The Duke presented the young couple Castle Vecchio for their residence,

and there Lucretia established her court. This stronghold, which is

still in existence, is one of the most imposing monuments of the Middle

Ages. It overlooks all Ferrara, and may be seen for miles around. Its

dark red color; its gloominess, which is partly due to its architectural

severity; its four mighty towers--all combine to cause a feeling of

fear, especially on moonlight nights, when the shadows of the towers

fall on the water in the moat, which still surrounds the castle as in

days of old. The figures of the great ones who once lived in the

stronghold--Ugo and Parisina Malatesta, Borso, Lucretia Borgia and

Alfonso, Renée of France, and Calvin, Ariosto, Alfonso II, the

unfortunate Tasso and Eleonora--seem to rise before the beholder.

[Illustration: CASTLE VECCHIO AT FERRARA.]

The Marchese Niccolò, owing to an uprising of the citizens began Castle

Vecchio in the year 1385, and his successor completed it and decorated

the interior. It is connected by covered passage-ways with the palace

opposite the church. Before Ercole extended Ferrara on the north, the

castle marked the boundary of the city. One of the towers, called the

Tower of the Lions, protected the city gate. A branch of the Po, which

at that time flowed near by, supplied the moat--over which there were

several drawbridges--with water.

In Lucretia's time only the main features of the stronghold were the

same as they are now; the cornices of the towers are of a later date,

and the towers themselves were somewhat lower; the walls were embattled

like those of the Gonzaga castle in Mantua. Cannon, cast under the

direction of Alfonso, were placed at various points. There is an

interior quadrangular court with arcades, and there Lucretia was shown

the place where Niccolò II had caused his son Ugo and his stepmother,

the beautiful Parisina, to be beheaded. This gruesome deed was a warning

to Alexander's daughter to be true to her husband.

A wide marble stairway led to the two upper stories of the castle, one

of which, the lower, consisting of a series of chambers and salons, was

set aside for the princes. In the course of time this has suffered so

many changes that even those most thoroughly acquainted with Ferrara do

not know just where Lucretia's apartments were.[177] Very few of the

paintings with which the Este adorned the castle are left. There are

still some frescoes by Dossi and another unknown master.

The castle was always a gloomy and oppressive residence. It was in

perfect accord with the character of Ferrara, which even now is

forbidding. Standing on the battlements, and looking across the broad,

highly cultivated, but monotonous fields, whose horizon is not

attractive, because the Veronese Alps are too far distant, and the

Apennines, which are closer, are not clearly defined; and gazing down

upon the black mass of the city itself, one wonders how Ariosto's

exuberant creation could have been produced here. Greater inspiration

would be found in the sky, the land, and the sea of idyllic Sorrento,

which was Tasso's birthplace, but this is only another proof of the

theory that the poet's fancy is independent of his environment.

Ferrara is situated in an unhealthful plain which is traversed by a

branch of the Po and several canals. The principal stream does not

contribute to the life of the city or its suburbs, as it is several

miles distant. The town is surrounded by strong walls in which are four

gates. In addition to Castle Vecchio on the north, there was, in

Lucretia's time, another at the southwest--Castle Tealto or

Tedaldo--which was situated on one of the branches of the Po, and which

had a gate opening into the city and a pontoon bridge connecting it with

the suburb S. Giorgio. Lucretia had entered by this gate. Nothing is now

left of Castle Tedaldo, as it was razed at the beginning of the

seventeenth century, when the Pope, having driven out Alfonso's

successors, erected the new fortress.

Ferrara has a large public square, and regular streets with arcades. The

church, which faces the principal piazza, and which was consecrated in

the year 1135, is an imposing structure in the Lombardo-Gothic style.

Its high façade is divided in three parts and gabled, and it has three

rows of half Roman and half Gothic arches supported on columns. With its

ancient sculptures, black with time, it presents a strange appearance of

mediæval originality and romance. In Ferrara there is now nothing else

so impressive on first sight as this church. It seems as if one of the

structures of Ariosto's fairy world had suddenly risen before us.

Opposite one side of the castle, the Palazzo del Ragione is still

standing, and there are also two old towers, one of which is called the

Rigobello. Opposite the façade was the Este palace in which Ercole

lived, and which Eugene IV occupied when he held the famous council in

Ferrara. In front of it rose the monuments of the two great princes of

the house of Este, Niccolò III and Borso. One is an equestrian statue,

the other a sitting figure; both were placed upon columns, and therefore

are small. The crumbling pillars by the entrance archway are still

standing, but the statues were destroyed in 1796.

The Este vied with the other princes and republics in building churches

and convents, of which Ferrara still possesses a large number. In the

year 1500 the most important were: S. Domenico, S. Francesco, S. Maria

in Vado, S. Antonio, S. Giorgio before the Porta Romana, the convent

Corpus Domini, and the Certosa. All have been restored more or less, and

although some of them are roomy and beautiful, none have any special

artistic individuality.

As early as the fifteenth century there were numerous palaces in Ferrara

which are still numbered among the attractions of the gloomy city, and

which are regarded as important structures in the history of

architecture, from the early Renaissance until the appearance of the

rococo style. Many of them, however, are in a deplorable state of

decay. Marchese Alberto built the Palazzo del Paradiso (now the

University) and Schifanoja at the end of the sixteenth century. Ercole

erected the Palazzo Pareschi. He also restored a large part of Ferrara

and extended the city by adding a new quarter on the north, the

Addizione Erculea, which is still the handsomest part of Ferrara. The

city is traversed by two long, wide streets--the Corso di Porta Po, with

its continuation, the Corso di Porta Mare, and the Strada dei Piopponi.

Strolling through these quiet streets one is astonished at the long rows

of beautiful palaces of the Renaissance, reminders of a teeming life now

passed away. Ercole laid out a large square which is surrounded by noble

palaces, and which is now known as the Piazza Ariostea, from the

monument of the great poet which stands in the center. This is,

doubtless, the most beautiful memorial ever erected to a poet. The

marble statue stands upon a high column and looks down upon the entire

city. The history of the monument is interesting. Originally it was

intended that an equestrian statue of Ercole on two columns should

occupy this position. When the columns were being brought down the Po on

a raft, one of them rolled overboard and was lost; the other was used in

the year 1675 to support the statue of Pope Alexander VII, which was

pulled down during the revolution of 1796 and replaced with a statue of

Liberty, the unveiling of which was attended by General Napoleon

Bonaparte. Three years later the Austrians overthrew the statue of

Liberty, leaving the column standing, and in the year 1810 a statue of

the Emperor Napoleon was placed upon it. This fell with the emperor. In

the year 1833 Ferrara set Ariosto's statue upon the column, where it

will remain in spite of all political change.

Magnificent palaces rose in Ercole's new suburb. His brother Sigismondo

erected the splendid Palazzo Diamanti, now Ferrara's art gallery, while

the Trotti, Castelli, Sacrati, and Bevilacqua families built palaces

there which are still in existence. Ferrara was the home of a wealthy

nobility, some of whom belonged to the old baronial families. In

addition there were the Contrarii, Pio, Costabili, the Strozzi,

Saraceni, Boschetti, the Roverella, the Muzzarelli, and Pendaglia.

The Ferrarese aristocracy had long ago emerged from the state of

municipal strife and feudal dependence, and had set up their courts. The

Este, especially the warlike Niccolò III, had subjugated the barons, who

originally lived upon their estates beyond the city walls, and who were

now in the service of the ruling family, holding the most important

court and city offices; they were also commanders in the army. They took

part, probably more actively than did the nobility of the other Italian

States, in the intellectual movement of the age, which was fostered by

the princes of the house of Este. Consequently many of these great lords

won prominent places in the history of literature in Ferrara.

The university, which had flourished there since the middle of the

fifteenth century, was, excepting those of Padua and Bologna, the most

famous in Italy. Founded by the Margrave Alberto in 1391, and

subsequently remodeled by Niccolò III, it reached the zenith of its fame

in the time of Lionello and Borso. The former was a pupil of the

celebrated Guarino of Verona, and was himself acquainted with all the

sciences. The friend and idol of the humanists of his age, he collected

rare manuscripts and disseminated copies of them. He founded the

library, and Borso continued the work begun by him.

As early as 1474 the University of Ferrara had forty-five well paid

professors, and Ercole increased their number. Printing was introduced

during his reign. The earliest printer in Ferrara after 1471 was the

Frenchman Andreas, called Belforte.[178]

Like the city, the people seemed to have been of a serious cast of mind,

which led to speculation, criticism, and the cultivation of the exact

sciences. From Ferrara came Savonarola, the fanatical prophet who

appeared during the moral blight which characterized the age of the

Borgias, and Lucretia must frequently have recalled this man in whom her

father, by the executioner's hand, sought to stifle the protestations of

the faithful and upright against the immorality of his rule.

Astronomy and mathematics, and especially the natural sciences and

medicine, which at that time were part of the school of philosophy, were

extensively cultivated in Ferrara. It is stated that Savonarola himself

had studied medicine; his grandfather Michele, a famous physician of

Padua, had been called to Ferrara by Niccolò II.[179] Niccolò Leoniceno,

a native of Vincenza, at whose feet many of the most famous scholars and

poets had sat, enjoyed great renown in Ferrara about 1464 as a

physician, mathematician, philosopher, and philologist. He was still the

pride of the city when Lucretia arrived there, as the great

mathematician, Domenico Maria Novara, was then teaching in Bologna,

where Copernicus had been his pupil.

Many famous humanists, who at the time of Lucretia's arrival were still

children or youths--for example, the Giraldi and genial Celio

Calcagnini, who dedicated an epithalamium to her on her appearance in

the city--were members of the Ferrarese university. All of these men

were welcome at the court of the Este because they were accomplished and

versatile. It was not until later, after the sciences had been

classified and their boundaries defined, that the graceful learning of

the humanists degenerated into pedantry.

It was, however, especially the art of poetry which gave Ferrara, in

Lucretia's time, a peculiarly romantic cast. This it was which first

attracted attention to the city as one of the main centers of the

intellectual movement. Ferrara produced numerous poets who composed in

both tongues--Latin and Italian. Almost all the scholars of the day

wrote Latin verses; most of them, however, it must be admitted, were

lacking in poetic fire. Some of the Ferrarese, however, rose to high

positions in poetry and are still remembered; preeminent were the two

Strozzi, father and son, and Antonio Tebaldeo. The poets, however, who

originated the romantic epic in Italian were much more important than

the writers of Latin verse. The brilliant and sensuous court of Ferrara,

together with the fascinating romance of the house of Este--which really

belongs to the Middle Ages--and the charming nobility and modern

chivalry, all contributed to the production of the epic, while the city

of Ferrara, with its eventful history and its striking style of

architecture, was a most favorable soil for it. Monuments of Roman

antiquity are as rare in Ferrara as they are in Florence; everything is

of the Middle Ages. Lucretia did not meet Bojardo, the famous author of

the _Orlando Inamorato_, at the court of his friend Ercole, but the

blind singer of the _Mambriano_, Francesco Cieco, probably was still

living. We have seen how Ariosto, who was soon to eclipse all his

predecessors, greeted Lucretia on her arrival.

The graphic arts had made much less progress in Ferrara than had poetry

and the sciences; but while no master of the first rank, no Raphael or

Titian appeared, there were, nevertheless, some who won a not

unimportant place in the history of Italian culture. The Este were

patrons of painting; they had their palaces decorated with frescoes,

some of which, still considered noteworthy on account of their

originality, are preserved in the Palazzo Schifanoja, where they were

rediscovered in the year 1840. About the middle of the fifteenth

century, Ferrara had its own school, the chief of which was Cosimo Tura.

It produced two remarkable painters, Dosso Dossi and Benvenuto Tisio,

the latter of whom, under the name of Garofalo, became famous as one of

Raphael's greatest pupils. The works of these artists, who were

Lucretia's contemporaries--Garofalo being a year younger--still adorn

many of the churches, and are the chief attractions in the galleries of

the city.

