Lodovico joins Charles VIII. at Sarzana--Suspicious rumours as to the
late duke's death--Piero de' Medici surrenders the six fortresses of
Tuscany to Charles VIII.--Lodovico retires in disgust from the
camp--Congratulations of all the Italian States on his accession--Grief
of Duchess Isabella--Her return to Milan--Mission of Maffeo Pirovano to
Antwerp--His interviews with Maximilian and Bianca--Letter of Lodovico
to the Bishop of Brixen--Charles VIII. enters Rome--His treaty with
Alexander VI. and departure for Naples.
1494
The short week which had elapsed between the king's departure from Pavia
and the return of Lodovico to the French camp had effected a complete
change in the situation. Suddenly the Moro found himself at the height
of his ambition, elected duke by popular acclamation, and in actual
possession of the throne, while he held in his hands the imperial
diploma that was to give him a surer and safer title to the duchy than
any of his race had possessed.
"All that this man does prospers, and all that he dreams of by night
comes true by day," wrote the Venetian chronicler. "And, in truth, he is
esteemed and revered throughout the world and is held to be the wisest
and most successful man in Italy. And all men fear him, because fortune
favours him in everything that he undertakes."
But already ugly rumours began to be whispered abroad. The unhappy duke,
it was openly said at Florence and Venice, had, it was plain, died of
poison, administered by his uncle. The moment of his death was so
opportune, and fitted in so exactly with Lodovico's plans; the
promptness with which the Moro had acted in seizing the crown which
ought to have belonged to Giangaleazzo's son, helped to confirm the
suspicions that were aroused in the minds of men whom the new duke's
policy had inspired with distrust, and who looked with jealous eyes on
the success of his diplomacy. The French king's doctor, Theodore
Guainiero of Pavia, was quite sure he had detected signs of poisoning in
the sick duke's face when he had been present at the interview between
his royal master and poor Giangaleazzo at Pavia. Contemporary
chroniclers, improving upon this remark, with one voice asserted that
the doctor had found evident traces of poison on the body at a
post-mortem examination held after the duke's death, ignoring the fact
that at that moment Theodore Guainiero was with King Charles at
Piacenza. So the legend grew, and found ready acceptance among both
French and Italians, who alike hated the Moro with deadly hatred.
"And if the duke were dispatched by poison, there was none," wrote the
Florentine historian, "that held that his uncle was innocent, and either
directly or indirectly, as he, who not content with an absolute power,
but aspiring, according to the common desires of great men, to make
themselves glorious with titles and honours, and especially he judged
that both for his proper heritage and the succession of his children,
the death of the lawful duke was necessary, wherein ambition and
covetousness prevailed above conscience and law of nature, and the
jealous desire of dominion enforced his disposition, otherwise abhorring
blood, to that vile action."
The careful examination of the various documents connected with
Giangaleazzo's death has led recent historians to a different
conclusion. "Nothing is further from the truth," writes Magenta, in his
history of the "Castello di Pavia," "than that Giangaleazzo died of
poison." And Delaborde, Porrò, Cantù, as well as those able and learned
scholars, Signor Luzio and Signor Renier, all endorse these statements,
and ascribe the duke's death to natural causes. Even Paolo Giovio, who
hated the Moro as the man who had betrayed his country to the French,
owns that there is much reason for doubting the truth of the accusation
brought against him in this instance. Charles VIII., it is plain, did
not himself believe in Lodovico's guilt. When the news of Giangaleazzo's
death reached him, he caused a solemn requiem mass to be held in the
Duomo of Piacenza, and distributed liberal alms to the poor of the town
in memory of his dead cousin. And Galeazzo di Sanseverino, who had
remained in attendance upon the king, informed Lodovico, in one of his
letters, that the only remark which His Most Christian Majesty had made
on the subject was to express his sorrow for the duke's orphan children,
and to say that he hoped Signor Lodovico would treat them as his own, to
which Galeazzo replied that he might rest assured they would want for
nothing. But the suspicion that the duke's end had been hastened by his
uncle's act found general acceptance in the French army, and deepened
the distrust with which Lodovico was already regarded. At this critical
moment, the unexpected action of Piero de' Medici helped to bring about
a breach between the Moro and his allies.
