CHAPTER XXXVIII

New league against Charles V.--The Duke's campaign in Lombardy--His quarrels with Guicciardini--Rome pillaged by the Colonna--The Constable Bourbon advances into Central Italy--The Duke quells an insurrection at Florence.

The papal policy since the accession of Julius had been directed to two leading objects. The first was to prevent any ultramontane power from attaining a decided preponderance in Europe; the second, to recover Italy from the barbarians, and restore its Neapolitan and Milanese states to native dynasties.[*301] The only effective check upon the unprecedented dominion of the Emperor having been annihilated by the overthrow and imprisonment of his sole rival, it became necessary for the Pontiff, in conformity with the former of these purposes, to support the cause of France. The other object was more than ever important, now that Milan was virtually at the conqueror's mercy; and a proposition for confirming the sovereignty of Sforza in that duchy, and placing the Marquis of Pescara on the throne of Naples, appeared to His Holiness happily to meet the exigencies of the case. Clement, possessing neither the discernment of Julius nor the finesse of Leo, saw no difficulty in effecting this convenient scheme, by simply uniting the independent states in a conspiracy to expel Charles beyond the Alps. But he reckoned without his host. The Marquis of Pescara, who was high in the imperial service, betrayed the plot in time to frustrate its execution. His death occurred soon after, from wounds received at Pavia, or possibly from poison, and the year was spent in intrigues and counterplots, which concern our present subject only as giving occasion to this letter, addressed by Francesco Maria to Cardinal Wolsey:--

"Most illustrious and most worshipful Lord,

"Having learned that his serene Majesty [Henry VIII.] has named me his adherent in the league lately made with his most Christian Majesty, it becomes a duty, which I by these letters discharge, to tender my respects, and humbly to kiss his hand, having no other proof at present to offer of the extreme obligation which, in addition to numberless others, I owe to his Majesty, for this affectionate and honourable recollection of me. And knowing the love which your most illustrious and reverend Lordship has ever exhibited towards my house, and especially for myself, I am satisfied (as, indeed, I have heard from the reverend Lord Protonotary Casale) that you have always borne in mind the services towards that crown of my most famous progenitors and myself. Whence, in addition to the boundless obligation I lie under to his most serene Majesty for naming me his adherent, I hold myself therein indebted to your most reverend and illustrious Lordship, considering it in a great measure owing to you. I have therefore written these presents, not as mere thanks, for I would not so commence what I cannot complete by words alone, but that you may know the great obligation I feel and have expressed, and how intensely I desire an opportunity of effectively demonstrating my natural and deserved anxiety to do you service; the which will be clearly made patent to your most reverend and illustrious Lordship, so often as I have it in my power to act upon my intentions. And, recommending myself to your good favour, I pray that you still keep in mind my services to his majesty. From Verona the 14th February, 1526.

"_Servitor_,

"EL DUCA D'URBINO."[302]

[Footnote *301: So far as Julius is concerned, his one object was the absolute temporal dominion of the Church in Italy. He made the coming of an ultramontane power into Italy a certainty. His successors struggled in vain to save themselves and incidentally Italy from the consequence of his crime. But the policy of the Papacy was wise, if selfish. The only road to Italian unity lay through predominance of one power--Venice or Milan, for instance, or the Church herself. The popes successfully prevented this unity for more than a thousand years, really in self-defence--the defence of their temporal power at any rate; their international claims were destroyed by an eager and passionate nationalism. We have seen in our day how Piedmont united Italy, first destroying the Papacy, which remains merely as a spiritual power that seems in Italy to be slowly passing away.]

[Footnote 302: Brit. Mus. Cotton. MSS. Vit. B. VIII., f. 16, b. In f. 49, of B.V. there is a mutilated letter of compliment from the Duke to Henry VIII., in Latin, dated at Urbino 19 March, 1522.]

At length, in May 1526, a new confederacy was announced, in which the Pope, Francis I. (who had regained his liberty in March), Henry VIII., Venice, and Florence, were marshalled against Charles V., nominally to wrest from him the Milanese, which remained in his hands after the battle of Pavia. The citadel of Milan, however, was still held by Francesco Sforza; and the Duke of Urbino, by the senate's orders, led the Venetian troops from Verona to his relief, but under protest that he considered them unequal to the service. On his march, he received offers from an adherent of the Sforza to admit him into Lodi, and immediately detaching Malatesta Baglione to avail himself of the proposal, hastened onwards with the army to his support. The attempt was completely successful, and after a gallant resistance the imperialists evacuated the place on the 24th of June. This acquisition was of the utmost importance to the allies. It secured them command of the Adda, and gave them a strong position in the enemy's country, from whence they could operate with equal facility against Milan, Cremona, or Pavia.

The army of the League which now mustered at Lodi is estimated by Guicciardini and Muratori at sixteen thousand foot and four thousand horse. The Duke of Urbino was commander-in-chief of the Venetians; Count Guido Rangone held the same rank in the ecclesiastical forces, which included, however, the papal and Florentine contingents, led by their respective captains-general, Giovanni de' Medici and Vitello Vitelli. The embarrassment occasioned by so many commanders, under no common head, was especially felt by Francesco Maria, who, although admitted by Guicciardini to have been pre-eminent in rank, authority, and reputation, as well as actually leader of the combined army, was controlled by Pesaro, the Venetian Proveditore, and thwarted by the Pope's anomalous appointment of that historian himself as lieutenant-general, with ample indeed almost absolute powers in the army and throughout the states of the Church.

Francesco Guicciardini was a Florentine gentleman, born in 1482, and educated for the law, who, profiting by the partiality of Leo X. for his fellow-citizens, had held several important civil appointments, and had been successively named governor of Modena, Reggio, and Parma, to which Clement added, in 1523, a jurisdiction over all pontifical Romagna. He was gifted with considerable talents and great command of language, but these promotions had rendered him vain and overbearing. The accounts given us by the Urbino writers, of one whom they had good reason to regard with prejudice, should be received with caution; yet some anecdotes have come down which confirm the allegation of Leoni, that his dogmatical pretensions were neither authorised by etiquette, nor supported by his judgment or military experience.[303] No defect of character was less likely to meet with toleration from the blunt and hasty Francesco Maria, and in consequence of their being opposed to each other at the council-board, alike in momentous and trifling matters, scenes of insult and violence ripened aversion into rancour. In this contest the Florentine had the worst, but he amply availed himself of his pen as a means of vengeance; and in his History, which has become a standard authority, he studiously and throughout misrepresented the Duke of Urbino. Lipsius, while bearing strong testimony to his general truth and impartiality, admits that he on no occasion concealed his detestation of that prince. Later writers, especially Sismondi, have adopted his strictures with little modification, and an ingenious defence of the Duke, prepared by Baldi after his death, having never seen the light, the portraits of him hitherto passing current in history are exaggerations of a malevolent pencil. Yet it appears beyond question that an over-dilatory and cautious system increased upon Francesco Maria, and, in conjunction with other circumstances, greatly hampered his tactics and impaired their success, during his service under the lion of St. Mark.

[Footnote 303: Leonardi's recollections of Francesco Maria, Vat. Urb. MSS., No. 1023, f. 85, and Baldi's defence of him from Guicciardini's charges, _Ibid._, No. 906, f. 214.]

The allied forces very considerably outnumbered those of Charles, who were scattered among several garrisons and detached positions. The moment, therefore, seemed propitious for following up their recent success, and effecting the main object of the campaign by a decided blow against Milan. That capital was occupied by about nine thousand imperialist troops, who blockaded Sforza in the citadel, and who, in letters casually intercepted, represented the citizens, though disarmed by their conquerors, as mature for a rising. A prompt movement for the relief of the hard-pressed fortress was therefore urged by Guicciardini, and seconded by the Proveditore, whose ear he had gained. The reasons by which Francesco Maria combated this proposal savoured unquestionably, even by Leoni's admission, rather of hollow excuses than of sound judgment, for whilst he awaited the Swiss auxiliaries, he allowed reinforcements to reach the imperial garrison.

Some light is, however, thrown upon this seeming inconsistency by an argument in his Discorsi Militari, wherein the Duke illustrates, from this very passage in his life, two axioms he broadly lays down,--that to rely mainly for the success of a war upon the support of a people, however gallant, is a great risk, if not inevitable ruin; and that no popular rising ever succeeded of itself, or without an overpowering force to second it. Considering that his uncle and himself had thrice regained their state by a popular emeute, this doctrine may seem ungracious from his mouth. Without, however, entering upon a question which the recent experience of Europe has greatly affected, or examining instances adduced by the Duke in support of his views, it seems likely that his reasoning was adopted to cloak some unavowed motive. Perhaps the alternative suggestion which he offered may afford some clue to the truth, keeping in view the relationship and confidential intercourse which had ever been maintained between the princes of Urbino and Ottaviano Fregoso. His proposition was that, instead of opposing their new and ill-disciplined levies to the veteran and lately victorious occupants of Milan, the allies should draw off towards Genoa, and there restore the supremacy of the Fregosi, thus giving time for the arrival of Swiss subsidies, and enabling them perhaps to intercept the reinforcements which Bourbon was bringing by sea from Spain. The motive alleged by Sismondi for this policy rests upon the broader ground of the Duke's desire to humble Clement, in revenge for all he had suffered, rather from the Pontiff's family than from himself; and it must be admitted that much of his conduct during this lamentable and inglorious war, until it ended in the sack of Rome, could scarcely have been different if actuated by that ungenerous calculation. Yet in the instance now under our consideration, it is but fair to notice Leoni's assertion, that his opinions were supported by Giovanni de' Medici _delle Bande Nere_, whilst those of Guicciardini, obtaining the suffrages of the other leaders, carried the day.

With such diversity of opinion prevailing among commanders of nearly equal authority, it is not surprising that the advance upon Milan should have been most sluggish. After spending nine days in marching about twenty miles, the army, on the 6th of July, drew round that city, which the enemy, notwithstanding Bourbon's arrival the preceding night with the Spanish succours, are supposed by Sismondi to have been on the point of evacuating. The artillery having next morning begun to play upon the walls, a sally was made, and the allied troops, finding themselves under fire, behaved most scandalously, so that, had not Francesco Maria with the cavalry promptly supported the panic-stricken infantry of his own and the papal brigades, they must have suffered a total rout. Alarmed at these symptoms of unsteadiness, and unseconded by the expected insurrection within, the Venetian Proveditore and Guicciardini insisted upon a general retreat, as the only means by which their forces could escape destruction. In despair, they besought the Duke to take the retiring army under his command, a charge which he did not accept without taunting them on a result that so fully bore out his predictions, and proved their rashness in exposing an unorganised host of raw Italians to fight the veterans of Germany and Spain. But the moment was too critical for recrimination. Two hours before dawn the camp was silently raised, and the army withdrew in good order about twelve miles to Marignano. Their rear was effectually guarded by Giovanni de' Medici against any sally of the imperialists, but no less than four thousand of the foot were missing, having ignominiously deserted their colours.

Such is the account of Leoni and Baldi. Guicciardini, on the other hand, takes to himself credit for using every argument with the Duke against a retreat, which he designates as uncalled for and infamous. Upon his despatches were, no doubt, formed the opinions expressed in the following letter of the Bishop of Worcester to Cardinal Wolsey:--

"Most Illustrious and Reverend Lord," &c.

"I have hitherto daily informed you of what was going on, by longer or shorter letters, as time permitted. At present nothing new has transpired, except that, on the night of the 7th inst., the Duke of Urbino, captain-general of the ecclesiastical and Venetian forces, after most strenuous and gallant operations against the enemy, from which a successful issue was expected, suddenly changing his intention, notwithstanding numerous protests, drew off his army to Marignano, a town ten miles from Milan. Which, though the Duke, as usual, entangles it with numerous reasons, has exposed him to no slight disparagement from the public. I have only further humbly to commend myself to your most illustrious Lordship. From Rome, 11th July, 1526.

