Count Federigo's domestic life--His second marriage--New war
for the Angevine succession to Naples--Battle of San
Fabbiano--Conclusion of the war--Humiliation of the
Malatesta.
Those readers who have thus far followed our narrative of Count
Federigo's military career may perhaps regret that its somewhat
limited and monotonous interest should not have been varied by
glimpses of his domestic life. A prince whose engagements were
observed with rare fidelity, whose chivalrous honour was happily
combined with practical good sense and unflinching justice, must have
been almost necessarily a good husband and kind master. But, in
accordance with the habits of his age and the calls of his condottiere
profession, most of his time was passed in the field, and
unfortunately in those times few bards and biographers considered any
incense worth offering which did not savour of
"The pomp and circumstance of glorious war."
His marriage with Gentile being hopelessly barren, he had followed the
example of his father by obtaining papal briefs of legitimation, in
1454, for his natural sons Buonconte and Antonio. With the latter we
shall make acquaintance by and by; the former, a youth of remarkable
promise, is supposed to have been his destined heir,[100] but having
been sent on a mission to Alfonso at Naples, in October, 1458, he died
there of the plague; and another brother, Bernardino, who had
accompanied him on that journey, scarcely survived his return.
Berni, speaking from personal knowledge of these two princes, applies
to them Virgil's high-flown compliment to Marcellus:--
"Ah, couldst thou break through Fate's severe decree,
A new Marcellus shall arise in thee!
Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring,
Mixed with the purple roses of the spring;
Let me with funeral flowers his body strew."[101]
[Footnote 100: BALDI, II., p. 48.]
[Footnote 101: DRYDEN'S translation of _Æneid_, VI., p. 810.]
[Illustration: _P. della Francesca, pinx. L. Ceroni, sculp._
_Alinari_
FEDERIGO, DUKE OF URBINO, AND BATTISTA, HIS WIFE
_From the picture by Piero della Francesca in the Uffizi Gallery_]
These bereavements probably predisposed their father to a proposal
made to him at Mantua by the Duke of Milan, that he should marry his
niece Battista Sforza, daughter of the Lord of Pesaro, whose descent
we have already explained, and who was now about thirteen years of
age.[102] Her mother's death, when she was but eighteen months old,
had occasioned her being carried at an early age to the court of
Milan, where those gifts and endowments were well cultivated for which
her mother and great-grandmother had been renowned. Nearly of an age
with her cousin Hippolita Maria, one of the paragon princesses of her
age, whose marriage to the heir presumptive of the Neapolitan crown we
have noticed, she shared her laborious education, and amply redeemed
her own hereditary claim to the talents and classical acquirements
then in vogue among the pedantic dames of Italy. With the like showy
scholarship and precocious command of Latin rhetoric to which her
female predecessors had been trained, she was put forward to welcome
illustrious visitors at Milan and Pesaro, in harangues which we are
assured were sometimes prepared, sometimes extempore, but always
elegant and appropriate.[103] The same contemporary authority
attributes her engagement with Federigo to the influence of King
Alfonso immediately upon Gentile's death; but the dispensation is
dated the 4th of October, 1459,[104] and in the following month the
betrothal took place at Pesaro, where great satisfaction was
displayed, and a donation of 3000 bolognini, or 75 florins, was voted
by the council to Alessandro, of which he would accept but two-thirds.
The marriage was celebrated at Urbino, on the 10th of February, 1460;
and we turn to Sanzi's Chronicle, in the hope of finding some
interesting details commemorated by an eye-witness. These pomps are,
however, unfortunately curtailed by the poet, anxious to resume the
dull recital of little wars. He describes the bride as
"A maiden
With every grace and virtue rare endowed,
That heaven at intervals on earth vouchsafes,
In earnest of the bliss reserved on high."
[Footnote 102: See p. 41 above. The extreme inaccuracy of Frenchmen,
in speaking or writing of names and persons, is proverbial; and
Sismondi, a French writer, although no Frenchman, has fallen into
manifest errors regarding the family of Urbino. We have already
detected one as to the birth of Federigo. In chap. LXXI. he calls
Battista daughter of Francesco Sforza, and in chap. LXXXI. falls into
the still more gross blunder of making Sigismondo Malatesta
father-in-law (_beaupère_) of Federigo. This may be a misprint for
_beaufrère_, which he would have been had Battista been a daughter of
Francesco, as well as Polissena, whom Malatesta had married; but this
was not the case. See notes at p. 91 and above.]
[Footnote 103: Urb. Vat. MSS., No. 1236, her funeral oration.]
[Footnote 104: Archivio Diplomatico di Firenze, original
dispensation.]
Muzio most unaccountably omits all notice of the marriage; we,
however, learn from Betussi that she was tiny in person, but inherited
the gifts and eloquence of her grandmother, Battista di Montefeltro.
These she publicly exercised at Mantua, in an oration addressed to
Pius II., and answered in a compliment dictated either by his
gallantry or critical acumen. Bernardo Tasso has pleasingly embodied
the testimony of her contemporaries:--
"The first of them in equal favour holds
Demosthenes and Plato; reading, too,
Plotinus, while, in wisdom as in words,
Arpino's orator she well shall match;
Consort of one unconquered, Frederick,
Urbino's Duke and long-tried champion."[105]
[Footnote 105: _Amadigi_, canto XLIV., st. 57. Cicero was born at
Arpino.]
[Illustration:
CLARVS INSIGNI VEHITVR TRIVMPHO
QVEM PAREM SVMMIS DVCIBVS PERHENNIS
FAMA VIRTVTVM CELEBRAT DECENTER
SCEPTRA TENENTEM
_Alinari_
ALLEGORY
_After the picture by Piero della Francesca in the Uffizi Gallery,
Florence_]
[Illustration:
QVEMODVM REBVS TENVIT SECVNDIS
CONIVGIS MAGNI DECORATA RERVM
LAVDE GESTARVM VOLITAT PER ORA
CVNCTA VIRORVM
_Alinari_
ALLEGORY
_After the picture by Piero della Francesca in the Uffizi Gallery,
Florence_]
Yet much learning distracted her not from the practical affairs of
life. During her husband's ever-recurring absences, she administered
his state with singular propriety, besides bringing him many children.