When, on the 31st of October, the new duke reached the French camp
before the Tuscan castle of Sarzana, he found to his surprise that Piero
de' Medici, who up to this time had been the staunchest ally of Naples,
had arrived there the day before, to make his submission to King
Charles. Sanuto relates how this craven son of the magnificent Lorenzo
threw himself at the feet of the French monarch, and promised to accept
whatever conditions he chose to impose. Not only did he agree to give
the army of Charles free passage through Tuscany, and to dismiss the
Florentine troops which he had levied, but he actually promised to
surrender the six strongholds of Sarzana, Sarzanello, Pietra Santa,
Librafratta, Leghorn, and Pisa. Thus, without a single blow, the city
and state of Florence was placed at the mercy of the invaders. Even the
French councillors who negotiated the terms of the treaty, were amazed
at the readiness with which their demands were accepted, and told
Commines afterwards that they marvelled to see Piero de' Medici settle
so weighty a matter with so much lightness of heart, "mocking and
jeering at his cowardice as they spoke." Lodovico, on his part, received
the news of Piero's disgraceful concessions with ill-concealed disgust.
Now that he had attained his own objects, and had nothing to fear from
Alfonso, whose armies were in full retreat, he would willingly have seen
the progress of the French delayed, and the king forced to winter in
Tuscany, and was bitterly annoyed to find that the passes of the
Apennines were in the hands of Charles, as well as the castles and ports
which he had hoped to obtain for Milan as the price of his alliance.
Guicciardini relates how he met Piero de' Medici that day in the camp,
and how his old friend's son, anxious to ingratiate himself with the
powerful duke, made excuses for not having given him an official welcome
into Florentine territory, saying that he had ridden out to meet him,
but had missed his way. "One of us certainly missed the way," replied
the duke, with a bitter meaning under his courteous phrases; "perhaps it
is you who have taken the wrong road."
But he hid his vexation as best he could, when he entered the French
king's presence, and boldly asked Charles to give him the castles of
Sarzana and Pietra Santa, which had formerly belonged to Genoa. When the
king replied that he preferred to keep these forts in his own hands
until his return from Naples, Lodovico once more disguised his feelings,
and contented himself with asking for a renewal of the investiture of
Genoa, formerly granted to his nephew, which he obtained on payment of
30,000 ducats. After this he saw no reason for remaining in the French
camp any longer, and, pleading urgent State affairs, he left again for
Milan on the 3rd of November.
"_Et merveilleusement malcontent_," says Commines, "_se partit du Roy
pour le reffuz_."
Only the Count of Caiazzo, with a troop of fifty horse, remained in the
French camp, while Galeazzo di Sanseverino and Duchess Beatrice's
brother, Ferrante d'Este, were the sole Italians to be seen riding in
the royal procession when Charles made his triumphal entry into
Florence. "Many thought then," adds the Sieur d'Argenton, "that he
wished the king out of Italy." A week later he recalled the Milanese
troops from Romagna, saying that their presence was no longer needed.
For the present, however, the new Duke of Milan took a strictly neutral
line, and while he outwardly maintained friendly relations with France,
at the same time received congratulatory messages on his accession from
the Pope, the Doge and Signory of Venice, and his old enemy, Alfonso of
Naples, who forgot all the grievances of the past in his dismay at the
approach of the French invaders.
On the 6th of November Lodovico returned to Milan, and joined his wife
at Vigevano, where Beatrice had remained during her husband's absence
with her infant son. We have no letters to tell us what her feelings
were at this eventful period, and do not learn if she joined her husband
during the few days of his hurried visit to Milan in October. But we are
glad to find that she expressed sympathy with the unhappy widow of
Giangaleazzo, and showed real concern for her cousin's melancholy
condition. After her husband's death, Isabella's courage and fortitude
broke down under the long strain, and for some days she shut herself up
in a dark room, and refused to take food, or accept any comfort. Four
Milanese councillors waited upon her at Pavia to offer their
condolences, and invited her to come to Milan in the name of the new
duke and the people, assuring her that she and her children should be
treated with due honour, and retain possession of the ducal residence in
the Castello. This attention gratified her, and Paolo Bilia, an old and
faithful servant, who had been long in her service, wrote by her desire
to Lodovico on the 28th of October--
"My Lady is much pleased to hear that you have accepted the gift which
she sent you, and is grateful for the kind messages which she has
received from Your Illustrious Consort, as well as the offers which you
have made her, and the addresses of the councillors. Under Niccolo da
Cusano's treatment her health has certainly improved; and the children
are very well, only the boy objects to the black clothes and hangings of
the rooms."
