Arrival of the Duke of Orleans at Asti--The Neapolitan fleet sent
against Genoa--The forces of Naples repulsed at Rapallo--Charles VIII.
at Asti--Beatrice d'Este entertains him at Annona--The king's
illness--His visit to Vigevano and Pavia--His interview with the Duke
and Duchess of Milan--Last illness and death of Giangaleazzo
Sforza--Lodovico proclaimed Duke at Milan--Mission of Maffeo Pirovano to
Maximilian.
1494
On the 10th of July, the Duke of Orleans crossed the Alps with the
advanced guard of the French army, and arrived at his own city of Asti,
the fief which had formed part of the dowry of his grandmother,
Valentina Visconti. Lodovico Sforza went to meet him at Alexandria on
the 13th of July, and held a council of war there. The naval
preparations that were being made at Genoa were the chief subject of
discussion, and Orleans asked for a loan of sixty thousand ducats, which
the Moro undertook to arrange. This was the first meeting between these
two princes, who were destined to become such bitter enemies in days to
come. Even now it was well known that the Duke of Orleans assumed the
title of _Dux Mediolani_, and his deeply rooted aversion to the Moro was
no secret at Milan. But both princes had the same courtly and polished
manners, and Lodovico on his part took care that nothing should be
wanting in the entertainment of his rival. The other ambassadors watched
the scene with curious eyes, but the first impression which Louis of
Orleans made upon them was distinctly unfavourable. "He has a small head
with not much room for brains," wrote Pietro Alamanni to Piero de'
Medici; "Lodovico will soon get the better of him."
Much interest was excited among the Milanese ladies by the arrival of
the French duke, and Benedetto Capilupi, who had been sent from Mantua
to invite Beatrice to the christening of her infant niece, Leonora
Gonzaga, wrote to Isabella on the 23rd of July--
"The duchess says that when the Duke of Orleans comes here, she will
have to leave off her mourning and dance, and be kissed by the duke, who
will kiss all the maids of honour and all the court ladies after the
French fashion. Barone, the jester, says that when he has kissed Madonna
Polissena d'Este, he will be tired of it and will go no further. When
the Count Dauphin and other princes of the blood royal arrive, the
duchess sends your Highness word that you will have to come too and
receive some of these kisses."
The Duke of Orleans, however, had no time to waste in paying his
respects to the ladies of Beatrice's court. Directly after his interview
with Lodovico, he went on to Genoa to fit out the French fleet to oppose
that in which Alfonso's brother, Don Federigo, had already sailed to
attack Genova. Twice over during the next few weeks the Neapolitan
forces landed at Porto Venere and Rapallo, but each time they were
repulsed by the Genoese and French troops, supported by a strong
Milanese contingent under the gallant Fracassa and Antonio di
Sanseverino, after which Don Federigo retired to the harbour of Leghorn,
and was soon recalled to defend Naples itself against the French. On the
27th of July, the Count of Caiazzo received the _bâton_ of command from
Lodovico's hands on the piazza in front of the Castello of Milan, and
started at the head of fifteen hundred foot soldiers and light cavalry
to join the French army that was marching into Romagna to meet the
forces led by Ferrante Duke of Calabria. On the 23rd of August, Isabella
d'Este came to Parma at her brother-in-law's invitation to meet him and
the French ambassador, and see the first French troops under La
Trémouille and Stuart d'Aubigny--the Marchese d'Obegnino, as the
Italians called him--march through the town. The spectacle, however, was
less imposing than she expected, only about four hundred light cavalry
riding past, as she describes it, in some confusion and disorder.
Meanwhile Charles VIII. had at length crossed the Alps and after pawning
the jewels of his allies, the Marchioness of Montferrat and Duchess of
Savoy, to pay his troops, arrived at Asti on the 9th of September. Here
he was received with great honour by Lodovico and his father-in-law,
Duke Ercole, who rode out to meet him on his entry into the town. The
magistrates and citizens welcomed him as their liege lord, and the
illiterate French barons were amazed to hear a child of eleven,
Margareta Solari, declaim a Latin oration with perfect ease and fluency.