"Your most illustrious and reverend Lordship's _Humillimum manicipium_,

"HI[~C]. EP[~S]. WIGORNIEÑ."[304]

[Footnote 304: Brit. Mus. Cotton. MSS., Vit. B. VIII., f. 93 b. In this volume are many despatches regarding the Lombard campaign, and the assault on Rome in 1526.]

The prejudices of Guicciardini are admitted by the Venetian Paruta, who tells us that the Signory were satisfied with their general's explanations, but cautioned him for the future, to communicate his views more frankly to the papal commissioner. It is a passage of history hard to clear up, and in every view redounding little to the credit of its actors, whether we most blame the Duke's policy or the unsteadiness of his troops. Exposures so disgraceful well merited the sneer, that the swords in that army had no edge; and Sismondi admits that its spiritless conduct goes far to justify its leader's dispiriting tactics.[*305]

[Footnote *305: See Guicciardini's despairing letters to Giberti, _Opere Inedite_ (1857-67, Firenze), vol. IV., pp. 73-146. Francesco Maria was to blame; he lost time in crossing the Adda, from whatever cause; he delayed again while the generals of the Emperor strengthened their lines round Milan--even when the allies arrived and their army numbered 20,000 against the 11,000 of the besiegers. He waited the arrival of the Swiss, he said, and went off meanwhile at the heels of the Venetian Proveditore to besiege Cremona. The Rocca of Milan fell on July 24th.]

On the 22nd of July, the confederates, having been joined by five thousand Swiss levies, again approached the city, and were met by about three hundred women and children, whom Sforza had dismissed as embarrassing his defence. Shamed by their representations, the leaders, in a council of war, decided upon a new attempt to relieve the citadel, which, however, Giovanni de' Medici, after inspecting the works of the besiegers, opposed as too perilous. Whilst they lost time in these discussions, Sforza was fairly starved out, and surrendered the fortress on the 24th. Leoni and Baldi agree in charging these dilatory and unsatisfactory proceedings upon the other generals, and the total inefficiency of the army, rather than upon Francesco Maria's tactics. They may be considered as biased, but the following anecdotes will show how far the Florentine historian had reason to be impartial.

At one of the war councils held in the Certosa of Pavia, Guicciardini having cast some doubt upon an opinion expressed by the Duke, was thus answered: "Your business is to confer with pedants." These rude words were accompanied by a knock-down blow on the face, followed by an order to get up and begone! Leonardi, who preserves this incident, adds, "Such pugilistic sport was habitual to my Lord Duke; and it was well for those who could command their temper in reasoning with him, as he was ever ready to strike any one who argued against his views with disrespect." The historian's original prepossession against Francesco Maria, is ascribed by Baldi to a vain ambition of precedence. While lieutenant-general of the papal forces he displayed it towards Guido Rangone, his superior officer, and insisted on taking rank at the council-board of the Marquis of Saluzzo, when he arrived in command of the French contingents. These absurd pretensions were at first treated with indifference, but finally brought him into a wrangle with the Duke, over whom he also claimed a similar right, from the fact of being in the papal service, waiving it only out of consideration for his sovereign rank. In that instance, also, he is said to have been struck by the choleric prince; at all events he was expelled from the council-chamber, and a strong representation of his misconduct was made to the Pope, who consequently cancelled his anomalous commission, and appointed him governor of Modena.

Sismondi, embodying Guicciardini's one-sided narrative,[*306] has thrown upon Francesco Maria the entire odium of the ludicrously slow movements of the army, averaging about four miles on each alternate day, and of their double miscarriage before Milan. The fatal tendency of such measures, however they might have originated, admits of no question, and the responsibility of their failure must fall upon the most influential leader. It is always difficult in a heterogeneous confederacy to maintain that unity of purpose which may compensate for diversity of interests, and which can only be insured by prompt action and brilliant success. But the sentiment "that reputation was neither to be gained by risks nor lost by delays," which Bernardo Tasso puts into the Duke's mouth, in describing a council of war whereat he assisted,[307] not only advocates quite a different policy, but too well confirms the charge brought against him as one of those

"Generals who will not conquer when they may."

[Footnote *306: See his despairing letters cited above, p. 441, note *1. He was a true patriot and thought for Italy. The Duke's dilatory and inconclusive actions while Italy was slowly dying, and might have been saved, as he thought, disgusted and enraged him.]

[Footnote 307: _Lettere_, I., p. 28, edit. 1733.]

When, however, he perceived victory to be hopeless, in an army distracted by the jealousies of rival leaders, he had proposed the nomination of a commander-in-chief, avowing himself ready to accord him implicit obedience. In this he was again thwarted by Guicciardini, who represented his suggestion to the allied powers as dictated by personal ambition of the post. The plan fell to the ground, and its author, fretted by the difficulties of his position, was attacked by severe illness. Of this the Proveditore availed himself to lead Malatesta Baglione, with three thousand troops, to Cremona. Like Milan, it was occupied by an imperialist brigade, who besieged in the citadel a handful of Sforza's adherents. The Duke's warnings as to its military difficulties having been received with indifference, this enterprise was on the point of miscarriage, on learning which he rose from a sick bed, and hurried with fresh forces to the scene of action. His presence infused new energy into the operations, and on the 23rd of September the town was evacuated by the imperialists upon capitulation.

This success was scarcely within his grasp when a courier arrived from Rome, with tidings which gave a new aspect to affairs. Clement, who had succeeded to the turbulence of his predecessors, without the energy of Julius, or the address of Leo, made himself a dangerous domestic foe in the Colonna,--broken, but not crushed by the rancour of Alexander VI. Cardinal Pompeo Colonna, a man indifferent to religion, whose unbounded ambition aimed directly at the tiara, and whose brows better became a condottiere's casque than a mitre, forgetting his duty as one of the Sacred College, entered into treasonable correspondence with the imperialist leaders; and his brother Marcello, having been driven from his fiefs by the Pope, threw himself at the feet of Charles V., offering to support his views upon Italy if reponed by his assistance. They also used their influence at Venice in preventing his Holiness from raising a loan to recruit his crippled resources, and, in concert with Don Ugo Moncada, commander of the Neapolitan army, strove to alienate him from the League. Don Ugo, a Spaniard by birth, was the worthy pupil of Cesare Borgia, without his reputation for success. In every important engagement his sword had been tarnished by defeat; his character and personal adventures combined each brutal attribute of a condottiere, with scarcely a redeeming trait of honour. The plan of these confederates was by a coup-de-main to dictate terms to the Pontiff; or, failing success in this, to give occupation at home for the contingent he then maintained with the allied army of Lombardy. Accordingly, the Colonna troops, who had assumed a threatening attitude in the Campagna, were suddenly withdrawn beyond the frontier; and a son of Prospero Colonna hastened to the capital to throw himself at Clement's feet, assuring him of the pacific disposition of his house, and that their levies were destined for the imperial service at Naples. The Pope, being deceived into a belief so conformable to his wishes, turned a deaf ear to the warning of more clear-sighted men, and, disappointed of his loan, thought only of reducing a war establishment he could no longer pay. But so soon as his soldiery were dismissed, the Colonna recalled their army of two thousand men, which, led by Pompeo with equal celerity and success, reached the Lateran gate ere treachery was suspected. Resistance being hopeless, they, on the 20th of September, marched through the city into the Trastevere, where they were welcomed to refreshments provided by the Cardinal's order. Thence they passed into the Borgo S. Spirito, where are situated the Vatican, St. Peter's, and the castle of St. Angelo, and within three hours had pillaged that rich quarter, sparing neither the palace nor the metropolitan church. The Pope, who had at first resolved to await death in his pontifical chair, scarcely escaped with a few valuables into the fortress, which, from unpardonable negligence, was entirely unprovisioned. To arrest these horrors, the Pontiff next day made a hasty four-months' truce, stipulating for the immediate evacuation of Rome, as the condition on which he should recall Guicciardini with the ecclesiastical troops from Upper Italy; three days, however, elapsed ere the troops withdrew, laden with a booty estimated at 300,000 ducats.[308]

[Footnote 308: This treaty is printed by Molini, in the _Documenti di Storia Italiana_, I., 229. At p. 204 of the same volume is a despatch throwing valuable light on the tangled diplomacy of these times. The details of this event are often mixed up with those of the far more atrocious sack of Rome perpetrated by Bourbon a few months later; the best account of it is by Negri, an eye-witness, in the _Lettere de' Principi_.]

Upon the capitulation of Cremona, Francesco Maria stole a few days for the society of his Duchess, and the affairs of his state, but was speedily recalled to his post by the unsatisfactory aspect of matters in Lombardy. The papal troops had been withdrawn; the garrison of Cremona, whose services the Venetians would not retain at his suggestion, had entered into new engagements with the enemy; fourteen thousand _lanznechts_, alias _lansquenet_ infantry, under Georg v. Fründesberg, were marching from Germany by the Val di Sabbia to support the imperial cause. His first care was to check the pillage of Cremona, a service which the citizens acknowledged by presenting to him a golden vase weighing twenty pounds, and beautifully chased with appropriate devices. He found the Marquis of Saluzzo arrived with about five thousand levies from France, and that the _bande nere_, amounting to almost as many, had been engaged by that power, on Guicciardini's departure, whose absence proved a vast relief to him. The army is now estimated at twenty-five thousand men by Sismondi, who, echoing the charges of that writer, severely blames the Duke for not supporting the naval attack made by the French upon Genoa, a scheme for which we have seen him contending at an earlier period. But a passage in his own _Discorsi Militari_ expressly states the Venetian force at four thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry, to keep in check both Fründesberg's lansquenets and ten thousand men at Milan; and it explains his tactics to consist in making Cremona the centre of a line of defence, embracing Bergamo on the right, and Genoa on the left, which, being vastly too extended for his force, necessitated his keeping his men together, in order to move upon any exposed point. Accordingly, considering it most incumbent to intercept the battalions of Fründesberg, he, after throwing garrisons into some important places on his right flank, pushed towards Mantua with about ten thousand men. Although sadly impeded by dreadful weather, and by difficulties of transport, the Proveditore having secured all the cattle to carry his own baggage to Venice, he came up with the enemy at Borgoforte, on the Po, and, interrupting their passage, drove their main body down the course of that river. Deep snow and mud embarrassing his evolutions, he could only hang upon their rear as far as the Mincio, where they were met by a reinforcement with artillery from Ferrara. Thereupon the Duke recalled his skirmishers, and left the Germans to pass the Po unobstructed, on the 30th of November.

In this affair fell Giovanni de' Medici, whose birth we have formerly noticed.[309] His name is consecrated to military renown by a halo which his lion-heart well merited, and which has gained no additional brilliancy from the attempts of some writers to elevate his fame at Francesco Maria's expense. In this unworthy effort--as on too many like occasions--Guicciardini has been followed by the historian of the Italian republics. The charges of misconduct adduced against the Duke of Urbino, in his movement against Fründesberg, are by no means borne out by the more detailed accounts supplied by Leoni and Baldi. He seems to have done everything that the state of the elements would allow; and even accused himself of occasioning the death of his faithful captain Benedetto Giraldi of Mondolfo, by answering his plea, that his charger was completely knocked up, with the sarcasm,--"What! you to whom I give a hundred scudi of yearly pay, have not a fresh pair of horses at such a moment!" Stung by this reproach, the gallant officer urged his steed to new efforts, and shared the fate of Giovanni de' Medici. The brigade of the latter, out of respect for their leader, assumed those mourning scarfs which procured them the name _delle bande nere_; and most of them soon after passed to Rome in the papal service.