On the fourth day after the ceremony, Federigo left his capital to
visit the Pope at Siena, where he was magnificently entertained,
returning home to pass the carnival with his bride.
New elements of discord were meanwhile fermenting, by which the
Turkish crusade was indefinitely postponed. The popularity gained by
the noble character of Alfonso of Naples, and confirmed by his
residence in Italy, descended not to his successor. Ferdinand was
already unfavourably known, from his sombre and revengeful temper, his
falsehood and avarice; yet we look in vain for provocations or
grievances adequate to justify the factious proceedings of his great
barons. Resolved to supplant him, they made overtures to Jean, King of
Navarre, the successor to Alfonso's hereditary dominions, whose eldest
son, Count Viane, had already gathered golden opinions in Lower Italy.
But Jean, more anxious to consolidate his kingdom than to augment it
by outlying appendages, declined interfering, and the malcontents
turned to the Angevine claimant of the Neapolitan crown. René the Good
still reigned in Provence, occupied with his pen and pencil, and
better fitted to be the bard of chivalry than its hero. His son, the
titular Duke of Calabria, had established himself at Genoa in 1458,
with almost sovereign authority, on the invitation of her citizens,
who, finding themselves worsted in a contest, unwisely renewed by
Alfonso, after the peace of Lodi, in order to avenge himself of the
obstinately Angevine policy of that republic, naturally called to
their aid his French rival. The Duke's winning qualities, and the
sound judgment which he had manifested in their service, were well
calculated to render him a competitor very formidable to the
unprepossessing Ferdinand. The Genoese, whose hearts he had thus
gained, were ready to back him with a naval armament, reinforced by
some galleys originally fitted out at Marseilles for the Turkish
expedition, but placed by Charles VII. at René's disposal. Florence, a
tried partisan of the Angevine succession, was faithful to her
prescriptive policy, and now urged upon Venice the recent grudge which
both republics owed to Alfonso of Aragon. But it was in vain that the
Duke sought support from Francesco Sforza and the Pope. The former,
with comprehensive glance, calculated the risks of French domination
in Italy, and took his stand on the treaty of Lodi, which, uniting all
her powers in one solemn national league, guaranteed the succession of
Naples. He therefore respectfully declined from the Angevine candidate
the same bribe which Celestine had vainly offered him of his father's
holdings in the Abruzzi, and during the Congress at Mantua confirmed
the Pontiff's inclination for the Aragonese dynasty.
In October, 1459, the Duke of Calabria made a descent on the
Neapolitan coast, and his arrival gave the signal for an almost
universal rising of the great barons of the kingdom. At this crisis of
his fortunes, Ferdinand succeeded, through the Duke of Milan's
strenuous exertions, in detaching from the Angevine party Venice and
Florence, which assumed a neutral position. He also summoned Piccinino
from schemes of personal aggrandisement in La Marca, to defend his
crown; but that greedy freebooter, indignant at being called off his
quarry, took the usual licence of condottieri, and opened a
correspondence with his master's competitor. Warned of this by the
Count of Urbino, the King and the Duke of Milan made every effort to
retain Giacopo under the banner of Aragon, and we are assured that the
Count, in their interest, went so far as to promise him a surrender of
part of his newly recovered territory, should the adventurer not make
good for himself any other seigneury.[106] But trusting little to
that slippery soldier, they desired Federigo and the Lord of Pesaro to
concert measures for preventing his march into the Abruzzi. Their
precautions were, however, defeated, for Piccinino, who then lay in
Romagna, sent his baggage and camp-followers to be embarked at the
nearest ports, and partly by dexterously misleading them as to his
route, chiefly by forced marches of extraordinary rapidity, in three
days scoured the Adriatic coast, and reached the Tronto without
impediment. On the last day he is said to have done fifty miles, with
twenty squadrons of men-at-arms and two thousand infantry--a feat
which cost him many horses, and which he was believed to have effected
by aid of the Lady of Loretto, before whose shrine he found time to
prefer a passing orison. Possibly more important to his success was
the adhesion of Ercole d'Este, and of the Lords of Rimini and
Camerino, to the cause of Anjou, as well as orders privately given by
the papal legate to accelerate the passage of his formidable company
through the ecclesiastical territory.
[Footnote 106: BALDI, III., p. 79. Pius had arranged all this with
Federigo at Siena, in February, 1460, and had advanced him money, in
order, if necessary, to corrupt Piccinino's troops--_Commentaria_, p.
97. At p. 100 the Pontiff insinuates against Federigo the same charge
which the Urbino writers have preferred against his own legate, of
facilitating their transit into the enemy's country, which
unquestionably could not have been effected without collusion or
remissness in some quarter.]
Although the army of the League, following closely on that of
Piccinino, had crossed the Tronto early in April, it was unable to
effect a junction with Ferdinand, in consequence of the eastern side
of the kingdom having risen against him, and of the passes being all
well guarded. In this state of affairs the King's defeat at Sarno
rendered his prospects still more gloomy, and his only remaining hope
seemed to rest on the confederate force in the Abruzzi. It consisted
of a strong contingent from Lombardy, led by Bosio Sforza, and of a
less important brigade of ecclesiastical troops, besides the hardy
mountaineers of Montefeltro and the well-tried company of Alessandro
Sforza, the whole commanded by the Count of Urbino. It was kept in
check by Piccinino's army, superior especially in infantry and
cross-bowmen, although of late considerably weeded of the Braccian
veterans, many of whom had taken service under the Lords of Pesaro and
Urbino.
