonso of Naples.
+
+  Alfonso of Naples, 111, 113;
+    flees from Rome, 116;
+    attempt on his life, 147;
+    murdered, 148.
+
+  Allegre, Monsignor d', captures Alexander's mistress, 87, 143.
+
+  Amboise, Cardinal George d', 115, 169, 296.
+
+  Angelo, Michael, first appearance in Rome, 135; his _Pieta_, 136.
+
+  Aragon, Eleonora of, wife of Ercole d'Este, 54.
+
+  Aragona, Camilla Marzana d', wife of Costanza Sforza, 78, 82.
+
+  Aragona, Isabella d', of Milan, 334;
+    guardian of Rodrigo Borgia, 335.
+
+  Aragonese of Naples, their fall, 172.
+
+  Arignano, Domenico of, 11.
+
+  Ariosto, 247, 254, 308-309, 311;
+    his _Orlando_, 340.
+
+  _Asolani_, i, 31.
+
+
+  Baglione, Giampolo, his cowardice, 99.
+
+  Ballet, the, 255.
+
+  Bayard, the Chevalier, his opinion of Lucretia, 332.
+
+  Behaim, Lorenz, humanist, 32.
+
+  Bella, la, or Giulia Bella, 39;
+    see also Farnese, Giulia.
+
+  Bellingeri, Hector, 188.
+
+  Bembo, Cardinal, 31;
+    eulogizes Alexander VI, 100;
+    condoles Lucretia on Alexander's death, 291;
+    dedicates his _Asolani_ to Lucretia, 305, 306, 340.
+
+  Beneimbeni, notary, 131.
+
+  Bentivoglio, Ginevra, 101.
+
+  Bisceglie or Biseglia, see Biselli.
+
+  Biselli, 111;
+    Lucretia duchess of, 113.
+
+  Biselli, Alfonso of, see Alfonso of Naples.
+
+  Borgia, Alfonso, founder of the family, 3.
+
+  Borgia, Angela, married to Francesco Maria della Rovere, 115, 223, 310;
+    wife of Alessandro Pio, 311.
+
+  Borgia, Anna de, Princess of Squillace, 334.
+
+  Borgia, Beatrice, sister of Alexander VI, 5.
+
+  Borgia, Caesar, his birth, 12;
+    his moderation, 29;
+    at the University of Pisa, 39;
+    made bishop of Valencia, 48;
+    his personality, 57-58;
+    made cardinal, 65;
+    crowns Federico, king of Naples, 108;
+    renounces his cardinalate, 113;
+    sails for France, 115;
+    made duke of Valentinois, 115;
+    marries Charlotte d'Albret, 115;
+    campaigns in the Romagna, 122, 280;
+    takes Forli, 139;
+    correspondence with Ercole d'Este, 145;
+    letter to Gonzaga, 146;
+    power over his father, 149;
+    enters Romagna, 159;
+    takes Pesaro, 161;
+    Faenza, 166;
+    made duke of Romagna, 170;
+    in Naples, 172;
+    returns from Naples, 188;
+    his age, 202;
+    letter to Lucretia, 280;
+    treachery of his captains, 283;
+    letter to Isabella Gonzaga, 285;
+    taken sick, 286;
+    loses his estates, 293;
+    in Nepi, 295, 298;
+    goes to Naples, 299;
+    to Spain, 299;
+    confined in Castle of Seville, 300;
+    escapes, 317-318;
+    informs Gonzaga of his escape, 319;
+    his death, 321-322;
+    his character, 323.
+
+  Borgia, Catarina, sister of Calixtus III, 4.
+
+  Borgia, Francesco, duke of Gandia, enters the Society of Jesus, 364;
+    general of the order, 365;
+    dies in Rome and is canonized, 365.
+
+  Borgia, Giovanni, duke of Gandia, son of Vannozza, 12, 93.
+
+  Borgia, Giovanni, Cardinal, "the elder," made cardinal, 49.
+
+  Borgia, Giovanni, Cardinal, "the younger," 116;
+    death of, 137;
+    his parentage, 138.
+
+  Borgia, Giovanni, "Infante of Rome," his parentage, 192-194, 295, 335;
+    at Lucretia's court, 341-342;
+    his death, 343-344.
+
+  Borgia, Girolama, daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, 18.