[Footnote 309: See above, p. 385.]

The German lansquenets, whom Fründesberg had brought into Italy, were in fact a free company, levied by himself on a mere plundering adventure, without the pretext of pay. Alarmed at a reinforcement of so obnoxious a character, the confederates bethought themselves of renewed efforts. But disgusted with a drawling campaign, wherein no party had exhibited either good heart or doughty deeds, they had recourse to diplomacy, which, ever fluctuating between an inactive war and a solid peace, failed to create any general interest. The truce with Moncada being expired they had no difficulty in enrolling the unstable Pontiff once more on their side; but intent on his private quarrel with the Colonna, and burning to avenge the outrage lately received at their hands, he gave no co-operation to the League. His tortuous and feeble policy preferred rousing, by small intrigues, the old Angevine party at Naples against the imperial government, and sought the more sympathetic attractions of a petty strife with his refractory vassals. Having engaged the _bande nere_, he let them loose to carry fire and sword into the Colonna holdings, depriving, at the same time, Cardinal Pompeo of his hat, and thundering excommunication against his whole race. As the spring advanced, he extended this inglorious warfare, with "a worse than Turkish" virulence, into the Neapolitan territory. Meanwhile, the Viceroy Lanoy, after narrowly escaping the fleet of Andrea Doria, landed ten thousand fresh troops at Gaeta, and advanced upon Rome, supported by Moncada and the Colonna. But the vengeance of God against the Holy City was reserved for other hands. After a slight check from the _bande nere_, at Frosinone, the Viceroy most opportunely received letters from his master, disavowing the Colonna, and breathing affectionate duty to the Pontiff. He thereupon made overtures of reconciliation, and after various demurs, prompted by the Pontiff's vacillating hopes and fears, but which, in the exhausted state of his treasury, appear the dictates of insanity, an eight months' truce was signed on the 15th of March, between the Pope and the Emperor. It provided for a mutual restitution of all conquests in Lower Italy, a restoration of the Colonna to their estates and honours, and a payment by his Holiness of 60,000 ducats towards the costs of the war. Should the French and Venetians accept of this truce, the lansquenets were to be withdrawn from Italy; at all events they and the Constable Bourbon's army were forthwith to quit the ecclesiastical and Florentine territories. Whilst intimating this arrangement to the Duke of Urbino, by a brief of the 16th of March, Clement represents it as dictated by stern necessity, the whole weight of the war having fallen upon himself, and as the sole means of saving his own existence, and preserving "all Italy from destruction."

Whilst these events were in progress in Lower Italy, the negotiations for a general peace had produced no fruits, conducted, as they were, with little good faith or honesty of purpose. The only one really interested in prolonging the struggle was Francis I., whose children were still in his rival's hands. The Italian states, weary of a bootless contest, and disgusted by the feeble egotism of Clement, fell into inertness akin, perhaps, to the fascination under which the feathered tribes are said to become victims of their reptile-foe.

That foe was Charles Duke of Bourbon, son of Gilbert Count de Montpensier, who died at Pozzuoli, in 1495, by Chiara Gonzaga, sister of Elisabetta Duchess of Urbino. He was next heir to the crown of France, after Francis Duke of Angoulême, who succeeded to it as Francis I., and Charles Duke d'Alençon, whose blood had been attainted for treason. Louis XII., having removed this attainder, and restored the d'Alençon branch to their rights, incurred the deep displeasure of Bourbon, who was, however, pacified by receiving, at the age of twenty-six, the office of grand constable,--the highest dignity of the realm. He greatly distinguished himself in Francis's early Italian campaigns, but was recalled from the command at Milan in 1516, in consequence of his overbearing conduct and ambitious views. By Anna, sister of Charles VIII., whom he married in spite of a hideously deformed person, he had the dukedom of Bourbon, with an immense fortune; but his extravagant prodigality plunged him into great embarrassments, and a suit brought after his wife's death by the mother of Francis I.--whose love he was alleged to have slighted--threatened him with utter ruin, by evicting him from his wife's estates. In these circumstances, his jealous and fiery temper was ready to seize upon any pretext for entering into treasonable correspondence with the Emperor and King of England; and, on a promise of the crown of Provence, he undertook to head an insurrection in France as soon as Francis should cross the Alps. That monarch having discovered the plot, at once sought the Constable in one of his own castles, and frankly told him what he had learned. The hypocrite had recourse to abject asseverations of innocence and fidelity, and was ordered to attend his sovereign into Italy; but, perceiving that his protestations had not removed suspicion, he fled in disguise to the territory of Charles, and was declared rebel. His perfidy and rancour now knew no bounds; he was ever after prominent and indefatigable in the wars against his country, and mainly instigated the descent upon Provence in 1524. He next entertained a hope of the dukedom of Milan, by Clement's sanction; but he had played away his honour in a losing game: despised by himself and his employers, the prestige of success passed from his arms. Yet his peculiar talent for courting popularity ensured him the zealous support of his troops, who knew also that a bankrupt in character and purse was the best leader for men intent upon pillage. To the single merit of a winning manner, he united many odious qualities. His unmeasured ambition was restrained by no principle, either as to its objects, or the means of attaining them. His pride was vain-glory, venting itself in capricious and ill-directed schemes, and stimulating into fury a wayward and sanguinary temper, which, when exasperated by exile and outlawry, became ungovernable.

During the war of Lombardy, the imperial generals were in a great measure left to their own resources, both as to its conduct and its supplies. Bourbon had for about a year maintained his army in Milan without pay, by merciless plunder of the townspeople, upon whom insult and outrage were unsparingly heaped. But their patience and their means were nearly exhausted, and the difficulty of recruiting his commissariat was greatly aggravated by judicious dispositions of the allied army, directed by the Duke of Urbino. A forward movement was therefore resolved upon, and as occupation and pillage were the only chances of keeping together such disorganised troops, he led them in search of both. Indifferent whether the spoils of Florence or Romagna should prove the more convenient prey, he effected a junction with Fründesberg's new levies, whose circumstances and objects exactly corresponded with those of his own forces, and on the 30th of January their united divisions passed the Po.

Our authorities are in many respects contradictory regarding these operations, and especially as to the part which Francesco Maria took in them. He seems to have been laid up at Parma, with an attack of gout and fever, from the 3rd to the 14th of January, and to have spent most of the next two months with his Duchess at Gazzuolo in the Mantuese, for recovery of his health. It is insinuated by Sismondi that this was but an excuse for abandoning the field, at a moment when it would have been scarcely possible to pursue the policy, which that author ascribes to him, of never risking in a general action the prestige of invincibility. On the other hand, Leoni asserts that, at a council of war held in Parma on the 11th of February, plans for the campaign were proposed in writing by the different confederate leaders, when that sent by the Duke was treacherously suppressed by Guicciardini. Judging from the results of the campaign, there can be no doubt that the imperialists ought to have been attacked at this juncture; and if a general onset had been ordered on the 13th of March, when they broke out into open mutiny, Bourbon being obliged to fly for his life, or, a few days after, when Fründesberg, a monster of sacrilege and blasphemy, according to the Italian historians, died of apoplexy, they would in all probability have been totally exterminated. But they were the reserved instrument of divine judgments; and it signifies little now to speculate whether the immediate motives which paralysed the League were the Duke's ill-timed caution, his anticipation that the starving band would ere long of itself dissolve, or his personal enmity to the Pope. It is, however, important to keep in view the cold and selfish character of Venetian policy, and the hampering influence which their system of _proveditori_ necessarily had upon the measures of their generals.

When Francesco Maria returned to the camp, the imperialists, who had passed the Trebbia on the 20th of February, were slowly advancing through the ecclesiastical state of Modena upon Bologna. His tactic was to place them between two hostile armies; so the Marquis of Saluzzo, with the French, ecclesiastical, and Swiss troops, preceded them, leaving garrisons in the principal places, the Duke following with the Venetians, some thirty miles in their rear. Against this plan, which Guicciardini designates a strange proceeding, and which even Baldi most justly criticises, the other leaders vainly protested, alleging, among other reasons, that whilst the army in advance must be speedily weakened by detaching garrisons, the Venetians would probably hang back when their own frontier was freed from danger. News of the truce between the Pope and the Viceroy now arrived, and the Duke, disgusted at this new proof of Clement's fickleness, and indifference to his allies' interests, withdrew his army across the Po. But the courier who brought the treaty to Bourbon at Ponte-Reno, with an order to obey its provisions, was nearly cut to pieces by his troops, infuriated at this interference with their hopes of booty, and the Constable refused to abide by it. The fresh jealousy of their unstable ally, thus suggested to the Venetians, afforded their leader a new apology for not exposing their troops in a general action for the preservation of Bologna. But when Bourbon had passed by that city towards Romagna and Urbino, somewhat more spirit was infused into his movements, as the danger seemed to approach his own frontier. He immediately sent forward two thousand men to protect the duchy, and desired his family to be removed for safety to Venice. On the 5th of March he had struck his camp at Casal-Maggiore, and proceeded in pursuit of the enemy. On that day they passed under Imola, which, with the other cities, was garrisoned by detachments of Saluzzo, in accordance with tactics already explained. Bourbon now scoured the plains of Romagna in search of plunder, skirmishing occasionally with the French division. When at Meldola on the 14th he bethought him of a descent upon Siena, whose old Ghibelline and anti-Florentine preferences promised him a welcome. He, therefore, penetrated the Apennines by forced marches up the passes of the Bidente, and on the 18th reached S. Pietro in Bagno, burning and pillaging as he went.

When the Constable's refusal to accept the treaty was known at Rome, Clement, more perplexed than ever, besought Lanoy to hurry on and induce him to a halt, or at all events to withdraw the Spaniards and men-at-arms from his command. To this the Viceroy with much apparent zeal consented; but doubts have been thrown on his sincerity, for both he and Moncada, whilst professing cordial co-operation with the Pope, are suspected of having secretly stimulated Bourbon's advance upon Rome, as the only means of appeasing the troops, trusting that the grandeur of the enterprise would, in their master's eyes, readily excuse its criminality. It seems doubtful whether Lanoy actually met the Constable; and his mission was understood to have exposed him to great personal risk from the lawless and ungovernable troops. He at all events conveyed to Bourbon a proposition for the immediate payment to his army of 80,000 ducats, with 60,000 more during May, on condition of their retreat within five days; these sums to be advanced by Florence, on the Viceroy's guarantee for repayment of one-half by the Emperor. The direct object of this proposal was to divert the impending storm from Tuscany; and it was fully sanctioned by Clement, true to the policy of Medicean pontiffs, who ever regarded Florence as their patrimony, Rome as their life-interest. In the negotiations to which it gave rise there was a double difficulty. Whilst the demands of a mutinous and starving army were paramount to all other considerations, each party of the confederates struggled to throw upon another the burden of meeting them. The same selfishness sought individual security against the future movements of the general foe, by turning him upon some friendly frontier. The wealthy Florentines lavished their gold to send him back upon Upper Italy, which the timely distribution of a few thousand men in the Apennine gorges might have prevented him from ever quitting. The game of the Proveditore Pisani was to leave no obstacle in the way of his advance in any direction save that of the Venetian terra-firma domain, and to detain the Duke of Urbino with his army of observation as long as possible near that frontier. The French strove at all hazards to keep him clear of their Lombard conquests. The Pontiff, little dreaming of an attack upon his capital, was distracted between the care of Romagna and Tuscany, whilst his fickle imbecility deprived him of all sympathy at his allies' hands; indeed, in this conflict of interests, his pusillanimous tergiversations rendered him the weaker vessel, and he consequently became the chief sufferer. Nor did the Duke of Urbino escape suspicions of bad faith, for he is accused of a secret understanding not to impede Bourbon's descent upon Tuscany, which would naturally liberate his own duchy from danger. Guicciardini, indeed, not only considers revenge for former injuries of the Medici as the key to Francesco Maria's dilatory and inefficient proceedings against the imperialists, but regards his conduct as justified by the provocations received. These sentiments were at all events cherished by the soldiery of Urbino, who wrote "FOR VENGEANCE" upon the houses which they fired on their march through the Florentine territory. Nor were these provocations light, for the grudge which Leo had bequeathed was aggravated by a continued retention of the fortresses in Montefeltro, and still more by an investiture of the entire duchy, granted in 1525 by Clement, in total defiance of the della Rovere rights, to Ascanio Colonna, whose claims we have already considered.[310] This grant, though virtually annulled by the same Pope's subsequent confirmation of the reinvestiture given to Francesco Maria by Adrian VI., gave rise to renewed anxieties on his part about two years later, and it was not until 1530 that we shall see them finally extinguished by the Duke's generous hospitality to his rival.