In July these contending armaments were in presence at San Fabbiano,
on the Tordino, the Angevines encamped on the hill-side, the Aragonese
in the plain, separated by a considerable extent of intervening level
ground, on which marauding or exploring parties from each camp daily
met. During one of these skirmishes, a defiance was given by Nardo da
Marsciano to Francesco della Carda to break a lance, which was
cheerfully accepted; and the challenge being repeated by Serafino da
Montefalcone, it was taken up by one Fantaguzzo da S. Arcangelo. Two
days were allowed for preparations, and, when the encounters took
place, victory declared for the Aragonese knights, who, by order of
Piccinino, were crowned with laurel, and escorted back to their camp
by a pompous array of martial music. While aiding to keep the lists,
Federigo, in making a dash at a straggler, spurred his charger, which
suddenly bounding, so wrenched his back that he was rendered incapable
of motion, and was lifted from his horse in exquisite pain. Being put
to bed, with the prospect of a tedious cure, a council of war was held
in his tent, when Alessandro Sforza, the next in command, advocated a
general action; but the Count spoke long and strongly in favour of
defensive tactics, and of saving the troops from continual skirmishes,
exhausting to their strength and temper. The latter opinion was
unanimously approved of; but Alessandro having exclaimed, with some
show of mortified feeling, "You, however, have thrice had a tussle
with the enemy," Federigo replied, "Well then, you may do the same,
but with two or three squadrons only, not putting the whole
encampment under arms." Accordingly, two days after,[107] a partial
onset was made, which, as both sides were supported by repeated
reinforcements, gradually brought on a general action. The battle,
thus commenced without plan or object, became a disorderly pell-mell
fight, and hence, probably, its results were far more fatal than the
usually bloodless engagements of hired companies, more anxious about
their own safety than the cause which they supported for the nonce.
Little can be gathered from the confused accounts of the Urbino
writers, and that of Simonetta is obviously incomplete. From the
latter it would seem that the Braccians strove to cross a deep ditch
in front of their quarters, whilst Ricotti makes them successful in
breaking through the enemy's line, too much extended under an
apprehension of being outflanked by superior numbers. Again, the
biographers of Federigo tell us that, learning the impending loss of a
battle brought on against his advice, he rose from bed, had himself
swathed in bandages, and, though unable to don his armour, was lifted
on horseback, heading a charge of the reserve, which, although not
crowned by victory, averted a certain and signal defeat. The contest
was prolonged when night had closed in, and, after seven hours of
severe fighting, the combatants withdrew to their respective quarters.
Baldi, who dwells very fully on the Count's gallantry, quoting
contemporary manuscripts, mentions that two horses were killed under
him: but his courage was shown in triumphing over the agony of his
malady even more than by exposing himself in the brunt of a battle
which had become almost desperate. His conduct in both respects was
done justice to by his followers, and much of his military reputation
dated from the disastrous fight of San Fabbiano. It is to be
regretted that no return of its casualties has reached us, as it would
have been curious to know the losses of the most bloody action of this
age. Berni merely says that 400 horses and many men were slain. As to
its immediate consequences, our authorities are again at issue.
Simonetta, the historian of the Sforzas, and, consequently, a partisan
of the League, admits that, though apparently a drawn battle, the
disadvantage was greatly on the allies' side; that a portion of their
troops fled from the field, and never drew bridle until they had
crossed the Tronto, followed by the rest, during the stillness of the
subsequent night. Sismondi also claims a victory for the Angevines,
with the loss to their opponents of all their baggage and most of
their horses. On the other hand, Baldi quotes two contemporary
authorities, one of them a spectator, to prove that Federigo's army
sacrificed scarcely more than four hundred horses, and that he did not
break up his cantonments for at least ten days later, and even then
only in consequence of progressive disaffection in the Abruzzi. He
admits, however, that the confederate army exhibited a most
pusillanimous spirit, and, but for their captain-general's exertions
and authority, would have actually done what Simonetta lays to their
charge, instead of eventually retiring beyond the Tronto rapidly, but
in good order, with baggage and wounded, their retreat covered by a
succession of ambuscades, which checked and severely punished the
columns of Piccinino, while in disorderly pursuit.
[Footnote 107: There is much discrepancy as to the date. Berni and
Muzio say it was the 22nd of July; Baldi names the 29th; Muratori,
followed by Sismondi and Ricotti, the 27th of that month; Simonetta
the 22nd of June. Muzio and Baldi, however, agree that the battle was
fought on a Tuesday, which must have been the 22nd of July, the Feast
of the Magdalen.]
The tournament which preluded this mortal strife proves that a spirit
of chivalry still animated the Italian condottieri,[*108] who, in the
words of Dante,
"Hired to a hireling, still with hirelings fights,
Ne'er asks the cause of quarrel nor its rights."
[Footnote *108: As witness the almost comic challenge of Piccinino to
Sforza. Cf. EDWARD HUTTON, _op. cit._, pp. 124-7.]
An anecdote of Federigo which occurred a few days later illustrates
the same feeling. Piccinino, informed by spies of the panic prevailing
among the allies, sought by all means to aggravate it, in order to rid
himself of them without further bloodshed. He, therefore, on various
pretexts, sent into their camp bearers of bad news, and exaggerated
rumours from the south. One of these emissaries, being taken before
the Count and asked what tidings, represented himself as commissioned
by Giacopo to request that their plate and valuables might not be sent
away, as he wished to have them for his own special use. Federigo,
though blessed with uncommon command of temper, was irritated by this
boastful and ill-timed insult, and, starting to his feet, exclaimed,
"Reply to Piccinino, or whoever else sent you on this mission, that he
who would win my property will have enough to do, and must first stake
his own." Then, looking towards the sun, he added, "It is now late,
but to-morrow I shall inquire by what means he is to get them." In the
morning he accordingly sent his secretary, Paltroni, to inform the
General that, having received such a message in his name, he desired
to know how he proposed to gain these things, by pitched battle or
single combat; that he was welcome to choose what way he pleased, as
they would be well defended against one or many. But Giacopo
repudiated the bravado imputed to him, and sent back the envoy with
many compliments, so that this intended discouragement was, by the
Count's tact, converted into a sort of triumph, at the expense rather
than to the advantage of his designing adversary.
