We do not know how the unfortunate Rodri_Lucretia Borgia According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day

following Alexander's death and Cæsar's exile in Spain, but there is

ground for believing that he was left in Naples under the guardianship

of the cardinals Ludovico Borgia and Romolini of Sorrento. By virtue of

a previous agreement, the King of Spain recognized Lucretia's son as

Duke of Biselli, and there is an official document of September, 1505,

according to which the representative of the little duke placed his oath

of allegiance in the hands of the two cardinals above named.[223]

Rodrigo may have been brought up by his aunt, Donna Sancia, for she was

living with her husband in the kingdom of Naples, where Don Giuffrè had

been confirmed in the possession of his property. Sancia died childless

in the year 1506, just as Ferdinand the Catholic appeared in Naples. The

king, consequently, appropriated a large part of Don Giuffrè's estates,

although the latter remained Prince of Squillace. He married a second

time and left several heirs. Of his end we know nothing. One of his

grandchildren, Anna de Borgia, Princess of Squillace, the last of her

race, brought these estates to the house of Gandia by her marriage with

Don Francesco Borgia at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

It may have been on the death of Sancia that Rodrigo was placed under

the protection of another aunt, Isabella d'Aragona, his father's eldest

sister, the most unfortunate woman of the age, wife of Giangaleazzo of

Milan, who had been poisoned by Ludovico il Moro. The figure of Isabella

of Milan is the most tragic in the history of Italy of the period

beginning with the invasion of Charles VIII--an epoch filled with a

series of disasters that involved every dynasty of the country. For she

was affected at one and the same time by the fall of two great houses,

that of Sforza and that of Aragon. The saying of Caracciolo in his work,

_De varietate fortunæ_, regarding the Sforza, namely, that there is no

tragedy however terrible for which this house would not furnish an

abundance of material may well be applied to both these families.

Isabella had beheld the fall of her once mighty house, and she had seen

her own son Francesco seized and taken to France by Louis XII, where he

died, a priest, in his early manhood. She herself had retired to Bari, a

city which Ludovico il Moro had given up to her in 1499, and of which

she remained duchess until her death, February 11, 1524.

Donna Isabella had taken Lucretia's son to herself, and from the records

of the household expenses of the Duchess of Ferrara it appears that he

was with her in Bari in March, 1505, for on the twenty-sixth of that

month there is the following entry: "A suit of damask and brocade which

her Majesty sent her son Don Rodrigo in Bari as a present."[224] April

3d his mother sent his tutor, Baldassare Bonfiglio, who had come to

Naples, back to him. This man is named in the register under date of

February 25, 1506, as tutor of Don Giovanni. It appears, therefore, that

this child also was in Bari, and was being educated with his playfellow

Rodrigo. In October, 1506, we find the little Giovanni in Carpi, where

he was probably placed at the court of the Pio. From there Lucretia had

him brought to the court of Ferrara on the date mentioned. She therefore

was allowed to have this mysterious infante, but not her own child

Rodrigo, with her. In November, 1506, Giovanni must again have been in

Carpi, for Lucretia sent him some fine linen apparel to that place.[225]

Both children were together again in Bari in April, 1508, for in the

record of the household expenses the expenditures for both, beginning

with May of that year, are given together, and a certain Don Bartolommeo

Grotto is mentioned as instructor to both.[226] The son of Lucretia and

of the murdered Alfonso, therefore, died in the home of Donna Isabella

in Bari, which was not far from his hereditary duchy of Biselli.

We have a letter written by this unhappy Princess Isabella a few weeks

after the death of the youthful Rodrigo, to Perot Castellar, Governor of

Biselli:

MONSIGNOR PEROT: We write this merely to ask you to compel

those of Corato to pay us what they have to pay, from the revenue

of the illustrious Duke of Biselli, our nephew of blessed memory,

for shortly a bill will come from the illustrious Duchess of

Ferrara, and in case the money is not ready we might be caused

great inconvenience. Those of Corato may delay, and we might be

compelled to find the money at once. Therefore you must see to it

that we are not subjected to any further inconvenience, and that we

are paid immediately; for by so doing you will oblige us, and we

offer ourselves to your service.

ISABELLA OF ARAGON, Duchess of Milan, alone in

misfortune.[227]

BARI, _October 14, 1592_.

Rodrigo's[228] mother laid claim to the property he left, which, as is

shown by certain documents, she recovered from Isabella d'Aragona as

guardian of the deceased, to the amount of several thousand ducats. To

do this she was forced to engage in a long suit, and as late as March,

1518, she sent her agent, Giacomo Naselli, to Rome and Naples regarding

it. His report to Cardinal Ippolito is still in existence.

Whatever were the circumstances which had compelled Lucretia to send her

son away, on whom, as we have shown, she always lavished her maternal

care, the unfortunate child's experience will always be a blot on her

memory.

FOOTNOTES:

[216] Campori; Una Vittima della Storia; Antonio Capelli, Lettere di L.

Ariosto, Introduction, p. lxi. Also W. Gilbert, Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess

of Ferrara, ii, 240.

[217] Despatch of Girolamo Cassola, Augsburg, February 27, 1510.

Archives of Modena.

[218] This he announced to the Marchese Gonzaga from Pesaro, November 4,

1505. Archives of Mantua.

[219] Copies of the following instruments concerning the last Sforza of

Pesaro are in the archives of Florence: will of Giovanni Sforza, July

24, 1510; agreement between Galeazzo and the Papal Legate, October 30,

1512; Galeazzo's will, March 23, 1515; Isabella's marriage contract,

Pesaro, September 29, 1520. The epitaph in the Lateran is as follows:

Isabellas Sfortiæ Joannis Pisaurensium P. Feminæ Sui Temporis Prudentia

Ac Pietate Insigni Exec. Test. P. Vix. Ann LVII. M. VII. D. III Obiit

Ann. MDLXI. XI Kal. Febr. Consensu Nobilium De Mutis De Papazurris.

Above is a profile in marble.

[220] J'ose bien dire que, de son temps, ni beaucoup avant, il ne s'est

point trouvé de plus triomphante princesse, car elle était belle, bonne,

douce et courtoise, à toutes gens. Le Loyal Serviteur Histoire du bon

Chevalier, le seigneur de Bayard, chap. xlv.

[221] Despatch of this ambassador in the archives of Mantua.

[222] Per trovarmi tuttavia involta in lachryme et amaritudine per la

morte del Duca di Biselli mio figliolo carrissimo.

[223] The instrument is in the Liber Arrendamentorum, from Lucretia's

chancellery.

[224] El quale zipon de Dernascho e brochato, sua Signoria el manda a

donare a don Rodrigo suo figliolo a Barri.

[225] October 24, 1506. Spesa per un nocchiero, che ha condotto Don

Giovanni Borgia de Finale a Ferrara. November 5, 1506. Tela di renso

sottile per far camicie mandato a Carpi al sig. Don Giovanni Borgia.