[Footnote 310: Above, p. 420.]

On the 22nd of April the Constable, finding the mountain peasantry exasperated to a dangerous pitch by the merciless rigours of his lawless soldiery, and his own sanguinary nature being goaded by their ribald taunts, cut short these miserable intrigues by advancing into Tuscany.[*311] The confederate leaders, having at length decided on saving Florence, united their divisions, and on the 25th passed the Apennines near the present Bologna road. The Duke now received an offer of his fortresses of S. Leo and Maiuolo, which still remained pledged to that commonwealth. This he answered by general professions, and next day, sending on the army to Incisa to intercept the approach of Bourbon, he proceeded with a band of faithful followers to the Tuscan capital. The republican faction, calculating upon his support, flew to arms and seized the Palazzo Vecchio, while once more the unpopular sway of the Medici trembled in the balance. But the Duke, with a nobility of purpose that goes far to absolve him from suspicion as to his good faith with the Pope throughout this campaign, rejected the temptation of avenging his many wrongs, and, by extraordinary personal exertions, succeeded in quelling the insurrection, and maintaining the established government. Thus, for the first time, the city saw its Palazzo taken without a revolution following. In gratitude for this service his fortresses were immediately given up to Francesco Maria, who in due time received also the thanks of his Holiness. The act for their restitution was signed on the 1st of May, and on the 14th S. Leo was surrendered to his lieutenant Orazio Florido.

[Footnote *311: He halted at S. Giovanni in Val d'Arno, where, though he ought never to have been allowed to come so far, he might have been easily crushed in that narrow pass. But if the Duke of Urbino showed now a certain activity, it was not of the sort to crush this adventure. Bourbon wheeled into the Via Francigena and marched down to Rome and death. "To Rome! to Rome!" were his dying words.]

Bourbon's head-quarters were meanwhile at Montevarchi, near Arezzo, where, seeing his approach to Florence foiled, and the dissatisfaction of his followers on the increase, he decided upon making a dash at Rome; his only alternative being to lead them to pillage, or perish at their hands. As a blind to the Pope, he sent forward a courier to demand free passage to Naples; and, after receiving some supplies from Siena, he abandoned his artillery and heavy baggage in order to lighten his march. He began it on the 26th, and, notwithstanding incessant rains and an entirely disorganised commissariat, he passed without halt or question by Acquapendente and Viterbo to Rome.[312]

[Footnote 312: Many facts regarding the war in Lombardy and the march to Rome are given by Baldi (Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 906) with a minuteness and impartiality not found in other writers. The feeble views of Clement are illustrated by his brieves to the Duke of Urbino, noticed in I. of the Appendix to our next volume.]

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I

(Pages 33, 34)

PORTRAITS OF CESARE BORGIA

The same extremes of reprobation and flattery which alternate in notices of the Duke Valentino puzzle us as to his personal appearance. Giovio, the ardent collector of historical portraits, while describing those which he had brought together, thus comments upon that of Borgia:--"He is said to come of a plague-stricken stock and of corrupted blood; for a livid rush overspread his face, which was full of pimples shedding matter. His eyes, too, were deeply sunk, and their fierce snake-like glance seemed to flash fire, so that even his friends and comrades could not bear to look upon them; yet, while flirting with the ladies, he had a wonderful knack of playing the agreeable." The pen which inscribed these sentences was evidently charged with even more than its wonted gall; but, after every allowance, they cannot well be reconciled with a report of the Venetian envoy Capello, dated in 1500, and bearing that "the Pope loves and greatly fears his son the Duke, who is aged twenty-seven years; his head is most beautiful; he is tall and well made, and handsomer than King Ferdinand."

Nor can we attain to any more satisfactory conclusion from such pictures as are alleged to transmit his features. We have no key to identify as his any of the heads introduced by Pinturicchio into those fine but little noticed frescoes commissioned by Alexander VI. for the Torre di Borgia, now a wing of the Vatican Library. The exquisite medallists of Romagna do not appear to have exercised their skill upon his bust. Of easel portraits I am aware of six, which I mention for the curious in such matters, although not prepared to consider any of them genuine.

1. The elegant effeminate-looking Spaniard in the Borghese Gallery, attributed to Raffaele, is now admitted to be a misnomer both of subject and artist.

2. A mean head, in the manner of Federigo Zuccaro, was purchased a few years ago at Rome by my late friend Monsignor Laureani, librarian of the Vatican, as that of Valentino, and passed from him, in 1844, to my friend the Cavaliere Campana. Its sinister and spiteful expression is not unworthy of such a monster; and allowing an artist's licence in disguising a complexion which no one would willingly represent, it might tally with Giovio's too graphic details. The figure is, however, short, while Capello describes Cesare as tall.

3. A letter from Giuseppe Vallardi to Count Cesare di Castelbarco Visconti was privately printed at Milan in 1843, in which he claims to have discovered in the Count's palace a portrait of Borgia by Raffaele, the original chalk study of which belonged to himself. From the mass of verbiage usual in similar Italian effusions of "municipal fanaticism," there may be extracted an allegation that the picture had been painted from that earlier drawing about 1508, and a bold inference is hazarded from their style that both were the handiwork of Sanzio. The lithograph, however, would entitle us to ascribe them rather to the Milanese school, and such is admitted to be the opinion of various connoisseurs. No fact is adduced to authenticate the head, or to show that Raffaele ever saw Valentino; indeed, the name seems to libel a countenance so gentle, refined, and unimpassioned.

4. Vallardi mentions in the same letter another Borgian head, by Giorgione, as in the Lochis Gallery at Bergamo, of which I cannot speak, not having seen it.

5. A handsome over-dressed youth was engraved for Gordon's _Life of Alexander VI._, in 1729, from a picture said to belong to D. Giuseppe Valetta of Naples, which I entirely failed in tracing while in Italy. Neither have I discovered any authority for supposing that soulless epicurean to be Cesare Borgia.

Finally, we may include Fuseli's notice of a picture by Titian, no longer, however, in the Borghese collection, representing a conference between the Usurper of Romagna and Machiavelli. A finer subject for the pencil of that intellectual limner could hardly be found, but Valentino's prodigality was apparently never lavished on art.[313] In his eleventh lecture, Fuseli also mentions a portrait of Cesare by Giorgione, as hanging for study in the Royal Academy.

[Footnote 313: In Leonardo da Vinci he saw only a military engineer. His commission, desiring that great genius to survey and report upon all his fortresses, in the summer of 1502, is quoted in BROWN'S _Life of Leonardo_, p. 118, and accordingly Urbino was visited by him on the 30th of July.]

APPENDIX II

(Page 34)

DUKE GUIDOBALDO I. OF URBINO A KNIGHT OF THE GARTER

The loss of all early records of the Order, in consequence of their having long been entrusted to the private and insecure custody of its successive officers, has already placed us at disadvantage in noticing the admission of Duke Federigo, but from various sources we are enabled to glean much more satisfactory notices as to the election and installation of his son to this honourable knighthood. The chapter at which he was chosen is not preserved by Anstis, but its date is known from the following letter, the original of which, in Latin, I had the good fortune to discover in the Oliveriana Library at Pesaro.[314]

[Footnote 314: MSS. No. 374, vol. I., p. 55.]

"Henry, by the grace of God, King of England and France, Lord of Ireland, to the most illustrious and potent Prince the Lord Guido Ubaldo, Duke of Urbino, our most dear friend, health and augmented prosperity. We wrote lately to inform your Highness that we had resolved upon forthwith summoning a chapter of our military Order of the Garter, for the purpose of creating your Sublimity a knight thereof, and by the same letters gave you tidings of such creation. We have now to signify how, in fulfilment of that our promise, we have made your Highness a Knight of that Order; and this we have done most cordially, not only on account of our old necessity, which formerly occurred to us with your father the illustrious Duke of happy memory, but also in consideration of your singular merit and virtues. Indeed we are assured that henceforward your Highness will ever be regarded as our most attached cousin and intimate friend, which you will more fully learn from our distinguished cousin the Lord Talbot, a knight of that Order, as also from the Reverend [Richard Bere] Lord Abbot of Glastonbury, and the Venerable Sir Robert Shirbourn, Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, our counsellors and ambassadors, whom we have sent to offer our catholic and filial obedience to our supreme Lord [Julius II.]. To these our envoys we have committed all the knightly insignia of the Garter, to be made over to your Highness, and our anxious desire is that you will accept them in the same spirit of cordial affection in which they are sent. We pray you further to receive these our ambassadors as accredited in our behalf, and that you will please to aid them with your favour and counsels, which will be to us peculiarly agreeable. Finally, as the Venerable Mr. Robert Shirbourn, one of these our envoys, is by our command to remain for some time as our minister at the Roman Court to transact certain affairs of ours with our Lord his Holiness, we therefore beseech your Sublimity that you will vouchsafe to assist him, as our agent, with your gracious influence, which has great and just weight with our Holy Father, and that you will extend to him such favours as he may request; by all which you will do us a singular pleasure. Further, if it be in our power any way to oblige you, freely make use of us and ours. From our palace near Westminster, the 20th of February, 1503-4.[315]

"HENRICUS REX."

[Footnote 315: It is pleasant to find the arts from time to time becoming handmaids of history as well as of religion; and the friendly feeling for England then cherished at Urbino is curiously illustrated by a bequest of Bishop Arrivabene, who, in 1504, left 400 golden scudi to be expended in decorating a chapel, dedicated to St. Martin and St. Thomas of Canterbury: the Duchess Elisabetta was one of the trustees, and the fresco ordered by them from Girolamo Genga included a representation of the English saint, and a portrait of Duke Guidobaldo.]

The instructions to these ambassadors, dated the 20th of February, and printed by Anstis, run thus:--

"And after due recommendacions, and presentaciones of the Kinge's lettres [to Duke Guidobaldo], firste the saide Abbot of Glastonburye shall make a brefe oracion, wherein he shall not onlye touche the laudes of the noble Order of the Garter, and of the Kinges Highnes as sovereigne of the same, but also declare the great vertues and notable deades of the saide Duke, and how his progenitors and auncestors have been accepted thereunto, and to theyr greate honor have used the same, with the desyrous mynde that the sayde Duke is to be honored therwithal; for the which consideracions and causes the Kinge's Highness, by the assent of the Companions of that Order, have been the rather moved and induced to name and elect him thereunto, trustinge verelie that, his greate noblenesse with other of his valiant actes and singuler vertues consydered, he shall not onlye greatlye honor the saide Order, but also take greate honor by the same. Shewinge fynallye that the Kinge's Highnes, for the singular zeale, love, and affection which his Grace beareth unto hym, hath sent hym them ornaments belonginge to the sayd Order, and with as good and hartye mynde wylleth hyme to be honored therewith as anye other prince lyvinge, desyring him therefore thankfullye to accept the same, and to use and weare it in a memoriall of his Grace, and of the saide notable and auncyant Order.

