CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VI.LORENZO DE’ MEDICI IN NAPLES. PEACE WITH THE KING AND WITH THE POPE.Onthe evening of December 10 two Neapolitan galleys arrived at the little port of Vada, not far from the mouth of the Cecina in the Pisan Maremma, having on board Gian Tommaso Caraffa, son of the Count of Maddaloni, chief counsellor of the king, and Prinzivalle di Gennaro, the confidant of the Duke of Calabria. On the following morning Lorenzo entered Vada. ‘Pray God,’ he had written from Pisa to the Ferrarese ambassador,[300]‘I may journey there and back in safety, and my purpose may be attained.’ On the afternoon of the 18th, a Saturday, the galleys ran into the port of Naples. Informed of his approaching arrival, the king not only sent vessels to meet and welcome him, but his son Federigo and Ferrandino, Prince of Capua, were on the landing-place to receive him. A great crowd had assembled to see the man whose name had long been in the mouths of all. The house of Pasquale Diaz Garloni, Count of Alife, opposite the Castelnuovo, the usual residence of the king, was destined for the guest.[301]The reception was honourable, and the first meeting with the king very cordial.[302]Ferrante could not shake off the impression which Lorenzo made on him personally. It must have been clear to him that if hemade it up with this man who exhibited in his youth so much shrewdness and skill, and such great political sagacity, he could rely directly on the Republic; and, while securing Lorenzo’s authority at home by peace and by alliance, he would be strengthening and establishing his own influence on Italian affairs. Thus far it must have been easy for Lorenzo to persuade the king, who was not expected to give the preference to a popular form of government. But a number of the most varied considerations had to be weighed by Ferrante. He had to consider the Pope, of whom he was not fond, and whom, remembering the position of the Holy See at Naples, he did not trust, but whom he neither dared nor wished to offend on account of this very position. The Venetians had to be considered; they were dangerous neighbours for him as well as the Pope, on account of their constant endeavours to extend their dominion on the Adriatic coasts; while a good understanding with them was all the more uncertain because their policy was mostly determined by conjunctures which were foreign to the relations of the other Italian States. Siena, too, must not be overlooked, which the king and his son had their eye upon; nor Milan, where a change was in progress the extent of which could not be appreciated. All this, combined with the traditions of the policy of the times—namely the policy of a ruler surrounded by foreign and domestic difficulties from the beginning of his reign—must have caused Ferrante to hesitate long. Besides, it cannot be doubted that he wished to see what turn Florentine affairs would take in Lorenzo’s absence.From various causes things were still unsettled in Florence. Lorenzo’s determination and sudden journey had not made the same impression on all the allies. Lodovico il Moro had assisted in it, and the Venetians were taken by surprise. They expressed their distrust and vexation in plain language. The Venetians, relates Francesco Guicciardini,[303]persuadedthemselves that peace had been concluded between Naples and Florence; that Lorenzo had only gone thither for the ratification of peace, and that they were left at their enemies’ discretion. But in order to hinder the treaty in case it were not yet concluded, or, in other words, to secure themselves, it seemed necessary for them to be as well armed as possible. They recalled their troops from Tuscany, but at the same time offered to Milan and Florence a renewal of the compact hitherto existing. The news had spread as far as Rome and elsewhere that this alliance had been dissolved on account of non-fulfilment of the conditions, so that it seemed necessary to renew it formally. In order not to render the negotiations with Naples more difficult, the offer was declined in Florence. When the Venetians offered the command of their troops to Roberto Malatesta—who would have been unable to accept it without the consent of Florence—permission was granted him by the latter, though unwillingly, in order not to offend Venice. ‘The ambassadors of our allies,’ wrote Bartolommeo Scala, on January 4, 1480, to Lorenzo,[304]‘give us trouble enough. They have become suspicious, but I do not believe they are agreed among themselves. They besiege us daily, officially and privately, in order to obtain news. It will not be easy to come to an understanding, especially with the Venetians; but we must keep to that which was given to you at your departure. The affair has its difficulties, and it will be best to conclude it with your aid. Now when you are far away, we, like the fools we are, have learnt to know you better.’ The Venetian ambassador in France expressed the same anxiety that in the new alliance which Lorenzo was endeavouring to effect at Naples, Venice would not only be excluded, but would have to suffer herself.