[226] May 15, 1508. Berette per Don Giovanni e Don Rodrigo Borgia. May

25th. Spesa per guanti a Don Giovanni e Don Rodrigo Borgia. October

16th. Bartolommeo Grotto, maestro de li ragazzi, per pagare certi libri

zoè Donati e regule per detti ragazzi. December 15. Per un Virgilio

comprato da Don Bartolommeo Grotto a don Giovanni.

[227] Unica in disgracia.

[228] Letters in the Este archives show that there was another Don

Rodrigo Borgia, who, in the year 1518, was described as the "brother" of

the Duchess Lucretia, and was then under the care of tutors in Salerno.

His guardians were Madama Elisabetta--who may have been his mother--and

her daughter Giulia. Lucretia, to whom the letters of Giovanni Cases

(Rome, May 12, September 3, 1518) and another by Don Giorgio de Ferrara

(Rome, December, 1518,) are addressed, seems to have acted as a mother

to this child. This second Rodrigo died, a young clerk, in 1527. August

30th of that year the Ferrarese ambassador in Naples, Baldassare da

Fino, wrote from Posilipo as follows: Lo Illmo et Rev. Signor Don

Rodrico de Casa Borgia, stando in Ciciano, cum la Signora Madama sua

matre, sono da 15 giorni che, prima vexato da Febre continua, se ne

morse--a sheet without any address, in the archives of Modena. Again, in

January, 1535, this deceased son of Alexander VI is mentioned in a

report sent from Rome, which contains the following words: Era venuta

nuovamente un Vescovo fratello di Don Roderico Borgia, figliuolo che fu

di Papa Alessandro.... Avvisi di Roma. State archives of Modena.

CHAPTER X

EFFECTS OF THE WAR--THE ROMAN INFANTE

The war about Ferrara, thanks to Alfonso's skill and the determined

resistance of the State, had ended. Julius II had seized Modena and

Reggio, which was a great loss to the State of Ferrara, and consequently

the history of that country for many years hence is taken up with her

efforts to regain these cities. Fortunately for Alfonso, Julius II died

in February, 1513, and Leo X ascended the papal throne. Hitherto he had

maintained friendly relations with the princes of Urbino and Ferrara,

who continued to look for only amicable treatment from him; but both

houses were destined to be bitterly deceived by the faithless Medici,

who deceived all the world. Alfonso hastened to attend Leo's coronation

in Rome, and, believing a complete reconciliation with the Holy See

would soon be effected, he returned to Ferrara.

There Lucretia had won universal esteem and affection; she had become

the mother of the people. She lent a ready ear to the suffering and

helped all who were in need. Famine, high prices, and depletion of the

treasury were the consequences of the war; Lucretia had even pawned her

jewels. She put aside, as Jovius says, "the pomps and vanities of the

world to which she had been accustomed from childhood, and gave herself

up to pious works, and founded convents and hospitals. This was due as

much to her own nature as it was to her past life and the fate she

had suffered. Most women who have lived much and loved much finally

become fanatics; bigotry is often only the last form which feminine

vanity assumes. The recollection of a world of vice, and of crimes

committed by her nearest kinsmen, and also of her own sins, must have

constantly disturbed Lucretia's conscience. Other women who, like her,

were among the chief characters in the history of the Borgias developed

precisely the same frame of mind and experienced a similar need of

religious consolation. Cæsar's widow ended her life in a convent;

Gandia's did the same; Alexander's mistress became a fanatic; and if we

had any record of the adulteress Giulia Farnese we should certainly find

that she passed the closing years of her life either as a saint in a

convent or engaged in pious works."

[Illustration: LEO X.

From an engraving published in 1580.]

The year 1513, following the war in Ferarra, marked a decided change in

Lucretia's life, for from that time it took a special religious turn. It

did not, however, degenerate into bigotry or fanaticism; this was

prevented by the vigorous Alfonso and her children, and by her court

duties. The war had deprived Ferrara of much of its brilliancy, although

it was still one of the most attractive of the princely courts of Italy.

During the following years of peace Alfonso devoted himself to the

cultivation of the arts. The most famous masters of Ferrara--Dossi,

Garofalo, and Michele Costa--worked for him in the castle, in

Belriguardo, and Belfiore. Titian, who was frequently a guest in

Ferrara, executed some paintings for him, and the duke likewise gave

Raphael some commissions. He even founded a museum of antiquities. In

Lucretia's cabinet there was a Cupid by Michael Angelo. The predilection

of the duchess for the fine arts, however, was not very strong; in this

respect she was not to be compared with her sister-in-law, Isabella of

Mantua, who maintained constant relations with all the prominent artists

of the age and had her agents in all the large cities of Italy to keep

her informed regarding noteworthy productions in the domain of the arts.

From 1513 Ferrara's brilliancy was somewhat dimmed by the greater fame

of the court of Leo X. The passion of this member of the Medici family

for the arts attracted to Rome the most brilliant men of Italy, among

whom were the poets Tebaldeo, Sadoleto, and Bembo--the last became Leo's

secretary. Both the Strozzi were dead. Aldo, upon whose career as a

printer and scholar during his early years Lucretia had not been without

influence, was living in Venice, and from there he kept up a literary

correspondence with his patroness. Celio Calcagnini remained true to

Ferrara. The university continued to flourish. Lucretia was very

friendly with the noble Venetian, Trissino, Ariosto's not altogether

successful rival in epic poetry. There are in existence five letters

written by Trissino to Lucretia in her last years.[229] Ferrara's pride,

however, was Ariosto, and Lucretia knew him when he was at the zenith of

his fame. He, however, dedicated his poem neither to her nor to Alfonso,

but to the unworthy Cardinal Ippolito, in whose service a combination of

circumstances had placed him. No princely house was ever glorified more

highly than was the house of Este by Ariosto, for the _Orlando Furioso_

will cause it to be remembered for all time; so long as the Italian

language endures it will hold an immortal place in literature. Lucretia

too was given a position of honor in the poem; but however beautiful the

place which she there holds, Ariosto ought to have bestowed greater

praise on her if she was the inspiration which he required for his great

work.

Lucretia's relations with her husband, which had never been based upon

love, and which were not of a passionate nature, apparently continued to

grow more favorable for her. In April, 1514, she had borne him a third

son, Alessandro, who died at the age of two years; July 4, 1515, she

bore a daughter, Leonora, and November 1, 1516, another son, Francesco.

With no little satisfaction Alfonso found himself the father of a number

of children--all his legitimate heirs. He was engrossed in his own

affairs, but, nevertheless, he was highly pleased with the esteem and

admiration now bestowed upon his wife. While the admiration she excited

in former years was due to her youthful beauty, it was now owing to her

virtues. She who was once the most execrated woman of her age had won a

place of the highest honor. Caviceo even ventured, when he wished to

praise the famous Isabella Gonzaga, to say that she approached the

perfection of Lucretia. Her past, apparently, was so completely

forgotten that even her name, Borgia, was always mentioned with respect.