Ferdinand having lost every place of importance but his capital, the
cause of Aragon was now most critically situated; and had the Duke of
Calabria moved directly upon Naples, there can be little doubt that
the French dynasty would have been seated, and probably established,
upon the throne of one of the Sicilies. But he let slip the
favourable moment, influenced it is said by Orsini, Prince of Tarento.
Such was the predominance enjoyed by this overgrown feudatory, that
Alfonso had conceived a marriage with his niece Isabella sufficient to
secure the crown to Ferdinand; yet was he the first to disturb the
succession, and his whole power had been directed against her husband.
It is said that love or duty, ambition or pique, working on woman's
wit, induced her to hazard an appeal to her uncle's mercy, and that,
disguised as a Franciscan monk, she made her way to his tent, where
her expostulations moved the stern baron to give breathing time to
Ferdinand, by diverting the Angevine arms from the capital to less
important places. Simonetta, omitting this little romance of history,
ascribes Orsini's policy to the selfish motive of prolonging a civil
war which augmented his individual importance. Under this pressing
necessity all thoughts of the Turkish crusade were abandoned; and even
Pius postponed to a more fitting season, what he regarded as the cause
of Christendom, in favour of one which Sforza had satisfied him was
that of Italy. Both these sovereigns promptly advanced subsidies, and
a small contingent of troops from Lombardy arrived in the confederate
camp. The Count of Urbino's service as captain-general expired in
September, when he would gladly have quitted a cause forsaken
apparently by fortune, in order to protect home interests, always in
peril from his neighbour of Rimini. But he was persuaded to accept a
renewed engagement from the Pontiff, who in the autumn was recalled
from Siena by the exigency of his capital.
Piccinino, consulting as much the advantage of his own company as that
of the house of Anjou, made a descent upon the Sabine territory, and
scoured the rich Campagna, until the Romans, tracing from their walls
his path of fire, trembled for their insecure city. The army of the
League was summoned in all haste for its defence, but their march was
delayed by divided councils and private aims, the leaders being averse
to leaving exposed their interests in Romagna; and had Giacopo
ventured to attack the Eternal City, instead of intriguing with a few
of her discontented inhabitants, he might have anticipated those
scenes of plunder and outrage inflicted on her in the following
century by the lawless host of the Constable Bourbon. But it was
reserved for a French renegade, leading a horde of ultra-montane
banditti, to strike a blow, from which the Italian condottiere may
have recoiled as sacrilegious. Fortunately, Federigo was thus spared
the disgrace which tarnishes his grandson Duke Francesco Maria I., of
sacrificing the metropolis of Christendom to dilatory movements and
selfish ends. After losing three months inactively on the Adriatic,
the confederates advanced into the Sabine country, and recovered
several places lately seized by the Angevines. November having
arrived, both armies went into winter quarters; the Count of Urbino at
Magliano, near Narni, where he learned that his departure from La
Marca had encouraged Malatesta to seize upon Mondavio, which under the
late arrangement had become his, Sinigaglia being re-annexed to the
Church.
Federigo and Alessandro Sforza repaired to Rome for the Christmas
ceremonies, when there occurred a singular proceeding, commemorated by
Pius in his _Commentaries_. An advocate of the papal courts brought
before a full consistory the malpractices of Sigismondo Malatesta in a
formal pleading, accusing him of rapine, wilful fire-raising,
slaughter, rape, adultery, incest, parricide, sacrilege, treason,
lese-majesty, and heresy, and praying his Holiness to listen to the
suppliant voices of those who could no longer endure the tyrant's
cruel yoke, and to avenge them by at length freeing Italy from a foul
and abominable monster, in whose cities no good man's life was safe.
None having replied to this oration, the Count of Urbino and his
neighbour of Pesaro resumed the charges, alleging that many of the
culprit's worst enormities had been passed over; that his treacheries
equalled the number of his transactions, that none ever trusted him
without being betrayed, that he scoffed not at one or another point of
faith, but at the whole evangelical system, in utter ignorance of
religion. The Pontiff then, in a long speech, took credit for
leniency, in not summarily consigning the offender to eternal
perdition, and remitted the cause to the Cardinal of S.
Pietro-ad-vincula. The report by his Eminence pronounced him guilty of
all these crimes, and of disbelief in the resurrection or the soul's
immortality; whereupon sentence went forth, depriving him of his state
and dignities, and condemning him to the punishment of heresy. On a
vast pile of combustibles raised before the steps of St. Peter's, was
placed an effigy of Sigismondo from the mouth of which issued a scroll
inscribed, "Here am I, Sigismondo Malatesta, son of Pandolfo, king of
traitors, foe of God and man, condemned to the flames by a sentence of
the sacred college." Fire being applied, the figure was consumed amid
the curses of thousands, and in Easter week of 1461, formal
excommunication went out against the brothers Malatesta.[109]
[Footnote 109: _Comment. Pii Papæ II._, pp. 129, 131, 184, 203.]
[Illustration: _Alinari_
SIGISMONDO MALATESTA
_Detail from the fresco by Piero della Francesca in the Tempio
Malatestiano in Rimini_]
When spring permitted new operations, the League, by a series of petty
successes, restored the papal authority in the revolted townships, and
punished Savelli, one of the great Campagna chiefs who had sided with
the Angevine pretender. Then crossing the frontier into the Abruzzi,
Alessandro Sforza encompassed Sulmona, whilst Federigo, by a most
difficult march among the Apennine sierras, made a successful foray
upon the enemy's unprotected country. From thence he suddenly
returned, on hearing that Pius contemplated retiring from Rome to
Tivoli during the dog-day heats, and warmly remonstrated with his
Holiness on risking his person among a proverbially treacherous
population, by whom Piccinino had been recently welcomed. To these
entreaties, seconded by the cardinals, the Pope replied that a
residence among them was the surest means of recovering the affections
of these citizens, and confirming their attachment to the Holy See.