Such, broadly sketched, was the intellectual life of Ferrara in the year

1502. We, therefore, see that in addition to her brilliant court and her

political importance as the capital of the State, she possessed a highly

developed spiritual life. The chroniclers state that her population at

that time numbered a hundred thousand souls; and at the beginning of the

sixteenth century--her most flourishing period--she was probably more

populous than Rome. In addition to the nobility there was an active

bourgeoisie engaged in commerce and manufacturing, especially weaving,

who enjoyed life.

[Illustration: BENVENUTO GAROFALO.

From an engraving by G. Batt. Cecchi.]

FOOTNOTES:

[177] Cittadella (Guida del Forestiere in Ferrara, Ferrara, 1873)

ridicules the story of the looking-glass that disclosed the love of Ugo

and Parisina. See his Castello di Ferrara, Turin, 1873, and the

description of the castle in the Notizie storico-artistiche sui primarii

palazzi d'Italia, Firenze, Cennini, 1871.

[178] Luigi Napoleone Cittadella, La Stampa in Ferrara. Ferrara, 1873.

[179] See first part of Villari's well known biography of Savonarola.

CHAPTER V

DEATH OF ALEXANDER VI

Alexander carefully followed everything that took place in Ferrara. He

never lost sight of his daughter. She and his agents reported every mark

of favor or disfavor which she received. Following the excitement of the

wedding festivities there were painful days for Lucretia, as she was

forced to meet envy and contempt, and to win for herself a secure place

at the court.

Alexander was greatly pleased by her reports, especially those

concerning her relations with Alfonso. He never for a moment supposed

that the hereditary prince loved his daughter. All he required was that

he should treat her as his wife, and that she should become the mother

of a prince. With great satisfaction he remarked to the Ferrarese

ambassador on hearing that Alfonso spent his nights with Lucretia,

"During the day he goes wherever he likes, as he is young, and in doing

this he does right."[180]

Alexander also induced the duke to grant his daughter-in-law a larger

allowance than he had agreed to give her. The sum stipulated was six

thousand ducats. Lucretia was extravagant, and needed a large income.

The amount she received from her father-in-law did not, however, exceed

ten thousand ducats.

In the meantime Cæsar was pursuing his own schemes, the success of which

was apparently insured by his alliance with Ferrara and the sanction of

France. The youthful Astorre Manfredi having been strangled in the

castle of S. Angelo by his orders, Valentino set out for Romagna, June

13th, where he succeeded in ensnaring the unsuspecting Guidobaldo of

Urbino and in seizing his estates, June 21st. Guidobaldo fled and found

an asylum in Mantua, whence he and his wife eventually went to Venice.

Cæsar now turned toward Camerino, where he surprised the Varano,

destroying all but one of them. He reported these doings to the court of

Ferrara, and the duke did not hesitate to congratulate him for a crime

which had resulted in the overthrow of princes who were not only

friendly to himself but were also closely connected with him. From

Urbino Cæsar wrote his sister as follows:

ILLUSTRIOUS LADY AND DEAREST SISTER: I know nothing could

be better medicine for your Excellency in your present illness than

the good news which I have to impart. I must tell you that I have

just had information that Camerino will yield. We trust that on

receiving this news your condition will rapidly improve, and that

you will inform us at once of it. For your indisposition prevents

us from deriving any pleasure from this and other news. We ask you

to tell the illustrious Duke Don Alfonso, your husband, our

brother-in-law, at once, as, owing to want of time, we have not

been able to write him direct.

Your Majesty's brother, who loves you better than he does himself,

CÆSAR.

URBINO, _July 20, 1502_.

Shortly after this he surprised his sister by visiting her in the palace

of Belfiore, whither he came in disguise with five cavaliers. He

remained with her scarcely two hours, and then hastily departed,

accompanied by his brother-in-law Alfonso as far as Modena, intending to

go to the King of France, who was in Lombardy.

[Illustration: Reduced facsimile of a letter written by Alexander VI to

his daughter, Lucretia.]

In the meantime Alexander had arrived at a decision regarding the

seizure of Camerino which conflicted with Cæsar's plans, and which shows

that the father's will was not wholly under his son's control. September

2, 1502, Alexander bestowed Camerino as a duchy upon the Infante

Giovanni Borgia, whom he sometimes described as his own son and at

others as Cæsar's. Giovanni had already been invested with the title of

Nepi, and Francesco Borgia, Cardinal of Cosenza, as the child's

guardian, administered these estates. There are coins of this ephemeral

Duke of Camerino still in existence.[181]

September 5th Lucretia gave birth to a still-born daughter, to the great

disappointment of Alexander, who desired an heir to the throne. She was

sick unto death, and her husband showed the deepest concern, seldom

leaving her for a moment. September 7th Valentino came to see her. The

secretary Castellus sent a report of this visit to Ercole, who was in

Reggio, whither he had gone to meet Cæsar, who was returning from

Lombardy. "To-day," he wrote, "at the twentieth hour, we bled Madama on

the right foot. It was exceedingly difficult to accomplish it, and we

could not have done it but for the Duke of Romagna, who held her foot.

Her Majesty spent two hours with the duke, who made her laugh and

cheered her greatly." Lucretia had a codicil added to her will, which

she had made before leaving for Ferrara, in the presence of her

brother's secretary and some monks. She, however, recovered. Cæsar

remained with her two days and then departed for Imola. When Ercole

returned he found his daughter-in-law attended by Alexander's most

skilful physician, the Bishop of Venosa, and out of all danger.[182]

As Lucretia felt oppressed in Castle Vecchio, and yearned for the free

air, she removed October 8th, accompanied by the entire court, to the

convent of Corpus Domini. Her recovery was so rapid that she was able

again to take up her residence in the castle, October 22d, to the great

joy of every one, as Duke Ercole wrote to Rome. Alfonso even went to

Loretto in fulfilment of a vow he had made for the recovery of his wife.

The solicitude which was displayed for Lucretia on this occasion shows

that she had begun to make herself beloved in Ferrara.[183]

In this same month of October occurred the disaffection of Cæsar's

condottieri which nearly ended in his overthrow. In consequence of the

desertion of his generals, the country about Urbino rose, and Guidobaldo

even succeeded in reentering his capital city, October 18th. The

protection of France and the lack of decision on the part of his

enemies, however, saved the Duke of Romagna from the danger which

threatened him. December 31st he relieved himself of the barons by the

well-known coup of Sinigaglia. This was his masterstroke. He had

Vitellozzo and Oliverotto strangled forthwith; the Orsini--Paolo,

father-in-law of Girolama Borgia, and Francesco, Duke of Gravina, who

had once been mentioned as a possible husband for Lucretia--suffered the

same fate January 18, 1503.

The Duke of Ferrara congratulated Cæsar, as did also the Gonzaga. Even

Isabella did not hesitate to write a graceful letter to the man that had

driven her dear sister-in-law,--whose husband had been forced to flee a

second time,--from Urbino. The Gonzaga, who were anxious to marry the

little hereditary Prince Federico to his daughter Luisa, were

endeavoring to secure this end with the help of Francesco Trochio in

Rome. Isabella's contemptible letter to Cæsar is as follows:

TO HIS HIGHNESS, THE DUKE OF VALENTINO.

ILLUSTRIOUS SIR: The happy progress of which your

Excellency has been good enough to inform us in your amiable letter

has caused us all the liveliest joy, owing to the friendship and

interest which you and my illustrious husband feel for each other.

We, therefore, congratulate you in his and our own name for the

good fortune which has befallen you, and for your safety, and we

thank you for informing us of it and for your offer to keep us

advised of future events, which we hope will be no less favorable,

for, loving you as we do, we hope to hear from you often regarding

your plans so that we may be able to rejoice with you at the

success and advancement of your Excellency. Believing that you,

after the excitement and fatigue which you have suffered while

engaged in your glorious undertakings, will be disposed to give

some time to recreation, it seems proper to me to send you by our

courier, Giovanni, a hundred masks. We, of course, know how slight

is this present in proportion to the greatness of your Excellency,

and also in proportion to our desires; still it indicates that if

there were anything more worthy and more suitable in this our

country, we certainly would send it you. If the masks, however,

are not as beautiful as they ought to be, your Highness will know

that this is due to the makers in Ferrara, who, as it has been for

years against the law to wear masks, long ago ceased making them.

May, however, our good intentions and our love make up for their

shortcomings. So far as our own affairs are concerned there is

nothing new to tell you until your Excellency informs us as to the

decision of his Holiness, our Master, concerning the articles of

guaranty upon which we, through Brognolo, have agreed. We,

therefore, look forward to this, and hope to reach a satisfactory

conclusion. We commend ourselves to your service.

JANUARY 15, 1503.

Cæsar replied to the marchioness from Aquapendente as follows:

MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LADY, FRIEND, AND HONORED SISTER: We have

received your Excellency's present of the hundred masks, which,

owing to their diversity and beauty, are very welcome, and because

the time and place of their arrival could not have been more

propitious. If we neglected to inform your Excellency of all our

plans and of our intended return to Rome, it was because it was

only to-day that we succeeded in taking the city and territory

adjacent to Sinigaglia together with the fortress, and punished our

enemies for their treachery; freed Città di Castello, Fermo,

Cisterna, Montone, and Perugia from their tyrants, and rendered

them again subject to his Holiness, our Master; and deposed

Pandolfo Petrucci from the tyranny which he had established in

Siena, where he had shown himself such a determined enemy of

ourselves. The masks are welcome especially because I know that the

present is due to the affection which you and your illustrious

husband feel for us, which is also shown by the letter which you

send with it. Therefore we thank you a thousand times, although the

magnitude of your and your husband's deserts exceeds the power of

words. We shall use the masks, and they are so beautiful that we

shall be saved the trouble of providing ourselves with any other

adornment. On returning to Rome we will see that his Holiness, our

Master, does whatever is necessary to further our mutual interests.

We, in compliance with your Excellency's request, will grant the

prisoner his liberty. We will inform your Illustrious Majesty at

once, so that you may rejoice in it the moment he is free. We

commend ourselves to you. From the papal camp near Aquapendente,

February 1st.

Your Excellency's friend and brother, the Duke of Romagna, etc.

CÆSAR.

Cæsar was then near the zenith of his desires--a king's throne in

central Italy. This project, however, was never realized; Louis XII

forbade him further conquests. The Orsini (the cardinal of this house

had just been poisoned in the castle of S. Angelo) and other barons

whose estates were in the vicinity of Rome rose for a final struggle,

and Cæsar was compelled to hasten back to the papal city. Alexander and

his son now turned toward Spain, as Gonsalvo had defeated the French in

Naples and had entered the capital of the kingdom May 14th. Louis XII,

however, despatched a new army under La Tremouille to recapture Naples.

The Marquis of Mantua was likewise in his pay, and in August, 1503, the

army entered the Patrimonium Petri.

Alexander and Cæsar were suddenly taken sick at the same moment. The

Pope died August 18th. It has been affirmed and also denied that both

were poisoned, and proofs equally good in support of both views have

been adduced; it is, therefore, a mooted question.

Aside from her grief due to affection, the death of Lucretia's father

was a serious event for her, as it might weaken her position in Ferrara.

Alexander's power was all that had given her a sense of security, and

now she could no longer feel certain of the continuance of the affection

of her father-in-law or of that of her husband. Well might Alfonso now

recall the words Louis XII had uttered to the effect that on the death

of Alexander he would not know who the lady was whom he had married. The

king one day asked the Ferrarese plenipotentiary at his court how

Madonna Lucretia had taken the Pope's death. When the ambassador replied

that he did not know, Louis remarked, "I know that you were never

satisfied with this marriage; this Madonna Lucretia is not Don Alfonso's

real wife."[184]

* * * * *

Lucretia would have been frightened had she read a letter which Ercole

wrote to Giangiorgio Seregni, then his ambassador in Milan, which at

that time was under French control, and in which he disclosed his real

feelings on the Pope's demise.