A week later the Councillor Pusterla wrote that he visited the Duchess
every day, and found her much rested, and already considerably calmer,
and was charged to convey her warmest thanks to the duke for his
kindness, and express her wish to show herself in all things his
obedient daughter. But she still refused to leave Pavia, and shrank from
seeing any one but her children and servants.
"The duchess," wrote Donato de Preti from Milan to his mistress Isabella
d'Este, "has not yet arrived here, but is expected on Friday. All the
rooms and furniture in the Castello are hung with black. To-day a man
who came from Pavia is said to have brought word that Count Borella had
been sent to ask the duchess for her son Francesco, but that she had
refused to send him. This, however, may not be true, for the person who
told me is not to be trusted."
On the 29th of November, the same informant wrote again--
"The widowed duchess has not yet come to Milan. It appears that she has
asked leave to remain at Pavia until after her confinement, and this she
will certainly do. I hear that she still mourns her dead lord."
Her mother-in-law, Duchess Bona, remained with her at Pavia, and here,
on the first of December, she received a visit from Chiara Gonzaga, a
sister of the Marquis of Mantua, and wife of Gilbert, Duke of
Montpensier, who was captain-general of the French army. This princess,
who was now on her way to Mantua, was sincerely attached to both
Isabella and Beatrice d'Este, and proved a loyal friend to Lodovico at
the French court, while after her husband's death he, in his turn, gave
her the benefit of his powerful help in her efforts to obtain the
recovery of her fortune from the French king. There seems, however, to
have been no truth in the report that the widowed duchess was again with
child, and on the 6th of December she finally summoned up courage to
return to Milan. On her arrival she was received by Beatrice, and
Barone, the jester, who was on the same familiar terms with the
Marchioness of Mantua as he was with her sister, sent her the following
pathetic account of their meeting--
"Last night the Duchess Isabella arrived in Milan, and our duchess went
to meet her, two miles outside the town, and directly they met, our
duchess got out of her chariot and entered that of Duchess Isabella,
both of them weeping bitterly, and so they rode together towards the
Castello, where the Duke of Milan met them on horseback at the gate of
the garden. He took off his cap, and accompanied them to the Castello,
where they all three alighted, and placing Duchess Isabella between
them, our duke and duchess accompanied her to her old rooms. When they
reached these rooms they sat down together, and the Duchess Isabella
could do nothing but weep, until at last the duke spoke to her, and
begged her to calm herself, and be comforted, with many other similar
words. Dear friend, the hardest heart would have been melted with
compassion at the sight of her, with her three children, looking so thin
and altered by her grief, wearing a long black robe like a friar's
habit, made of rough cloth, worth fourpence the yard, and her eyes
hidden by a thick black veil. Certainly I, for one, could not help
crying, and if I had not restrained myself, I should have wept still
more."[55]
Until the death of Beatrice, Isabella of Aragon and her children
occupied the rooms in the Castello where she and her husband had
formerly resided, and spent the spring and summer in the Castello of
Pavia, but the widowed duchess lived in complete retirement during the
next two years, and her name seldom appears in contemporary records. Her
mother-in-law Bona, retained her rooms until the following January, when
the duke desired her to move to the old palace near the Duomo, known as
the Corte Vecchia, partly because the use of her apartments was required
by the court officials, and partly owing to the intrigues which she
secretly practised. Only lately Lodovico's envoys at Antwerp had
informed him of the bitter words which Bona wrote against him to her
daughter Bianca, words which the empress's secretary thought it wiser to
pass over when he read her mother's letters aloud, taking care, he adds,
to see that they were burnt before they could do further mischief. A
year afterwards, Bona left Milan for good and returned to France, where
she lived at Amboise until the end of 1499, when she came back to her
native land of Savoy, and died at Fossano on the 8th of January, 1504.
Meanwhile Maffeo Pirovano, after being delayed on his journey by violent
storms and floods, and narrowly escaping with his life from the brigands
and highwaymen who infested the streets of Cologne, had at length
reached Antwerp and discharged his errand. In his letters to the duke,
he gives an interesting account of his interview with the emperor, whose
imposing presence and gracious kindness made a deep impression upon him.