+
+  Borgia, Giuffre, son of Vannozza, his birth, 20;
+    made archdeacon of Valencia, 40;
+    marries Donna Sancia, of Naples, 65;
+    Prince of Squillace, 71;
+    comes to Rome, 92, 295;
+    goes to Naples, 299.
+
+  Borgia, Isabella, daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo, 19.
+
+  Borgia, Isabella, sister of Calixtus III, 4.
+
+  Borgia, Juana, sister of Cardinal Rodrigo, 5.
+
+  Borgia, Juan Luis, nephew of Calixtus III, 4.
+
+  Borgia, Lucretia, daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo and Vannozza,
+      birth, 12-13;
+    her education, 23;
+    her modesty, 28;
+    her linguistic attainments, 31;
+    letters to Bembo, 31;
+    betrothed to Cherubino Juan de Centelles, 41;
+    betrothed to Gasparo de Procida, 42;
+    married to Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro, 58-60;
+    returns to Rome, 86;
+    goes to the Convent of S. Sisto, 107;
+    rumors concerning, 109;
+    divorced from Sforza, 109;
+    betrothed to Alfonzo of Naples, 111;
+    becomes duchess of Biselli, 113;
+    regent of Spoleto, 117;
+    invested with title to Nepi, 118;
+    gives birth to a son, 121;
+    her private life, 125;
+    her weakness, 151;
+    goes to Nepi, 151;
+    letters from there, 155-157, 172;
+    represents the pope in his absence, 173;
+    charges against her, 175;
+    objections to her marriage, 184;
+    nuptials with Alfonso d'Este, 185-187;
+    prepares to depart, 196;
+    her age, 201;
+    her dowry, 204-207;
+    her character, 212;
+    her marriage, 216;
+    her retinue, 222;
+    leaves Rome, 225;
+    journey to Ferrara, 232-240;
+    entrance into Ferrara, 240-244;
+    her person, 247;
+    fetes in her honor, 250-263;
+    letter to Isabella Gonzaga, 263;
+    gives birth to a daughter, 282;
+    duchess of Ferrara, 303;
+    her library, 304;
+    corresponds with Giulia Farnese, 313;
+    bears a son, 326;
+    another, 328;
+    regent of Ferrara, 328;
+    claims Rodrigo's property, 336;
+    change in her character, 338;
+    relations with her husband, 341;
+    her son, Alessandro, 341;
+    letter to Isabella Gonzaga, 355;
+    letter to Leo X, 356;
+    her death, 357;
+    place of burial unknown, 358;
+    portraits of, 358-359;
+    medals of, 359;
+    posthumous reputation, 361;
+    her children by Alfonso, 362.
+
+  Borgia, Ludovico, governor of Spoleto, 121.
+
+  Borgia, Luigi, 325.
+
+  Borgia, Luisa, Caesar's daughter, 325.
+
+  Borgia, Pedro Luis, nephew of Calixtus III, 4, 5;
+     his death, 6.
+
+  Borgia, Rodrigo, nephew of Calixtus III, made cardinal, 4;
+    vice-chancellor, 5;
+    his sensuality, 7;
+    his person, 9;
+    his wealth, 17;
+    and Adriana Orsini, 23;
+    witness to marriage of Giulia Farnese and Orsino Orsini, 38;
+    elected pope, 44;
+    his coronation, 45;
+    letter to his daughter, 74;
+    his abstinence, 94;
+    secures Lucretia's divorce, 108;
+    determines to marry Lucretia into house of Naples, 110;
+    demands hand of Carlotta of Naples for Caesar, 110;
+    letter to priors of Spoleto, 117;
+    assumes control of Nepi, 120;
+    his intellectual pleasures, 126;
+    extols Ercole, 188;
+    his Latin, 189;
+    falls sick, 197;
+    letter to the priors of Nepi, 224;
+    sickness and death, 286;
+    his immorality, 289-291.
+
+  Borgia, Rodrigo, nephew of Alexander VI, captain of the papal guard, 49.
+
+  Borgia, Rodrigo, son of Lucretia and Alfonso of Naples, his
+      birth, 121, 194, 295-296;
+    his death, 333.
+
+  Borgia, Tecla, sister of Cardinal Rodrigo, 5.
+
+  Borgias, their coat of arms, 45;
+    their character, 93-94;
+    family, 203.