About this time Lucretia was reminded of her life in Rome by a member of

her family who was very near to her, Giovanni Borgia, the mysterious

Infante of Rome, formerly Duke of Nepi and Camerino, and companion in

destiny of the little Rodrigo who died in Bari. He had disappeared from

the stage in 1508, and where he was during several succeeding years we

do not know; but in 1517, a young man of nineteen or twenty, he came

from Naples to Romagna, where he was shipwrecked. His baggage had been

saved by the commune of Pesaro, and was claimed by a representative of

Lucretia, December 2d; in the legal document Giovanni Borgia was

described as her "brother." Other instruments show that he remained at

his sister's court as late as December, 1517.[230] Her husband,

therefore, did not refuse to allow her to shelter her kinsman. In

December, 1518, Don Giovanni went to France, where the Duke Alfonso had

him presented to the king. Lucretia had given him presents to take to

the king and queen.[231]

He remained at the French court some time for the purpose of making his

fortune, in which, however, he did not succeed.

Thereupon the Infante of Rome again disappeared from view until the year

1530, when we find him in Rome, laying claim to the Duchy of Camerino.

The last Varano, Giammaria, had returned thither on Cæsar's overthrow,

and had been recognized by Julius II as a vassal of the Church. In

April, 1515, Leo X made him Duke of Camerino and married him to his own

niece, the beautiful Catarina Cibò. Giammaria died in August, 1527,

leaving as his sole heir his daughter Giulia, who was not yet of age. An

illegitimate son of the house of Varano laid claim to Camerino, and he

was ready to enforce his demands with arms, but he was frustrated in his

attempt by a suit brought by Giovanni Borgia, the first duke, who was

supported by Alfonso of Ferrara in his efforts. He furnished him with

several documents dating from the time of Alexander VI which referred to

his rights to Camerino, and which had been placed by Lucretia in the

chancellery of the house of Este. Don Giovanni had even gone to Charles

V, in Bologna, where the famous congress had been sitting since

December, 1529. The emperor had advised him to endeavor to secure his

rights by process of law in Rome, through the Pope. From that city, in

1530, the infante wrote a letter to Duke Alfonso, in which he informed

him of his affairs, and asked him to have further search made in the

archives of the Este for documents concerning himself.

Don Giovanni began suit. In a voluminous document dated June 29, 1530,

he describes himself not only as Domicellus Romanus Principalis, but

also as "orator of the Pope." From this it appears that he--one of the

illegitimate sons of Alexander VI--was a prominent gentleman in Rome,

and was even in the Pope's service. The Roman Ruota decided the suit

against Giovanni, who had to pay the costs. In a brief dated June 7,

1532, Clement VII commanded him to cease annoying Giulia Varano and her

mother with any further claims.[232] From that time we hear nothing more

of this Borgia except from a letter written in Rome, November 19, 1547,

apparently by a Ferrarese agent to Ercole II, then reigning duke. In it

he mentions the death of Don Giovanni. The letter is as follows:

Don Giovanni Borgia has just died in Genoa; it is said he left many

thousand ducats in Valencia. Here (in Rome) he had a little

clothing, two horses, and a vineyard worth about three hundred

ducats. As he left no will the property will be divided between

your Excellency, your brothers, and among others the nobles of the

Mattei family here, the Duke of Gandia, and the children of the

Duke of Valentino, provided their rights are not prejudiced by the

fact that they are natural children. I will not omit to inform

myself regarding the money in Valencia, and will report to your

Excellency.[233]

FOOTNOTES:

[229] Printed in the Italian edition of Roscoe's Life of Leo X, vii,

300.

[230] Cittadella N 31. She endeavored to secure the Prebend of S. Jacopo

for him. In her record of household expenses there are entries of

purchases of clothing for him, beginning with December 23, 1517.

[231] Two golden bracelets--per donare alla Regina de Franza, 27 Aprile,

1518; other articles of personal adornment--mandati per lo Illmo D.

Joanne Borgia al Re de Franza (November 16, 1518). The ambassadors Carlo

da Correggio and Pistofilo Bonaventura informed Lucretia of his

favorable reception at the court of France, in letters dated December,

1518, and January to March, 1519. State archives of Modena.

[232] Documents in the State archives of Florence, among the papers

regarding Urbino. CI. I. Div. C. Fil. xiv. In 1534 Giulia Varano married

Guidobaldo II of Urbino and brought him Camerino, which, however, he was

compelled to relinquish in 1539 to Paul III, who gave it to his nephew

Octavio Farnese.

[233] Copia di una lettera da Roma di 19 Novembre, 1547. State archives

of Modena.

CHAPTER XI

LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF VANNOZZA

In the same year that this her father's last son appeared at her court

Lucretia also learned of the death of her mother. Vannozza was already a

widow when Alexander VI died. During his last illness she had placed

herself under the protection of the troops of her son Cæsar. This she

was able to do as he himself was sick at the same time. There are

documents in existence which show that immediately after Alexander's

death, and while the papal throne was vacant, she was living in the

palace of the Cardinal of S. Clemente in the Borgo. As Cæsar was

compelled to betake himself to Nepi she accompanied him thither, and on

the election of Piccolomini she returned to the papal city.

She did not follow her sons to Naples, but remained in Rome, where

affairs became normal after the election of Rovere to the papacy. The

retainers of the Borgia feared that certain suits would be brought

against them. March 6, 1504, a chamberlain of Cardinal S. Angelo, who

had been poisoned, was condemned to death, and in a loud voice he

proclaimed that he had committed the murder on the explicit command of

Alexander and Cæsar.[234] Cardinals Romolini and Ludovico Borgia at once

fled to Naples. Don Micheletto, the man who executed Cæsar's bloody

orders, was a prisoner in the castle of S. Angelo. The Venetian

ambassador, Giustinian, informed his government in May, 1504, that

Micheletto was charged with having caused the death of a number of

persons, among them the Duke of Gandia, Varano of Camerino, Astorre and

Ottaviano Manfredi, the Duke of Biselli, the youthful Bernardino of

Sermoneta, and the Bishop of Cagli. Micheletto was brought before the

representatives of the Senate for examination. He was placed upon the

rack and confessed, among other things, that it was the Pope Alexander

himself who had given the command for the murder of the youthful Alfonso

of Biselli. This the magistrate immediately reported to Ferrara.[235]

As Cæsar was out of the way, Vannozza was still able to reckon on the

protection of certain powerful friends, especially the Farnese, the

Cesarini, and several cardinals. She feared her property would be

confiscated, for the title to much of it was questionable. Early in 1504

Ludovico Mattei charged her with having stolen, in March, 1503, through

her paid servants, eleven hundred and sixty sheep while Cæsar was

carrying on his war against the Orsini. These sheep had been sent by

Maria d'Aragona, wife of Giovanni Giordano Orsini, to Mattei's pastures

for safety. Vannozza was found guilty.[236]

She endeavored in every way to save her property. December 4, 1503, she

gave the Church of S. Maria del Popolo a deed of her house on the Piazza

Pizzo di Merlo and of her family chapel, reserving the use of it during

her life. The Augustinians on their part bound themselves to say a mass

for Carlo Canale March 24th, another October 13th for Giorgio di Croce,

and a third on the day of Vannozza's own death. In this instrument she

calls herself widow of Carlo Canale of Mantua, apostolic secretary of

the deceased Alexander VI, and she speaks of Giorgio di Croce as her

first husband. This deed was executed in the Borgo of St. Peter's in the

residence of Agapitus of Emelia.[237] From this it appears that at the

close of December Vannozza was still living in the Borgo, and under the

protection of her son's own chancellor, while Cæsar himself was a

prisoner in the Torre Borgia in the Vatican, and not until he left Rome

forever did she remove from the Borgo.