Two days afterwards Beatrice herself arrived at the castle of Annona, in
the neighbourhood of Asti, bringing her choir of singers and musicians,
and accompanied by eighty ladies especially chosen for their beauty and
rich attire, and gave the king a magnificent reception. Charles
advanced, cap in hand, to greet the duchess, and, beginning with
Beatrice and Bianca, the young wife of Messer Galeazzo, kissed all the
ladies present. The beauty and vivacity of the young duchess made a deep
impression upon the susceptible French monarch, who could not take his
eyes off her, and after spending some time with her in lively
conversation, begged her to allow him to see her dance. Beatrice readily
complied with his request, as she tells Isabella in the following
letter, written from Annona on the 12th of September:--
"About noonday the king came here to pay me a friendly visit with the
chief lords of his court, and remained for about three hours with me and
my ladies, conversing with the greatest familiarity and affection. I
assure you that no prince in the world could have made himself more
agreeable. He desired to see my ladies dance, and then begged me to
dance before him, which seemed to give him great pleasure."[53]
The young king himself, short and ill proportioned as he was, with round
shoulders and a large head, a very wide mouth and big nose, cut but a
very sorry figure by the side of the stately Moro and the handsome
Sanseverini brothers; but his good nature and genial manners atoned for
his want of presence, and surprised Beatrice and her ladies, who had
expected a far more formidable personage. "He was little in stature and
of small sense, very timid in speech owing to the way in which he had
been treated as a child, and as feeble in mind as he was in body, but
the kindest and gentlest creature alive," says Commines, who accompanied
Charles to Asti, and was sent on as ambassador to Venice. Guicciardini's
judgment is more severe--
"And for the increasing of the infelicities of Italy, he whose coming
brought all these calamities, was void of almost all the gifts of
nature and the mind. For it is most certaine that King Charles from his
infancie was of complexion very delicate and of body unsound and
diseased, of small stature, and of face, if the aspect and dignitie of
his eyes had been taken away, foule and deformed, his other members
bearing such equal proportion that he seemed more a monster than a man.
He was not only without all knowledge of good sciences, but scarcely he
knew the distinct characters of letters; his mind desirous to command,
but more proper to any other thing, for that being environed alwayes
with his familiars and favourites, he retained with them no majestie or
authoritie; he rejected all affaires and businesse, and yet if he did
debate and consider in any he showed a weak discretion and judgment. And
if he had anything in him that carried appearance of merite of praise,
yet being thoroughly weighed and sounded, it was found farther off from
vertue than vice. He had an inclination to glory, but it was tempered
more with rashness and fury than with moderation and counsell: his
liberalities were without discretion, measure, or distinction,
immoveable oftentimes in his purposes, but that was rather an
ill-grounded obstinacy than constancie, and that which many call bountie
deserved more reasonably in his the name of coldnesse and slacknesse of
spirit."[54]
The splendours of the court of Milan, and more especially the toilettes
of the Duchess Beatrice and her ladies, amazed the French chroniclers,
who have left us a graphic description of the scene at the castle of
Annona. The poet André de la Vigne, in his rhyming chronicle "Le Vergier
d'honneur," describes Beatrice's sumptuous apparel in the following
lines:--
"Avecques luy fist venir sa partie
Qui de Ferrare fille du duc estait;
De fin drap d'or en tout ou en partie
De jour en jour volontiers se vestait
Chaines, colliers, affiquetz, pierrerie,
Ainsi qu'on dit en ung commun proverbe,
Tant en avait que c'etait diablerie.
Brief mieulx valait le lyen que le gerbe.
Autour du col bagues, joyaulx carcaus,
Et pour son chief de richesse estoffer,
Bordures d'or, devises et brocans."
And in his "Histoire de Charles VIII." (1684) Godefroy quotes the
following letter, written by an eye-witness from the French camp to the
king's sister, Anne Duchess of Bourbon, for whose benefit Charles had
Beatrice's portrait painted by Jean Perréal and sent to Moulins:--
"People crowd to meet and welcome the king from all parts, princes and
princesses, dukes and duchesses. Only this morning a new one has
arrived, the description of whose dress will, I am sure, please you.