GIANGIORGIO: Knowing that many will ask you how we are

affected by the Pope's death, this is to inform you that he was in

no way displeasing to us. At one time we wished, for the honor of

God, our Master, and for the general good of Christendom, that God

in his goodness and foresight would provide a worthy shepherd, and

that his Church would be relieved of this great scandal. Personally

we had nothing to wish for; we were concerned chiefly with the

honor of God and the general welfare. We may add, however, that

there was never a Pope from whom we received fewer favors than from

this one, and this, even after concluding an alliance with him. It

was only with the greatest difficulty that we secured from him what

he had promised, but beyond this he never did anything for us. For

this we hold the Duke of Romagna responsible; for, although he

could not do with us as he wished, he treated us as if we were

perfect strangers. He was never frank with us; he never confided

his plans to us, although we always informed him of ours. Finally

as he inclined to Spain, and we remained good Frenchmen, we had

little to look for either from the Pope or his Majesty. Therefore

his death caused us little grief, as we had nothing but evil to

expect from the advancement of the above-named duke. We want you to

give this our confidential statement to Chaumont, word for word, as

we do not wish to conceal our true feelings from him--but speak

cautiously to others about the subject and then return this letter

to our worthy councilor Gianluca.

BELRIGUARDO, _August 24, 1503_.

This statement was very candid. In view of the advantages which had

accrued to Ercole's State through the marriage with Lucretia, he might

be regarded as ungrateful; he had, however, never looked upon this

alliance as anything more than a business transaction, and so far as his

relations with Cæsar were concerned his view was entirely correct.

Let us now hear what another famous prince--one who was in the

confidence of the Borgias--says regarding the Pope's death. At the time

of this occurrence the Marquis of Mantua was at his headquarters with

the French army in Isola Farnese, a few miles from Rome. From there,

September 22, 1503, he wrote his consort, Isabella, as follows:

ILLUSTRIOUS LADY AND DEAREST WIFE: In order that your

Majesty may be familiar with the circumstances attending the Pope's

death, we send you the following particulars. When he fell sick, he

began to talk in such a way that anyone who did not know what was

in his mind would have thought that he was wandering, although he

was perfectly conscious of what he said; his words were, "I come;

it is right; wait a moment." Those who know the secret say that in

the conclave following the death of Innocent he made a compact with

the devil, and purchased the papacy from him at the price of his

soul. Among the other provisions of the agreement was one which

said that he should be allowed to occupy the Holy See twelve years,

and this he did with the addition of four days. There are some who

affirm that at the moment he gave up his spirit seven devils were

seen in his chamber. As soon as he was dead his body began to

putrefy and his mouth to foam like a kettle over the fire, which

continued as long as it was on earth. The body swelled up so that

it lost all human form. It was nearly as broad as it was long. It

was carried to the grave with little ceremony; a porter dragged it

from the bed by means of a cord fastened to the foot to the place

where it was buried, as all refused to touch it. It was given a

wretched interment, in comparison with which that of the cripple's

dwarf wife in Mantua was ceremonious. Scandalous epigrams are every

day published regarding him.

The reports of Burchard, of the Venetian ambassador Giustinian, of the

Ferrarese envoy Beltrando, and of numerous others describe Alexander's

end in almost precisely the same way, and the fable of the devil or

"babuino" that carried Alexander's soul off is also found in Marino

Sanuto's diary. The highly educated Marquis of Gonzaga, with a

simplicity equal to that of the people of Rome, believed it.

The Mephisto legend of Faust and Don Juan, which was immediately

associated with Alexander's death--even the black dog running about

excitedly in St. Peter's is included--shows what was the opinion of

Alexander's contemporaries regarding the terrible life of the Borgia,

and the extraordinary success which followed him all his days.

Alexander's moral character is, however, so incomprehensible that even

the keenest psychologists have failed to fathom it.

In him neither ambition nor the desire for power, which, in the majority

of rulers, is the motive of their crimes, was the cause of his evil

deeds. Nor was it hate of his fellows, nor cruelty, nor yet a vicious

pleasure in doing evil. It was, however, his sensuality and also his

love for his children--one of the noblest of human sentiments. All

psychological theory would lead us to expect that the weight of his sins

would have made Alexander a gloomy man with reason clouded by fear and

madness, like Tiberius or Louis XI; but instead of this we have ever

before us the cheerful, active man of the world--even until his last

years. "Nothing worries him; he seems to grow younger every day," wrote

the Venetian ambassador scarcely two years before his death.

It is not his passions or his crimes that are incomprehensible, for

similar and even greater crimes have been committed by other princes

both before and after him, but it is the fact that he committed them

while he was Pope. How could Alexander VI reconcile his sensuality and

his cruelty with the consciousness that he was the High Priest of the

Church, God's representative on earth? There are abysses in the human

soul to the depths of which no glance can penetrate. How did he overcome

the warnings, the qualms of conscience, and how was it possible for him

constantly to conceal them under a joyous exterior? Could he believe in

the immortality of the soul and the existence of a divine Being?

When we consider the utter abandon with which Alexander committed his

crimes, we are forced to conclude that he was an atheist and a

materialist. There is a time in the life of every philosophic and

unhappy soul when all human endeavor seems nothing more than the

despairing, purposeless activity of an aggregation of puppets. But in

Alexander VI we discover no trace of a Faust, nothing of his supreme

contempt of the world, of his Titanic skepticism; but we find, on the

contrary, that he possessed an amazingly simple faith, coupled with a

capacity for every crime. The Pope who had Christ's mother painted

with the features of the adulteress Giulia Farnese believed that he

himself enjoyed the special protection of the Virgin.

[Illustration: CARDINAL BEMBO.

From an engraving by G. Benaglia.]

Alexander's life is the very antithesis of the Christian ideal. To be

convinced of this it is only necessary to compare the Pope's deeds with

the teachings of the Gospel. Compare his actions with the Commandments:

"Thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not

bear false witness."

The fact that Rodrigo Borgia was a pope must seem to all the members of

the Church the most unholy thing connected with it, and one which they

have reason bitterly to regret. This fact, however, can never lessen the

dignity of the Church--the greatest production of the human mind--but

does it not destroy a number of transcendental theories which have been

associated with the papacy?

The execrations which all Italy directed against Alexander could

scarcely have reached Lucretia's ears, but she doubtless anticipated

them. Her distress must have been great. Her entire life in Rome

returned and overwhelmed her. Her father had been the cause, first, of

all her unhappiness, and subsequently of all her good fortune. Filial

affection and religious fears must have assailed her at one and the same

time. Bembo describes her suffering. This man, subsequently so famous,

came to Ferrara in 1503, a young Venetian nobleman of the highest

culture and fairest presence. He was warmly received by Lucretia, for

whom he conceived great admiration. The accomplished cavalier wrote her

the following letter of condolence:

I called upon your Majesty yesterday partly for the purpose of

telling you how great was my grief on account of your loss, and

partly to endeavor to console you, and to urge you to compose

yourself, for I knew that you were suffering a measureless sorrow.

I was able to do neither the one nor the other; for, as soon as I

saw you in that dark room, in your black gown, lying weeping, I was

so overcome by my feelings that I stood still, unable to speak, not

knowing what to say. Instead of giving sympathy, I myself was in

need of it, therefore I departed, completely overcome by the sad

sight, mumbling and speechless, as you noticed or might have

noticed. Perhaps this happened to me because you had need of

neither my sympathy nor my condolences; for, knowing my devotion

and fidelity, you would also be aware of the pain which I felt on

account of your sorrow, and you in your wisdom may find consolation

within and not look to others for it. The best way to convey to you

an idea of my grief is for me to say that fate could cause me no

greater sorrow than by afflicting you. No other shot could so

deeply penetrate my soul as one accompanied by your tears.

Regarding condolence, I can only say to you, as you yourself must

have thought, that time soothes and lessens all our griefs. So high

is my opinion of your intelligence and so numerous the proofs of

your strength of character that I know that you will find

consolation, and will not grieve too long. For, although you have

now lost your father, who was so great that Fortune herself could

not have given you a greater one, this is not the first blow which

you have received from an evil and hostile destiny. You have

suffered so much before that your soul must now be inured to

misfortune. Present circumstances, moreover, require that you

should not give any one cause to think that you grieve less on

account of the shock than you do on account of any anxiety as to

your future position. It is foolish for me to write this to you,

therefore I will close, commending myself to you in all humility.

Farewell. In Ostellato.[185]

AUGUST 22, 1503.

FOOTNOTES:

[180] Maxime intendendo che continuano dormire insieme la nocte. Se ben

intende ch'el Sig. Don Alfonso el dì va a piacere in diversi loci come

giovene; il quale, dice S. Stà. fa molto bene. Beltrando Costabili to

the duke, Rome, April 1, 1502.

[181] Silver carlins. Obverse: JOANNES. BOR. DVX. CAMERINI; the Borgia

arms surrounded with lilies and the crest of the Lenzuoli. Reverse: S.

VENANTIVS DE CAMERI. They are described in the Periodico di Numismatica

e Sfragistica per la Storia d'Italia diretto dal March. C. Strozzi,

Flor. 1870, A. III, Fascic. ii, 70-77, by G. Amati, and also in A. IV,

fasc. vi, 259-265, by M. Santoni. Both writers erroneously describe this

Giov. Borgia as the son of the Duke of Gandia, and Amati even confuses

Valence in Dauphiné with Valencia in Spain.

[182] In the state archives of Modena there are several letters

regarding Lucretia's illness written by the Ferrarese physicians

Ludovicus Carrus and J. Castellus.

[183] The duke to Costabili, his ambassador in Rome, October 9-23, 1502.

[184] Despatch of Bartolomeo Cavalieri to Ercole, Macon, September 8,

1503.

[185] Bembo, Opp. iii, 309.

CHAPTER VI

EVENTS FOLLOWING THE POPE'S DEATH

After Lucretia's first transports had passed she may well have blessed

her good fortune, for to what danger would she have been exposed if she

now, instead of being Alfonso's wife, was still forced to share the

destiny of the Borgias! She was soon able to convince herself that her

position in Ferrara was unshaken. She owed this to her own personality

and to the permanent advantages which she had brought to the house of

Este. She saw, however, that the lives of her kinsmen in Rome were in

danger; there were her sick brother, her child Rodrigo, and Giovanni,

Duke of Nepi; while the Orsini, burning with a desire to wipe out old

scores, were hastening thither to avenge themselves for the blood of

their kinsmen.

She besought her father-in-law to help Cæsar and to preserve his estates

for him. Ercole thought that it would be more to his own advantage for

Cæsar to hold the Romagna than to have it fall into the hands of Venice.

He, therefore, sent Pandolfo Collenuccio thither to urge the people to

remain true to their lord. To his ambassador in Rome he confided his joy

that Cæsar was on the road to recovery.[186]

With the exception of the Romagna, the empire of Alexander's son at once

began to crumble away. The tyrants he had expelled returned to their

cities. Guidobaldo and Elisabetta hastened from Venice to Urbino and

were received with open arms. Still more promptly Giovanni Sforza had

returned from Mantua to Pesaro. The Marquis Gonzaga had sent him the

first news of Alexander's death and of Cæsar's illness, and Sforza

thanked him in the following letter:

ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER: I thank your

Excellency for the good news which you have given me in your

letter, especially regarding the condition of Valentino. My joy is

great because I believe my misfortunes are now at an end. I assure

you that if I return to my country, I shall regard myself as your

Excellency's creature, and you may dispose of my person and my

property as you will. I ask you, in case you learn anything more

regarding Valentino, and especially of his death, that you will

send me the news, for by so doing you will afford me great joy. I

commend myself to you at all times.

MANTUA, _August 25, 1503_.