+
+  Brandolini, Aurelio, 126.
+
+  Bull-fighting in Rome, 220.
+
+  Burchard, 125;
+    his diary, 129-131, 177, 289.
+
+
+  Cagnolo of Parma, his description of Lucretia, 248.
+
+  Calcagnini, Celio, bridal song, 246, 340.
+
+  Calixtus III, 4;
+    his death, 6.
+
+  Calvin, 363.
+
+  Cambray, League of, 327.
+
+  Canale, Carlo, 21-22.
+
+  Capello, Polo, account of Caesar, 177, 180.
+
+  Caracciolo, his _De Varietate Fortunae_, 334.
+
+  Caranza, Pedro, privy-chamberlain, 49.
+
+  Carlotta of Naples, 110.
+
+  Carlotta, Queen of Cyprus, 32.
+
+  Castelli, Adriano, 132.
+
+  Castiglione, 31, 250, 305.
+
+  Castle Vecchio, description of, 270-272.
+
+  Catanei, see Vannozza Catanei.
+
+  Cavalliere, Bartolomeo, letter of, 182.
+
+  Caviceo, Jacopo, dedicates his _Peregrino_ to Lucretia, 308.
+
+  Centelles, Cherubino Juan de, betrothal to Lucretia, 41.
+
+  Charles V, 4, 327.
+
+  Charles VIII, 62;
+    enters Italy, 87;
+    retreats, 90.
+
+  Chrysoleras, 32.
+
+  Cieco, Francesco, his _Mambriano_, 277.
+
+  Classic culture, 26.
+
+  Collenuccio, Pandolfo, poet and orator, 85;
+    letter to Ercole, 161, 293-294;
+    his death, 295.
+
+  Colonna, Vittoria, 30, 136, 142.
+
+  Copernicus in Rome, 129.
+
+  _Cortegiano, il_, 31.
+
+  Cosenza, Cardinal of, 191;
+    Rodrigo Borgia's guardian, 297.
+
+  Costa, Michele, 339.
+
+  Cotrone, Marchesana of, letter to Gonzaga, 253.
+
+  Croce, Giorgio de, husband of Vannozza, 12, 20.
+
+
+  Dance, the, during the Renaissance, 253.
+
+  Decio, Philippo, jurisprudent, 40.
+
+  Della Rovere, see Rovere.
+
+  Dianti, Laura Eustochia, mistress of Alfonso d'Este, 362, 366.
+
+  Diplovatazio, Giorgio, 84.
+
+  Dossi, Dosso, 278, 339.
+
+  Drama, the, 128.
+
+
+  Eleonora of Aragon, wife of Ercole d'Este, 270.
+
+  Enriquez, Maria, wife of Giovanni Borgia, duke of Gandia, 64.
+
+  Este, palaces of the, 244;
+    their history, 266-270;
+    family expires in Alfonso II, 366.
+
+  Este, Alfonso d', 54;
+    projected marriage with Lucretia, 167, 182;
+    greets his bride, 236;
+    becomes duke of Ferrara, 303;
+    conspiracy against, 315;
+    suspected of the murder of Strozzi, 327;
+    under ban of Julius II, 331;
+    asks the pope's forgiveness, 333;
+    attends coronation of Leo X, 338;
+    cultivates the arts, 339;
+    letter to his nephew on Lucretia's death, 357.
+
+  Este, Alfonso II, d', succeeds to throne of Ferrara, 366.
+
+  Este, Alfonso Luigi d', son of Renee, 365.
+
+  Este, Anna d', wife of the duke of Guise, 366.
+
+  Este, Beatrice d', wife of Ludovico il Moro, 54.
+
+  Este, Ercole d', 54;
+    letter to Alexander VI, 55;
+    letter to Gonzaga, 186;
+    to his envoys, 198;
+    relations with Lucretia, 205;
+    present to her, 217;
+    letter to Alexander VI, 265;
+    congratulates Caesar, 284;
+    letter to Seregni, 287;
+    to Lucretia regarding her son Rodrigo, 297-298;
+    his death, 303.
+
+  Este, Ercole II, d', duke of Ferrara, 362, 364.
+
+  Este, Ferrante d', his imprisonment and death, 316.
+
+  Este, Giulio d', attack on, 310;
+    its consequences, 315;
+    his imprisonment and death, 316.