April 1, 1504, a dwelling on the Piazza of the Holy Apostles in the

Trevi quarter, which was situated in a district where the Colonna were

all-powerful, was specified as her residence. The Colonna had suffered

less than others from Cæsar, and by virtue of an agreement made with him

they were enabled to retain their property after the death of Alexander.

Vannozza had sold certain other houses which she owned to the Roman

Giuliano de Lenis, and April 1, 1504, he annulled the sale, declaring

that it was only through fear of force in consequence of the death of

Alexander that it had taken place.[238]

As she now had nothing more to fear, she again took up her abode in the

house on the Piazza Branca, as is shown by an instrument of November,

1502, in which she is described as "Donna Vannozza de Cataneis of the

Regola Quarter," where this house was situated. This document is

regarding a complaint which the goldsmith Nardo Antonazzi of this same

quarter had lodged against her.

The artist demanded payment for a silver cross which he had made for

Vannozza in the year 1500; he charged her with having appropriated this

work of art without paying for it, which, he stated, frequently happened

"at the time when the Duke of Valentino controlled the whole city and

nearly all of Italy." We have not all the documents bearing on the case,

but from the statements of witnesses for the accused it appears that she

had grounds for bringing a suit for libel.[239]

While Vannozza may not have been actually placed in possession of the

castle of Bleda near Viterbo by Alexander VI, some of its appanages were

allotted to her. July 6, 1513, she complained to the Cardinal-Vicar

Rafael Riario that the commune of the place was withholding certain sums

of money which, she claimed, belonged to her. This document, which is on

parchment, is couched in pompous phraseology and is addressed to all the

magistrates of the world by name and title.[240]

Vannozza lived to witness the changes in affairs in the Vatican under

three of Alexander's successors. There the Rovere and the Medici

occupied the place once held by her own all-powerful children. She saw

the Papacy changing into a secular power, and she must have known that

but for Alexander and Cæsar it could never have done this. If,

perchance, she saw from a distance the mighty Julius II, for example,

when he returned to Rome after seizing Bologna, entering the city with

the pomp of an emperor, this woman, lost in the multitude, must have

exclaimed with bitter irony that her own son Cæsar had a part in this

triumph, and that he had been instrumental in raising Julius II to the

Papacy. It must have been a source of no little satisfaction to her to

know that this pope recognized her son's importance when he wrote to the

Florentines in November, 1503, saying that "on account of the preeminent

virtues and great services of the Duke of Romagna" he loved him with a

father's love. She may also have been acquainted with Macchiavelli's

"Prince," in which the genial statesman describes Cæsar as the ideal

ruler.

Although the power of the Borgias had passed away and their children

were either dead or scattered, their greatness was felt in the city as

long as Vannozza lived. Her past experiences caused her to be looked

upon as one of the most noteworthy personalities of Rome, where every

one was curious to make her acquaintance. If we may compare two persons

who differed in greatness, but whose destinies and positions were not

dissimilar, it might be said that Vannozza at that time occupied the

same position in Rome in which Letitia Bonaparte found herself after the

overthrow of her powerful offspring.

She looked with pride on her daughter, the Duchess of Ferrara, "la plus

triomphante princesse," as the biographer Bayard calls her. She never

saw her again, for she would scarcely have ventured to undertake a

journey to Ferrara, but she continued to correspond with her. In the

archives of the house of Este are nine letters written by Vannozza in

the years 1515, 1516, and 1517. Seven of them are addressed to Cardinal

Ippolito and two to Lucretia. These letters are not in her own

handwriting but are dictated. They disclose a powerful will, a cast of

mind that might be described as rude and egotistical, and an insinuating

character. They are devoted chiefly to practical matters and to

requests of various sorts. On one occasion she sent the cardinal a

present of two antique columns which had been exhumed in her vineyard.

She also kept up her intercourse with her son Giuffrè, Prince of

Squillace. In 1515 she had received his ten-year-old son into her house

in Rome apparently for the purpose of educating him.[241]

An expression which Vannozza used in signing her letters defines her

attitude and position,--"The fortunate and unfortunate Vannozza de

Cataneis," or "Your fortunate and unfortunate mother, Vannozza

Borgia,"--she used the family name in her private affairs, but not

officially.

Her last letter to Lucretia, written December 19, 1515, which refers to

her son Cæsar's former secretary, Agapitus of Emelia, is as follows:

ILLUSTRIOUS LADY: My greeting and respects. Your

Excellency will certainly remember favorably the services of Messer

Agapitus of Emelia to his Excellency our duke, and the love which

he has always shown us. It is, therefore, meet that his kinsmen be

helped and advanced in every way possible. Shortly before his death

he relinquished all his benefices in favor of his nephew

Giambattista of Aquila; among them are some in the bishopric of

Capua which are worth very little. If your Excellency wishes to do

me a kindness I will ask you, for the reasons above mentioned, to

interest yourself in behalf of these nephews to whom I have

referred. Nicola, the bearer of this, who is himself a nephew of

Agapitus, will explain to your Excellency at length what should be

done. And now farewell to your Excellency, to whom I commend

myself.

ROME, _December 19, 1515_.

POSTSCRIPT: In this matter your Excellency will do as you

think best, as I have written the above from a sense of

obligation. Therefore you may do only what you know will please his

Worthiness and, so far as the present is concerned, you may answer

as you see fit.

VANNOZZA, who prays for you constantly.

Vannozza clearly was an honor to the Borgia school of diplomacy.

Agapitus dei Gerardi, who wrote so many of Cæsar's letters and

documents, had remained true to the Borgias, as is shown by this letter,

until his death, which occurred in Rome, August 2, 1515. Vannozza, of a

truth, had seen many of the former friends, flatterers, and parasites of

her house desert it; but a number, among whom were several important

personages, remained true. She, as mother of the Duchess of Ferrara, was

still able to exert some influence; she was living a respectable life,

in comfortable circumstances, as a woman of position, and was described

as _la magnifica e nobile_ Madanna Vannozza. She also kept up her

relations with such of the cardinals as were Spaniards and relatives of

Alexander VI, or who were his creatures. She survived most of them. Of

the two cardinals Giovanni Borgia, one had passed away in 1500, the

other in 1503; Francesco and Ludovico died in 1511 and 1512

respectively. Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini passed away in 1510. Vannozza,

in fact, survived all the favorites and creatures of Alexander in the

College of Cardinals with the exception of Farnese, Adrian Castellesi,

and d'Albret,--Cæsar's brother-in-law.