[305]That the most varied tendencies were manifested at homewas but natural. Not only the ancient opponents of the Medici raised their heads but even a few of their own party showed themselves lukewarm or disaffected. The heavy losses made the game easy for the former. It was said to be time to change a system which had lasted so long, and united all political power in the hands of a comparatively small number of families. Offices as well as burdens should for the future be no longer dispensed at the will of these few, but be granted and distributed by the old councils. The uncertainty of Lorenzo’s fate gave this party courage, while it made many of his adherents inclined to come to terms with them by a compromise. It seems, indeed, that they thought of choosing Girolamo Morelli, the former ambassador in Milan, as a new leader. The friends of the Medici thought they had gained much if they prevented a change till Lorenzo’s return. Piero Guicciardini, the historian’s father, was one of those most active in his behalf. The unfavourable position of foreign affairs had been rendered still worse at the moment of his departure. Without regarding the armistice still existing, Lodovico and Agostino Fregoso had by acoup-de-mainseized upon Sarzana, which had been only eleven years in the possession of Florence. When the Republic complained to the leaders of the Neapolitan and Papal army, these expressed themselves angry at the breach of peace by the Genoese, and commanded them to leave the city. But they were not expelled; and the Florentines suspected, certainly not without ground, that the Duke of Calabria had had a hand in the game, in order to increase, for his advantage, the number of claims in the forthcoming treaties of peace. The military situation was likewise much injured by the departure of the Venetians, and the exhaustion and disunion of the Florentines gave no prospect of improvement.[306]The connection with the lords of Romagna was also uncertain.As may easily be understood, the latter followed the negotiations of the Florentines with their former enemies with the greatest anxiety, for their very existence depended on the result. This was particularly the case with Galeotto Manfredi. After the defeat at Poggio Imperiale Costanzo Sforza had marched to Romagna with as many men as could be spared, in order to protect his own territories and those of the Malatesta and Manfredi from an attack which was most to be dreaded by the latter if it came from Imola. But the precaution was not sufficient to pacify Galeotto. On the other side the Florentines could not submit to the capture of their best general Roberto Malatesta, so they ordered an ambassador and 200 men to Faenza in order to protect its master. Gismondo Manfredi, Taddeo’s son, remained in the service of the Republic, and also Antoniello Ordelaffi, Cecco’s son, the rightful heir to Forli, which was withheld from him by his uncle Pino, whom the Pope favoured. Costanzo Sforza felt safer than the other petty lords on account of the Milanese relationship; but a real mutual confidence was not to be thought of, even here.[307]While affairs were in this state in Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici was occupied with troubles of another kind.His appearance in Naples was exceedingly distasteful to the Pope. From the first Sixtus had perceived the king’s inclination to agree to favourable terms, the final result of which he easily foresaw. But, if powerless to prevent an understanding, he would at least have a personal share in it, and insisted that Lorenzo should come to Rome. However, the latter showed no inclination to take the journey, and was strengthened in his objection by Ferrante.[308]Lorenzo Giustini, who had been deputed to Naples by the Pope, left no argument unused to persuade him. When all this resulted innothing, and the treaty between the king and Florence seemed to take a favourable course, Sixtus IV. despatched a special plenipotentiary Antonio Crivelli. The detailed instructions given to this man put the whole course of affairs and the relations of the Pope and king in the clearest light. ‘After the events in Florence had taken a course so displeasing to the Church,’ says the Pope in this remarkable document,[309]‘we held it best to hear the king’s opinion of the imprisonment of the cardinal and other things; and, as his Majesty by several writings not only agreed with us, but called upon and encouraged us to take up arms, with the offer and promise to make every exertion and put his son’s and his own life at stake, in order to avenge this insult shown to the Holy See, it was unanimously determined to begin the war against Lorenzo and his adherents as the stumbling-block and disturber of the peace of Italy. At the same time the freedom of Florence must be restored, to which we and the king’s Majesty have pledged ourselves by autograph and other documentary writings, being moved thereto by Lorenzo’s evil proceedings and the disturbances caused by him in Italy. Lorenzo likewise has endeavoured to sow dissension between us and the king, and to dissolve the alliance in favour of one drawn up by himself.’After the Pope had remarked that the ingratitude of Lorenzo was all the greater because he had won treasure by means of the Holy See, he expatiated on the course of the war, which was only begun when spiritual weapons availed nothing, on the attempts of foreign powers to terminate the strife with due respect to the Holy See and the king, and the great advantages obtained in 1479. When