Part 12 (1/2)

The d.u.c.h.ess of Urbino actually went to Rome for the purpose of protecting her n.o.ble kinswoman, whom she kept incognito. She remained there until Easter. On her way to S. Peter's she directed anxious glances toward the Belvedere, where the bravest woman of Italy, a prisoner, was grieving her life away, Catarina Sforza having been confined there since Caesar's return, February 26th, as is attested by a letter of that date written by the Venetian amba.s.sador in Rome to his Signory. Elisabetta's feelings must have been rendered still more painful by the fact that her own husband, as well as her brother Gonzaga, both of whom were in the service of France, had given the princess up for lost.

She had scarcely left Rome when Catarina received news that her uncles Ludovico and Ascanio had fallen into the hands of the King of France.

Having, with the aid of Swiss troops, again secured possession of Milan in 1500, they were ignominiously betrayed by the mercenaries at Novara, April 10th. Ludovico was carried away to France, where he died in misery, having spent ten years a prisoner in the tower of Loches; the once powerful cardinal was likewise taken a captive to France. A great tragedy had occurred in the house of Sforza. What must have been Catarina's distress when she, in her prison, learned that fate had overthrown all her race! Could one transport himself to that environment he would breathe the oppressive atmosphere with which Shakespeare enveloped his characters.

Catarina's jailers were the two most dreaded men of the age--the Pope and his son. The very thought of what surrounded her must have filled her with terror. In the Belvedere she was in constant dread of Caesar's poison, and it is indeed a wonder that she did escape it. She made an unsuccessful attempt at flight, whereupon Alexander had her removed to the castle of S. Angelo. However, certain French gentlemen in the service of the one who was bent on her destruction--especially Ivo d'Allegre--interceded for her; and the Pope, after she had spent a year and a half in captivity, allowed her to choose Florence for her asylum.

He himself commended her to the Signory in the following letter:

UNTO MY BELOVED SONS: Greeting and the Apostolic Blessing.

Our beloved daughter in Christ, the n.o.ble lady Catarina Sforza, is on her way to you. She, as you are aware, having for good reasons been held a prisoner by Us for a time, has again become the object of Our mercy. We, according to Our custom and to Our pastoral duties, have not only exercised mercy with regard to this Catarina, but also, so far as We with G.o.d's help were able, have looked with paternal solicitude after her welfare; therefore We deem it proper to write you for the purpose of commending this Catarina to your protection, so that she, having full confidence in Our good will towards you, and returning, so to speak, into her own country, may not be deluded in her expectations and by Our recommendation. We, therefore, shall be glad to learn that she has been well received and treated by you, in grat.i.tude to her for having chosen your city for her abode, and owing to your feelings toward Us. Given at Rome, in S. Peter's, under the Apostolic seal, July 13, 1501. In the ninth year of our pontificate.

HADRIa.n.u.s.

Catarina Sforza died in a convent in Florence in 1509. In her fatherland she left a son of the same mettle as herself, Giovanni Medici, the last of the great condottieri of the country, who became famous as leader of the Black Bands. There is a seated figure in marble of this captain, of herculean strength, with the neck of a centaur, near the church of S.

Lorenzo in Florence.

FOOTNOTES:

[74] In the Gonzaga archives.

[75] In questa mattina ho hauto lo adviso de la morte del Rmo Card.

Borgia _mio fratre_ pa.s.sato de questa vita in Urbino. Forli, January 16, 1500. Archives of Modena.

[76] A. 1500, Jan. 22 (this is incorrect), mori il Carle Borgia fiolo de Papa Alexo a Orbino. Silva Cronicarum Bernardini Zambotti. Ms. in the library of Ferrara.

[77] La bona memoria del Cardinale Borgia mio fratre. Rome, July 30, 1500. Gonzaga archives.

[78] Cittadella's opinion that Giovanni Borgia, junior, was a son of Pierluigi, Alexander's brother, is also incorrect.

[79] Femina quasi virago crudelissima et di gran animo. Venuta di Carlo VIII, p. 811, Ms. Virago here means amazon.

CHAPTER XVI

MURDER OF ALFONSO OF ARAGON

After the fall of the Riario, of Imola, and Forli, all the tyrants in the domain of the Church trembled before Caesar; and greater princes, like those of the Gonzaga and Este families, who were either entirely independent or were semi-independent va.s.sals of the Church, courted the friends.h.i.+p of the Pope and his dreaded son. Caesar, as an ally of France, had secured for himself the services of these princes, and since 1499 they had helped him in his schemes in the Romagna. He engaged in a lively correspondence with Ercole d'Este, whom he treated as his equal, as his brother and friend, although he was a young and immature man. To him he reported his successes, and in return received congratulations, equally confidential in tone, all of which consisted of diplomatic lies inspired by fear. The correspondence between Caesar and Ercole, which is very voluminous, is still preserved in the Este archives in Modena. It began August 30, 1498, when Caesar was still a cardinal. In this letter, which is written in Latin, he announces to the duke that he is about to set out for France, and asks him for a saddle horse.

Caesar engaged in an equally confidential correspondence with Francesco Gonzaga, with whom he entered into intimate relations which endured until his death. In the archives of the Gonzaga family in Mantua there are preserved forty-one letters written by Caesar to the marquis and his consort Isabella. The first is dated October 31, 1498, from Avignon; the second, January 12, 1500, from Forli; the third is as follows:

ILl.u.s.tRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER: From your Excellency's letter we have learned of the birth of your ill.u.s.trious son, which has occasioned us no less joy than we would have felt on the birth of an heir to ourselves. As we, owing to our sincere and brotherly goodwill for you, wish you all increase and fortune, we willingly consent to be G.o.dfather, and will appoint for our proxy anyone whom your Excellency may choose. May he in our stead watch over the child from the moment of his baptism. We earnestly pray to G.o.d to preserve the same to you.

Your Majesty will not fail to congratulate your ill.u.s.trious consort in our name. She will, we hope, through this son prepare the way for a numerous posterity to perpetuate the fame of their ill.u.s.trious parents. Rome, in the Apostolic Palace, May 24, 1500.

CaeSAR BORGIA of France, Duke of Valentinois, Gonfallonier, and Captain-General of the Holy Roman Church.

This son of the Marquis of Mantua was the hereditary Prince Federico, born May 17, 1500. Two years later, when Caesar was at the zenith of his power, Gonzaga requested the honor of the betrothal of this son and the duke's little daughter Luisa.