By that sort of piety to which senescent female sinners everywhere and

at all times devote themselves she secured new friends. She was an

active fanatic and was constantly seen in the churches, at the

confessionals, and in intimate intercourse with the pious brothers and

hospitalers. In this way she made the acquaintance of Paul Jovius, who

describes her as an upright woman (donna dabbene). If she had lived

another decade she would probably have been canonized. She endowed a

number of religious foundations--the hospitals of S. Salvator in the

Lateran, of S. Maria in Porticu, the Consolazione for the Company of the

Annunziata in the Minerva, and the S. Lorenzo in Damaso, as is shown by

her will, which is dated January 15, 1517.[242]

For years there were inscriptions in the hospitals of the Lateran and of

the Consolazione which referred to her endowments and also to provisions

for masses on the anniversaries of her death and those of her two

husbands.

Vannozza died in Rome, November 26, 1518. Her death did not pass

unnoticed, as the following letter, written by a Venetian, shows:

The day before yesterday died Madonna Vannozza, once the mistress

of Pope Alexander and mother of the Duchess of Ferrara and the Duke

of Valentino. That night I happened to be at a place where I heard

the death announced, according to the Roman custom, in the

following formal words: 'Messer Paolo gives notice of the death of

Madonna Vannozza, mother of the Duke of Gandia; she belonged to the

Gonfalone Company.' She was buried yesterday in S. Maria del

Popolo, with the greatest honors,--almost like a cardinal. She was

sixty-six years of age. She left all her property,--which was not

inconsiderable,--to S. Giovanni in Laterano. The Pope's chamberlain

attended the obsequies, which was unusual.[243]

Marcantonio Altieri, one of the foremost men of Rome, who was guardian

of the Company of the Gonfalone _ad Sancta Sanctorum_, and as such made

an inventory of the property of the brotherhood in 1527, drew up a

memorial regarding her, the manuscript of which is still preserved in

the archives of the association, and is as follows:

We must not forget the endowments made by the respected and honored

lady, Madonna Vannozza of the house of Catanei, the happy mother of

the illustrious gentlemen, the Duke of Gandia, the Duke of

Valentino, the Prince of Squillace, and of Madonna Lucretia,

Duchess of Ferrara. As she wished to endow the Company with her

worldly goods she gave it her jewels, which were of no slight

value, and so much more that the Company in a few years was able to

discharge certain obligations, with the help also of the noble

gentlemen, Messer Mariano Castellano, and my dear Messer Rafael

Casale, who had recently been guardians. She made an agreement with

the great and famous silversmith Caradosso by which she gave him

two thousand ducats so that he with his magnificent work of art

might gratify the wish of that noble and honorable woman. In

addition she left us so much property that we shall be able to take

care of the annual rent of four hundred ducats and also feed the

poor and the sick, who, unfortunately, are very numerous. Out of

gratitude for her piety and devout mind and for these endowments

our honorable society unanimously and cheerfully decided not only

to celebrate her obsequies with magnificent pomp, but also to honor

the deceased with a proud and splendid monument. It was also

decided from that time forth to have mass said on the anniversary

of her death in the Church del Popolo, where she is buried, and to

provide for other ceremonies, with an attendance of men bearing

torches and tapers, in all devotion, for the purpose of commending

her soul's salvation to God, and also to show the world that we

hate and loathe ingratitude.

Thus this woman's vanity led her to provide for a ceremonious funeral;

she wanted all Rome to talk of her on that day as the mistress of

Alexander VI and the mother of so many famous children. Leo X bestowed

an official character upon her funeral by having his court attend it; by

doing this he recognized Vannozza either as the widow of Alexander VI

or as the mother of the Duchess of Ferrara. As the Company of the

Gonfalone was composed of the foremost burghers and nobles of Rome,

almost the entire city attended her funeral. Vannozza was buried in S.

Maria del Popolo in her family chapel, by the side of her unfortunate

son Giovanni, Duke of Gandia. We do not know whether a marble monument

was erected to her memory, but the following inscription was placed over

her grave by her executor: "To Vanotia Catanea, mother of the Duke Cæsar

of Valentino, Giovanni of Gandia, Giuffrè of Squillace, and Lucretia of

Ferrara, conspicuous for her uprightness, her piety, her discretion, and

her intelligence, and deserving much on account of what she did for the

Lateran Hospital. Erected by Hieronymus Picus, fiduciary-commissioner

and executor of her will. She lived seventy-seven years, four months,

and thirteen days. She died in the year 1518, November 26th."

Vannozza doubtless had passed away believing that she had expiated her

sins and purchased heaven with gold and silver and pious legacies. She

had even purchased the pomp of a ceremonious funeral and a lie which was

graven deep on her tombstone. For more than two hundred years the

priests in S. Maria del Popolo sang masses for the repose of her soul,

and when they ceased it was perhaps less owing to their conviction that

enough of them had been said for this woman than from a growing belief

in the trustworthiness of historical criticism. Later, owing either to

hate or a sense of shame, her very tombstone disappeared, not a trace of

it being left.

FOOTNOTES:

[234] Despatch of Beltrando Costabili to Ercole, Rome, March 7, 1504.

[235] Magnifico et prestanti viro maiori honorandmo D. Ludovico

Romanellio Ducali Secretario Ferrarie. Omissis. Il Papa mi ha mandato

Don Michiele il quale habiamo cominciato examinare cum turtura de queste

sue sceleranze fin qui [=e] sta saldo et nulla confessa non so m[=o] se

fara cussi in futurum. Omissis. Dixe che Papa Alexandro fù quello che

fece ammazzare Don Alfonso, marito che fù della Ducessa. Rome XX. Lulii,

1504. Thadeus Locumtenens Senatus. In the archives of Modena.

[236] The documents are in the archives of the Sancta Sanctorum.

[237] Act of December 4, 1503, in the same archives.

[238] Archives of the Sancta Sanctorum. The instrument is dated April 1,

1504.

[239] Archives of the Sancta Sanctorum.

[240] Ibid.

[241] This was reported to Cardinal Ippolito by Girolamo Sacrati from

Rome, November 2, 1515. Archives of Modena.

[242] Vannozza's will, in the archives of the Capitol, Cred. xiv, T. 72,

p. 305, among the instruments drawn by the notary Andrea Carosi.

[243] In the diary of Marino Sanuto, vol. xxvi, fol. 135.