As early as September 3d, Sforza was able to inform the Marquis that he

had entered Pesaro amid the acclamations of the people. He immediately

had a medal struck in commemoration of the happy event. On one side is

his bust and on the other a broken yoke with the words PATRIA

RECEPTA.[187] Filled with the desire for revenge he punished the rebels

of Pesaro by confiscating their property, casting them into prison, or

by putting them to death. He had a number of the burghers hanged at the

windows of his castle. Even Collenuccio, who had placed himself under

the protection of Lucretia and the duke, in Ferrara, was soon to fall

into his hands. With flattering promises Giovanni induced him to come to

Pesaro, and then on the ground of the complaint he had addressed to

Cæsar Borgia, which Sforza claimed he had only just discovered, he cast

him into prison. Collenuccio, not wholly guiltless as far as his former

master and friend was concerned, resigned himself to his fate and died

in July, 1504.[188]

Meanwhile Lucretia was anxiously following the course of events in Rome.

None of her letters to Cæsar written at this time are preserved, nor are

any of Cæsar's to her. The only ones we have are those which he

exchanged with the Duke of Ferrara, who continued to write him.

September 13th Ercole wrote congratulating him on his recovery, and

informing him that he had sent a messenger to the people of Romagna

urging them to remain true to him.

Cæsar was in Nepi when he received this letter, having gone there

September 2d after he had arranged with the French ambassador in Rome,

on the suggestion of the cardinal, to place himself under the protection

of France. He was accompanied by his mother, Vannozza, his brother

Giuffrè, and, doubtless, also by his little daughter Luisa and the two

children Rodrigo and Giovanni, the latter of whom was Duke of Nepi.

There he was safe, as the French army was camped in the neighborhood.

Just as if nothing had happened, he wrote letters to the Marquis

Gonzaga, who was then at his headquarters in Campagnano. He even sent

him some hunting dogs as a present. There is also in existence a letter

written by Giuffrè to the same Gonzaga, dated Nepi, September 18th.

While here Cæsar learned that his protector and friend, Amboise, had

not been elected pope as he had hoped, but that Piccolomini had been

chosen. September 22d this cardinal, senile and moribund, ascended the

papal throne, assuming the name Pius III. He was the happy father of no

less than twelve children, boys and girls, who would have been brought

up in the Vatican as princes but for his early death. He permitted Cæsar

to return to Rome and even showed him some favor; but scarcely had the

Borgia appeared--October 3d--when the Orsini rose in their wrath and

clamored for the death of their enemy. He and the two children took

refuge in Castle S. Angelo, and October 18th Piccolomini died.

The two children now had no protector but Cæsar and the cardinals whom

Alexander had appointed as their guardians. On the death of the Pope

their duchies crumbled away. The Gaetani returned from Mantua and again

took possession of Sermoneta and all the other estates which had been

bestowed upon the little Rodrigo. Ascanio Sforza demanded either Nepi or

the position of chamberlain, and the last Varano again secured Camerino.

Rodrigo was Duke of Biselli, and as such under the protection of Spain,

Alexander having succeeded in obtaining, May 20, 1502, from Ferdinand

and Isabella of Castile, a diploma by virtue of which the royal house of

Spain confirmed the Borgia family in the possession of all their

Neapolitan estates. In this act Cæsar and his heirs, Don Giuffrè of

Squillace; Don Juan, son of the murdered Gandia; Lucretia, as Duchess of

Biselli, and her son and heir Rodrigo are explicitly named.[189] There

is likewise in the Este archives an instrument which was drawn up in

Lucretia's chancellery, referring to the control of Rodrigo's property,

and also others regarding the little Giovanni.[190] The two children,

Rodrigo and Giovanni, during their early years were reared together.

Lucretia provided for them from Ferrara, as is shown by the record of

her household expenses in 1502 and 1503. There are numerous entries for

velvet and silk and gold brocade which she bought for the purpose of

clothing the children.[191]

In spite of the protection of Spain, Lucretia's son's life was in danger

in Rome, and it was her duty to have the child brought to her; but this

she neglected to do, either because she did not dare to do so, or she

was not strong enough to bring it about, or because she perhaps feared

that the child would be in still greater danger in Ferrara. The Cardinal

of Cosenza, Rodrigo's guardian, suggested to her that she sell all his

personal property and send him to Spain, where he would be safe. In a

letter she informed her father-in-law of this, and he replied as

follows:

ILLUSTRIOUS LADY, OUR DEAREST DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AND

DAUGHTER: We have received your Majesty's letter, and also the

one which his Eminence the Cardinal of Cosenza addressed to you and

which you sent us; this we return to you with our letter; no one

but ourselves read it. We note the unanimity with which your

Majesty and the cardinal write. His advice shows such solicitude

that it is at once apparent that it is due to his affection and

wisdom. We have considered everything carefully, and it seems to us

that your Majesty can and ought to do what the worthy monsignor

suggests. In fact I think your Majesty is bound to do as he advises

on account of the affection which he displays for you and the

illustrious Don Rodrigo, your son, who, I am told, owes his life to

the cardinal. Although Don Rodrigo will be at a distance from you,

it is better for him to be away and safe than for him to be near

and in danger, as the cardinal thinks he would be. Your mutual love

would in no way suffer by this separation. When he grows up he can

decide, according to circumstances, whether it is best for him to

return to Italy or remain away. The cardinal's suggestion to

convert his personal property into money to provide for his support

and to increase his income--as he states he is anxious to do--is a

good idea. In brief, as we have said, it seems to us that you had

best consent. Nevertheless, if your Majesty, who is perfectly

competent to decide this, determine otherwise, we are perfectly

willing. Farewell.

HERCULES, Duke of Ferrara, etc.

CODEGORIO, _October 4, 1503_.

In the meantime, November 1, 1503, Della Rovere ascended the papal

throne as Julius II. The Rovere, the Borgias, and the Medici, each gave

the Church two popes, and they impressed upon the papacy the political

form of the modern state. In the entire annals of the Church there are

no other families which have so deeply affected the course of history.

Their names suggest innumerable political and moral revolutions. Della

Rovere now released Cæsar, whose bitterest enemy he had once been. It

was apparent that Valentino's destruction was imminent.

Elsewhere we may read how Julius II first used Cæsar for the purpose of

assuring his election by means of his influence on the Spanish

cardinals, and how he subsequently--after the surrender of the

fortresses in the Romagna--cast him aside. Cæsar threw himself into

the arms of Spain, going from Ostia to Naples in October, 1504, where

the great Captain Gonsalvo represented Ferdinand the Catholic. Don

Giuffrè accompanied him. Cardinals Francesco Remolini of Sorrento and

Ludovico Borgia had preceded him to Naples to escape a prosecution with

which they were threatened. There Gonsalvo broke the safe-conduct which

he had given Cæsar. May 27th he seized him in the name of King Ferdinand

and confined him in the castle of Ischia.

[Illustration: JULIUS II.

From an engraving published in 1580.]

We hear nothing of the fate of the Borgia children; apparently they

remained under the protection of the Spanish cardinals in Rome or

Naples. Cæsar, saving nothing, and barely escaping with his life, set

out for Spain. He had previously placed his valuables in the hands of

his friends in Rome to keep for him or to send to Ferrara. December 31,

1503, Duke Ercole wrote his ambassador in Rome to take charge of Cæsar's

chests when the Cardinal of Sorrento should send them to him, and

forward them to Ferrara as the property of the Cardinal d'Este.[192]

Cardinal Remolini died in May, 1507, and Julius II confiscated in his

house twelve chests and eighty-four bales which contained tapestries,

rich stuffs, and other property belonging to Cæsar.[193] The Pope

ordered the Florentines to return certain other property of Cæsar's

consisting of gold, silver, and similar valuables which he had sent to

their city. The Florentine Signory,[194] however, stated that they would

have nothing to do with the matter.

The removal of Cæsar to Spain caused great excitement. No one, neither

Gonsalvo, the Pope, nor King Ferdinand was willing to assume the

responsibility for it. It was even stated that it was due to Gandia's

widow, who was at the Castilian court endeavoring to secure the arrest

of her husband's murderer.[195] The Spanish cardinals and Lucretia

exerted themselves to obtain Cæsar's release. The first news of him came

from Spain in October, 1504. Costabili wrote to Ferrara: "The affairs of

the Duke of Valentino do not appear to be in such a desperate condition

as has been represented, for the Cardinal of Salerno has a letter of the

third instant from Requesenz, the duke's majordomo, which his Majesty

despatched before he reached there, and letters from several cardinals

to his Majesty of Spain. Requesenz writes that the duke was confined

with one servant in the castle of Seville, which, although very strong,

is roomy. He was soon furnished with eight servants. He also writes that

he has spoken to the king regarding freeing Cæsar, and that his Majesty

stated that he had not ordered the duke's confinement but had given

instructions for him to be brought to Spain on account of certain

charges which Gonsalvo had made against him. If these were found to be

untrue he would do as the cardinal requested concerning Cæsar. However,

nothing could be done until the queen recovered. He made the same answer

to the ambassador of the King and Queen of Navarre, who endeavored to

secure the duke's release, and consequently Requesenz hoped that he

would soon be set free."[196]

From this letter of Requesenz it appears that Cæsar was first taken to

Seville and from there was sent to the castle of Medina del Campo in

Castile. The King of France turned a deaf ear to his petitions. No one

in Italy wanted him set free. His sister was the only person in the

peninsula who took any interest in the overthrown upstart, and her

appeals found little support among the Este. It was well known that if

Cæsar returned to Italy he would only cause uneasiness at the court of

Ferrara, and would in all probability make it the center of his

intrigues. The Gonzaga alone appeared not to have entirely withdrawn

their favor from him, although, instead of wishing, as they once had

done, to establish a matrimonial alliance with him, they now connected

themselves with the Rovere, the Marquis of Mantua marrying his young

daughter Leonora to Julius's nephew, Francesco Maria della Rovere, heir

of Urbino, April 9, 1505.[197] It was especially Isabella who, owing to

her affection for her sister-in-law Lucretia, seconded her appeals to

her husband. In the archives of the house of Gonzaga are several letters

written by Lucretia to the marquis in the interests of her brother.

[Illustration: Reduced facsimile of a letter written by Lucretia Borgia

to Marchese Gonzaga.]

August 18, 1505, she wrote him from Reggio that she had taken steps in

Rome to induce the Pope to permit Cardinal Petro Isualles to go to the

Spanish court to endeavor to secure Cæsar's freedom, and she hoped to

succeed. She, therefore, asked the marquis himself to request the Pope

to allow the cardinal to undertake this mission. She wrote to him again

from Belriguardo thanking him for his promise to despatch an agent to

Spain, and she sent him a letter for King Ferdinand and another for her

brother. It is not known whether the cardinal actually undertook this

journey to Madrid, but it is hardly likely that Julius would have

allowed him to do so.

FOOTNOTES:

[186] Minute Ducali a Costabili Beltrando, Ferrara, August 28, 1503.

[187] One of these medals is preserved in the cabinet of the Oliveriana

in Pesaro. It is reproduced in the Nuova Raccolta delle Monete e Zecche

d'Italia di Guidantonio Zanetti, p. 1.

[188] See Giulio Perticari, Op. Bol. 1839, vol. ii. Intorno la morte di

Pandolfo Collenuccio. Perticari's opinion is too one-sided and

optimistic. The beautiful elegy which he states Collenuccio wrote

shortly before his death was written at a much happier time.

[189] The document is in the Este archives.

[190] This is the record already mentioned, Liber Arrendamentorum

terrarum ad IIImos Dominos Rodericum Borgiam de Aragonia, Sermoneti,

etc., et Johannem Borgiam Nepesini Duces, infantes spectantium. Biselli,

1502

[191] Raxo pavonazo trovato in Guardaroba. De dito raso se ne fodrato

dui ziponi e dui boniti per Don Rodrigo e Don Joanne (Braccia 6). De

dito raso se ne posto in la capa de Don Rodrigo--Tela d'oro. De dita

tela se ne posto a fodrare due cape de raxo pavonazo per Don Rodrigo e

Don Joane--braza 12. Dite peze de fuxo doro tirato se ne pose per

commission de la Signora nei saioni de Don Rodrigo e Don Joanne, etc.