First of all, when she arrived she was on a horse with trappings of gold
and crimson velvet, and she herself wore a robe of gold and green
brocade, and a fine linen _gorgerette_ turned back over it, and her head
was richly adorned with pearls, and her hair hung down behind in one
long coil with a silk ribbon twisted round it. She wore a crimson silk
hat, made very much like our own, with five or six red and grey
feathers, and with all that on her head, sat up on horseback as straight
as if she had been a man. And with her came the wife of Seigneur Galeaz'
and many other ladies, as many as twenty-two, all riding handsome and
richly apparelled horses, and six chariots hung with cloth of gold and
green velvet, all full of ladies. They had intended to visit the king in
his lodgings, but this he would not allow, and, in order to appear
gracious, said that he would visit them, but he did not go to their
lodgings that day, feeling unwell. The next day, after dinner, he went
to see this lady, whom he found magnificently arrayed, after the fashion
of the country, in a green satin robe. The bodice of her gown was loaded
with diamonds, pearls, and rubies, both in front and behind, and the
sleeves were made very tight and slashed so as to show the white chemise
underneath, and tied up with a wide grey silk ribbon, which hung almost
down to the ground. Her throat was bare and adorned with a necklace of
very large pearls, with a ruby as big as your 'Grand Valloy,' and her
head was dressed just the same as yesterday, only that instead of a hat
she wore a velvet cap with an aigrette of feathers fastened with a clasp
made of two rubies, a diamond, and a pear-shaped pearl, like your own,
only larger. After that the king had paid her a visit, he returned to
his house, but first he had some conversation with her, and made her
dance in the French fashion, with some of her ladies. And I can assure
you, madame, that she danced wonderfully well in the French fashion,
although she said she had never danced in this manner before. If the
king were not going to send you her picture, to show you the fashion of
her dress, I would have endeavoured to obtain one to send you myself."
A grand _fête_ was arranged for the following day, but the king fell
suddenly ill of small-pox, and had to call in Messer Ambrogio da Rosate
to attend him. All his plans were altered, and more than a fortnight
elapsed before he was able to leave his room. This delay discouraged the
French, who suffered from the great heat, and complained, as Commines
tells us, of the sourness of the country wine, the last vintage having
been a bad one. All Lodovico's smooth words and tact were needed to keep
the leaders in good humour in these trying circumstances. On the other
hand, Alfonso of Naples, taking courage, boldly announced that the
approach of winter and want of pay would force the French to retreat,
and Piero de' Medici sent a troop of Florentine soldiers to join the
Duke of Calabria in Romagna. But their triumph was of short duration. On
the 6th of October the king had recovered sufficiently to leave Asti,
and while most of his army marched direct to Piacenza, he himself
travelled by Casale and through the dominions of his ally, the young
Marquis of Montferrat, to Vigevano. Here Lodovico and Beatrice once more
gave their royal guest a splendid reception, and held a banquet and
boar-hunt in his honour during the next two days. The beauty of the
palace, and the wealth and magnificence displayed on all sides, filled
the French with wonder; but although Charles took Lodovico's advice on
all points, and was apparently on the most cordial terms with his host,
he asked for the keys of the castle at night, and desired his guards to
keep strict watch at the gates. "The fashion of their friendship was
such," says Commines, "that it could not last long. But for the present
the king could not do without Lodovico."
On the 13th, Charles slept at the Sforzesca and visited Lodovico's
famous farm of La Pecorara, or Les Granges, as the French chroniclers
termed this vast farm, where agricultural industries were cultivated on
such a splendid scale. They saw the spacious buildings, the stables with
their noble columns and separate accommodation for mares and stallions,
and the superb breed of horses which were reared under Messer Galeazzo's
care; the pastures with their 14,000 buffaloes, oxen, and cows, and as
many sheep and goats; and the large dairies, where butter and cheese
were made on the most approved system, and marvelled afresh at the
industry of the Milanese farmers and the wealth and fertility of this
wonderful land. The next day the king went on to Pavia, where triumphal
arches had been prepared for his reception, and the clergy and
professors of the university hailed his presence in long harangues and
complimentary speeches. At first lodgings had been prepared for him in
the city, but, according to Commines, some of the king's followers had
inspired him with fears of foul play, and he preferred to take up his
abode in the Castello itself. Lodovico himself showed him the library
and other treasures of his ancestral palace, and took him out hunting in
the park. On the 15th, he visited the Duomo and Arca di S. Agostino, and
on the 16th, rode out to the Certosa, where the monks entertained both
princes at a grand banquet in a house outside the cloister precincts. In
the evenings, comedies were acted or musical entertainments given in the
Castello for the king's amusement.