+
+  Este, Ippolito d', 56;
+    made cardinal, 65, 186, 310.
+
+  Este, Isabella d', wife of Francesco Gonzaga of Montua, her
+      learning, 30, 54;
+    meets Lucretia, 239, 245;
+    her beauty
+    and vanity, 252;
+    letter to Lucretia, 263;
+    congratulates Caesar on his successes, 284;
+    predilection for the arts, 340.
+
+  Estouteville, Cardinal, his children, 54.
+
+
+  Farnese, Alessandro, 36-37;
+    made cardinal, 65.
+
+  Farnese, family, 36-37.
+
+  Farnese, Girolama, 65, 312.
+
+  Farnese, Giulia, 35;
+    her betrothal, 37;
+    marriage, 38, 39;
+    "the pope's concubine," 63, 65;
+    her daughter, Laura, 66;
+    "Christ's bride," 66;
+    her beauty, 69;
+    captured by the French, 87, 123, 311;
+    her death, 314.
+
+  Fedeli, Cassandra, 28, 30.
+
+  Federico of Naples, consents to betrothal of Alfonso and Lucretia, 110.
+
+  Ferdinand of Naples, congratulates Sforza on his marriage, 62.
+
+  Ferdinand of Spain, 299, 302.
+
+  Ferno, Michele, describes Alexander's coronation, 46-48, 129.
+
+  Ferrara, 191;
+    Lucretia enters, 240-244;
+    description of, 272-278.
+
+  Ferrari, Cardinal, 185, 224.
+
+  Filosseno, Marcello, sonnets to Lucretia, 308.
+
+  Florence, her fear of Caesar, 202.
+
+  Foix, Gaston de, 332.
+
+
+  Gaetani, family, 122;
+    their property given Lucretia, 123;
+    return to Sermoneta, 296.
+
+  Gambara, Veronica, her learning, 30.
+
+  Gandia (see also Giovanni Borgia), Duke of, gonfalonier, 103;
+    murder of, 105-106;
+    his heir, 106, 177.
+
+  Garofalo, Benvenuto, 278, 339.
+
+  Ghibbelines, 14.
+
+  Gonsalvo, 299.
+
+  Gonzaga, Elisabetta, her pilgrimage to Rome, 140;
+    letter to her brother, Francesco Gonzaga, 140-142.
+
+  Gonzaga, Isabella, see Este, Isabella d'.
+
+  Gradara, Castle of, 83.
+
+  Greek, study of, 32.
+
+  Guelf III of Swabia, 267.
+
+  Guelphs, 14.
+
+  Guicciardini, Francesco, his charges against Lucretia, 176.
+
+
+  Imola, attacked by Caesar Borgia, 121.
+
+  Infessura, 11, 24.
+
+  Inghirami, Phaedra, 128.
+
+  Inquisition, the, 365.
+
+
+  Jovius, Paul, his opinion of Lucretia, 338.
+
+  Jubilee of 1500, 137, 140.
+
+  Julius II (see also Rovere, Giuliano della), 298, 312;
+    offends Lucretia, 313;
+    takes Perugia and Bologna, 317;
+    forms League of Cambray, 327;
+    places Alfonso under his ban, 331;
+    his death, 338.
+
+
+  Lanzol family, 4.
+
+  Leo X, 338;
+    his court, 340.
+
+  Literature during the Renaissance, 96.
+
+  Lopez, Juan, made chancellor, 49.
+
+  Louis XII, 116;
+    takes Milan, 121;
+    opposes marriage of Lucretia and Alfonso d'Este, 169;
+  congratulates Alexander VI, 198.
+
+  Loyola, Ignatius, 4, 364.
+
+  Lucia of Viterbo, Sister, 257.
+
+  Ludovico il Moro, 45; hatred of the pope, 89.
+
+
+  Macchiavelli, his theory of the ruler, 98-99;
+    his "Prince," 100.
+
+  Majolica, 83.
+
+  Malatesta, the, of Rimini, 77.
+
+  Malatesta, Sigismondo, 25.
+
+  Malipiero, letter of, 180.
+
+  Manfredi, Astorre, surrenders to Caesar, 166.
+
+  Mantua, Isabella of, see Este, Isabella d'.
+
+  Mantua, Marquis of, his letter on Alexander's death, 288.