"And, after the proposition so sayde, they shall present theyr commyssyon unto the sayde Duke, and cause the same openlye to be read, and so followinge, the Abbot of Glastonburye shall in good and reverent manner requyre him to make his corporall othe for the inviolable observaunce of the same, lyke as, bye the tenure of the saide estatuts, every Knight of that Order is bownde to do, in form followinge:--

"Ego Guido Ubaldus, Dei Gratia Dux Urbinatis, honorificentissimi atque approbatissimi Ordinis Garterii Miles et Confrater electus, juro ad hæc sancta Dei evangelia per me corporaliter tacta, quod omnia et singula statuta leges et ordinationes ipsius dignissimi Ordinis bene sincere et inviolabiliter observabo. Ita me Deus adjuvet, et hæc sancta Dei evangelia!

"Which othe geven, Sir Gybert Talbot shall deliver the Garter to hym, and cause the same in good and honorable manner to be put about his legge, the saide Abbott of Glastonburye sayinge audablye thes wordes followinge:--

"Ad laudem et honorem summi atque omnipotentis Dei, intemeratæ Virginis et Matris suæ Mariæ, ac gloriosissimi martiris Georgii, hujus Ordinis Patroni, circumcingo tibiam tuam hoc Garterio, ut possis in isto bello firmiter stare et fortiter vincere, in signum Ordinis et augmentum tui honoris.

"Which thinge so don, the saide Sir Gylbert shall deliver unto the saide Duke the gowne of purple couler, and cause hym to apparrell hymself with the same, the saide Abbot of Glastonburye sayinge thes wordes followinge, at the doinge on of the same:--

"Accipe vestem hanc purpuream, quâ semper munitus non verearis pro fide Christi, libertate ecclesiæ et oppressorum tuitione fortiter dimicare, et sanguinem effundere, in signum Ordinis et augmentum tui honoris.

"And then followinge, the sayd Sir Gilbert shall cause the sayde Duke to do upon hym the mantle of blew velvett, garnyshed with the scute and crosse of Saint George, and the said Abbot of Glastonburye sayinge thes wordes:--

"Accipe clamidem coelestis coloris clypeo crucis Christi insignitam, cujus virtute atque vigore semper protectus, hostes superare, et pro clarissimis tuis meritis gaudia tandem coelestia promereri valeas, in signum Ordinis et augmentum tui honoris.

"And when the saide Duke shall be so apperrylled with the ornaments aforesaide, the saide Sir Gylbert shall put the image of Seinte George abowt his necke, the saide Abbott saying thes wordes:--

"Imaginem gloriosissimi martiris Georgii, hujus Ordinis patroni, in collo tuo deferes, cujus fultus presidio hujus mundi prospera et adversa sic pertranseas, ut hostibus corporis et animi devictis, non modo temporalis militiæ gloriam, sed perennis victoriæ palmam accipere valeas, in signum Ordinis et augmentum tui honoris."

Hollinshed, following Hall, informs us that "Sir Gilbert Talbot, Knight, Richard Bere, Abbot of Glastonburie, and Doctor Robert Sherborne, Deane of St. Paules, were sent as ambassadors from the King to Rome, to declare to Pius the third of that name, newlie elected pope in place of Alexander the Sixt, deceased, what joy and gladnesse had entered the King's heart for his preferment. But he taried not the comming of those ambassadors, for within a moneth after that he was installed, he rendered his debt to nature, and so had short pleasure of his promotion.... The King caused Guidebald, Duke of Urbine, to be elected Knight of the Order of the Garter, in like manner as his father Duke Frederike had been before him, which was chosen and admitted into the Order by King Edward the Fourth. Sir Gilbert Talbot, and the other two ambassadors, being appointed to keepe on their journey unto Pope Julius the Second, elected after the death of the said Pius the Third, bare the habit, and collar also, unto the said Duke Guidebald."[316] It must, however, be observed that letters of safe conduct for these ambassadors are stated to have been issued under the Privy Seal on the 22nd of February, 1504, as if but then beginning their journey. This mission was in accordance with the statutes of the Order, which provided that, within four months of the election, special messengers should be despatched to invest each foreign knight with the insignia, and that, within eight months after the investiture, he should send a proctor to England to receive installation in his name.

[Footnote 316: Hall quaintly says that the King intended "to stop two gappes with one bushe."]

We learn from Burchard that the three envoys reached Rome the 12th of May, 1504. They were met by Sylvester Gigli, Bishop of Worcester, Anglican resident at the papal court, and had a splendid reception. On the 20th they had an audience, when, the minister of Louis XII. having protested against Henry taking the style of France, they were admitted as the ambassadors of England only. No details have reached us of the investiture. The authority to which we naturally turn for the circumstances attending this interesting episode of our narrative is Polydoro di Vergilio, a native of Urbino, and historian of England; but a fact, which to the writer ought to have been of peculiar importance, is passed over without details. As, however, the supposed autograph copy of his History varies considerably from printed editions, we shall here quote from it the entire passage, proving the incorrect manner in which this work is given to the public.

"Alexandro Sexto mortuo, creatus est Pontifex Franciscus, Senensis antistes, qui Pii fuit Secundi ex sorore nepos, voluitque et ipse Pius Tertius in memoria avunculi vocari. Hic amicissimus erat regis Henrici [VII.], qui, ut primus omnium Christianorum principum bono patri de adepto pontificatu congratularetur, confestim Gilbertum Talbott equitem, Ricardum Beer Abbatem Glasconiensem, et Robertum Scherburn decanum divi Pauli Londinensis oratores designavit ad ipsum pontificatum. Sed Pius non expectavit gratulationem, qui obiit sexto et vigesimo die quam sedere coeperat. Creatur in ejus locum Julianus, Cardinalis Sti. Petri ad Vincula, patria Ligur, dictusque est Julius Secundus. Huic postea illi tres regis oratores congratulatum inerunt, quos Hadrianus Castellensis episcopus Herefordensis, quem paulo ante Alexander Cardinalem fecerat, Romæ hospitio excepit. Hunc rex Henricus sub idem tempus ab Herefordensi sede ad Bathoniensem ac Wellensem transferri curavit. At Hadrianus, ut præter sua quotidiana obsequia, quæ tam regi quam Anglis omnibus libens præstabat, aliquo diuturniori memoriæ monumento relinqueret, apud omnes testatum se memorem fuisse acceptorum beneficiorum ab Henrico, atque nomen Anglicum amasse, donavit regi palatium magnificum quod ipse Romæ in Vaticano ædificaverat, ornavitque regis insignibus, ut in ea luce hominum aliquod egregium opus nomini Anglico dedicatum conspiceretur.[317] Item, iidem oratores detulerunt habitum Garterii ordinis Guidoni Duci Urbini, principi seculo nostro Latinæ Linguæ simul ac Græcæ ac militaris disciplinæ peritissimo, quem Rex paulo ante in Collegium ipsius Ordinis asciverat. Dux postea destinavit in Angliam Baldasarem Castilliorum, natione Mantuanum, equitem tam doctrinâ quam bellicâ virtute præstantem, ut suo nomine ejus Ordinis cerimonias exequeret. Fuit Baldaser ab Henrico perbenigne exceptus, atque comiter habitus; qui, finitis ceremoniis, non indonatus, postmodum ad suum Decem redivit."[318]

[Footnote 317: The palace thus gifted to Henry is believed to have been that in Borgo, called Palazzo Giraud, in which many of our countrymen have of late received the splendid hospitalities of Prince Torlonia.]

[Footnote 318: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 498, f. 273. For Polydoro di Vergilio, see above, pp. 115-18.]

There is thus no authority for a statement in the printed version of this History, adopted by Hall, Baldi, and others, that the decoration was conferred in consequence of Guidobaldo's own wish to belong to an Order, of whose illustration he had become cognisant from its having been borne by his father. Perhaps the requests which conclude the letter of Henry VII. may give the most satisfactory key to the royal policy. Informed, as he no doubt was, of the state of affairs at the Papal court, he must have been aware that to conciliate the Duke was the wisest course for those who had favours to gain from the Pontiff. Be this as it may, the Garter was received by Guidobaldo at Rome in June, as became so singular an honour, and was proudly worn next St. George's day in compliance with the rules of the Order. Having resolved suitably so to acknowledge the dignity by a special envoy to London, he selected as his proctor Castiglione, the choicest spirit of his elegant court. The first we hear of this intention is from the Count's letter of 2nd March, 1505, confidently informing his mother that he would probably be sent to represent his master at his installation in England. The plan, however, remained long in abeyance. Castiglione spent the autumn at the baths of S. Casciano in Tuscany, for an old injury or wound in his foot, and, in the end of the year, went on a mission to Ferrara.[319] At length he set out, on the 24th of July, 1506, accompanied by Francesco di Battista di Ricece, and Giulio da Cagli, with their respective suites. Among the presents he was charged to deliver to the King were some falcons, three of the finest racers of the Urbino breed, and a precious little picture, by Raffaele, of St. George as patron of the English Order, which we have already mentioned at p. 233. He was at Lyons in September, and this notice of his arrival at Dover is preserved by Anstis:--

"The 20th of Octobre, the twenty-second year of our soverain lord, King Henry VII., there landed at Dover a noble ambassadeur, sent from the Duc of Urbin, called Sir Balthasar de Castilione, whiche came to be installed in his lorde's name; whiche Duc had receyved before by the Abbot of Glastonbury and Sir Gilbert Talbott, being the King's commissionaris, the Garetier, &c., to the Ordre apperteyning. And, to mete with the said ambassadeur, was sent Sir Thomas Brandon, havyng a goodly companye with hym of his owne servants, all verely well horsed, unto the see-seyde; whiche, after they met togedre, kept contynnually compagnie with hym, and, when they approched nere to Deptford, ther met with the forsaid ambassadeur by the King's commandement, the Lord Thomas Dokara, lord of St. John's, and Thomas Writhesley, alias Gartier princypall king of Armes. Whiche lord of St. John's had in his compaignie thirty of his servaunts, all in a lyvery new, well horsed, every [one] of his gentlemen beryng a javelayn in his hand, and every yeman havying his bowe and a sheffe of arrowes, and soe convoyed hym to his lodging, and on the morrow unto London. And by the waye ther met with the said ambassadeur dyvers Italyens, as the Pope's Vicecollector, Paulus de Gygeles [Giliis], with dyvers [others]; and soe convoyed hym to the Pope's Vicecollector's hows, wher he was lodged."

[Footnote 319: I can find nothing in support of Roscoe's assertion that he was wounded while aiding Guidobaldo to recover his duchy, and the whole facts seem to contradict it. _Leo X._, ch. vii., § 7, note. That usually accurate writer has fallen into the mistake of ascribing to the Count's _sister_ his interment and monumental inscription in the church of the Minims, near Mantua, while the epitaph which he has printed, bears that Aloysia Gonzaga placed it over a worthy _son_, whom she unwillingly survived. Several dates in our text are supplied from Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 904, p. 43.]