CHAPTER XII

DEATH OF LUCRETIA BORGIA--CONCLUSION

The State of Ferrara again found itself in serious difficulties, for Leo

X, following the example of Alexander VI, was trying to build up a

kingdom for his nephew Lorenzo de' Medici. As early as 1516 Leo had made

him Duke of Urbino, having expelled Guidobaldo's legitimate heirs from

their city. Francesco Maria Rovere, his wife, and his adopted mother,

Elisabetta, were in Mantua,--the asylum of all exiled princes. Leo was

consuming with a desire also to drive the Este out of Ferrara, and it

was only the protection of France that saved Alfonso from a war with the

Pope. The duke, to whom the Pope refused to restore the cities of Modena

and Reggio, therefore went to the court of Louis XII in November, 1518,

for the purpose of interesting him in his affairs. In February, 1519, he

returned to Ferrara, where he learned of the death of his

brother-in-law, the Marchese Francesco Gonzaga, of Mantua, which

occurred February 20th. The last of March Lucretia wrote to his widow,

Isabella, as follows:

ILLUSTRIOUS LADY, SISTER-IN-LAW, AND MOST HONORED SISTER:

The great loss by death of your Excellency's husband, of blessed

memory, has caused me such profound grief, that instead of being

able to offer consolation I myself am in need of it. I sympathize

with your Excellency in this loss, and I cannot tell you how

grieved and depressed I am, but, as it has occurred and it has

pleased our Lord so to do, we must acquiesce in his will. Therefore

I beg and urge your Majesty to bear up under this misfortune as

befits your position, and I know that you will do so. I will at

present merely add that I commend myself and offer my services to

you at all times.

YOUR SISTER-IN-LAW LUCRETIA, Duchess of Ferrara.

FERRARA, _the last of March, 1519_.

The Marchese was succeeded by his eldest son, Federico. In 1530 the

Emperor Charles V created him first Duke of Mantua. The following year

he married Margherita di Montferrat. This was the same Federico who had

formerly been selected to be the husband of Cæsar's daughter Luisa. His

famous mother lived, a widow, until February 13, 1539.

Alfonso again found his wife in a precarious condition. She was near her

confinement, and June 14, 1519, she bore a child which was still-born.

Eight days later, knowing that her end was near, she dictated an epistle

to Pope Leo. It is the last letter we have of Lucretia, and as it was

written while she was dying, it is of the deepest import, enabling us to

look into her soul, which for the last time was tormented by the

recollection of the terrors and errors of her past life of which she had

long since purged herself.

MOST HOLY FATHER AND HONORED MASTER: With all respect I

kiss your Holiness's feet and commend myself in all humility to

your holy mercy. Having suffered for more than two months, early on

the morning of the 14th of the present, as it pleased God, I gave

birth to a daughter, and hoped then to find relief from my

sufferings, but I did not, and shall be compelled to pay my debt to

nature. So great is the favor which our merciful Creator has shown

me, that I approach the end of my life with pleasure, knowing that

in a few hours, after receiving for the last time all the holy

sacraments of the Church, I shall be released. Having arrived at

this moment, I desire as a Christian, although I am a sinner, to

ask your Holiness, in your mercy, to give me all possible spiritual

consolation and your Holiness's blessing for my soul. Therefore I

offer myself to you in all humility and commend my husband and my

children, all of whom are your servants, to your Holiness's mercy.

In Ferrara, June 22, 1519, at the fourteenth hour.

Your Holiness's humble servant,

LUCRETIA D'ESTE.

The letter is so calm and contained, so free from affectation, that one

is inclined to ask whether a dying woman could have written it if her

conscience had been burdened with the crimes with which Alexander's

unfortunate daughter had been charged.

She died in the presence of Alfonso on the night of June 24th, and the

duke immediately wrote his nephew Federico Gonzaga as follows:

ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER AND NEPHEW: It has

just pleased our Lord to summon unto Himself the soul of the

illustrious lady, the duchess, my dearest wife. I hasten to inform

you of the fact as our mutual love leads me to believe that the

happiness or unhappiness of one is likewise the happiness or

unhappiness of the other. I cannot write this without tears,

knowing myself to be deprived of such a dear and sweet companion.

For such her exemplary conduct and the tender love which existed

between us made her to me. On this sad occasion I would indeed seek

consolation from your Excellency, but I know that you will

participate in my grief, and I prefer to have some one mingle his

tears with mine rather than endeavor to console me. I commend

myself to your Majesty. Ferrara, June 24, 1519, at the fifth hour

of the night.

ALFONSUS, Duke of Ferrara.[244]

The Marchese Federico sent his uncle Giovanni Gonzaga to Ferrara, who

wrote him from there as follows:

Your Excellency must not be surprised when I tell you that I shall

leave here to-morrow, for no obsequies will be celebrated, only

the offices said in the parish church. His Excellency the Duke

accompanied his illustrious consort's body to the grave. She is

buried in the Convent of the Sisters of Corpus Christi in the same

vault where repose the remains of his mother. Her death has caused

the greatest grief throughout the entire city, and his ducal

majesty displays the most profound sorrow. Great things are

reported concerning her life, and it is said that she has worn the

cilice for about ten years, and has gone to confession daily during

the last two years, and has received the communion three or four

times every month. Your Excellency's ever devoted servant,

JOHANNES DE GONZAGA, Marquis.[245]

FERRARA, _June 28, 1519_.

Among the numerous letters of condolence which the duke received was one

in Spanish from the mysterious Infante Don Giovanni Borgia, who was then

in Poissy, France. The duke himself had informed him of the death of his

consort, and Don Giovanni lamented the loss of his "sister," who had

also been his greatest patron.

The graves of Lucretia and Alfonso and numerous other members of the

house of Este in Ferrara have disappeared. No picture of the famous

woman exists either in that city or in Modena. Although many, doubtless,

were painted, none has been preserved. In Ferrara there were numerous

artists, Dossi, Garofalo, Cosma, and others. Titian may have painted the

beautiful duchess's portrait. His likeness of Isabella d'Este Gonzaga,

Lucretia's rival in beauty, is preserved in the Belvedere gallery in

Vienna; it shows a charming feminine face of oval contour, with regular

lines, brown eyes, and an expression of gentle womanliness. There is no

portrait of Lucretia from this master's hand, for the one in the Doria

Gallery in Rome, which some ascribe to him and others to Paul

Veronese,--although this artist was not born until 1528,--is one of the

many fictions we find in galleries. In the Doria Gallery there is a

life-sized figure of an Amazon with a helmet in her hand, ascribed to

Dosso Dossi, which is said to be a likeness of Vannozza.

Monsignor Antonelli, custodian of the numismatic collection of Ferrara,

has a portrait in oil which may be that of Lucretia Borgia,--not because

it has her name in somewhat archaic letters, but because the features

are not unlike those of her medals. This portrait, however (the eyes are

gray), is uncertain, as are also two portraits in majolica in the

possession of Rawdon Brown, in Venice, which he regards as the work of

Alfonso himself, who amused himself in making this ware. Even if there

were any ground for this belief, the portraits, as they are merely in

the decorative style of majolica, would resemble the original but

slightly.