"The Most Serene King has the noblest bodily presence as well as the
greatest qualities of mind and soul, and as far as you can judge from
outward signs, I should say that his Majesty's wisdom and loyalty are
beyond dispute, and that there is no prince in the world whom he
esteems more highly than your Excellency. And if I asked why all the
king's dealings appear slow and tardy, I should say that this was caused
by two obstacles, which neither of them proceed from his Majesty's own
fault. The first is want of money, and the second the little confidence
that he can place in his ministers."
Maffeo was able to give Lodovico satisfactory assurances as to
Maximilian's readiness to confirm him in the investiture of Milan. He
promised to send the letters forthwith, but desired the duke to allow no
one but his brother Cardinal Ascanio to see a copy, and not to publish
them before March. "He fears," wrote the Milanese envoy, "in the first
place the electors of the Diet, and in the second the wrath of King
Alfonso of Naples. But his Majesty promises to speak to the electors as
soon as possible, and after that will have the privileges drawn up by
the chancellor, and will send a solemn embassy to put the duke in
possession of his dignities and the realm.
The young empress, who, Maffeo remarked, "is not very wise," was
overjoyed to see an old friend, and had much to hear about her beloved
Milanese home. She wrote an affectionate little note to her uncle,
lamenting her poor brother's death and congratulating him on his
accession, which she called "a due reward of all the benefits which we
have received from your Excellency."[56]
And when Maffeo left Antwerp early in December to return to Milan, he
received a whole string of commissions from her Majesty. He was, in the
first place, to visit and condole with her mother, her widowed
sister-in-law, and her brother Ermes, and to commend the Duchess
Isabella and her children especially to the duke. Then he was to beg the
duke and duchess to send her their latest portraits, as well as those of
her mother, brother, sister-in-law, and her sister Madonna Anna, wife of
Alfonso d'Este. There was a special message to Beatrice, begging her for
some perfumes and powders, a ball of musk, and a bunch of heron's
plumes. And there was another for Lodovico, asking him to try and
procure a certain set of pearls from Bianca's half-sister, Caterina
Sforza, the famous Madonna of Forli. Last of all, there was an earnest
request that the duke would entreat her lord the Most Serene King to
come to Italy, and write urgently to him on the subject, without,
however, letting it appear that the suggestion had proceeded from Bianca
herself.
In these communications between the empress and her family there is no
trace whatever of any ill-will to Lodovico and Beatrice, far less any
suspicion that her uncle had hastened her brother's death, although some
chroniclers allude to a report that Maximilian's wife held Lodovico to
be guilty of this crime. The fact that some rumour of this kind had
reached the imperial court seems probable from the Latin letter which
Lodovico himself addressed in December, 1494, to the Bishop of Brixen,
one of the delegates who were afterwards sent to Milan with the imperial
privilege. In this letter the Moro refutes the calumny which he hears
had been brought against him in certain quarters, and points out that
his nephew's death had been due to natural causes, that the late duke
had been ill for many months, and that he had been assiduously attended
by his devoted wife and the most skilful doctors, three of whom had
known him from his cradle. He alludes to the visit paid to Giangaleazzo
a few days before his death by His Most Christian Majesty, and explains
that he himself was only prevented from being present at his nephew's
death-bed by the necessity of attending on the French king. "Nothing,"
he adds, "could be more contrary to our nature than so great a crime."
In conclusion, he dwells on the fatherly love which he had always shown
his nephew, and renews his protestations of devotion to His Most Serene
Majesty the King of the Romans. In point of fact, as both Maffeo and
Brasca informed their master the subject which disquieted Maximilian at
this moment far more than poor Giangaleazzo's death, was the rapid
advance of the French king. A rumour had reached the German court that
Charles aspired to the imperial title, and intended to make the Pope
crown him in Rome. This report filled the emperor-elect with dismay, and
he turned to the Milanese envoys with the words, "I know that the Duke
of Milan has great power in Italy, and has proved his faith and good
intentions towards myself, but I hope, since he is so wise in
everything, that he will make some difference between me and the King of
France."