Estratti dall' inventario di roba di Lucrezia Borgia, 1502-1503.

Archives of Modena.

[192] Ercole to his ambassador in Rome, December 31, 1503.

[193] Costabili to Ercole, May 6, 1507.

[194] Manfredo Manfredi's despatch to Ercole, Florence, August 20, 1504.

[195] Perche la mogliera del Duca di Candia, che fu morto dal Duca

Valentino ha procurato questo acto de tencione et vendicta et che Lei è

parente del Re di Spagna. Letter of Giovanni Alberto della Pigna to

Ercole, Venice, June 18, 1504.

[196] Costabili's despatch to Duke Ercole, Rome, October 27, 1504.

[197] The contract is in Beneimbene's protocol-book.

CHAPTER VII

COURT POETS--GIULIA BELLA AND JULIUS II--THE ESTE DYNASTY ENDANGERED

During the year, when Lucretia, filled with a sister's love, was

grieving over the fate of her terrible brother, a great change occurred

in her own circumstances, she having become Duchess of Ferrara, January

25, 1505. Her husband, Alfonso, in compliance with his father's wishes,

had undertaken a journey to France, Flanders, and England for the

purpose of becoming acquainted with the courts of those countries. He

was to return to Italy by way of Spain, but while he was at the court of

Henry VII of England he received despatches informing him that his

father was sick. He hastened back to Ferrara, and Ercole died shortly

after his return.

Alfonso ascended the ducal throne at a time when a strong hand and high

intelligence were required to save his State from the dangers which

threatened it. The Republic of Venice had already secured possession of

a part of Romagna, and was planning to cut Ferrara off from the mouth of

the Po; at the same time Julius II was scheming to take Bologna, and if

he succeeded in this he would doubtless also attack Ferrara. In view of

these circumstances it was a fortunate thing for the State that its

chief was a practical, cool-headed man like Alfonso. He was neither

extravagant nor fond of display, and he cared nothing for a brilliant

court. He was indifferent to externals, even to his own clothing. His

chief concern was to increase the efficiency of the army, build

fortresses, and cast cannon. When the affairs of state left him any

leisure he amused himself at a turning-lathe which he had set up, and

also in painting majolica vases, in which art he was exceedingly

skilful. He had no inclination for the higher culture--this he left to

his wife.

The small collection of books which Lucretia brought with her from Rome

shows that she possessed some education and an inclination to take part

in the intellectual movement of Ferrara. We have a catalogue of these

books, of the years 1502 and 1503, which shows what were Lucretia's

tastes. According to this list she possessed a number of books, many of

which were beautifully bound in purple velvet, with gold and silver

mountings: a breviary; a book with the seven psalms and other prayers; a

parchment with miniatures in gold, called _De Coppelle ala Spagnola_;

the printed letters of Saint Catharine of Siena; the Epistles and

Gospels in the vulgar tongue; a religious work in Castilian; a

manuscript collection of Spanish canzone with the proverbs of Domenico

Lopez; a printed work entitled _Aquilla Volante_; another, called

_Supplement of Chronicles_, in the vulgar tongue; the _Mirror of Faith_,

in Italian; a printed copy of Dante, with a commentary; a work in

Italian, on philosophy; the _Legend of the Saints_ in the vulgar tongue;

an old work, _De Ventura_; a _Donatus_; a _Life of Christ_ in Spanish; a

manuscript of Petrarch on parchment, in duodecimo. From this catalogue

it is evident that Lucretia's studies were not very profound. Her books

were confined to religious works and belles-lettres.[198]

[Illustration: ALPHONSO D'ESTE, DUKE OF FERRARA.]

Lucretia established her ducal court in accordance with the dictates of

her own fancy. She was now the soul and center of the intellectual life

of Ferrara. Her cultivated intellect, her beauty, and the irresistible

joyousness of her being charmed all who came into her presence. The

opposition which the members of the house of Este at first had shown her

had disappeared, and, especially in the case of Isabella Gonzaga, had

changed into affection, as is proved by the extensive correspondence

which the two women maintained up to the time of Lucretia's death. In

the archives of the house of Gonzaga there are several hundred of her

letters to the Marchesa of Mantua.

Her relations with the house of Urbino were no less pleasant, and they

continued so even after the death of Guidobaldo in April, 1508, for his

successor was Francesco Maria della Rovere, son-in-law of Isabella

Gonzaga. She was frequently visited by these princes, and she enjoyed

the friendship of a number of remarkable men--Baldassar Castiglione,

Ottaviano Fregoso, Aldus Manutius, and Bembo.

Bembo, who was in love with the beautiful duchess, constantly sang her

praises, and, August 1, 1504, he dedicated to her his dialogue on love,

the _Asolani_, in a letter in which he celebrated her virtues. His

friend Aldo first spent some time in Ferrara at the court of Ercole, and

subsequently went to the Pio at Carpi; finally he settled in Venice,

where he printed the _Asolani_ in the year 1505 and dedicated it to

Lucretia. There is no doubt about Bembo's passion for the duchess, but

it would be a fruitless undertaking to endeavor to prove, from the

evidences of affection which the beautiful woman bestowed upon him,

that it passed the bounds of propriety. The belief that it did is due to

the letters which Bembo wrote her, and which are printed in his works,

and still more to those which Lucretia addressed to him. From 1503 to

1506--in which year he removed to the court of Guidobaldo--the

intellectual Venetian enjoyed the closest friendship with Lucretia. He

corresponded with her while he was living with his friends the Strozzi

in Villa Ostellato. These letters, especially those addressed to an

"anonymous friend," by which designation he clearly meant Lucretia, are

inspired by friendship, and display a tender confidence. Lucretia's

letters to Bembo are preserved in the Ambrosiana in Milan, where they

and the lock of blond hair near them are examined by every one who

visits the famous library. The letters are written in her own hand, and

there is no doubt of their authenticity; concerning the lock of hair

there is some uncertainty; still it may be one of the pledges of

affection which the happy Bembo carried away with him. Lucretia's

letters to Bembo were first examined and described by Baldassare

Oltrocchi, and subsequently by Lord Byron; in 1859 they were published

in Milan by Bernardo Gatti.[199] There are nine in all--seven in Italian

and two in Spanish. They are accompanied by a Castilian canzone.

It seems certain that she felt more than mere friendship for Bembo, for

she was young, and he was an accomplished cavalier, fair, amiable, and

witty, who cast the rough Alfonso completely in the shade. He excited

the latter's jealousy, and the danger which threatened him may have

been the cause of his removal to Urbino. Lucretia kept up her friendly

relations with him until the year 1513.

Several other poets in Ferrara devoted their talents to her

glorification. The verses which the two Strozzi addressed to her are

even more ardent than those of Bembo--perhaps because their authors

possessed greater poetical talent. Tito, the father, experienced the

same feelings for the beautiful duchess as did his genial son Ercole,

and he expressed them in the same poetical forms and imagery. This very

similarity indicates that their devotion was merely æsthetic. Tito sang

of a rose which Lucretia had sent him, but his son excelled him in an

epigram on the _Rose of Lucretia_, which could hardly have been the same

one his father had received.[200]

Tito, in his epigram, described himself as senescent, and consequently

not likely to be wounded by Cupid's darts, but he, nevertheless, was

ensnared by Lucretia's charms. "In her," so he says, "all the majesty of

heaven and earth are personified, and her like is not to be found on

earth." He addressed an epigram to Bembo, with whose passion for

Lucretia he was acquainted, in which he derives the name Lucretia from

"_lux_" and "_retia_," and makes merry over the _net_ in which Bembo was

caught.[201]

His son Ercole describes her as a Juno in good works, a Pallas in

decorum, and a Venus in beauty. In verses in imitation of Catullus he

sang of the marble Cupid which the duchess had set up in her salon,

saying that the god of Love had been turned into stone by her glance. He

compared Lucretia's beautiful eyes with the sun, that blinds whosoever

ventures to look at it; like Medusa, whose glance turned the beholder to

stone, yet in this case "the pains of love still continued immortalized

in the stone."

Is it possible to believe that these poets would have written such

verses if they had considered Lucretia Borgia guilty of the crimes

which, even after her father's death, had been ascribed to her by

Sannazzaro?

Antonio Tebaldeo, Calcagnini, and Giraldi sang of Lucretia's beauty and

virtue. Marcelle Filosseno dedicated a number of charming sonnets to

her, in which he compared her with Minerva and Venus. Jacopo Caviceo,

who in the last years of his life (he died in 1511) was vicar of the

bishopric of Ferrara, dedicated to her his wonderful romance

"Peregrino," with an inscription in which he describes her as beautiful,

learned, wise, and modest. The number of poets who threw themselves at

her feet was certainly large, and she doubtless received their flattery

with the same satisfied vanity with which a beautiful woman of to-day

would accept such offerings. Some of these poets may really have been in

love with her, while others burned their incense as court flatterers;

all, doubtless, were glad to find in her an ideal to serve as a platonic

inspiration for their rhymes and verses.

Ariosto excepted, these poets are to us nothing more than names in the

history of literature. The great poet's relations with the princely

house of Ferrara began about 1503, when he entered the service of

Cardinal Ippolito. Soon after this--in the year 1505--he began his great

epic, and the beautiful duchess appears to have had very little

influence on his work. He refers to her occasionally, especially in a

stanza for which she owed the poet little thanks if she foresaw his

immortality--the eighty-third stanza in the forty-second canto of the

_Orlando Furioso_, in which he places Lucretia's portrait in the temple

to woman. The inscription under her portrait says that her fatherland,

Rome, on account of her beauty and modesty must regard her as excelling

Lucretia of old.[202]

A recent Italian writer, speaking of Ariosto's adulation, says, "However

much of it may be looked upon as court flattery, and as due to the

poet's obligations to the house of Este, we know that the art of

flattery had also its laws and bounds, and that one who ascribed such

qualities to a prince who was known to be entirely lacking in them would

be regarded as little acquainted with the world and with court manners,

for he would cause the person to be publicly ridiculed. In this case the

praise would degenerate into satire and the incautious flatterer would

fare badly."[203] Flattery has always been the return which court poets

make for their slavery. Ariosto and Tasso were no more free from it than

were Horace and Virgil. When the poet of the _Orlando Furioso_

discovered that Cardinal Ippolito was beginning to treat him coldly, he

thought to strike out everything he had said in his praise. Although it

was probably merely the name Lucretia which Ariosto and other poets

used--comparing it with the classic ideal of feminine honor--it is,

nevertheless, difficult wholly to reject the interpretation of

Lucretia's modern advocates, for, even when this comparison was not

made, other admirers--Ariosto especially--praised the beautiful duchess

for her decorum. This much is certain: her life in Ferrara was regarded

as a model of feminine virtue.

There was a young woman in her household who charmed all who came in

contact with her until she became the cause of a tragedy at the court.

This was the Angela Borgia whom Lucretia had brought with her from Rome,

and who had been affianced to Francesco Maria Rovere. It is not known

when the betrothal was set aside, although it may have been shortly

after Alexander's death. The heir of Urbino married, as has been stated,

Eleonora Gonzaga. Among Angela's admirers were two of Alfonso's

brothers, who were equally depraved, Cardinal Ippolito and Giulio, a

natural son of Ercole. One day when Ippolito was assuring Angela of his

devotion, she began to praise the beauty of Giulio's eyes, which so

enraged his utterly degenerate rival that he planned a horrible revenge.

The cardinal hired assassins and commanded them to seize his brother

when he was returning from the hunt, and to tear out the eyes which

Donna Angela had found so beautiful. The attempt was made in the

presence of the cardinal, but it did not succeed as completely as he had

wished. The wounded man was carried to his palace, where the physicians

succeeded in saving one of his eyes. This crime, which occurred November

3, 1505,[204] aroused the whole court. The unfortunate Giulio demanded

that it be paid in kind, but the duke merely banished the cardinal. The

injured man brooded on revenge, and the direst consequences followed.