Two days after Castiglione reached London he was sent for by the King, whose marked favour, whilst he stated the objects of his mission in an eloquent Latin address, is recorded in his own letters. The installation took place on the 10th of November, upon the following commission, printed by Ashmole:--

"Henry, by the grace of God, &c. Forasmuch as we understand that the right noble prince Gwe de Ubaldis, Duke of Urbin, who was heretofore elected to be one of the companions of the said noble Order, cannot conveniently repair into this our realm, personally to be installed in the collegiate church of that Order, and to perform other ceremonies whereunto by the statutes of the said Order he is bound, but for that intent and purpose hath sent a right honourable personage, Balthasar de Castilione, Knight, sufficiently authorised as his proctor, to be installed in his name, and to perform all other things for him, to the statutes and ordinances of the said Order requisite and appertaining. We, therefore, in consideration of the premises, will, and by these presents, give unto you licence, full power, and authority, not only to accept and admit the said Balthasar as proctor for the same Duke, and to receive his oath and instal him in the lieu and place and for the said Duke, but also farther, to do therein as to the statutes and laudable usages of the said Order it appertaineth; and this our writing shall be to you and every of you sufficient discharge in that behalf. Given under the seale of our said noble Order of the Garter, at our mannor of Grenewiche, the 7th day of November, the twenty-second year of our reign."

After the ceremonial was concluded, the Count visited the other knights in the name of his master. This installation by proxy has given rise to a confusion that he was himself honoured with the Garter, which Roscoe first exposed. It is probable, however, that he was knighted by Henry, a dignity he had vainly looked for at the hand of Julius II. before his departure; at all events he received from him, besides gifts of horses and dogs, a gold chain or collar of SS links, from which depended two portcullises and a golden rose with its centre of silver. This chain, long peculiar to English chief justices, is traced by Dugdale from the initials of Saint Simplicius, a primitive Christian judge and martyr; and the badge was adopted by that monarch as heir of the Plantagenets through both rival roses. The decoration, mistaken by Marliani for the collar of the Garter, was destined by the Count as an heirloom, and it accordingly surrounded his armorial coat in that dedication copy of his letter to Henry, narrating the life of Guidobaldo, which he described by Anstis. On the 9th of February, 1507, he was at Milan on his return to Urbino, where he arrived about the end of the month, charged with affectionate letters and messages from Henry, and with rich presents. His conversation, of all that he had seen in a country so imperfectly known, was greatly relished by the Duke, and his anecdotes of its court, its wealth, and its wonders long continued to enliven the palace-circle of Montefeltro.

APPENDIX III

(Page 138)

GIOVANNI SANZI'S MS. CHRONICLE OF FEDERIGO DUKE OF URBINO

Considering the importance of Sanzi's Rhyming Chronicle of Duke Federigo to the literary history of Urbino, and the almost total neglect in which it has hitherto lain, we shall here describe with some minuteness the only copy of it known to exist. It is a large and thick folio volume, No. 1305 of the Ottoboniana MSS. in the Vatican Library, written on paper in a firm Italian hand of the fifteenth century, expressly for the Duke Guidobaldo I., to whom it is dedicated. Some passages have been interpolated on the margin, and others are altered by pasting a new version over the cancelled lines, in a character slightly different from that of the text, of which, being probably autograph, a fac-simile is given on the following page.[320]

[Footnote 320: This marginal interpolation, occurring in the dedication, runs thus:--"Pregandoti humilmente ryguardi ly gloriosi fatti del tuo famoso padre, e non la basseza del myo style [not "srypt," as Passavant reads it], ornato solo da me dy quella sincer fede che deue vn fydeli servo al suo signore."]

The general title, supplied in a much later hand, runs thus:--"Historia della Guerra d'Italia nel tempo de' PP. Pio e Paolo II., del 1478, in versi di Gio[~v]. Sati al Duca di Urbino"; but the Chronicle itself is thus headed, "Principio del opera composta da Giohanni Santi, pictore, nelaquale se contiene la vita e gesti de lo illustrissimo et invictissimo Principe Federico Feretrano, Duca di Urbino." A prose dedication occupies four pages, and is followed by a prologue of nine chapters in verse; the poem itself is divided into a hundred and four chapters, arranged in twenty-three books, the whole work consisting of about twenty-four thousand lines.[321] It may be not uninteresting to print the contents of these chapters, supplying the omitted titles of the two first.

[Footnote 321: Several errors in the numeration, both of the folios and chapters, might readily deceive a superficial observer, and have misled even Passavant.]

LIBRO PRIMO.

CAP. I. [Of the race of Montefeltro preceding Duke Federico, and of his birth and betrothal.]

CAP. II. [Of the boyish embassies of Count Federico; of his education and marriage.]

CAP. III. Nel quale se tracta de la prima militia sua cum Nicolo Picinino.

CAP. IV. Nel quale si tratta la rocta di Monte Locho.

CAP. V. De la predicta rocta di Monte Locho.

LIBRO SECONDO.

CAP. VI. Nel quale se tratta el rincondurse del C. Federico cum Nicolo Piccino e el guerre de la Marca.

CAP. VII. Nel quale se tratta la morte del Duca Oddantonio el diventare el Conte Signore de Urbino.

CAP. VIII. Nel quale poi uarie cose, se tratta le rebillione de la Marca contra el Conte Francesco Sforza.

CAP. IX. Nel quale se tratta l'aspera guerra per Papa Eugenio al Conte Federico.

CAP. X. De varie cose e del tradimento de Fossambrone contra del Conte Federico.

CAP. XI. De la rotta del Signore Sigismondo ha Fossambrone.

LIBRO TERZO.

CAP. XII. Nel quale se contiene la guerra de Toscana per il Re Alfonso contra Fiorentini, et la condutta del Conte Federico cum loro.

CAP. XIII. Nel quale se tratta de lo assedio di Pionbino per el Re Alfonso.

CAP. XIV. De la morte del Duca Phillippo, et diverse guerre de Lombardia.

LIBRO QUARTO.

CAP. XV. Nel quale se contiene la condutta del Conte cum el Re Alfonso, et la guerra di Toscana al tempo di Ferrante Duca de Calabria.

CAP. XVI. De uarie cose de Lombardia, et la lega quasi de tutta Italia, e l'andata del Conte a Napoli.

CAP. XVII. Parlamento insieme del S. Sigismondo et de Conte a Ferrara, per el mezo del Duca Borso.

CAP. XVIII. Resposta del Conte al S. Sigismondo nel predicto parlamento.

LIBRO QUINTO.

CAP. XIX. Nel quale se contiene la guerra fra el S. Sigismondo el Conte de Urbino, et la uenuta del Conte Jacomo Piccinino contra del S. Sigismondo.

CAP. XX. De la preditta guerra.

LIBRO SESTO.

CAP. XXI. Nel quale se contiene el principio et uarie guerre del Reame di Napoli al tempo del Duca Giohanni contra de el Re Ferrante.

CAP. XXII. Del andata del Conte Jacomo nel Reame contra de el Re Ferrante.

CAP. XXIII. De la rotta del Re a Sarno, et el correre scontro de dui Braceschi cum dui Feltreschi.

CAP. XXIV. Del fatto e l'arme de Santo Fabiano.

CAP. XXV. Del preditto fatto d'arme de Santo Fabiano.

CAP. XXVI. Del predicto fatto d'arme.

LIBRO SETTIMO.

CAP. XXVII. Nel quale se contiene uarie e diuerse ribellione de cipta e castelli de la predicta guerra del Reame.

CAP. XXVIII. De la correria del Aquila a la citta, et la expugnatione de Albi.

LIBRO OTTAVO.

CAP. XXIX. Nel quale se contiene le predicte guerre del Reame, et molti expugnatione de castelli, et lo assedio famossissimo de Casteluccio, et la uenuta del Signori chi erano in Abruzo per la sua liberatione.

CAP. XXX. De la oratione fatta a li militi del Conte, et la expugnatione di Castellucio.

CAP. XXXI. Dele preditte guerre del Reame e dela rotta del S. Napolione inela la Marca.

LIBRO NONO.

CAP. XXXII. Nel quale se contiene la rotta che dette el Conte al S. Sigismondo ha Senegaglia.

CAP. XXXIII. Del preditto fatto d'arme.

CAP. XXXIV. De la preditta guerra contra el S. Sigismondo, et lo aquisto de diverse sue terre.

CAP. XXXV. De la preditta guerra contra el S. Sigismondo, et la industriosa expugnatione de la Rocha de Veruchio, et la assedio di Fano.

CAP. XXXVI. Del medesimo assedio di Fano, et la uictoria di quello.

LIBRO DECIMO.

CAP. XXXVII. Nel quale se contiene l'ultima ruina del S. Sigismondo, landata del Papa Pio in Ancona et la sua morte, la creatione de Paulo II., la ruina del stato de Deifobo da l'Auguilara, et la guerra de Cesena, da poi la morte del S Malatesta.

CAP. XXXVIII. De la uictoria de Cesena la morte del Duca Francesco [Sforza] et l'andata del Conte ha Milano.

LIBRO UNDECIMO.

CAP. XXXIX. Nel quale se contiene la nouita de Fiorenza nel sesanta sei, et la guerra de Romagna per Bartholomeo da Bergamo.

CAP. XL. De la preditta guerra de Romagna.

CAP. XLI. Oratione del Conte a li suoi militi nante el fatto d'arme de la Mulinella.

CAP. XLII. Del bellissimo fatto d'arme fra Bartholomeo, el Conte a la Mulinella.

CAP. XLIII. Del preditto fatto d'arme de la Mulinella.

CAP. XLIV. De la preditta guerra, e 'l sachegiare el Conte alle del Amone.

LIBRO DUODECIMO.

CAP. XLV. Nel quale se contiene la guerra et lo assedio de Arimino per Papa Paulo.

CAP. XLVI. Del preditto assedio de Arimino, et una proua mirabile del S. Roberto.

CAP. XLVII. De la preditta guerra, e una alto pensiero del Conte per la liberatione de Arimino.[322]

[Footnote 322: This chapter being numbered XLVI. by mistake in the original, the subsequent numbers here given are always in advance by _one_ until Cap. LXXIII.]

CAP. XLVIII. De la preditta guerra, e locutione del Conte ali militi nante el fatto, d'arme da Ceresuolo.

CAP. XLIX. De la uenuta de le gente de la Chiesa a trouare el Conte.

CAP. L. Del bellissimo fatto d'arme da Cerisuolo.

CAP. LI. Del preditto fatto d'arme de Cerisuolo.

CAP. LII. Dela rotta dele gente de la Chiesa a Cerisuolo.

CAP. LIII. Del fine de la guerra di Arimino.

LIBRO DECIMO TERZO.

CAP. LIV. Nel quale se tratta la rebellione de Volterra contra Fiorentini, et l'andata del Conte per campegiarla.

CAP. LV. Del campegiare de Volterra.

CAP. LVI. Del sacho de Volterra.

CAP. LVII. Dela tornata del Conte a casa, et dela morte dela excellentissima donna sua, Madonna Baptista Sforza.

LIBRO DECIMO QUARTO.

CAP. LVIII. Nel quale se contiene le fabriche et magni hedificii che fea murare el Conte, et inparte la sua uita altempo di pace.

CAP. LIX. Delo istudio del Conte, et dela venuta del Cardinale de Samsixto ad Ogobio.

LIBRO DECIMO QUINTO.

CAP. LX. In questo se contiene l'andata del Conte ha Napoli, et molti honori et dignita quale habbe in quella andata.

CAP. LXI. Et quale tratta como el Conte fu fatto Duca de Urbino, et delo assedio dela cipta de Castello.

CAP. LXII. De varie turbulentie, et precipue de Romagna.

LIBRO DECIMO SESTO.

CAP. XLIII. Nel quale se contiene la venuta delo Re Ferrante a Roma, l'andata del Duca, et la dignita de la Galatera.

CAP. LXIV. Como el Duca receue la Galatea, et de la morte del Duca Galeazo Duca de Milano.