At the time of Charles's visit to Pavia, the Duke and Duchess of Milan
and their children were occupying their rooms in the Castello, but
during the last few weeks Giangaleazzo had become seriously ill and was
unable to leave his bed. Both his wife and his mother Bona were
assiduous in their attentions to the sick prince, and Isabella hardly
ever left his bedside. The chronicler Godefroy, who has left us so
faithful and accurate an account of Charles VIII.'s expedition,
describes the splendid _fêtes_ given to the king at Pavia, and says that
the Duchess Isabella, with her young son Francesco, herself received him
at the portico of the Castello, but does not mention his visit to the
sick duke. Another trustworthy authority, Corio, tells us that Charles
with great thoughtfulness paid a visit to his cousin, who was suffering
from an incurable disease, and growing visibly worse, and that the
unfortunate duke recommended his wife and children to the king's care.
Commines, who was at Pavia three days before Charles, on his way to
Venice, says that he saw the little four-year-old prince Francesco, but
not the duke, since he was very ill and his wife very sorrowful,
watching by his bedside. "However," he adds, "the king spoke with him,
and told me their words, which only related to general subjects, for he
feared to displease Lodovico; all the same, he told me afterwards that
he would have willingly given him a warning. And the duchess threw
herself on her knees before Lodovico, begging him to have pity upon her
father and brother. To which he replied that he could do nothing, and
told her to pray rather for her husband and for herself, who was still
so young and fair a lady."
The Venetian chronicler, Marino Sanuto, gives a more sensational account
of the interview. According to him, Isabella absolutely refused to see
the king, and, seizing a dagger, declared she would stab herself rather
than meet her father's mortal enemy. Lodovico, however, in the end
induced her to receive the king, upon which she threw herself in tears
at the feet of Charles VIII., and implored him to spare her father and
brother and the house of Aragon. The king's kindly heart was touched
with compassion at the grief of the unhappy princess, but he only spoke
a few consoling words, and promised that her son should be as dear to
him as if he were his own son. When Isabella renewed her earnest
entreaties on her father's behalf, he replied that it was too late for
him to give up the expedition, which had already cost him so much
trouble and money, and which was now so far advanced that he could not
retire with honour. On the 17th of October, Charles, after assisting at
mass in the chapel of the Castello, left Pavia for Piacenza, where he
joined the French army and prepared to enter Tuscan territory. Here he
learnt that the Duke of Calabria had been worsted in two engagements by
the forces of the Count of Caiazzo and the French under d'Aubigny, and
was in full retreat. And here on the 20th, a courier from Pavia arrived,
bringing Lodovico word that his nephew was dying. He set out at once for
Pavia, and met another messenger on the way who told him that the duke
was already dead. Two days after Charles VIII.'s departure from Pavia,
Giangaleazzo became suddenly worse. A fresh attack of fever was brought
on by his own folly in drinking large quantities of wine and eating
pears and apples contrary to his doctor's express orders, in spite of
the continual sickness from which he suffered. The next day he was
rather better, and in the evening of the 20th, the four doctors who were
attending him sent Lodovico an improved account, saying that the duke
had slept for some hours, and had afterwards been able to take some
chicken-broth, raw eggs, and wine. Now he had fallen asleep again. He
was certainly no worse, they added, although still very weak and by no
means out of danger. That same evening he spoke cheerfully to his
trusted servant, Dionigi Confanerio, and asked to see two horses which
Lodovico had sent him, and which were brought into the hall adjoining
his rooms for his inspection. Afterwards he spoke affectionately of his
uncle, and said he was sure that Lodovico would have come to see him if
he had not been obliged to wait upon the French king. And he asked
Dionigi in a confidential tone if he thought that Lodovico loved him and
was sorry to see him so ill, and seemed quite satisfied with his
attendant's assurances on the subject. A former prior of Vigevano, who
had known the dying prince from his childhood, and had been summoned to
Pavia by the duchess, now paid the duke a visit and heard his
confession, after which Giangaleazzo asked to see his greyhounds, which
were brought to his bedside, and spoke cheerfully of his speedy recovery
before he fell asleep. Early the next morning he died in the presence of
his wife and mother and the doctors who had attended him during the last
few weeks.