Ariosto, the wicked cardinal's courtier, fell into difficulties from

which he escaped in a way not altogether honorable, which lessens the

worth of the praise he bestowed upon Lucretia. He wrote a poem in which

he endeavored to clear the murderer by blackening Giulio's character and

concealing the motive for the crime. In this same eclogue he poured

forth the most ardent praise of Lucretia. He lauded not only her beauty,

her good works, and her intellect, but above all her modesty, for which

she was famous before coming to Ferrara.[205]

A year later, December 6, 1506, Lucretia married Donna Angela to Count

Alessandro Pio of Sassuolo, and by a remarkable coincidence her son

Giberto subsequently became the husband of Isabella, a natural daughter

of Cardinal Ippolito.

In November, 1505, an event occurred in the Vatican which aroused great

interest on the part of Lucretia, and likewise caused her most painful

memories. Giulia Farnese, the companion of her unhappy youth, made her

appearance there under circumstances which must have overcome her. We

know nothing of the life of Alexander's mistress during the years

immediately preceding and following his death. She and her husband,

Orsini, were living in Castle Bassanello, to which her mother Adriana

had also removed. At least Giulia was there in 1504, about which time

one of the Orsini committed one of those crimes with which the history

of the great families of Italy is filled. Her sister, Girolama Farnese,

widow of Puccio Pucci, had entered into a second marriage--this time

with Count Giuliano Orsini of Anguillara--and had been murdered by her

stepson, Giambattista of Stabbia, because, as it was alleged, she had

tried to poison him. Giulia buried her deceased sister in 1504, at

Bassanello.

She must have gone to Rome the following year and taken up her abode in

the Orsini palace. Her husband was not living, and Adriana may also have

been dead, for she was not present at the ceremony in the Vatican in

November, 1505, when Giulia, to the great astonishment of all Rome,

married her only daughter, Laura, to the nephew of the Pope, Niccolò

Rovere, brother of Cardinal Galeotto.

Laura passed among all those who were acquainted with her mother's

secrets as the child of Alexander VI and natural sister of the Duchess

of Ferrara. When she was only seven years old her mother had betrothed

her to Federico, the twelve-year-old son of Raimondo Farnese; this was

April 2, 1499. This alliance was subsequently dissolved to enable her to

enter into a union as brilliant as her heart could possibly desire.

The consent of Julius II to the betrothal of his nephew with the bastard

daughter of Alexander VI is one of the most astonishing facts in the

life of this pope. It perhaps marks his reconciliation with the Borgia.

He had hated the men of this family while he was hostile to them, but

his hatred was not due to any moral feelings. Julius II felt no contempt

for Alexander and Cæsar, but, on the other hand, it is more likely that

he marveled at their strength as did Macchiavelli. We do not know that

he had any personal relations with Lucretia Borgia after he ascended

the papal throne, although this certainly would have been probable owing

to the position of the house of Este. On one occasion he deeply offended

Lucretia when, in reinstating Guglielmo Gaetani in possession of

Sermoneta by a bull dated January 24, 1504, he applied the most

uncomplimentary epithets to Alexander VI, describing him as a "swindler"

who had enriched his own children by plundering others.[206] This

especially concerned Lucretia, for she had been mistress of Sermoneta,

which had subsequently been given to her son Rodrigo.

Later, after Alfonso ascended the ducal throne, the relations between

the Pope and Lucretia must have become more friendly. She kept up a

lively correspondence with Giulia Farnese, and doubtless received from

her the news of the betrothal of her daughter to a member of the Pope's

family.[207]

The betrothal took place in the Vatican, in the presence of Julius II,

Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, and the mother of the young bride. This was

one of the greatest triumphs of Giulia's romantic life--she had overcome

the opposition of another pope, and one who had been the enemy of

Alexander VI, and the man who had ruined Cæsar. She, the adulteress, who

had been branded by the satirists of Rome and of all Italy as mistress

of Alexander VI, now appeared in the Vatican as one of the most

respectable women of the Roman aristocracy, "the illustrious Donna

Giulia de Farnesio," Orsini's widow, for the purpose of betrothing the

daughter of Alexander and herself to the Pope's nephew, thereby

receiving absolution for the sins of her youth. She was still a

beautiful and fascinating woman, and at most not more than thirty years

of age.

This good fortune and the rehabilitation of her character (if, in view

of the morals of the time, we may so describe it) she owed to the

intercession of her brother the cardinal. Political considerations

likewise induced the Pope to consent to the alliance, for, in order to

carry out his plan for extending the pontifical States, it was necessary

for him to win over the great families of Rome. He secured the support

of the Farnese and of the Orsini; in May, 1506, he married his own

natural daughter Felice to Giangiordano Orsini of Bracciano, and in July

of the same year he gave his niece, Lucretia Gara Rovere, sister of

Niccolò, to Marcantonio Colonna as wife.

Again Giulia Farnese vanished from sight, and neither under Julius II

nor Leo X does she reappear. March 14, 1524, she made a will which was

to be in favor of her nieces Isabella and Costanza in case her daughter

should die without issue. March 23d the Venetian ambassador in Rome,

Marco Foscari, informed his Signory that Cardinal Farnese's sister,

Madama Giulia, formerly mistress of Pope Alexander VI, was dead. From

this we are led to assume that she died in Rome. No authentic likeness

of Giulia Bella has come down to us, but tradition says that one of the

two reclining marble figures which adorn the monument of Paul

III--Farnese--in St. Peter's, Justice, represents his sister, Giulia

Farnese, while the other, Wisdom, is the likeness of his mother,

Giovanella Gaetani.

Giulia's daughter was mistress of Bassanello and Carbognano. She had one

son, Giulio della Rovere, who subsequently became famous as a

scholar.[208]

In the meantime the attempt against Giulio d'Este had been attended by

such consequences that the princely house of Ferrara found itself

confronted by a grave danger. Giulio complained to Alfonso of injustice,

while the cardinal's numerous friends considered his banishment too

severe a punishment. Ippolito had a great following in Ferrara. He was a

lavish man of the world, while the duke, owing to his utilitarian ways

and practical life, repelled the nobility. A party was formed which

advocated a revolution. The house of Este had survived many of these

attempts. One had occurred when Ercole ascended the throne.

Giulio succeeded in winning over to his cause certain disaffected nobles

and conscienceless men who were in the service of the duke; among them

Count Albertino Boschetti of San Cesario; his son-in-law, the captain of

the palace guard; a chamberlain; one of the duke's minstrels, and a few

others. Even Don Ferrante, Alfonso's own brother, who had been his proxy

when he married Lucretia in Rome, entered into the conspiracy. The plan

was, first to despatch the cardinal with poison; and, as this act would

be punished if the duke were allowed to live, he was to be destroyed at

a masked ball, and Don Ferrante was to be placed on the throne.

The cardinal, who was well served by his spies in Ferrara, received news

of what was going on and immediately informed his brother Alfonso. This

was in July, 1506. The conspirators sought safety in flight, but only

Giulio and the minstrel Guasconi succeeded in escaping, the former to

Mantua and the latter to Rome. Count Boschetti was captured in the

vicinity of Ferrara. Don Ferrante apparently made no effort to escape.

When he was brought before the duke he threw himself at his feet and

begged for mercy; but Alfonso in his wrath lost control of himself, and

not only cast him from him but struck out one of his eyes with a staff

which he had in his hand. He had him confined in the tower of the

castle, whither Don Giulio, whom the Marchese of Mantua had delivered

after a short resistance, was soon brought. The trial for treason was

quickly ended, and sentence of death passed upon the guilty. First

Boschetti and two of his companions were beheaded in front of the

Palazzo della Ragione. This scene is faithfully described in a

contemporaneous Ferrarese manuscript on criminology now preserved in the

library of the university.

The two princes were to be executed in the court of the castle, August

12th. The scaffold was erected, the tribunes were filled, the duke took

his place, and the unfortunate wretches were led to the block. Alfonso

made a signal--he was about to show mercy to his brothers. They lost

consciousness and were carried back to prison. Their punishment had been

commuted to life imprisonment. They spent years in captivity, surviving

Alfonso himself. Apparently it caused him no contrition to know that his

miserable brothers were confined in the castle where he dwelt and held

his festivities. Such were the Este whom Ariosto in his poem lauded to

the skies. Not until February 22, 1540, did death release Don Ferrante,

then in the sixty-third year of his age. Don Giulio was granted his

freedom in 1559, and died March 24, 1561, aged eighty-three.

FOOTNOTES:

[198] Another list of the year 1516 contains a number of magnificently

bound breviaries and books of offices, but there are no additional works

of a secular nature. For this catalogue I am indebted to Foucard, who

copied it from an inventory of the personal property of Lucretia Borgia

in the archives of Modena.

[199] Dissertazione del Sig. Dottor Baldassare Oltrocchi sopra i primi

amori di Pietro Bembo, indirizzata al sig. Conte Giammaria Mazzucchelli

Bresciana. In the Nuova Raccolta d'Opuscoli Scientifici del Calogerà,

vol. iv. Lettere di Lucrezia Borgia a messer Pietro Bembo dagli

autografi conservati in un Codice della Bibl. Ambrosiana. Milano eoi

Tipi dell' Ambrosiana, 1859.

[200]

Laeto nata solo, dextrâ, rosa, pollice carpta;

Unde tibi solito pulcrior, unde color?

Num te iterum tinxit Venus? an potius tibi tantum

Borgia purpureo praebuit ore decus?

[201]

Ad Bembum de Lucretia.

Si mutatur in X. C. tertia nominis hujus

Littera lux fiet, quod modo luc fuerat.

Retia subsequitur, cui tu hæc subiunge paraque,

Subscribens lux hæc retia, Bembe, parat.

[202]

La prima inscrizion ch'agli occhi occorre,

Con lungo honor Lucrezia Borgia noma,

La cui bellezza ed onestà preporre

Debbe all' antiqua la sua patria Roma.

I duo che voluto han sopra sè torre

Tanto eccellente ed onorata soma,

Noma lo scritto: Antonio Tebaldeo,

Ercole Strozza: un Lino, e un Orfeo.

[203] See the Marquis Giuseppe Campori's work: Una Vittima della Storia,

Lucrezia Borgia, in the Nuova Antologia, August 31, 1866.

[204] Frizzi Storia di Ferrara, iv, 205.

[205] Cose tutte che sono in ontà del vero, says Antonio Cappelli.

Introduction to his Lettere di Lodovico Ariosto, Bologna, 1866. The

eclogue is in Ariosto's Opere Minori i. 267. Angela Borgia is mentioned

in the last canto (stanza 4) of the Orlando.

[206] The bull is in the archives of the house of Gaetani.

[207] As late as January 15, 1519, a few months before her death,

Lucretia wrote to Giulia. The 13th of that month, Pietro Torelli, the

Ferrarese ambassador in Florence, reported that he had received a letter

for Giulia and would attend to it. Archives of Modena.

[208] Fioravanti Martinelli Carbognano illustrado, Rome, 1644.

CHAPTER VIII

ESCAPE AND DEATH OF CÆSAR

It was at the time of this great tragedy in Ferrara, which must have

vividly reminded Lucretia of her own experiences in the papal city, that

Julius II left Rome for the purpose of carrying out his bold plans for

reestablishing the pontifical states by driving out the tyrants who had

succeeded in escaping Cæsar's sword. Alfonso, as a vassal of the Church,

sent him some troops, but he did not take part personally in the

expedition. Guidobaldo of Urbino, who had adopted Francesco Maria Rovere

as his son and heir, and the Marchese Gonzaga served in the army of

Julius II. September 12, 1506, the Pope entered Perugia, whose tyrants,

the Baglioni, surrendered. November 11th he made his entry into Bologna,

Giovanni Bentivoglio and his wife Ginevra having fled with their

children. There Julius halted, casting longing looks at Romagna,

formerly Cæsar's domain, but now occupied by the Venetian army.