CAP. LXV. Del luoco, et como, el di che fu morto el preditto Duca Galeazo Maria.

CAP. LXVI. Discurso de la dubia uita de Signori et de grani ciptadini.

LIBRO DECIMO SETTIMO.

CAP. LXVII. Nel quale se contiene la tornata del Conte Carlo [Braccio] a Montone, le nouita de Penisia per la sua uenuta, et landata che lui fea contra Senesi.

CAP. LXVIII. Del andare el Conte a campo a Montone, et la expugnatione de esso Montone.

LIBRO DECIMO OCTAVO.

CAP. LXIX. Nel qual se contiene como el Signor Carlo Manfredi fu chaciato de Faenza da el fratello chiamato el Signor Galeotto; la mossa che fece el Conte in suo favore, et como nel tornare adrieto essendo a Sanmarino se ruppe uno piede.

CAP. LXX. Del modo et conmo el Duca se ruppe el piede, et de la grauissima sua egritudine et de la conjuratione contra li Medici in Fiorenza.

CAP. LXXI. De lo insulto contra de Laurentio de Medici, et de la morte del suo fratello Giuliano.

CAP. LXXII. De la destrutione de la casa de Pazzi, et del principio de la guerra de Toscano nel MCCCLXXVIII.

LIBRO DECIMO NONO.

CAP. LXXIII.[323] Nel quale se tratta el primo anno dela guerra di Toscana.

[Footnote 323: This chapter, being omitted in the original numeration, the subsequent five numbers are in advance by _two_.]

CAP. LXXIV. Dela unione che fece insieme el Duca Alfonso Duca di Calabria, el Duca de Urbino.

CAP. LXXV. Delo assedio del Monte Samsavino, et dele dificulta che il Duca ui sostinne.

CAP. LXXVI. Oratione lunga del Duca ali militi al Monte Samsavino.

CAP. LXXVII. Dela preditta oratione.

CAP. LXXVIII. Del astutia che uso el Duca per hauere la triegua al Monte Samsavino.

CAP. LXXIX. Dela proposta del Duca dela triegua ali Signori del Campo, et dela expugnatione del Monte.[324]

[Footnote 324: This chapter being omitted in the original numeration, the subsequent numbers are in advance by _three_ until No. XCVII.]

LIBRO VIGESIMO.

CAP. LXXX. Nel quale se contiene el secondo anno dela guerra de Toscana.

CAP. LXXXI. De diuersi danni de Perusini, et dela morte del Conte Carlo, e altre cose.

CAP. LXXXII. Dela ruina de Casole, luoco de Senesi, et dela uitoria del Signor Roberto ala Magione.

CAP. LXXXIII. De molti danni de Perusini per el Signor Roberto, et l'aquisto per el Duca del Monte Inperiale.

CAP. LXXXIV. De liberarse li Perusini dali danni de Signor Roberto et delo assedio di Colle.

CAP. LXXXV. Del predicto assedio di Colle.

CAP. LXXXVI. Dela battaglia prima data ha Colle.

CAP. LXXXVII. De poi piu baptaglie data ha Colle, et la uictoria hauta di lui.

CAP. LXXXVIII. De l'andata di Lorenzo di Medici a Napoli, et la pace cum Fiorentini del Papa et del Re.

LIBRO VIGESIMO PRIMO.

CAP. LXXXIX. Dela stantia del Duca a Viterbo, et dela dignita del Capello et dela Spada.

CAP. XC. Delo aquisto de Furli per et Conte Geronimo Riario, et prima del andata del Duca.

CAP. XCI. Dela uictoria di Furli, et la possessione de esso per el preditto Conte, et la uenuta de Turchi a Otranto.

CAP. XCII. De la guerra de Turchi in Puglia.

LIBRO VIGESIMO SECONDO.

CAP. XCIII. Nel quale se contiene la guerra de Ferrara per li Venetiani contra del Duca Ercule di Este, et prima dela practica de essa guerra, l'andata del Conte Geronimo a Vinesa.

CAP. XCIV. Dela preditta guerra de Ferara, et landata del Signor Roberto da Santo Seuerino a Vinesa.

CAP. XCV. Dela partita del Duca da Urbino per andare a Milano, e una disputa dela pictura.

CAP. XCVI. Dela ditta guerra de Ferrara, et dello assedio de Figaruolo.

CAP. XCVII.[325] Del preditto assedio de Figaruolo, le turbulentie de Roma, l'andata del Signor Roberto Malatesta.

[Footnote 325: This number being repeated by mistake in the original, the subsequent numbers are in advance by _two_.]

CAP. XCVIII. Del ditto assedio de Figaruolo, e de la morte de Messer Pier deli Ubaldini al bastione dala Punta.

CAP. XCIX. Dela aspre battaglie quale deva el Signor Roberto da Santo Seuerino a Figaruolo.

CAP. C. Como el Signor Roberto da poi molte baptaglie vinse Figaruolo.

LIBRO VIGESIMO TERZO.

CAP. CI. Nel quale se contiene el ponte che fece el Signore Roberto per passare el Po, la rotta del Duca di Callabria a Campomorto.

CAP. CII. Como se parti da Castello le gente Feltresche, et andaro a Furli.

CAP. CIII. Dela egritudine del Duca, et la uenuta sua in Ferrara.

CAP. CIV. Dela morte del Duca, et del Signore Roberto Malatesta.

APPENDIX IV

(Page 138)

EPITAPH OF GIOVANNI DELLA ROVERE

The inscription upon the humble headstone of the sovereigns of Sinigaglia in the nave of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, runs thus:--

D.O.M.

JOHANNES DE RUVERE,

Senogalliæ vetustissimæ civitatis Dominus, Almæ urbis Prefectus, Sori Arcanæque Dux, exercituum Sixti Quarti, Innocentii Octavi, summus Imperator, Maximorum Pontificium Sixti nepos, Julii Secundi frater, cum uxore suâ Joannâ Monfeltriâ, Federici Urbini Ducis filiâ, præstantioribus Et nobilioribus feminis, adversis Secundisque rebus, conferendâ et Preferendâ, magnum hoc templum Affundamentis erexit; et multis Egregiis tam bello quam pace actis, Procaci abreptus morte, Anno Domini MDI., Ætatisque suæ quadragesimo quarto, Hic tumulatur.

APPENDIX V

(Page 348)

REMISSION AND REHABILITATION OF DUKE FRANCESCO MARIA I. IN 1511-13.

Having no wish to overload these pages with a papal bull, either in its barbarous Latinity or in a crabbed translation, we shall content ourselves with abbreviating the formal record of the investigation and sentence of absolution, dated the 9th of December, 1511, by which the Duke of Urbino was acquitted of the slaughter of the Cardinal of Pavia. Julius, in that document, sets forth that, after reducing Bologna to obedience of the Church, he placed over it the Cardinal as legate, who ungratefully betrayed his duty to the Pope and the Church by secretly plotting for restoration of the Bentivoglii, and for defeat of the army under command of the Duke, as well as by withdrawing to Ravenna on pretext of terror, but in fact to conceal his treason. That having, by these and many other enormities, incurred the guilt of treason and lèse-majesty, he was slain by Francesco Maria; and that, on a complaint of this outrage being preferred, his Holiness, judging from the first aspect of the affair that this crime against the dignity of the purple afforded so pernicious an example, and such general horror and scandal abroad, as to require an impartial inquiry, had remitted it to six cardinals, in order to make sifting inquest into the matter, receiving secret oral testimony, without reference to the ties of blood, but with ample powers, judicial and extra-judicial, to carry out the process to its conclusion, and to pronounce sentence therein. And the apostolic procurator-fiscal having appeared to support the charges, required the Duke's committal to prison ere he should be allowed to plead, in order to secure the due course of justice against any elusory proceedings; whereupon he was put under arrest in his own house, and bound over to appear in the sum of 100,000 golden ducats. Thereafter, the judges having taken evidence and published it, the Pope advocated the cause and pronounced an acquittal, which the Duke refused to accept, insisting that the prosecution should take its course, and returning under arrest until it should do so. This having been proceeded with, the cardinals gave sentence, acquitting him "of the said charge of homicide, and the punishment it legally inferred," and debarring all future action thereanent at the public prosecutor's instance. Whereupon Julius embodied this narrative in a bull subscribed by eighteen cardinals, and formally guaranteed by the amplest authority, as a protection to Francesco Maria against any future question affecting his tranquillity and status.[326]

[Footnote 326: The notorial transumpt of this bull, verified in 1516 by three notaries in presence of the municipality of Urbino, is preserved in the Archivio Diplomatico at Florence, and the preceding abridgment was made from an authenticated extract obtained by me there in 1845. In the same archives there is another formal acquittal to the like purpose, which it is needless to quote.]

The remission of the Duke's subsequent misconduct was contained in a papal brief of the 10th of January, 1513, addressed to himself, wherein it was stated that he had been accused by many of maintaining intelligence with the King of France before the battle of Ravenna, and of other intrigues against the Roman Government, as well as of various crimes, including slaughter of cardinals and lèse-majesty, and that he had in consequence been deprived of his dukedom and dignities; but that having experienced his zeal and good faith in the like matters, the Pontiff could not persuade himself of his guilt, for which reason he, _ex motu proprio_, granted to him and his adherents plenary remission from all spiritual and temporal censures and sentences incurred therein, and restored him to all his honours and dignities. The entire wording of this document, the original of which is preserved along with the bull just quoted, shows a studious exactitude and elaboration of terms, so as to guard it against future question; but, considering its importance with reference to the prosecution subsequently mooted against the Duke by Leo X., it may be well here to give the _ipsissima verba_ of the remission clauses. The brief is addressed, but has no counter-signature; a transumpt of it in the same archive has the name "Baldassar Tuerdus" as a counter-signature.

"Motu proprio, et ex certâ nostrâ scientiâ ac maturâ deliberatione, et apostolice potestatis plenitudine, apostolicâ auctoritate, tenore presentium, tibi et illis plenarie remittimus pariter et indulgemus, teque ac illos, et illorum singulos, ab omnibus sententiis censuris et penis quibuslibet, spiritualibus et temporalibus, a jure vel ab homine quomodolibet promulgatis, auctoritate scientiâ et potestate predictis, absolvimus et liberamus, ac te tuosque filios, natos et nascituros ac heredes quoscunque, ad Vicariatum, Ducatum, Comitatus, teque ac subditos, adherentes, complices ac sequaces, ac singulorum eorundem heredes, ad feuda, dominia, honores et dignitates, offitia, privelegia, bona ac jura, ac ad actus legitimos, quibus forsan premissorum, et aliâ quâcunque occasione, etiam de necessitate experimendâ privati, censeri possetis, auctoritate scientiâ et potestate premissis restituimus, et etiam reintegramus, et ad eundem statum reducimus et reponimus, in quo tu et illi eratis ante tempus quo premissa commisissetis; districtius inhibentes quibuscunque officialibus nostris, et dicte Ecclesie, qui sunt et pro tempore erunt, ne contra te et subditos, adherentes, complices et sequaces, aut aliquem vestrum, occasione hujusmodi criminum possint procedere, aut occasione premissorum te vel illos, aut aliquem eorum, molestare quoquo modo presumant; ac decernentes ex nunc irritum et inane quicquid ac quoscunque processus et sententias, quos seu quas contra inhibitionem nostram hujusmodi haberi contigerit, seu etiam promulgari."

APPENDIX VI

(Page 392)

LETTER FROM CARDINAL WOLSEY TO LORENZO DE' MEDICI

The following letter has been lately printed by the Marchese Caponi, in the _Archivio Storico Italiano_, vol. I., p. 472, from the original in his possession:--

To the most illustrious and most excellent Prince our Lord Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, dear to us as a brother.