Thither accordingly he was escorted by the Count of Urbino with ten
troops of horse; and the Pontiff dwells in glowing terms on their
splendid horses, arms, and accoutrements, their shields glittering in
the morning sun, their crests and morions dazzling beholders, each
troop a forest of spears. "As they rode along the Campagna, Federigo,
whose reading was extensive, inquired of his Holiness whether the
generals of antiquity were armed like those of our day? Pius replied
that all the weapons in actual use, as well as many now obsolete, may
be found in Homer and Virgil, for though poets sometimes invent, yet
they generally describe pretty correctly what has at some period
existed. The conversation turning upon the Trojan war, which the Count
endeavoured to depreciate, the Pontiff demonstrated its importance,
and that its great reputation was not unfounded. Such pleasant and
spirited discourse upon ancient history was prolonged between them to
the Lucano Bridge, where the guard was dismissed; but, thereafter, his
Holiness availed himself of a leisure moment at Tivoli to detail from
Ptolemy, Strabo, Pliny, Quintus Curtius, Julius Solinus, Pomponius
Mela, and other old authors, many appropriate particulars regarding
Asia Minor and its limits, which had by chance been mentioned."
This interesting episode concluded, Federigo rejoined his army, and
after accumulating vast booty from the villages, and carrying several
fastnesses, dictated terms to the important city of Aquila. Thus
passed the summer, and in October he was instructed to bring to
obedience the Duke of Sora, who had thrown off allegiance to
Ferdinand. Before attacking the town of that name he found it
necessary to reduce the mountain fortress of Castelluccio, near the
Garigliano; but its tiny garrison, availing themselves of a strong
position, held out against the defective artillery of that day until a
large force had assembled for its relief. These, however, met from him
so warm a reception that they were glad to retire, and leave not only
the place but all the duchy of Sora at his mercy. This service was
most grateful to Pius, who gladly saw an enemy on his very frontier
brought to terms. In the next consistory he remarked that "this
captain of ours with his single eye sees everything," and addressed to
him the following complimentary brief, which Muzio has preserved. "To
our well-beloved son, health and apostolic benediction: We have been
duly informed of the courage wherewith you have met the enemy, and in
how short a time you have carried the stronghold you were
beleaguering. These marvellous exploits content us much, and are
worthy of your wonted prowess and magnanimity. Dear to us is your
person, and we would cherish your worth and valour. Proceed as you
have commenced, and daily add to your good offices in behalf of
ourselves and of his Majesty: let it be your endeavour by every
exertion to augment your reputation, and you shall always be the son
of our benediction. From Rome, at St. Peter's, under the fisher's
ring, this 1st of October, 1461, in the eighth year of our
pontificate."
During the dead season Federigo visited the Pope and Ferdinand, to
concert measures for the ensuing campaign, and on its opening was
again obliged to proceed against the Duke of Sora, who had evaded a
submission extorted from him in the autumn. It was not, however, by
such petty achievements that the Neapolitan succession was to be
settled. Nominally a republic, Genoa was really an oligarchy, the
sport of rival factions; but there had long been a leaning to the
Angevine alliance, and no support could have been more useful to that
house in its pretensions upon Naples. Without command of the sea, such
pretensions were absolutely vain, and that commercial community,
situated between Provence and Lower Italy, not only secured to these a
mutual intercourse, but formed a most available entrepôt for
reinforcements and military stores. The French, originally received
within its walls as allies, had become virtually masters of the
maritime state; but in the spring of 1461 a popular revolution,
occasioned by financial burdens consequent upon the Neapolitan war,
and promoted by the Duke of Milan, overthrew the Angevine party, and
obliged the French to seek shelter in the fortress. An army chosen
from the chivalry of Languedoc and France was embarked at Marseilles
to succour the Duke of Calabria, but his father directed the fleet
conveying it to stand into the bay of Genoa, in hopes of easily
re-establishing there the Angevine interests. He was, however,
repulsed thence in July by a defeat so bloody and complete that his
army was annihilated and his influence entirely overthrown. The cause
of René, hitherto almost uniformly successful, never recovered this
check, by which he lost at once a highly important reinforcement and a
most serviceable ally. Other discouragements followed in rapid
succession: the death of Charles VII. deprived him of a powerful
coadjutor, the unlooked for convalescence of Francesco Sforza restored
energy to his most active adversary, and a sudden descent upon Apulia
by George Scanderbeg, the hero of Greece, with a seasonable
reinforcement of Castriot horse, cheered Ferdinand's drooping spirits,
and enabled him during the campaign of 1462 to recover his lost
advantages.
Sigismondo Malatesta having recovered most of his territories in the
previous year, Piccinino conceived the opportunity favourable for
employing in the French interests his soldiery, no longer required for
his own ends. He therefore dispatched an emissary with sufficient
funds to retain some minor condottieri of Lombardy and Romagna, and to
persuade Malatesta to march at their head into the Abruzzi. By this
effort a force was raised which gave extreme uneasiness to the Pope
for the safety of La Marca, and from which great expectations were
raised by the Angevines, in the belief that it would promptly advance
southward. There was thus little difficulty in allowing Federigo to
hasten from the seat of war in order to meet this new danger; and
although he hurried onwards with extraordinary rapidity, he reached
Sinigaglia an hour after it had been treacherously surrendered to its
former master, the Lord of Rimini. Sigismondo, alarmed at this
unexpected descent, made overtures to his old rival in an altered
tone, interlarding general professions of regard with many wily
suggestions that their common interests would be far safer with
Sinigaglia in his hands than in those of the Church. Without entering
upon this view of the matter, Federigo replied that, being in the
field not as Count of Urbino but as captain of his Holiness, such
private considerations must be postponed to a more fitting moment.