+
+  Manuzio, Aldo, see Aldo Manuzio.
+
+  Marades, Juan, made privy-chancellor, 49.
+
+  Marot, Clement, at court of Renee, 363.
+
+  Matarazza of Perugia, 178-179.
+
+  Matilda, Countess, 267.
+
+  Maximilian, Emperor, opposition to Lucretia's marriage, 184, 329.
+
+  Melini, the brothers, 127.
+
+  Micheletto, confesses that Alfonso of Biselli was murdered by Alexander's
+      orders, 346.
+
+  Mila or Mella family, 4.
+
+  Mila, Adriana, 5;
+    married to Ludovico Orsini, 23.
+
+  Montefeltre, the, 232.
+
+  Montefeltre, Agnesina di, 142.
+
+
+  Nepi, 119;
+    given to Ascanio Sforza, 120;
+    description of, 152-155;
+    unhealthful climate of 158.
+
+  Nepotism, 14.
+
+  Novel, the, during the Renaissance, 26.
+
+  Nugarolla, Isotta, her learning, 30.
+
+
+  Orsini, Adriana (see also Mila, Adriana de), captured by the
+      French, 87, 223.
+
+  Orsini, Laura, daughter of the pope, 66;
+    betrothed to Federico Farnese, 114;
+    betrothed to Raimondo Farnese, 312.
+
+  Orsini, Orsino, 23;
+    betrothed to Giulia Farnese, 37;
+    the marriage, 38.
+
+
+  Paniciatus, N. Marius, his poems in honor of Lucretia, 245.
+
+  Paul III, 36.
+
+  Pazzi conspiracy, the, 14.
+
+  Perotto, 177.
+
+  Perugino, 100, 133.
+
+  Pesaro, history of, 76-79;
+    description of, 79-86;
+    captured by Caesar Borgia, 161.
+
+  Pesaro, Giovanni of, see Sforza, Giovanni.
+
+  Philosophy, study of, during the Renaissance, 29.
+
+  Piccolomini, Cardinal, his children, 34;
+    elected pope, 296.
+
+  _Pieta_ of Michael Angelo, 136.
+
+  Pinturicchio, 100;
+    his portrait of Giulia Farnese, 133;
+    portraits of the Borgias, 134.
+
+  Pius II, admonitory letter to Cardinal Borgia, 7.
+
+  Pius III, 296.
+
+  Poliziano, Angelo, 21.
+
+  Pollajuolo, Antonio, sculptor, 134.
+
+  Pompilio, Paolo, dedicates his _Syllabica_ to Caesar Borgia, 39, 129.
+
+  Pontanus, 125;
+    his epigrams, 176.
+
+  Porcaro, the, adherents of the Borgias, 46;
+    the brothers, 127.
+
+  Posthumus, Guido, see Silvester, Guido Posthumus.
+
+  Pozzi, Gianlucca, 185;
+    description of Lucretia, 213;
+    letter to Ercole d'Este, 220, 229-232.
+
+  Prete, el, his account of Lucretia's wedding, 214-215, 218.
+
+  _Principe il_, 100.
+
+  Procida, Gasparo de, betrothed to Lucretia, 42;
+    the contract dissolved, 51, 111.
+
+  Pucci, Lorenzo, 66;
+    letter to his brother, 67.
+
+  Pucci, Puccio, 37, 65.
+
+
+  Ravenna, battle of, 332.
+
+  Reformation, the, 363.
+
+  Renaissance, the, education of women during, 24-33;
+    immorality during, 96-101, 135;
+    the theater, 97, 251;
+    traveling, 208;
+    the dance, 253;
+    dress, 260.
+
+  Renee of France, wife of Ercole II, 362-363;
+    placed in convent, 365;
+    dies in France, 365.
+
+  Requesenz, 300, 319, 321.
+
+  Reuchlin, in Rome, 131.
+
+  Romagna, Duke of, see Borgia, Caesar.
+
+  Rome, society of, 133;
+    sack of, 362.
+
+  Romolini, Francesco, 40.
+
+  Romolini, Raimondo, goes to Rome, 182.
+
+  Rovere, Francesco Maria della, secures Pesaro, 331.
+
+  Rovere, Giuliano della (see also Julius II), his children, 34;
+    goes to France to urge Charles VIII to invade Italy, 73, 115, 196;
+    becomes pope, 298, 314.