A few hours later Lodovico reached Pavia, and without a moment's delay
hastened on to Milan, giving orders that the duke's body should be
removed as soon as possible to the Duomo of Milan. There during the next
three days the dead prince lay before the high altar, clad in the ducal
cap and robes, with his sword and sceptre at his side, and his white
face exposed to view. Meanwhile Lodovico had lost no time. His first
act, on his arrival in the Castello, was to summon the councillors,
magistrates, and chief citizens of Milan to a meeting on the following
day, but even before these dignitaries could be assembled, he called
together a few of his immediate friends and courtiers in the great hall
of the Rocchetta, and after informing them of his nephew's premature and
lamentable end, proposed that his son Francesco should be proclaimed
duke in his father's place. Upon this, Antonio da Landriano, prefect of
the Treasury, responded in an eloquent speech, dwelling on the danger in
these troublous times of placing the helm of the state in the hands of a
four-year-old child, and calling on Lodovico, for the sake of the people
whom he had hitherto ruled so well and wisely in his nephew's name, to
undertake the burden of sovereignty and ascend the ducal throne. "Since
the death of Giangaleazzo's father," he said, "we have had no duke but
you; you alone among our princes can grasp the ducal sceptre with a firm
hand." These last words were hailed with loud applause by the Moro's
friends, and when Landriano had ended his speech, Galeazzo Visconti
Baldassare Pusterla, the able lawyer Andrea Cagnola, and several other
councillors, well known for their devotion to the Moro, all spoke in the
same strain.
"It was propounded," writes Guicciardini, "by the principals of the
Counsell, that, in regard of the greatness of that estate and the
dangerous times prepared now for Italy, it would be a thing prejudicial
that the sonne of John Galeaz, having not five yeares in age, should
succeed his father, and therefore, as well as to keepe the liberties of
the State in protection, as to be able to meete with the inconveniences
which the time threatened, they thought it just and necessary--derogating
somewhat for the public benefite, and for the necessite present from the
disposition of the laws--as the laws themselves do suffer to constraine
Lodovic, for the better stay of the commonweale, to suffer that unto him
might be transported the title and dignitie of Duke, a burden very
weightie, in so dangerous a season; with the which colour, honestie giving
place to ambition, the morning following, making some show of resistance,
he tooke upon him the name and armes of the Duke of Milan."
The Florentine historian's account of the transaction is accurate in all
but the last particular. Lodovico was indeed proclaimed duke in his
nephew's stead, and, clad in a mantle of cloth of gold, rode that
afternoon through the streets of the city, and visited the church of S.
Ambrogio, to give thanks for his accession to the throne. The ducal
sword and sceptre were borne before him by Galeazzo Visconti, the bells
were rung, and the trumpets sounded, while the people hailed him with
shouts of _Duca! Duca! Moro! Moro!_ But he was careful to style himself
Lodovicus Dux, and would not assume the title of Duke of Milan until he
had received the imperial privileges, confirming his election and
granting him the investiture of the duchy. These he lost no time in
securing. Already a few weeks before this, Maximilian, mindful of his
engagements at the time of his wedding, had sent his wife's uncle the
diploma granting him the desired investiture for himself and his sons,
both legitimate and illegitimate, in succession. The original deed has
never been discovered, but, according to Corio, the diploma was granted
on the 5th of September at Antwerp, with the express stipulation that it
was not to be published until after the Feast of St. Martin. This
diploma must have reached Lodovico a week or two before his nephew's
death, and had been kept secret, in obedience to Maximilian's desires.