Most illustrious and most excellent Lord Duke, dear to us as a brother,

The Signor Adriano, your Excellency's servant, has delivered your most courteous and kind letters addressed to us, on eagerly perusing which we recognised with great satisfaction your Excellency's friendly dispositions in our behalf. We have in consequence received the said Signor Adriano with the greatest possible civility, and have freely offered and promised him our every favour and support in all places and circumstances. Having learned that your Excellency takes no small pleasure in dogs, we now send you by your said servant some blood-hounds [_odorissequos_], and also several stag-hounds of uncommon fleetness, and of singular strength in pulling down their game. And we farther specially beg of you to let us know if there be anything else in this famed kingdom that you would wish; and should you in future boldly make use in your affairs of my assistance, good-will, and influence, such as it is, whether with his Majesty my sovereign, who is most favourably disposed towards you, or with any other person whatsoever, you will find me willing and ready to oblige you. May you be preserved in happiness. From our palace in London, the 28th of June, 1518.

As your Excellency's brother,

T. CARDINAL OF YORK.

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

GENEALOGICAL TABLES

[Transcriber's Note: In the original genealogical tables, natural children are denoted by a wavy line, here represented by the ! symbol.]

DESCENT OF THE DELLA ROVERE DUKES OF URBINO.

LUDOVICO LEONARDO = LUCHINA STELLA MUGLIONE. DELLA ROVERE. | | _____________|________________________________________________ | | | | FRANCESCO DELLA ROVERE, RAFFAELE = TEODORA ---- = GIOVANNI JOLANDA | GIROLAMO POPE SIXTUS IV., | MENEROLA. | BASSO, RIARIO. b. 1414, d. 1484. | | d. 1483. | | _______________________________| | | | | __________________________________________|________ | | | | | | 1476. | GIROLAMO, FRANCESCO, BARTOLOMEO. GUGLIELMO, ANTONIO = CATERINA | Cardinal, of Prior of d. 1482. MARCIANA, | S. Chrisogono, Pisa. niece of | d. 1507. Ferdinand | of Naples. |_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | 1474. | BARTOLOMEO, GIULIANO DELLA ROVERE, LEONARDO, Duke = GIOVANNA, GIOVANNI, Prefect = GIOVANNA DI GABRIELE GARA = LUCHINA = G. FRANCESCO Patriarch POPE JULIUS II., of Sora, | nat. daughter of Rome, Lord of | MONTEFELTRO, DELLA ROVERE. | | FRANCIOTTI, of Antioch. b. 1453, d. 1513. Prefect of | of Ferdinand Sinigaglia, | of Urbino, | | DELLA ROVERE, ! Rome, d. 1475. | of Naples, b. 1458, d. 1501. | d. 1514. | | of Lucca. ! | Duchess of | | | ! | Sora. | | | ! | | | | ! S.P. | | | __________________! _____________________________________________________________| | | ! | | | ! | _____________________________________________________________________________________| | ! | | | | | ! | RAFFAELE. SISTO, Cardinal GERAUD | SISTA = GALEAZZO _______________________________________| ! | of S. Pietro D'ANCEZUN, RIARIO. | | | ! | in Vincula, d. 1503. | | | ! | d. 1577. GALEOTTO, Cardinal NICOLÒ = ---- LUCREZIA = MARCANTONIO ! |______________________________________________________ of S. Pietro in | COLONNA. ! | Vincula. | !_______________________________________________________________________ | | | 1 2 | | | | ___________________| RAFFAELE, = NICOLOSA = ANTONIO FELICE = GIAN-GIORDANO GIULIA. CLARICE. | | | 1541. d. 1502. FOGLIANO, DELLA ROVERE. ORSINI, of | GUIDO. LAVINIA = PAOLO ORSINI. of Fermo. Bracciano. | _____________________________________________________________________________|__________________ | | 1509. 1497. | 2 | | FEDERIGO, FRANCESCO MARIA I., = LEONORA IPPOLITA, VENANZIO = MARIA = GALEAZZO COSTANZA, DEODATA. died young. DUKE OF URBINO, | d. of Francesco VARANA, R. SFORZA. d. 1507. b. 1490, d. 1538. | Marquis of Mantua, d. 1503. | d. 1543. | _____________________________|_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | 1534. | 1548. | 1547. | 1548. | 1552. | FEDERIGO, GIULIA VARANA, = GUIDOBALDO II. = VITTORIA FARNESE, IPPOLITA = DON ANTONIO GIULIA = ALFONSO D'ESTE, ELISABETTA, = ALBERICO CIBÒ, GIULIO, Cardinal died young. d. of Giovanni | DUKE OF URBINO, | d. of Pier-Luigi, D'ARAGONA § Marq. of d. 1561. § Marquis of Archbishop of Maria, Duke of | b. 1514, | Duke of Parma, DI MONTALTO. Montecchio, of Massa. Urbino, 1533, Camerino, | d. 1574. | d. 1602. whom the Dukes d. 1578. b. 1523, | ! | of Modena. ! d. 1547. | ! |_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ! | !____________________ | | | !______________ _________________________| ! | | | ! | 1560. | ! 1570. | 1599. | 1565. | 1583. ! A son. COUNT FEDERIGO = VIRGINIA = FERDINANDO ORSINI, ! LUCREZIA D'ESTE, = FRANCESCO MARIA II., = LIVIA DELLA ROVERE, ISABELLA = BERN. DI S. LAVINIA = ALFONSO ! BORROMEO, S.P. Duke of Gravina. ! d. of Ercole II., | DUKE OF URBINO, | d. of Marquis of S. SEVERINO, d. 1632. D'AVALOS, ! brother of ! Duke of Ferrara, | b. 1549 + 1631. | Lorenzo, b. 1585. Prince of Marq. of ! S. Carlo. ! b. 1536, | | Basignano. Pescara. ! ! d. 1598. S.P. | ! _________________________________________________! | _________________________________________! | | | | | | { 1. COUNT ANTONIO A daughter = SIGNOR GUIDOBALDO | IPPOLITO, Marq. = ISABELLA VITELLI GIULIANO, A daughter = { LANDRIANO. RENIER. | of S. Lorenzo. | DELL'AMATRICE. Abbot of { 2. SIGNOR P. ANTONIO | | S. Lorenzo. { DA LUNA. | ______________________________|__________ | | | 1599. | _______________________________________________| GIULIO. LIVIA, = FRANCESCO MARIA II., LUCREZIA = MARCANTONIO, | 1621. b. 1585. DUKE OF URBINO. Marq. Lante. FEDERIGO-UBALDO, = CLAUDIA DE' MEDICI, = ARCHDUKE LEOPOLD b. 1605, d. 1623. | b. 1606, d. of of Austria. | Ferdinand I., | Grand Duke of | of Florence. | | 1637. VITTORIA, = FERDINAND II., Grand b. 1622, § Duke of Florence, d. 1694. b. 1630, d. 1670.

DESCENT OF THE MEDICI, as connected with URBINO.

_From Les Généaologies Souveraines._

GIOVANNI DE' MEDICI 5th from Lippo de' M. of Florence who d. 1258, d. 1428. | _____|_____________________ | | COSIMO DE' M., = CONTESINA LORENZO DE' M., = GINEVRA _Pater Patriæ_, | DE' BARDI. d. 1440. | CAVALCANTI. d. 1464. | | | | PIETRO DE' M., = LUCREZIA PIER-FRANCESCO = LAUDAMIA d. 1472. | TORNABONI. DE' M., | ACCIAJOLI. | d. 1477. |__________________________________________________ ______________________|__________________________ | | | | | LORENZO DE' M., = CLARICE BIANCA = GUGLIELMO GIULIANO | _the Magnificent_, | ORSINI. DE' PAZZI. DE' M., | d. 1492. | d. 1478. | | ! | | GIULIO DE' M., | | CLEMENT VII., | | d. 1535. | _______________|_____________________________________________________________ | | | | | | PIETRO DE' M., = ALFONSINA GIOVANNI DE' M., GIULIANO DE' M., = FILIBERTA, MADDALENA = FRANCESCO CIBÒ, | d. 1504. | ORSINI. LEO X., d. 1521. _the Magnificent_, of Savoy. Count of | | Duke de Nemours, Anguillara. | | d. 1516. | LORENZO DE' M., = MADELEINE ! _________________________________________| Duke of Urbino, | DE LA TOUR. ! | d. 1519. | IPPOLITO DE' M., | ! | Cardinal, | ! | d. 1535. | ! | | ! CATERINA DE' M., = HENRY II. | ! d. 1589. of France. | ! | ALESSANDRO DE' M., = MARGARETTA OF AUSTRIA, | Duke of Florence, bastard of Charles V. | d. 1537. | ____________________________________________________________| | GIOVANNI GIORDANO = CATERINA RIARIO SFORZA, DE' M. | of Imola. | GIOVANNI DE' M., = MARIA SALVIATI. _delle bande nere_, | d. 1526. | | COSIMO I. DE' M., = ELEONORA DI TOLEDO. GRAND DUKE | OF FLORENCE, | d. 1574. | | _____________________|_____________ | | JOANNA, of = FRANCESCO MARIA DE' M., = BIANCA FERDINAND II. DE' M., = CHRISTINE Austria. GRAND DUKE OF FLORENCE, CAPELLO. GRAND DUKE OF FLORENCE, | DE LORAINE. d. 1587. d. 1608. | _______________________________________________________________| | 1 | 2 COSIMO II. DE' M., = MARIA MADDALENA, FEDERIGO, Prince = CLAUDIA = ARCHDUKE LEOPOLD, GRAND DUKE OF of Austria. of Urbino, | of Austria. FLORENCE, d. 1621. d. 1623. | | FERDINAND II. DE' MEDICI, = VITTORIA DELLA ROVERE, GRAND DUKE OF FLORENCE, § Princess of Urbino. d. 1670.

DESCENT OF THE COLONNA, as connected with URBINO.

AGAPITO, eleventh in descent = CATERINA CONTI. from Pietro Colonna, | who lived in 1100. | ____________________|_________ | | ODDO, elected MARTIN V. LORENZO ONOFRIO = SUEVA GAETANI in 1407, d. 1431. | DA FONDI. ____________________________________________|_________________ | | | ODOARDO, Duke = FILIPPA CONTI. ANTONIO, Duke of = IMPERIALE CATERINA = GUIDANTONIO, of Marsi. | Paliano, d. 1471. | COLONNA. d. 1438. § Count of | | Urbino. __________|______ | | | | LORENZO ODDONE, FABRIZIO, Grand = AGNESE DI | d. 1484. Constable of | MONTEFELTRO, | | Naples, d. 1520. | d. 1522. | | ! | | MUZIO, ! | | d. 1516. SCIARRA. | | | | ______________________________| |_______ | | | ASCANIO, Grand = GIOVANNA VITTORIA, = FERDINANDO, | Constable of § D'ARAGONA, b. 1490, Fr. Marquis | Naples, claimant natural d. 1548. of Pescara, | of Urbino, branch of d. 1525. | d. 1557. the Crown | of Naples. | ______________________________________________________| | | | | GIROLAMO = VITTORIA CARDINAL PIER = BERNARDINA PROSPERO, | CONTI. GIOVANNI, ANTONIO. | CONTI. d. 1523. | d. 1508. |____ _____|_________________________ | | | | | | CARDINAL OTTAVIANO. MARCELLO. GIULIO. MARC ANTONIO = LUCREZIA POMPEO, | | GARA DELLA d. 1532. | | ROVERE. | | MARZIO, OTTAVIA = SIGISMONDO d. 1546. VARANA, d. 1522.