The portrait in the Dresden gallery which is catalogued as a likeness of

Lucretia Borgia is not authentic. There are no undoubted portraits of

her except those on the medals which were struck during her life in

Ferrara. One of these is reproduced as the frontispiece[246] of the

present volume; it is the finest of all and is one of the most

noteworthy medals of the Renaissance. It probably was engraved by

Filippino Lippi in 1502, on the occasion of Lucretia's marriage. On the

reverse is a design characteristic not only of the age but especially of

Lucretia. It is a Cupid with out-stretched wings bound to a laurel,

suspended from which are a violin and a roll of music. The quiver of the

god of love hangs broken on a branch of the laurel, and his bow, with

the cord snapped, lies on the ground. The inscription on the reverse is

as follows: "Virtuti Ac Formæ Pudicitia Præciosissimum." Perhaps the

artist by this symbolism wished to convey the idea that the time for

love's free play had passed and by the laurel tree intended to suggest

the famous house of Este. Although this interpretation might apply to

every bride, it is especially appropriate for Lucretia Borgia.

Whoever examines this girlish head with its long flowing tresses will be

surprised, for no contrast could be greater than that between this

portrait and the common conception of Lucretia Borgia. The likeness

shows a maidenly, almost childish face, of a peculiar expression,

without any classic lines. It could scarcely be described as beautiful.

The Marchesana of Cotrone spoke the truth when in writing to Francesco

she said that Lucretia was not especially beautiful, but that she had

what might be called a "dolce ciera,"--a sweet face. The face resembles

that of her father--as shown by the best medals which we have of

him--but slightly; the only likeness is in the strongly outlined nose.

Lucretia's forehead was arched, while Alexander's was flat; her chin was

somewhat retreating while his was in line with the lips.

Another medal shows Lucretia with the hair confined and the head covered

with a net, and has the so-called _lenza_, a sort of fillet set with

precious stones or pearls. The hair covers the ear and descends to the

neck, according to the fashion of the day, which we also see in a

beautiful medal of Elizabetta Gonzaga of Urbino.

The original sources from which the material for this book has been

derived would place the reader in a position to form his own opinion

regarding Lucretia Borgia, and his view would approximate a correct one,

or at least would be nearer correct than the common conception of

this woman. Men of past ages are merely problems which we endeavor to

solve. If we err in our conception of our contemporaries how much more

likely are we to be wrong when we endeavor to analyze men whose very

forms are shadowy. All the circumstances of their personal life, of

their nature, the times, and their environment,--of which they were the

product,--all the secrets of their being exist only as disconnected

fragments from which we are forced to frame our conception of their

characters. History is merely a world-judgment based upon the law of

causality. Many of the characters of history would regard their

portraits in books as wholly distorted and would smile at the opinion

formed of them.

[Illustration: LUCRETIA BORGIA.

From a painting in the Musée de Nîmes.]

Lucretia Borgia might correspond with the one derived from the documents

of her time, which show her as an amiable, gentle, thoughtless, and

unfortunate woman. Her misfortunes, in life, were due in part to a fate

for which she was in no way responsible, and, after her death, in the

opinion which was formed regarding her character. The brand which had

been set upon her forehead was removed by herself when she became

Duchess of Ferrara, but on her death it reappeared. How soon this

happened is shown by what the Rovere in Urbino said of her. In the year

1532 it was arranged that Guidobaldo II, son of Francesco Maria and

Eleonora Gonzaga, should marry Giulia Varano, although he himself wished

to marry a certain Orsini. His father directed his attention to the

unequal alliances into which princes were prone to enter, and among

others to that of Alfonso of Ferrara, who, he said, had married Lucretia

Borgia, a woman "of the sort which everybody knows," and who had given

his son a monster (Renée) for wife. Guidobaldo acquiesced in this view

and replied that he knew he had a father who would never compel him to

take a wife like Lucretia Borgia, "one as bad as she and of so many

disreputable connections."[247] Thus the impression grew and Lucretia

Borgia became the type of all feminine depravity until finally Victor

Hugo in his drama, and Donizetti in his opera, placed her upon the stage

in that character.

* * * * *

In conclusion a few words regarding the descendants of Lucretia and

Alfonso,--the Duke of Ferrara survived his wife fifteen stormy years.

He, however, succeeded in defending himself against the popes of the

Medici family, and he revenged himself on Clement VII by sacking Rome

with the aid of the emperor's troops. Charles V gave him Modena and

Reggio, and he was therefore able to leave his heir the estates of the

house of Este in their integrity. He never married again, but a

beautiful bourgeoise, Laura Eustochia Dianti, became his mistress. She

bore him two sons, Alfonso and Alfonsino. The duke died October 31,

1534, at the age of fifty-eight; his brothers, Cardinal Ippolito and Don

Sigismondo, having passed away before him, the former in 1520 and the

latter in 1524.

By Lucretia Borgia he had five children. Ercole succeeded him; Ippolito

became a cardinal, and died December 2, 1572, in Tivoli, where the Villa

d'Este remains as his monument; Elenora died, a nun, in the Convent of

Corpus Domini, July 15, 1575; Francesco finally became Marchese of

Massalombarda, and died February 22, 1578.

Lucretia's son Ercole reigned until October, 1559. In 1528 his father

had married him to Renée, the plain but intellectual daughter of Louis

XII. Lucretia had never seen her daughter-in-law nor had she ever had

any intimation that it was to be Renée. The life of this famous duchess

forms a noteworthy part of the history of Ferrara. She was an active

supporter of the Reformation, which was inaugurated to free the world

from a church which was governed by the Borgia, the Rovere, and the

Medici. Renée was therefore described as a monster by the Rovere. She

kept Calvin and Clement Marot in concealment at her court a long time.

By a curious coincidence, in the year 1550 a man appeared at the court

of Lucretia's son, who vividly recalled to the Borgias who were still

living their family history, which was already becoming legendary. This

man was Don Francesco Borgia, Duke of Gandia, now a Jesuit. His sudden

appearance in Ferrara gives us an opportunity briefly to describe the

fortunes of the house of Gandia.

Of all the progeny of Alexander VI the most fortunate were those who

were the descendants of the murdered Don Giovanni. His widow, Donna

Maria, lived for a long time highly respected at the court of Queen

Isabella of Castile, and subsequently she became an ascetic bigot and

entered a convent. Her daughter Isabella did the same, dying in 1537.

Her only son, Don Giovanni, while a child, had succeeded his unfortunate

father as Duke of Gandia and had managed to retain his Neapolitan

estates, which included an extensive domain in Terra di Lavoro, with the

cities of Suessa, Teano, Carinola, Montefuscolo, Fiume, and others. In

1506 the youthful Gandia relinquished these towns to the King of Spain

on payment of a sum of money. To the great Captain Gonsalvo was given

the Principality of Suessa.

Don Giovanni remained in Spain a highly respected grandee. He married

Giovanna d'Aragona, a princess of the deposed royal house of Naples; his

second wife was a daughter of the Viscount of Eval, Donna Francesca de

Castro y Pinos, whom he married in 1520. The marriages of the Borgias

were as a rule exceedingly fruitful. When this grandson of Alexander VI

died in 1543 he left no fewer than fifteen children. His daughters

married among the grandees of Spain and his sons were numbered among the

great nobles of the country, where they enjoyed the highest honors. The

eldest, Don Francesco Borgia, born in 1510, became Duke of Gandia and a

great lord in Spain and highly honored at the court of Charles V, who

made him Vice-Regent of Catalonia and Commander of San Iago. He

accompanied the emperor on his expedition against France and even to

Africa. In 1529 he married one of the ladies in waiting to the empress,

Eleonora de Castro, who bore him five sons and three daughters. When she

died, in 1546, the Duke of Gandia yielded to his long-standing desire to

enter the Society of Jesus and to relinquish his brilliant position

forever. It seemed as if a mysterious force was impelling him thus to

expiate the crimes of his house. It is not strange, however, to find a

descendant of Alexander VI in the garb of a Jesuit, for the diabolic

force of will which had characterized that Borgia lived again in the

person of his countryman, Loyola, in another form and directed to

another end. The maxims of Macchiavelli's "Prince" thus became part of

the political programme of the Jesuits.