It is a curious coincidence that it was at this very moment that the

Duke of Romagna, who had vanished from the stage, again appeared. In

November Lucretia received news that her brother had escaped from his

prison in Spain, and she immediately communicated the fact to the

Marchese Gonzaga, who, as field marshal of the Church, was in

Bologna.[209]

Lucretia had frequently exerted herself to secure Cæsar's freedom and

had remained in constant communication with him by messenger. Her

petitions, however, had produced no effect upon the King of Spain.

Finally, owing to favorable circumstances, Cæsar succeeded in effecting

his escape. Zurita says that Ferdinand the Catholic intended to remove

him from his prison in the spring of 1506 to Aragon, and then to take

him to Naples, whither he was going to place the affairs of the kingdom

in order, and to assure himself of Gonsalvo, whose loyalty he suspected.

His son-in-law, the Archduke Philip, with whom he was at variance on

account of his pretensions to the kingdom of Castile, refused to allow

Cæsar to be released from Medina, a Castilian place. While Ferdinand was

absent on his journey, Philip died at Burgos, September 5, 1506, and

Cæsar took advantage of this opportunity and the king's absence to

escape. This he did with the help of the Castilian party, who hoped to

profit by the services of the famous condottiere.

October 25th he escaped from the castle of Medina to the estates of the

Count of Benavente, where he remained. Some of the barons who wished to

place the government of Castile in the hands of Maximilian, Philip's

father, were anxious to send him to Flanders as their messenger to the

emperor's court. As this plan fell through, Cæsar betook himself to

Pamplona to his brother-in-law, the King of Navarre, who had become

embroiled in this Castilian intrigue and was at war with his rebellious

constable the Count of Lerin.

From that place Cæsar wrote the Marchese of Mantua, and this is the

last letter written by him which has been discovered.

ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE: I inform you that after innumerable

disappointments it has pleased God, our Master, to free me and to

release me from prison. How this happened you will learn from my

secretary Federigo, the bearer. May this, by God's never-failing

mercy, redound to his great service. At present I am with the

illustrious King and Queen of Navarre in Pamplona, where I arrived

December 3d, as your Majesty will learn from the above-named

Federigo, who will also inform you of all that has occurred. You

may believe whatever he tells you in my name, just as if I myself

were speaking to you.

I commend myself to your Excellency forever. From Pamplona,

December 7, 1506. Your Majesty's friend and younger brother,

CÆSAR.

The letter has a wafer bearing the combined arms of Cæsar with the

inscription _Cæsar Borgia de Francia Dux Romandiolæ_. One shield has the

Borgia arms, with the French lilies, and a helmet from which seven

snarling dragons issue; the other the arms of Cæsar's wife, with the

lilies of France, and a winged horse rising from the casque.

Cæsar's secretary reached Ferrara the last day of December. This same

Federigo had been in that city once before,--during July of the year

1506, and had been sent back to Spain by the duchess.[210] He now

returned to Italy, not for the purpose of bringing the news of his

master's escape, but to learn how matters stood and to ascertain whether

there was any prospect of restoring the Duke of Romagna. His majordomo,

Requesenz, who was in Ferrara in January, had come for the same

purpose. No time, however, could have been less favorable for such

schemes than the year 1506, for Julius II had just taken possession of

Bologna. The Marchese Gonzaga, upon whose good will Cæsar still

reckoned, was commander of the papal army, which--it was believed--was

planning an expedition into the Romagna. This was the only country where

there was the slightest possibility of Cæsar's succeeding in reacquiring

his power, for his good government had left a favorable impression on

the Romagnoles, who would have preferred his authority to that of the

Church. Zurita, the historian of Aragon, is correct when he says:

"Cæsar's escape caused the Pope great anxiety, for the duke was a man

who would not have hesitated to throw all Italy in turmoil for the

purpose of carrying out his own plans; he was greatly beloved, not only

by the men of war, but also by many people in Ferrara and in the States

of the Church--something which seldom falls to the lot of a tyrant."

Cæsar's messenger ventured to Bologna in spite of the presence of the

Pope, and there the latter had him seized. This was reported to

Lucretia, who immediately wrote to the Marchese of Gonzaga as follows:

ILLUSTRIOUS BROTHER-IN-LAW AND HONORED BROTHER: I have

just learned that by command of his Holiness our Federigo, the

chancellor of the duke, my brother, has been seized in Bologna; I

am sure he has done nothing to deserve this, for he did not come

here with the intention of doing or saying anything that would

displease or injure his Holiness--his Excellency would not

countenance or risk anything of this sort against his Holiness. If

Federigo had been given any order of this nature he would have

first informed me of it, and I should never have permitted him to

give any ground for complaint, for I am a devoted and faithful

servant of the Pope, as is also my illustrious husband. I know of

no other reason for his coming than to inform us of the duke's

escape. Therefore I consider his innocence as beyond question. This

apprehension of the courier is especially displeasing to me because

it will injure my brother, the duke, making it appear that he is

not in his Holiness's favor, and the same may be said of myself. I,

therefore, urgently request your Excellency--of course if you are

disposed to do me a favor--to use every means to induce his

Holiness to release the messenger promptly, which I trust he will

do out of his own goodness, and owing to the mediation of your

Excellency. There is no way your Majesty could give me greater

pleasure than by doing this, for the sake of my own honor and every

other consideration, and in no way could I become more beholden to

you. Therefore, I commend myself again to you with all my heart.

Your Majesty's Sister and Servant,

THE DUCHESS OF FERRARA.

FERRARA, _January 15, 1507_.

Cæsar had sent his former majordomo, Don Jaime de Requesenz, from

Pamplona to the King of France to ask him to allow him to return to his

court and enter his service. To this, however, Louis XII would not

listen. The messenger met with a severe rebuff when he demanded in

Cæsar's name the duchy of Valentinois and the revenue which he had

formerly enjoyed as a prince of the French house.[211]

Death soon put an end to the hopes of the famous adventurer. While in

the service of his brother-in-law, the King of Navarre, he conducted the

siege of the castle of Viana, which was defended by the king's vassal

Don Loys de Beamonte, Count of Lerin. There he fell, bravely fighting,

March 12, 1507. This place is situated in the diocese of Pamplona, and,

as Zurita remarks, Cæsar's death by a curious coincidence occurred on

the anniversary of the day on which to him had been given the bishopric

of Pamplona. There he was interred with high honors. Like Nero he was

only thirty-one years of age at the time of his demise.

The fall of this terrible man, before whom all Italy had once trembled,

and whose name was celebrated far and wide, relieved Julius II of a

pretender who in time might have been a hindrance to him; for Cæsar, as

an ally and a condottiere of Venice, would have spared no effort to

force him into a war with the Republic for the possession of Romagna, or

into a war with France on his withdrawal from the League of Cambray, and

the revengeful Louis XII would certainly have brought Cæsar back to the

Romagna for the purpose of availing himself both of his former

connections in that country, and also of his great talents as a soldier.

The news of Cæsar's death reached Ferrara while the duke was absent, in

April, 1507, by way of Rome and Naples. His counselor Magnanini and

Cardinal Ippolito withheld the news from the duchess, who was near her

confinement. She was merely told that her brother had been wounded in

battle. Greatly distressed, she betook herself to one of the convents in

the city, where she spent two days in prayer before returning to the

castle. As soon as the talk regarding Cæsar's death reached her ears she

despatched her servant Tullio for Navarre, but on the way he received a

report of the burial and turned back to Ferrara. Grasica, one of

Cassar's equerries, also came to Ferrara and gave a full report of the

circumstances attending the death of his master, at whose interment in

Pamplona he had been present. The cardinal therefore decided to tell

Lucretia the truth, and gave her her husband's letter containing the

news of Cæsar's death.[212]

The duchess displayed more self-control than had been expected. Her

sorrow was mingled with the bitter recollection of all she had

experienced and suffered in Rome, the memory of which had been dulled

but not wholly obliterated by her life in Ferrara. Twice the murder of

her young husband Alfonso must have come back to her in all its

horror--once on the death of her father and again on that of her

terrible brother. If her grief was not inspired by the overwhelming

memories of former times, the sight of Lucretia weeping for Cæsar Borgia

is a beautiful example of sisterly love--the purest and most noble of

human sentiments.

Valentino certainly did not appear to his sister or to his

contemporaries in the form in which we now behold him, for his crimes

seem blacker and blacker, while his good qualities and that

which--following Macchiavelli--we may call his political worth, are

constantly diminishing. To every thinking man the power which this young

upstart, owing to an unusual combination of circumstances, acquired is

merely a proof of what the timid, short-sighted generality of mankind

will tolerate. They tolerated the immature greatness of Cæsar Borgia,

before whom princes and states trembled for years, and he was not the

last bold but empty idol of history before whom the world has tottered.

Although Lucretia may not have had a very clearly defined opinion of her

brother, neither her memory nor her sight could have been wholly dulled.

She herself forgave him, but she must, nevertheless, have asked herself

whether the incorruptible Judge of all mankind would forgive him--for

she was a devout and faithful Catholic according to the religious

standards of the age. She doubtless had innumerable masses said for his

soul, and assailed heaven with endless prayers.

Ercole Strozzi sought to console her in pompous verse; in 1508 he

dedicated to her his elegy on Cæsar. This fantastic poem is remarkable

as having been the production of this man, and it might be defined as

the poetic counterpart of Macchiavelli's "Prince." First the poet

describes the deep sorrow of the two women, Lucretia and Charlotte,

lamenting the deceased with burning tears, even as Cassandra and

Polyxena bewailed the loss of Achilles. He depicts the triumphant

progress of Cæsar, who resembled the great Roman by his deeds as well as

in name. He enumerated the various cities he had seized in Romagna, and

complained that an envious Fate had not permitted him to subjugate more

of them, for if it had, the fame of the capture of Bologna would not

have fallen to Julius II. The poet says that the Genius of Rome had once

appeared to the people and foretold the fall of Alexander and Cæsar,

complaining that all hope of the savior of the line of Calixtus,--whom

the gods had promised,--would expire with them. Eratus had told the poet

of these promises made in Olympus. Pallas and Venus, one as the friend

of Cæsar and Spain, the other as the patron of Italy, unwilling that

strangers should rule over the descendants of the Trojans, had

complained to Jupiter of his failure to fulfil his promise to give Italy

a great king who would be likewise her savior. Jupiter had reassured

them by saying that fate was inexorable. Cæsar like Achilles had to die,

but from the two lines of Este and Borgia, which sprang from Troy and

Greece, the promised hero would come. Pallas thereupon appeared in Nepi,

where, after Alexander's death, Cæsar lay sick of the pest, in his camp,

and, in the form of his father, informed him of his approaching end,

which he, conscious of his fame, must suffer like a hero. Then she

disappeared in the form of a bird and hastened to Lucretia in Ferrara.

After the poet described Cæsar's fall in Spain he sought to console the

sister with philosophic platitudes, and then with the assurance that she

was to be the mother of the child who was destined for such a great

career.[213]

According to Zurita, Cæsar left but one legitimate child, a daughter,

who was living with her mother under the protection of the King of

Navarre. Her name was Luisa; later she married Louis de la Tremouille,

and on his death Philipp of Bourbon, Baron of Busset. Her mother,

Charlotte d'Albret, having suffered much in life, gave herself up to

holy works. She retired from the world, and died March 11, 1504. Two

natural children of Cæsar, a son Girolamo and a daughter Lucretia were

living in Ferrara, where the latter became a nun and died in 1573, she

being at the time abbess of San Bernardino.[214] As late as February,

1550, an illegitimate son of Cæsar's appeared in Paris. He was a priest,

and he announced that he was the natural son of the Duke of Romagna, and

called himself Don Luigi. He had come from Rome to ask assistance of the

King of France, because, as he said, his father had met his death while

he was in the service of the French crown in the kingdom of Navarre.