That memorable day when he rode through the streets of Milan,
accompanied by the ambassadors of Florence and Ferrara, he said in reply
to the congratulations of the latter, our old friend Giacomo Trotti, "In
another month you will hear greater news." "I verily believe you," said
the Florentine, Pietro Alamanni, who recorded these words, to Piero de'
Medici, "that he means to make himself greater still, and dreams of a
kingdom of Insubria and Liguria." And Donato de' Preti evidently thought
the same. "Signor Lodovico," he wrote to Isabella d'Este, "is not yet
called Duke of Milan, but merely duke, and all documents sent out by the
Cancelleria are worded in this manner. Some persons who knew his
Excellency well, say that it is his intention to call himself _Rex
Insubrium_. On the return of the ambassador who has been sent to the
emperor, perhaps this will be announced."
Now that Giangaleazzo was actually dead, the Moro felt that there was no
time to be lost in obtaining the publication of the imperial diploma.
Accordingly he ordered one of his most trusted agents, Maffeo Pirovano,
to start the next day for Antwerp, with letters informing Maximilian and
his wife of Giangaleazzo's death, and asking for the prompt despatch of
ambassadors with the coveted privileges. And that same evening he wrote
long and minute instructions to Maffeo himself and to Erasmo Brasca at
Antwerp, urging them to lose no time in laying the case before the
emperor. The letter to Maffeo, discovered in the Taverna archives at
Milan, and first published by Signor Calvi in his life of Bianca Sforza,
is of especial interest.
"MAPHEO,--We have written this evening to Germany to inform the Most
Serene King of the Romans of the death of the illustrious Duke, our
nephew, and must now send you to state our case _vivâ voce_ to his
Majesty, desiring him to give effect in our person to the ducal
privileges, which he never consented to give our nephew, in consequence
of the wrong which the emperor supposed to have been done him by our
father and brother, in holding the duchy without any concession from the
imperial authorities. And therefore the said king has conceded these
privileges to us, as being innocent of this fault, and as having claims
to the title by reason of our maternal descent, but has desired that
these privileges should not be made public before the next feast of St.
Martin, and before this date will not fix the time and place for the
expedition of the said privileges. The approach of this time, the fact
that this death has compelled us to take up the succession, have
impelled us to send an envoy to the said king, and for this purpose we
have made choice of yourself, being persuaded that your faithfulness and
prudence will be equal to the gravity of this emergency. And so I desire
you to start with the utmost speed, and not to rest till you have found
his Majesty, and our councillor and ambassador Messer Erasmo Brasca, to
whom you will explain the reason of your coming, and having through his
means obtained an audience of his Majesty, you will pay him our dutiful
respects, and, after delivering your credentials, by virtue of them will
proceed to tell him how immediately after this death the chiefs of the
State and of the people of this city approached me to offer their
condolences in the customary manner, and signified their fears and
anxieties as to the succession. One and all, speaking in the name of the
State, declared that they would have no lord but ourselves, and
entreated us with earnest words to accept this dignity, saying that if
we refused they would not be content and would have to consider some
other mode of action. After this has been explained to the king, you
will tell him that, seeing on the one hand the conditions imposed by his
Majesty respecting the privileges, which we do not intend to infringe,
and on the other the dangers that might arise if the State were left
without a lord until the time fixed for the promulgation of the
privileges, and being further aware that the people of Milan set the
example and draw after them all the rest of the State, we have chosen to
accept the burden they offer us, and have ridden through the town in
order to satisfy the wishes of the people. And this we have done, in
order not to leave the State and city in doubt as to the last duke's
successor, without taking either title or armorial bearings, lest we
should incur the same blame as that illustrious lord our father. Thus,
solely to prove that the State is not left without a lord, and at the
same time not to infringe the conditions attached to the privileges, we
have taken this name of duke, and will inscribe our name as _Ludovicus
Dux_ in letters and other documents, without specifying of what place we
are duke, so as to observe the commands laid upon us by his Majesty not
to publish the privileges before the feast of St. Martin. The full form
which we intend to adopt at the said feast will be signified to him
after this feast, when we shall adopt the style of _Dux Mediolani_ in
accordance with this command. But we will abstain from publishing the
privileges until we have the approval of the said Majesty, which we hope
to obtain as soon as the term which he fixed shall expire.