Lodovico, however, needed no warning on this subject, and was as much
alarmed as any of his neighbours at the extraordinary success which had
attended Charles VIII.'s expedition. Florence and Siena both received
him within their gates, and helped him with loans of money and supplies
of corn. On the 4th of December he left Siena; by the 10th he was at
Viterbo, within sixty miles of Rome, and sent the Pope word that he
would spend Christmas in the Vatican and treat with him there. For a
moment Alexander VI., encouraged by the arrival of the Duke of
Calabria's army under the walls of the eternal city, put on a bold face
and defied Charles to do his worst. The same day he arrested the
cardinals Ascanio Sforza and Sanseverino at a consistory in the Vatican,
upon which Galeazzo di Sanseverino, who was at Viterbo with the French
king, rode all the way to Vigevano in three days, to take Lodovico the
news of this insult to his family. The duke was furious, and vowed
vengeance upon the Pope. But Alexander's courage soon failed him. In a
few days his defiant mood gave place to one of abject terror, the two
cardinals were released and sent to plead the Pope's cause with Charles
VIII., and on the 30th of December Ferrante retired with his troops
towards Naples. That same day the French king entered Rome by the
Flaminian Gate, and rode in triumphal procession along the Corso with
Cardinals Giuliano delle Rovere and Ascanio Sforza at his side, both of
them, remarks Commines, great enemies of the Pope, and still greater
enemies of one another. Alexander fled for shelter to the Castello
Sant'Angelo, and Charles took up his abode in the palace of San Marco,
from which he dictated terms of peace to the terrified pontiff. Already
a rumour had reached Milan that the Pope was to be deposed, and that the
French king intended to attempt a general reformation of the scandals
that disgraced the Church.
"His Most Christian Majesty," remarked Lodovico, drily, "had better
begin by reforming himself." And when the Venetian ambassador Sebastian
Badoer and Benedetto Trevisano arrived at Vigevano to take counsel with
the duke in this perilous state of affairs, he spoke very contemptuously
of the king's person and character.
"The Most Christian King," he said, "is young and foolish, with little
presence and still less mental power. When I was with him at Asti,
treating of important matters, his councillors spent their time eating
and playing cards in his presence. Sometimes he would dictate a letter
by one man's advice, and then withdraw it at the suggestion of another.
He is haughty and ill-mannered, and when we were together, he has more
than once left me alone in the room like a beast, to go and dine with
his friends."
And he proceeded to remind the Venetian envoys how he had sent his wife,
Duchess Beatrice, to warn the Signoria of the critical state of affairs,
and how his advice had been neglected, and nothing had been done.
"It is true," the duke added, "that I lent the king money, but at the
same time I gave him good advice. 'Sire,' I said to him, 'drive out the
tyrant Piero de' Medici, and give Florence her old liberties;' and when
I refused to accompany him further, I desired Messer Galeaz to defend
the freedom and rights of both Florence and Siena. You see how little
the king has followed my advice and how cruel and insolent he has shown
himself. These French are bad people, and we must not allow them to
become our neighbours."
In reality, what disturbed the Duke of Milan far more than the success
of Charles in the south, was the presence of Louis of Orleans with a
body of troops at Asti. When Charles left Asti in October, his cousin
was ill with an attack of fever, and had been compelled to remain
behind. The close vicinity of this dangerous neighbour, and the boldness
with which Orleans asserted his claim on Milan, led the Moro to use all
his influence with Maximilian to induce him to join his old enemies, the
Venetians, in a common league against the French. While these
negotiations were being secretly carried on, the victorious French king
had, on the 15th of January, signed a treaty with the Pope, by which the
crown of Naples was bestowed upon him, and the chief fortresses of the
Papal States were surrendered into his hands until his return. The next
day Charles attended mass at St. Peter's, and met the Pope in the
Vatican--"a very fine house," he wrote to his brother-in-law, the Duke
of Bourbon, "as well furnished and adorned as any palace or castle I
have ever seen."
On the 19th of January, he did homage to His Holiness before the College
of Cardinals, as Vicar of Christ and successor of the Apostles, and was
embraced and welcomed by the Pope in return as the eldest son of the
Church. A week later he left Rome and set out at the head of his army on
the march to Naples. And the same day he received the news that Alfonso
of Aragon, seized with a fatal panic, had abdicated his crown in favour
of his son Ferrante, and was on his way to Sicily.
FOOTNOTES:
[55] A Luzio-Renier, _op. cit._, p. 399.
[56] F. Calvi, _op. cit._