The rising sun was gilding the slumbering Adriatic on the 12th of
August, when the Count appeared before Sinigaglia, after a forced
march from the Chiento, thirty long miles distant, effected within as
many hours.[110] During that day his army passed the Nevola, and sat
down within a bow-shot of the enemy's camp. Had Malatesta at once
charged these toil-worn troops, his victory might have been complete;
had he occupied the city, or kept possession of his own well-fortified
entrenchments, he might have waited another opportunity for striking a
decisive blow. But from folly or cowardice irreconcilable with the
fair reputation he held among contemporary free captains, he adopted
the extraordinary resolution of a retreat upon Fano, and shortly
before midnight silently quitted his camp. Federigo was, however, on
the alert, and throwing himself on horseback, sped on with a few
mounted squadrons, whilst he ordered all his troops to follow with
their utmost diligence. As he hurried forward, some of his staff,
unaware of the precautions taken against surprise, remonstrated at the
risk of thus rushing into danger; but he cheered them on, saying it
was in like manner, and the same hour, and through this very country,
that Claudius Nero had advanced after Asdrubal, when he beat and
utterly overthrew him. Thus pressing onward he overtook the enemy at
the streamlet of the Cesano, and with trumpet and shouts raised the
cry to battle. Sigismondo, deeming it impossible for the army to
follow after its severe exertions of the preceding night, conceived
his pursuers to be but a handful of skirmishers whom it were well at
once to dispose of. He therefore formed his rear-guard to receive
their attack, thus giving the main body of his adversaries time to
arrive. A full moon enabled the Count to perceive his advantage,
without exposing his weakness; and, waiting until he was sufficiently
supported, he charged with an impetuosity which cleared the rivulet,
and so thoroughly routed the enemy that even their van felt the shock
and took to flight. Before dawn Malatesta's army, although said to
have outnumbered Federigo's as five to two, was scattered to the
winds, whilst he escaped into Fano, and his eldest son to Mondolfo.
The victor, after a day to recruit his men, withdrew into his own
state, having no artillery wherewith to reduce Sinigaglia.
[Footnote 110: Muratori says that the battle of the Cesano was fought
on the 26th; but we prefer the date given by Berni, who makes it
commence on a Thursday night, being the 12th, not the 13th, which
Sismondi has adopted for the combat.]
Sigismondo, ever prepared to cloak defeat by hypocrisy, sent a
confidential envoy to the Count, charged with the same arguments and
professions he had a few days before proposed to him, and commissioned
to offer the hand of his eldest son Roberto for one of Federigo's
infant daughters, in guarantee of their perfect reconciliation. For
reply, the latter taunted him with his ever-broken faith, and rejected
propositions which it would be dishonourable in him to entertain, as
an officer of the Pope, whose service he infinitely preferred to
amity or relationship with Malatesta. This negotiation being reported
to his Holiness by the legate, was approved in the following papal
brief addressed to Federigo.
"If it be as reported to us, that accomplished master of treason and
wicked plotter of profanity, Sigismondo Malatesta, a true son of
perdition, has attempted in many and various ways to undermine your
still incorruptible faith; and this, as we have heard, and as you have
in part informed us, since he was worsted and overthrown near
Sinigaglia, nay, driven to a disgraceful flight, by your superior
might and the bravery of your soldiers: and he has at the same time
added that, if we reduce him to do our kitchen service and to set our
meat in order, you too will end by becoming our muleteer; promising
you, however, an alliance with his family, provided you will either
reinstate him in our favour, or abstain from annoying him: but we are
aware how wisely you replied to his folly, and how your good sense
brought him to confusion. It is superfluous for us to advise you as to
the most prudent course; we would but encourage you heartily to
persevere and keep at him, letting slip no opportunity of oppressing
and humbling the enemy, and that you do your utmost speedily to
terminate this war, and to liberate us and yourself from a most
rascally foe, with whom no terms of peace can ever be relied on. And
do not imagine, however much our ally the King of France may desire a
truce in the kingdom of Hither Sicily, including in it Sigismondo as
his adherent, that we shall suffer any to interfere as arbiter or
judge between us and our subjects, except the Holy See which we
represent. Proceed then, conquer, destroy, and consume this accursed
Sigismondo, and in him neutralise the poison of Italy. Which if you
do, as we hope, you will be most dear not only to us, but to all our
successors in time to come, and we shall acknowledge your deserts by
such recompense as shall by all be considered adequate. It is not
nobility that we hate, as is falsely asserted by him, but profligate
and faithless nobles like himself, who has not hesitated to betray his
mother and sovereign the Roman Church, and we shall not neglect to
chastise him as God may give us opportunity. You, and all such as
imitate your ways, we love right heartily, and shall honour and exalt
to the utmost of our power while life endures, knowing well that
authority is best maintained by punishments and rewards, and that in
the opinion of all the world, Sigismondo has earned the former and you
the latter. From Petriuolo with our own hand, this 6th of October,
1462."[111]
[Footnote 111: Papal bulls and briefs, when abusive, are often more
pungent than dignified, and their epithets sometimes baffle
translation. In this instance, the meaning being filtered through the
slovenly Italian version of Muzio, may have lost somewhat of its
point. The obscure mention of menial offices in the Pope's service, is
perhaps a clumsy allusion to some now forgotten proverb.]
In implement of these promises, the Count, on the 3rd of November,
received a commission as lieutenant-general of the ecclesiastical
forces, which he had hitherto led as captain-general, and under his
authority pursued with energy the invasion of his enemy's territory.