"And you will also tell his Majesty that the publication of these
privileges carries with it the investiture and enjoyment of the temporal
possessions of the duchy, and therefore, as our procurator, you will ask
for this investiture with all respect and submission. And you will beg
his Majesty to send us an ambassador to declare that he places us in
possession of the duchy, in order that he may give the world an outward
demonstration of the act that he has already done in private. This, we
beg to assure his Majesty, shall ensure a perpetual obligation on our
part and that of our posterity towards his Majesty, who may count on the
fidelity of this State in all contingencies, most of all in the affairs
of Italy, where no State can be greater or of more importance than this
one, which has the same influence in Italy as he has in Germany. And
since the form of investiture has been given this summer to the
Treasurer of Burgundy, you can obtain it from him by means of Messer
Erasmo, and we will afterwards send you the imperial mandate that you
may arrange this. As to the form of delivery of the temporalities, we
desire to follow that which was employed in the cases of former dukes,
which we will seek out and let you have. To this effect you will
negotiate with the Most Serene King of the Romans, making use of the
advise of Messer Erasmo, in order to obtain this concession in the
manner that we devise.
"You will also visit our niece, the Most Serene Queen, and condole in
our name on the duke's death, which is a common cause of grief to both
of us, and will recommend our affairs to her, begging her Majesty to
assist you, and to employ great warmth and fervour in addressing the
Most Serene Lord her husband.
"Milan, 22nd October, 1494."
These instructions were followed by a short letter from Lodovico,
enclosing the petition to be presented to Maximilian, and urging him to
lose no time in reaching his destination.
"MAPHEO,--We enclose the petition for the investiture, and have to-day
sent you money and horses. There is nothing more to say, excepting to
urge you once more to use all diligence to seek out His Serene Majesty,
and with the help of Erasmo leave nothing undone that may induce him to
grant the investiture without delay, and at the same time send back with
you persons empowered to put me in possession of the temporal
possessions of the duchy. Without these two things, all that has been
done till now will be of no avail."
On the 21st, Lodovico sent an official intimation of his nephew's death,
and of the "incredible grief" which this sad event had given him, to his
relatives and allies. On the 22nd, he issued another circular, informing
them in well-turned phrases of his election by the people of Milan, and
of his consent to take up the burden imposed upon him by the will of his
subjects. And on the same day the Mantuan envoy, Donato de' Preti,
writing to Isabella d'Este, gave her the following version of affairs:
"This morning a meeting was held in the Castello, at which Signor
Lodovicus was proclaimed King of Milan in the presence of the gentlemen
and councillors assembled in the Rocchetta, no one else being nominated.
Few spoke, and very little was said, but Signor Lodovico was chosen by
universal acclamation, or at least with no dissent. This afternoon he
came out of the Rocca clad in gold brocade, and rode all round the town
for the space of two hours, and the shops are closed, and all the bells
of the city are to be rung for three days." At Pavia, where the Moro had
made himself greatly beloved both by the citizens and the members of the
university, there was great rejoicing when the people heard him publicly
proclaimed duke to the sound of fifes and trumpets. "All the people of
Pavia," wrote Count Borella, on the 23rd of October, "are filled with
the utmost joy and delight, like the loyal and affectionate servants of
your Highness that they are, and pray that you may live long to enjoy
your exalted dignity."
On the evening of the 27th, the body of the late duke, after lying in
state during several days before the high altar in the Duomo of Milan,
"was buried in the vault of his ancestors with the greatest pomp and
honour," as the Mantuan envoy told Isabella d'Este. "The Marchese Ermes,
the Ferrarese ambassador, with the whole house of Visconti, and all the
councillors, ministers, and court officials attending, robed in black.
An immense concourse of people were present, together with priests and
friars innumerable, and the blaze of lighted wax candles was so great in
the church that I could see nothing. An eloquent and highly ornate
sermon was preached by a Mantuan friar, named Giovanni Pietro Suardo."
And the next day his successor joined the French king in his camp under
the walls of Sarzana. He had at length attained the object of his
ambition, and was reigning on his father's throne.
"To sum up the whole matter," writes Commines, "Lodovico had himself
proclaimed Lord of Milan, and that, as many people say, was the reason
why he brought us over the mountains."
FOOTNOTES:
[53] Luzio-Renier, _op. cit._, p. 394.
[54] Guicciardini's "Italy," Fenton's English translation, vol. i. p.
34.