+
+
+  Sadoleto, 340.
+
+  Sancia of Naples, Donna, gossip concerning, 95;
+    banished from Rome, 134;
+    her death, 334.
+
+  Sangallo, Antonio di, Alexander's architect, 134.
+
+  Sannazzaro, his epigrams, 125, 176.
+
+  Sanuto, Marino, his diary, 178, 289.
+
+  Saraceni, 188; letter regarding the bridal escort, 199-201;
+    letter to Ercole d'Este, 220, 222-232.
+
+  Savonarola, 95, 276.
+
+  Serafina of Aquila, 126.
+
+  Sermoneta, 122.
+
+  Sessa, see Suessa.
+
+  Sforza, the palace of, 81;
+    tragedies among, 334.
+
+  Sforza, Ascanio, made vice-chancellor, 44;
+    joins the Colonna, 73;
+    leaves Rome, 116, 143.
+
+  Sforza, Battista, her learning, 30.
+
+  Sforza, Blanca, 183, 185.
+
+  Sforza, Cattarina, 101;
+    surrenders to Caesar, 139;
+    her life, 139;
+    released, 143;
+    her death, 144.
+
+  Sforza, Galeazzo, succeeds Giovanni, 331.
+
+  Sforza, Ginevra, 28.
+
+  Sforza, Giovanni, of Pesaro, offered Lucretia's hand, 50;
+    betrothed to her, 52;
+    marriage, 58;
+    his person, 59;
+    his relations with the pope uncertain, 71;
+    letter to his uncle, Ludovico il Moro, 71;
+    leaves Rome, 73;
+    returns, 102;
+    flees from Rome, 104;
+    protests against divorce, 108;
+    divorced from Lucretia, 109;
+    appeals to Gonzaga for help, 159-160;
+    leaves Pesaro, 160, 179;
+    returns to Pesaro, 294;
+    his death, 330.
+
+  Sforza, Ippolita, 28.
+
+  Sforza, Ludovico, captured by king of France, 143.
+
+  Silvester, Guido Posthumus, poet, 85, 179.
+
+  Sixtus IV, 14.
+
+  Soriano, defeat of the pope at, 104.
+
+  Sperulo, Francesco, Caesar's court poet, 126.
+
+  Spoleto, the castle of, 119.
+
+  Squillace, Prince of, see Borgia, Giuffre.
+
+  Stage, the, during the Renaissance, 97.
+
+  Strozzi, Ercole, eulogizes Caesar Borgia, 100;
+    poem on death of Caesar, 324;
+    murder of, 326.
+
+  Strozzi, father and son, 277, 307.
+
+  Suessa, Giovanni Borgia, duke of, 71.
+
+
+  Taro, battle of the, 91.
+
+  Tasso, Torquato, his _Aminta_, 83, 366.
+
+  Tebaldeo, Antonio, 277, 308, 340.
+
+  Theology, study of, during the Renaissance, 29.
+
+  Tiepoli, Ginevra, wife of Giovanni Sforza, 330.
+
+  Tisio, Benvenuto, see Garofalo.
+
+  Titian, 327.
+
+  Torelli, Barbara, 327.
+
+  Trivulzia of Milan, 29.
+
+  Troche, Caesar's confidant, 191.
+
+
+  Urbino, Elisabetta of, her learning, 30;
+    her beauty, 252.
+
+  Urbino, Guidobaldo of, in command of papal troops, 102.
+
+
+  Valentino or Valentinois, see Borgia, Caesar.
+
+  Vannozza Catanei, mistress of Rodrigo Borgia, 10;
+    her children, 12;
+    her home, 15;
+    marriage to Carlo Canale, 22, 295;
+    charged with theft, 346;
+    gives her house to Church of S. Maria del Popolo, 346;
+    her last years, 347-351;
+    her bequests, 351;
+    her death, 351;
+    her obsequies, 353.
+
+  Vasari, his account of Pinturicchio's work, 133.
+
+  Vatican, the orgy in, 178;
+    life in, 189.
+
+  Villa Imperiale, 83.
+
+  Vinci, Leonardo da, 100.
+
+  Virago, meaning of the term, 28, 101.
+
+  Zambotto, Bernardino, his description of Lucretia, 247.
+
+
+
+
+
+
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