On the 20th of September he obtained Mondavio, whose inhabitants
averted a sack by paying 3000 ducats. This was followed by a surrender
of the whole vicariat of Sinigaglia and territory of Fano, which he
did his best to save from the miseries of war: but as it was necessary
to keep his soldiery in good humour, he at Barchi allowed all the
people to remove; then closing the gates, and disarming his men, he
gave the word for a general assault upon the abandoned fortress, whose
pillage was thus in some degree divested of the horrors usually
attendant on such scenes, which are described by Sanzi in these
feeling terms:--
"Alas, the wailing, the heart-rending woe!
The modest mansions and proud palaces,
The towers and petty castles, all o'erthrown;
Their dwellers madly rushing here and there,
Their women weeping in dishevelled garb,
Imploring mercy for their little ones!
Ah, cruel fates, ah, tendencies accursed!
Such, Malatesta! the embittered fruits
Of thy dissensions and audacious deeds.
Unwearied foe to peace! How numerous
The victims of thy countless crimes, who thus
Their substance see in ashes or despoiled,
Themselves imprisoned and impoverished."
The Count now carried his victorious arms into the country of Rimini,
and, after taking Mondaino, laid siege to Montefiori, which
capitulated on the 22nd of October, when Giovanni, a son of
Sigismondo, was made prisoner. Being demanded by the papal legate, it
was not without considerable discussion that a preferable claim to his
ransom was established for the lieutenant-general, who proved that the
war was on his part one neither of selfishness nor vengeance, by
freely restoring his liberty and personal effects, and escorting him
in person from the camp with many kind and consolatory expressions. It
is curious to contrast this chivalrous conduct with the unworthy trick
by which Federigo dexterously, and apparently without any stain upon
his good name, gained the citadel of Verucchio after the town had
surrendered. He caused a letter, forged in the name of Sigismondo, and
fastened with an old impression of his seal,[112] to be transmitted to
the castellan, informing him that on a stated night a reinforcement of
twenty men would arrive, whom he should be prepared to admit. At the
indicated hour a detachment stealthily approached the gate, which was
hastily opened to them on an alarm rising in the besieger's camp;
rushing upon the guard, they were quickly supported by their
confederates, and the place was carried ere the garrison were aware
that they had admitted enemies in the guise of friends. The few
remaining weeks of open weather sufficed to reduce all the territory
of Rimini, with most of that around Cesena; and when the snow fell
Federigo repaired to Verucchio, whence he blockaded the city of Rimini
during the winter.
[Footnote 112: So say Muzio and Baldi. Pius II. and Reposati print the
letter as from his brother Malatesta Novello, lord of Cesena,
brother-in-law of Federigo, a prince who shared, without deserving,
his brother's fate, and whose love of literature, differing widely
from that of the vainglorious Sigismondo, continues to benefit
posterity in the fine old library which he founded at Cesena, where
its ponderous tomes remain chained to their stalls as he left them
four centuries ago. See his verses in I. of the Appendices.]
The misfortunes thus heaped upon Malatesta were paralleled by those
which befel the Angevine cause. Hastening to obtain succours from
Piccinino, he found him paralysed by an almost equally decisive defeat
received before Troia on the 18th of August. Within a month the Prince
of Tarento gave his adherence to Ferdinand, a clear proof that the
star of Aragon was in the ascendant; and although this example was not
adopted by Giacopo until the following autumn, his intermediate
exertions were directed to securing the means of dictating favourable
terms for himself, rather than to saving the Duke of Calabria from
reverses rapidly accumulating around him. In August, 1463, he made his
peace, receiving Sulmona and many adjoining townships as a sovereign
principality, and in spring the Duke, whose footing had during many
months been limited to the island of Ischia, returned to Provence,
finally abandoning his pretensions to Lower Italy. These evil tidings
are said to have found his father René so absorbed in painting a
partridge that the loss of a kingdom neither shook his hand nor
ruffled its plumage.
After his bootless visit to the Angevine camp Sigismondo turned for
aid to Venice, and obtained the Signory's mediation with Pius in his
behalf. But the Pontiff, by a long allocution recorded in his
_Commentaries_, justified to their ambassador the strong measures
required against so incorrigible an offender, who thereupon directed
his energies to providing Fino and Rimini with means of resistance. In
the reopening campaign his opponent's first measure was to bring
Macerata and some other mountain fastnesses to terms, for which the
noise of his guns sufficed. Thence he descended upon Fano, then held
by Roberto Malatesta, and after the manner of the age preluded his
attack by gathering in the harvest that awaited the townspeople's
sickles. This delay allowed the languid ecclesiastical levies to
arrive, and in July the siege was formed. Under a system of improved
warfare few places would be more untenable, its position affording it
no natural advantages, and lying open to assault by sea or land. It
was otherwise in the infancy of artillery and military engineering.
Much time and labour and some lives were expended before the
besiegers' pieces could be brought to bear, or be protected from the
heavy stones, weighing each 300 pounds, which were fired upon them
from the ramparts. Sigismondo commanded the sea by means of vessels
chartered at Venice, supplying the place with men, ammunition, and
provisions; and although his fleet was seriously damaged by a flotilla
of boats hastily manned by Federigo's orders, communications were
quickly re-established under protection of some Venetian galleys:
after these had been recalled, in consequence of urgent
representations made to the Signory on behalf of the Pope, this
service was performed by two Angevine galleys hired by Malatesta for
the purpose. Neither perseverance nor courage in its proper sense were
qualities of the Italian soldiery, even in their age of military
reputation, and the discouragement resulting from this state of
affairs was so aggravated by a terrific thunder-storm, under cover of
which a sally captured their artillerymen and dismounted their guns,
that it was with the utmost difficulty, and only by urgent
representations to Pius himself, the lieutenant-general could keep his
troops together. Aware that success constituted his best hold upon
them, he redoubled his exertions, and in a short time had the
satisfaction not only of remedying these reverses, but of seeing his
operations put on a really satisfactory footing. The prospect of
pillage now carried his army to the opposite extreme; they could not
be restrained from an assault, which they gave with such impetuosity
that the terrified citizens capitulated whilst Roberto with his mother
and sisters retired into the castle. These ladies, remembering the
Count's generous conduct to their Giovanni at Montefiori, and
preferring his clemency to the risks of further resistance, induced
Roberto to surrender it on the third day, before a shot had been fired
in its defence. The conditions appear to have been a general assurance
of protection to persons and property; and when the Malatesta family
presented themselves before their conqueror, the ladies in convulsive
grief, he was assailed by persuasions from the legate and most of his
officers and advisers--
"To keep the word of promise to the ear,
And break it to the sense."