In 1550 the Duke of Gandia went to Rome to cast himself at the feet of

the Pope and to become a member of the Order. Paul III, brother of

Giulia Farnese, had just died, and del Monte as Julius III had ascended

the papal throne. Ercole II, cousin of Don Francesco, still occupied the

ducal throne of Ferrara. He remembered the relationship and invited the

traveler to stop at his city on his way to Rome. Francesco spent three

days at the court of Lucretia's son, where he was received by Renée.

Whether Loyola's brilliant pupil had any knowledge of the religious

attitude of Calvin's friend is not known. The presence of this man in

Savonarola's native city and at Lucretia's former residence is, on

account of the contrast, remarkable. Francesco left for Rome almost

immediately, and then returned to Spain. On the death of Lainez, in

1565, he became general,--the third in order,--of the Society of Jesus.

He still held this position at the time of his death, which occurred in

Rome in the year 1572. The Church pronounced him holy, and thus a

descendant of Alexander VI became a saint.[248]

The descendants of this Borgia married into the greatest families of

Spain. His eldest son, Don Carlos, Duke of Gandia, married Donna

Maddalena, daughter of the Count of Oliva, of the house of Centelles,

and thus the family to which Lucretia's first suitor belonged, after the

lapse of fifty years, became connected with the Borgias. The Gandia

branch survived until the eighteenth century, when there were two

cardinals of the name of Borgia who were members of it.

Ercole II did not discover the heretical tendencies of his wife Renée

until 1554, when he placed her in a convent. The noble princess remained

true to the Reformation. As the Inquisition stamped out the reform

movement in Ferrara while her son was reigning duke, she returned to

France, where she lived with the Huguenots in her Castle of Montargis,

dying in 1575. It is worthy of note that the Duke of Guise was her

son-in-law.

Renée had borne her husband several children,--the hereditary Prince

Alfonso Luigi, who subsequently became a cardinal; Donna Anna, who

married the Duke of Guise; Donna Lucretia, who became Duchess of Urbino;

and Donna Leonora, who remained single.

Her son Alfonso II succeeded to the throne of Ferrara in 1559. This was

the duke whom Tasso made immortal. Just as Ariosto, during the reign of

the first Alfonso and Lucretia, had celebrated the house of Este in a

monumental poem, so Torquato Tasso now continued to do at the home of

his descendant, Alfonso II. By a curious coincidence the two greatest

epic poets of Italy were in the service of the same family. Tasso's fate

is one of the darkest memories of the house of Este, and is also the

last of any special importance in the history of the court of Ferrara.

His poem may be regarded as the death song of this famous family, for

the legitimate line of the house of Este died out October 27, 1597, in

Alfonso II, Lucretia Borgia's grandson. Don Cæsar, a grandson of Alfonso

I, and son of that Alfonso whom Laura Dianti had borne him and of Donna

Giulia Rovere of Urbino, ascended the ducal throne of Ferrara on the

death of Alfonso II as his heir. The Pope, however, would not recognize

him. In vain he endeavored to prove that his grandfather, shortly before

his death, had legally married Laura Dianti, and that consequently he

was the legitimate heir to the throne. It availed nothing for the

contestants to appear before the tribunal of emperor and pope and

endeavor to make Don Cæsar's pretensions good, nor does it now avail for

the Ferrarese, who, following Muratori, still seek to substantiate these

claims. Don Cæsar was forced to yield to Clement VIII, January 13, 1598,

the grandson of Alfonso I renouncing the Duchy of Ferrara. Together with

his wife, Virginia Medici and his children, he left the old palace of

his ancestors and betook himself to Modena, the title of duke of that

city and the estates of Reggio and Carpi having been conferred upon him.

Don Cæsar continued the branch line of the Este. At the end of the

eighteenth century it passed into the Austrian Este house in the person

of Archduke Ferdinand, and in the nineteenth century this line also

became extinct.

No longer do the popes control Ferrara. Where the castle of Tedaldo

stood when Lucretia made her entry into the city in 1502, where Clement

VIII later erected the great castle which was razed in 1859, there is

now a wide field in the middle of which, lost and forgotten, is a

melancholy statue of Paul V, and all about is a waste. There is still

standing before the castle of Giovanni Sforza in Pesaro a column from

which the statue has been overturned, and on the base is the

inscription: "Statue of Urban VII--That is all that is left of it."

FOOTNOTES:

[244] This letter is quoted by Zucchetti.

[245] Printed in Zucchetti's work. Che da forse dieci anni in qua la

portava el silizio.... This is not, as Zucchetti supposes, the goat-hair

shirt.

[246] In this translation it appears on the cover.

[247] Di quella mala sorte che fù quella, e con tante disoneste parti.

See Ugolino Storia dei Duchi d'Urbino, ii, 242.

[248] J. M. S. Daurignac, Histoire de S. François de Borgia, Duc de

Gandie, Troisième Général de la Compagnie de Jesus. Paris, 1863.

INDEX

Adriana de Mila, see Mila, Adriana de.

Albret, Charlotte d', married to Cæsar Borgia, 115, 325.

Aldo Manuzio, 132, 305, 327;

in Venice, 340.

Alexander VI, see Borgia, Rodrigo.

Alfonso d'Este, see Este.

Alfonso of Biselli, see Alfonso of Naples.

Alfonso of Naples, 111, 113;

flees from Rome, 116;

attempt on his life, 147;

murdered, 148.

Allegre, Monsignor d', captures Alexander's mistress, 87, 143.

Amboise, Cardinal George d', 115, 169, 296.

Angelo, Michael, first appearance in Rome, 135; his _Pietà_, 136.

Aragon, Eleonora of, wife of Ercole d'Este, 54.

Aragona, Camilla Marzana d', wife of Costanza Sforza, 78, 82.

Aragona, Isabella d', of Milan, 334;

guardian of Rodrigo Borgia, 335.

Aragonese of Naples, their fall, 172.

Arignano, Domenico of, 11.

Ariosto, 247, 254, 308-309, 311;

his _Orlando_, 340.

_Asolani_, i, 31.

Baglione, Giampolo, his cowardice, 99.

Ballet, the, 255.

Bayard, the Chevalier, his opinion of Lucretia, 332.

Behaim, Lorenz, humanist, 32.

Bella, la, or Giulia Bella, 39;

We do not know how the unfortunate Rodrigo spent the first years