They gave him a hundred ducats, with which he returned to Rome.[215]

FOOTNOTES:

[209] In the record of her household expenses, under date of November

20, 1506, there is the following entry: A Garzia Spagnolo per andare a

Venezia per la nova del Duca Valentino che era fugito de progione.

November 27, she wrote to Gonzaga.

[210] Record of Lucretia's household expenses for the year 1506

(Archives of Modena): July 31, 1506, a Federigo Cancelliere del Duca

Valentino per andare per le poste in Spagna dal Duca.

[211] Despatch of the Ferrarese ambassador to France, Manfredo Manfredi,

to Duke Alfonso, January, 1507.

[212] Letters of Hieronymus Magnaninus to his master, Alfonso, Ferrara,

April 11 to 22, archives of the Este.

[213] Cæsaris Borgiæ Ducis Epicedium per Herculem Strozzam ad Divam

Lucretiam Borgiam Ferrariæ Ducem. In Strozzi Poetæ Pater et Filius,

Paris, 1530.

[214] See Cittadella's genealogy of the house of Borgia.

[215] Letter of Giulio Alvarotti from France, February 14, 1550, in the

archives of Modena.

CHAPTER IX

MURDER OF ERCOLE STROZZI--DEATH OF GIOVANNI SFORZA AND OF LUCRETIA'S

ELDEST SON

Alfonso's hopes of having an heir had twice been disappointed by

miscarriages, but April 4, 1508, his wife bore him a son, who was

baptized with the name of his grandfather.

Ercole Strozzi regarded the birth of this heir to the throne as the

fulfilment of his prophesy. In a _genethliakon_ he flatters the duchess

with the hope that the deeds of her brother Cæsar and of her father

Alexander would be an incentive to her son--both would remind him of

Camillus and the Scipios as well as of the heroes of Greece.

Only a few weeks after this the genial poet met with a terrible end. His

devotion to Lucretia was doubtless merely that of a court gallant and

poet celebrating the beauty of his patroness. The real object of his

affections was Barbara Torelli, the youthful widow of Ercole

Bentivoglio, who gave him the preference over another nobleman. Strozzi

married her in May, 1508.

Thirteen days later, on the morning of June 6th, the poet's dead body

was found near the Este palace, which is now known as the Pareschi,

wrapped in his mantle, some of his hair torn out by the roots, and

wounded in two and twenty places. All Ferrara was in an uproar, for she

owed her fame to Strozzi, one of the most imaginative poets of his time,

the pet of everybody, the friend of Bembo and Ariosto, the favorite of

the duchess and of the entire court. On his father's death he had

succeeded to his position as chief of the twelve judges of Ferrara. He

was still in the flower of his youth, being only twenty-seven years old.

This terrible event must have reminded Lucretia of the day when her

brother Gandia was slain. The mystery attending these crimes has never

been dispelled. "No one named the author of the murder, for the pretor

was silent," says Paul Jovius in his eulogy of the poet. But who, except

those who had the power to do so could have compelled the court to

remain silent?

Some have ascribed the deed to Alfonso, stating that he destroyed

Strozzi on account of his passion for the latter's wife; others claim

that he simply revenged himself for the favor which Lucretia had shown

the poet. Recent writers who have endeavored to fathom the mystery and

who have availed themselves of authentic records of the time regard

Alfonso as the guilty one.[216] One of the strongest proofs of his guilt

is found in the fact that the duke, who not only had punished the

conspirators against his own life so cruelly, and who had always shown

himself an unyielding supporter of the law, allowed the matter to drop.

Lucretia has even been charged with the murder on the ground of her

jealousy of Barbara Torelli, or owing to her fear that Strozzi might

disclose her relations with Bembo, especially as he had hoped to obtain

the cardinal's hat through the influence of the duchess, in which he was

disappointed. None of the later historians has given any credence to

this theory. Ariosto did not believe it, for if he did how could he have

made Ercole Strozzi the herald of her fame in the temple of honor in

which he placed the women of the house of Este? Even if he wrote this

stanza before the poet's death--which is not probable--he would

certainly have changed it before the publication of the poem, which was

in 1516.

Nor did Aldo Manuzio believe in Lucretia's guilt, for in 1513 he

dedicated to her an edition of the poems of the two Strozzi, father and

son, accompanied by an introduction in which he praises her to the

skies.

In the meantime Julius II had formed the League of Cambray, which was to

crush Venice, and which Ferrara had also joined. The war kept Alfonso

away from his domain much of the time, and consequently he made Lucretia

regent during his absence. In former days she had occasionally acted as

regent in the Vatican and in Spoleto--but in a different way. In 1509

she saw the war clouds gathering about Ferrara, for it was in that year

that her husband and the cardinal attacked the Venetian fleet on the Po.

August 25th of this same year Lucretia bore a second son, Ippolito.

The war which convulsed the entire peninsula immediately drew Ferrara

into the great movement which did not subside until Charles V imposed a

new order of things on the affairs of Italy. Lucretia's subsequent life,

therefore, was largely influenced by politics. Her first peaceful years

in Ferrara, like her youth, were past. She now devoted herself to the

education of her children, the princes of Este, and to affairs of state

whenever her husband entrusted them to her. She was a capable woman; her

father was not mistaken in his opinion of her intellect. She made

herself felt as regent in Ferrara. She was regent for the first time

in May, 1506, and she acquitted herself most creditably. The Jews in

Ferrara were being oppressed, and Lucretia had a law passed to protect

them, and all who transgressed it were severely punished. In the

dedication of the poems of the Strozzi addressed to her by Aldo, he

lauds, among her other good qualities, not only her fear of God, her

benevolence to the poor, and her kindness toward her relatives, but also

her ability as a ruler, saying that she made an excellent regent, whose

sound opinions and perspicacity were greatly admired by the burghers.

Even if we make allowances for the flattery, there is still much truth

in what he says.

[Illustration: ALDO MANUZIO.

From an engraving by Angustin de St. Aubin.]

Owing to these facts it is not strange that Lucretia's personality was

quite obliterated or eclipsed by the political history of Ferrara during

this period. The chroniclers of the city make no mention of her except

on the occasion of the birth of her children, and Paul Jovius speaks of

her only two or three times in his biography of Alfonso, although in

each case with the greatest respect. The personal interest which the

early career of this woman had excited died out with the change in her

life. Even her letters to Alfonso and those to her friend Isabella

Gonzaga contain little of importance to her biographers. No one now

questioned her virtues; even the Emperor Maximilian, who had endeavored

to prevent her marriage with Alfonso, acknowledged them. One day in

February, 1510, in Augsburg, while in conversation with the Ferrarese

ambassador, Girolamo Cassola--having discussed the ladies and the

festivities of Augsburg at length--he questioned the ambassador about

the women of Italy, and especially about those of Ferrara, whereupon

"much was said regarding the good qualities of our duchess. I spoke of

her beauty, her graciousness, her modesty, and her virtues. The emperor

asked me what other beauties there were in Ferrara, and I named Donna

Diana and Donna Agnola, one the sister and the other the wife of Ercole

d'Este." Such was the report the ambassador sent to Ferrara.[217]

Lucretia's nature had become more composed, thanks to the stability of

the world to which she now belonged and owing to the important duties

she now had, and only rarely was it disturbed by any reminder of her

experiences in Rome. The death of Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro, however, in

1510, served to recall her early life.

On returning to his State, Sforza had been confirmed in its possession

as a vassal of the Church by a bull of Julius II. He endeavored to rule

wisely, made many improvements, and strengthened the castle of Pesaro.

He was a cultivated man given over to the study of philosophy. Ratti, a

biographer of the house of Sforza, mentions a catalogue which he

compiled of the entire archives of Pesaro. In 1504 he married a noble

Venetian, Ginevra, of the house of Tiepolo, whose acquaintance he had

made while in exile. November 4, 1505, she bore him a son,

Costanzo.[218]

What were his exact relations with the Este, with whom he was connected,

we do not know, although they, doubtless, were not altogether pleasant.

Sforza could not have found much pleasure in life, for his famous house

was fast becoming extinct, and he could not foresee a long future for

his race. He died peacefully July 27, 1510, in the castle of Gradara,

where he had been in the habit of spending much of his time alone.

As his son was still a small child his natural brother Galeazzo, who

had married Ginevra, a daughter of Ercole Bentivoglio, assumed the

government of Pesaro. Giovanni's child died August 15, 1512, whereupon

Pope Julius II withdrew his support from Galeazzo, and forced the last

of the Sforza of Pesaro to enter into an agreement by which, October 30,

1512, he surrendered the castle and domain to Francesco Maria Rovere,

who had been Duke of Urbino since the death of Guidobaldo in April,

1508. Pesaro therefore was united with this State. Galeazzo died in

Milan in 1515, having made the Duke Maximilian Sforza his heir. The line

of the lords of Pesaro thus became extinct, for Giovanni Sforza had left

only a natural daughter, Isabella, who in 1520 married Sernigi Cipriano,

a noble Florentine, and who died in Rome in 1561, famous for her culture

and intellect. Her epitaph may still be read on a stone in the wall of

the passageway behind the tribune in the Lateran basilica.[219]

The death of Lucretia's first husband must have vividly reminded her of

the wrong she had done him, because she had now reached the age when

frivolity no longer dulled conscience; but the times were so troublous

that she directed her thoughts into other channels. August 9, 1510, a

few days after the death of Sforza, Julius II placed Alfonso under his

ban and declared that he had forfeited all his Church fiefs. The Pope

again took up the plans of his uncle Sixtus, who, in conjunction with

the Venetians, had schemed to wrest Ferrara from the Este. After the

Venetians had appeased him by withdrawing from the cities of Romagna, he

had made peace with the Republic, and commanded Alfonso to withdraw from

the League and to cease warring against Venice. The duke refused, and

this was the reason for the ban. Ferrara thereupon, together with

France, found itself drawn into a ruinous war which led to the famous

battle of Ravenna, April 1, 1512, which was won by Alfonso's artillery.

It was during this war, and on the occasion of the attempt of Julius II

to capture Ferrara by surprise, that the famous Bayard made the

acquaintance of Lucretia. After the French cavaliers, with their

companions in arms, the Ferrarese, had captured the fortress they

returned in triumph to Ferrara where they were received with the

greatest honors. In remembrance of this occasion the biographer Bayard

wrote in praise of Lucretia as follows: "The good duchess received the

French before all the others with every mark of favor. She is a pearl in

this world. She daily gave the most wonderful festivals and banquets in

the Italian fashion. I venture to say that neither in her time nor for

many years before has there been such a glorious princess, for she is

beautiful and good, gentle and amiable to everyone, and nothing is more

certain than this, that, although her husband is a skilful and brave

prince, the above-named lady, by her graciousness, has been of great

service to him."[220]

Owing to the death of Gaston de Foix at the battle of Ravenna, the

victory of the French turned to defeat and the rout of the Pope into

victory. Alfonso finding himself defenseless, hastened to Rome in July,

1512, to ask forgiveness from Julius, and, although this was accorded

him, he was saved from destruction, or a fate similar to Cæsar Borgia's,

only by secret flight. With the help of the Colonna, who conducted him

to Marino, he reached Ferrara in disguise.

These were anxious days for Lucretia; for, while she was trembling for

the life of her husband, she received news of the death, abroad, of her

son. August 28, 1512, the Mantuan agent Stazio Gadio wrote his master

Gonzaga from Rome, saying news had reached there that the Duke of

Biselli, son of the Duchess of Ferrara and Don Alfonso of Aragon, had

died at Bari, where he was living under the care of the duchess of that

place.[221] Lucretia herself gave this information to a person whose

name is not known, in a letter dated October 1st, saying, "I am wholly

lost in bitterness and tears on account of the death of the Duke of

Biselli, my dearest son, concerning which the bearer of this will give

you further particulars."[222]