They urged upon him that, in dealing with an enemy who had again and
again set good faith at defiance, it was weakness to adhere to a
capitulation, and thus lose the opportunity at length offered by
fortune of avenging past injuries on the son of his foe; at all events
that, under provocations so aggravated, he would be amply justified in
observing the terms rather to the letter than in their spirit, and in
exacting an ample ransom for his prisoners, as Sigismondo would, in
the like circumstances, have assuredly done. These suggestions, though
entirely conformable to the morality and honour of the age, were
rejected by Federigo, to whose candid and generous mind they seemed
mere sophistry. He, therefore, not only liberated the Malatesta, but
escorted them to the place of their embarkation for Rimini. Pius has
himself recorded the feelings with which he learned the fall of Fano.
Rising from table, he spread his hands towards heaven, and poured
forth thanks to the Almighty, who thus loaded him with benefits.
After which, he said apart, "There is now nothing to keep me at home;
God calls me to his own war, and lays open the way; there is no reason
for further delay." These, however, were projects destined to remain
unfulfilled.
The moral influence of the Count's moderation, as well as of his
success, was proved in the speedy surrender of Mondolfo and
Sinigaglia, by which the whole vicariat finally passed from the
Malatesta, and lapsed to the Church. Fano has ever since been included
in the ecclesiastical territory, but Sinigaglia, conferred by Sixtus
IV. on his nephew, Giovanni della Rovere, son-in-law of Federigo,
became the cradle of the second ducal dynasty of Urbino, and an
integral portion of their duchy. In order to reduce what remained of
the Rimini fiefs, the Count presented himself before the stronghold of
Gradara, a mountain village, even now retaining some interesting
memorials of the Malatesta, which quickly followed the example of
Sinigaglia,[113] as did Maiuolo, Penna di Billi, and S. Agata, in
Montefeltro.
[Footnote 113: Muzio says in four days, Baldi in eighteen.]
Accident now intervened to save Sigismondo from utter destruction.
Some disputes between Venice and the Emperor, originating in
commercial jealousies, exposed Trieste to an attack by the former. It
happened that Pius, having been bishop of that place, interposed in
his behalf. The Venetian Signory had observed with jealousy the
progress of the Church along the Adriatic, which they looked upon as
their own lake, and where their ascendancy was apparently secure, so
long as its western sea-board continued to be partitioned among petty
feudatories and communities. Their plan of indirectly thwarting the
siege of Fano having failed, they seized this opportunity of making
the recal of their armament against Trieste conditional upon an
arrangement between his Holiness and Malatesta, urging that it ill
became him to preach Christian union as a preliminary to the Turkish
crusade, whilst he pertinaciously instigated a selfish contest. It was
not easy to evade or answer a plea which appealed to the Pontiff's
ruling passion, especially as apprehensions began to be entertained
that Sigismondo might in desperation sell his services, or even his
territory, to the Infidel. Availing himself of this favourable
opening, the culprit sent envoys from Rimini to Rome, to sue for peace
on any terms. Those dictated by Pius were abundantly stringent to
gratify vengeance and disarm apprehension. In order to expiate his
flagrant heresies, commissioners, formally authorised by him, were to
appear in the church of the Santissimi Apostoli, on a festival, during
celebration of mass, and there publicly confess and recant their
master's atheistical tenets. As an atonement for his treasons and
temporal misdeeds, his possessions were forfeited to the Church,
except Rimini and a few miles of the surrounding country, his
conquests from Federigo being at the same time restored. Conditions of
nearly equal severity were imposed on Malatesta of Cesena, and the
remnant of territory allowed to the brothers was continued to them
only during life, under burden of a heavy annual tribute. But for the
imperious Sigismondo there was reserved a deeper humiliation. As the
bishop who was commissioned to raise the interdict approached his
capital, he and his people met him in suppliant guise. Proceeding to
the cathedral, the prelate set forth the sins of the sovereign, and
imposed upon the community three days of fasting and penance, with
suspension of Divine ministrations. At the end of that interval,
Sigismondo appeared on his knees before the bishop at the high altar,
to acknowledge his errors, implore their remission, and pledge his
future obedience: whereupon he and his people, who crowded around in
the same abject attitude, were absolved, and received the benediction.
Thus ended twenty-four years of strife between Sigismondo and
Federigo, which, necessarily occupying our narrative, may have unduly
taxed the patience of our readers. When it began, the Malatesta owned
the whole coast from Cervia and Cesena to the Fiumisino, near Ancona.
Had their conduct equalled their daring ambition, they might, by
acquiring the comparatively unimportant fiefs of Urbino, Durante, and
Gubbio, and by absorbing the petty holdings which adjoined their
northern frontier, have established a powerful state in the fairest
and strongest provinces of Central Italy. But when the struggle
closed, it left them but a precarious life-interest in mere fractions
of that ample territory, the rest of which had gone to enrich the
Church, or to aggrandise their especial enemies, the Montefeltri and
the Sforza. The portion now accruing to Federigo, by authority of the
Pope and the consistory, included about fifty townships between the
Foglia and the Marecchia, which had been partly seized from himself
and his predecessors, partly held as debatable land, subject to the
strongest, but which henceforward continued incorporated with Urbino.