peaceful overtures were made by Milan, the king declined them. At the time it had been remarked by several cardinals that he only did this in order to transfer the negotiations to Naples, and be able toascribe all the merit to himself, and likewise to negotiate with Lorenzo without any regard to the Holy See, as at present was actually the case, according to the report of the royal ambassador. While the Pope was led to believe that the king agreed with him in views and treatment of affairs, the latter had let a number of other considerations influence him. They had decided to insist upon Lorenzo’s banishment from Florence; and then came the king’s doubt as to whether it would be possible to attain this, and whether there was not danger of his returning like his grandfather Cosimo. Little as the Pope believed in the validity of the reasons urged, as he thought that the principal end of the undertaking was overlooked, and that Lorenzo, having shown himself to be so bad when they were doing him good, would be found still worse now that he was irritated, he had yet persuaded himself to agree to a reconciliation with Lorenzo as the king wished, if the conditions demanded by him through his ambassador could be obtained, while, if this did not happen, the war should be continued. The king had commanded the captains of his army to continue operations although they thought of pacification, and on the showing of the Duke of Calabria the prospect of reconciliation offered by the enemy diminished the prospect of success. He had answered that by negotiation he would neither tie his own hands nor those of the army. Even then the Pope had complied with the king’s wishes, although his son’s opinion had seemed to him correct.‘Scarcely had this occurred,’ continued Sixtus, ‘than the armistice followed, which filled us with surprise and displeasure, and confirmed us in the suspicion awakened. Therefore we refused decidedly to acknowledge it, and only yielded to the ambassador’s urgency, and because we perceived that we could not continue the war alone; under the express stipulation, however, that, if the conditions of peace should suffer thereby, we should never pardon the king for it. We made a virtue of necessity, but to our serious displeasure,for we saw how we missed the victory while we were deprived of the satisfaction of liberating Florence from these tyrants, and restoring freedom and quiet to her and peace to all Italy. The hope still remained to us that as the king had turned us whither he wished, he would at least conclude peace on the conditions mentioned, and would have some regard to the honour of God, the Church, and himself. Lorenzo went to Naples. The king announced to us he knew nothing of his movements, but in spite of all, if Lorenzo should refuse to accept the stipulations agreed upon, he would dismiss him. In a case of this kind we must stake the tiara and the whole States of the Church, and his Majesty would venture the crown and ten kingdoms, if he had them, to effect Lorenzo’s expulsion and complete ruin.’ The Pope had demanded that Lorenzo should come to Rome and beg for forgiveness, and that the lords of Romagna, who were guilty of rebellion, should do the same. Lorenzo so decidedly declined the former, that the king requested the Pope to withdraw this demand. He, Sixtus, refused this, however, for it was a point which the king disregarded—the only satisfaction he would receive in the whole affair. Respecting the lords of Romagna, the king desired that time might be afforded to them to fulfil their obligations, if the Pope would not leave it to the king to arrange the matter with them. Both conditions were refused, as also the proposal to send ambassadors to Milan at the same time as the king, to settle the other conditions of peace. The Pope had repeatedly shown that the king had it in his power to terminate the matter by force of arms if he fulfilled the conditions of alliance; and as Lorenzo was in his power, and would yield to him whether willing or not, he might also be induced to negotiate. Instead, however, of breaking with Lorenzo as he had hinted he should in case the latter refused to accept the conditions offered him, he treated him more kindly every day he was in Naples. The Pope wished for peace. In order to attain this peace he had begun the war, which had alreadycost him a heap of money. But he would purchase no peace with his dishonour.The position of affairs is rendered quite clear by these instructions. Ferrante was inclined to come to terms with Lorenzo, but the Pope’s representations could not fail to make some impression on him. Lorenzo did not conceal this from himself, though he appeared content and cheerful before others, but when alone he had many heavy and anxious hours. His letters to the Ten prove this, by the manner in which he describes the rising and falling of his hopes. The affairs of Romagna increased the difficulties considerably; for if Ferrante believed that he had freedom to act in regard to Florentine affairs, inasmuch as he had not to pay attention to Siena, he found himself tied here towards the Pope. Florence did not cease to urge including the dynasties of Romagna in the peace. ‘The lords of Romagna who are in our pay,’ wrote Agnolo della Stufa on January 4, 1480,[310]‘are warmly commended to you for our own honour’s sake. For if they are left to the will of the Pope, I consider them as lost, for I know how the priests act. No one will believe in our protection any more. If the king, as I hope, receives us as his devoted sons, he must be also careful to preserve us this reputation as long as he can.’ No less skill was needful to continue the negotiation, as the Duke of Calabria, who speculated on the weakness of the Florentines, was exceedingly disinclined towards it. Perhaps Lorenzo’s aim would not have been attained had he not won over the most distinguished counsellor of the king, Diomede Carafa, Count of Maddaloni, son of that Malizia Carafa who had been so active in the cause of King Alfonso of Aragon. In the endless street which the people had named Spacca-Napoli, near the Dominican convent, is the palace where he resided—a building of architectural value. In the court of this house, once adorned with the colossal antique horse’s head, the arms of the city, King Ferrante had on one occasion stoodwaiting for the faithful servant who was to accompany him. Diomede Carafa was a man of distinction. He had served under King Alfonso, aided in the conquest of Naples, and penetrated within a few miles of the capital in the Florentine war of 1452. As superintendent of finance he had great influence on the administration—an influence which brought him into violent opposition to the king’s private secretary, a quarrel the fatal ending of which cast a dark shadow on the later period of Ferrante’s reign. With the king and his children, especially the second son Don Federigo, he stood in the most intimate connection. He shared Lorenzo de’ Medici’s interest in literature and art; and, if he was far from rivalling him in his high literary gifts, he showed in several smaller works of a didactic kind, in books on war and courtlife, in the rules of behaviour for the king’s daughters Beatrice and Eleonora, a practical understanding, knowledge of business, and experience of the world that was very rare.The Count of Maddaloni was not the only one whom Lorenzo gained over to his interest. Naples at that time was a city full of busy life and varied culture, which had been promoted first by King Alfonso and then by his sons, in which Lorenzo must have felt himself all the more at home as the literary connections with his native city were various, and many of the artistic circle which had been so intimate with his family for three generations, beginning with Donatello, had laboured here, while the Florentine banking-houses had the greater part of the money matters of the Neapolitans in their own hands. From the royal family, members of which had repeatedly been his guests, to the citizens and country people, increasing affection was shown him, as Pope Sixtus had said. The Duchess of Calabria, remembering old friendship, became, as the king expressed it, his fellow-ally, and reminded him in later years of their wanderings at the villa—probably that near the Riviera di Chiaja of the present day—between the banks and the heights of Vomero, then with a free prospect over sea and shore,which is now changed into the Ferrandina palace with the adjoining gardens and buildings. ‘The present letter will not be one of those which refer to alliance and State affairs, but will merely bring to your remembrance that we always think of you, although we are by no means certain that you often think of our garden, which is now most beautiful and in full bloom.’[311]The century was not wanting in highly-cultivated women, but Ippolita Maria, who excelled so many in grace, also exceeded the ladies of her time in literary knowledge; and as her familiarity with Cicero’s writings was praised, so did she also shine in her knowledge of Greek, in which Constantinos Lascaris had been her teacher. Her learning did not diminish her womanly charm.[312]Lorenzo lived in Naplesen grand seigneur, spared no expense, gave banquets and made presents, and dowered poor girls who came to him from the provinces. He purchased the freedom of a hundred galley-slaves, and gave them new clothes.[313]But that he urgently wished to attain his purpose and be able to return home may be well understood, for the ground under him was not safe either here or there. When the king presented him with a beautiful horse, he remarked, in thanking him, that the man who would be the bearer of good news needed indeed a swift steed.At length the main conditions of the treaty were agreed upon, and without having come to a formal conclusion Lorenzo deemed it possible to quit Naples, and to leave further steps to the Republic. At the end of February he departed by sea as he had arrived. Three months had passed, a time full of doubts and fears, but crowned with success. ‘He landed,’ says Niccolò Valori, ‘in Livorno, from whence he went to Pisa. In the harbour and town he was received with such a manifestation of joy, with such signs of attachmentand shouts of applause from the whole population, that the place itself seemed to join in the rejoicing. But it is impossible to describe how he was received at his entry into Florence. Young and old, men and women, flocked together. The people and the nobles rejoiced together to see him return safely. To all he gave his hand kindly and gratefully. The people embraced each other for joy.’ But a reaction soon set in. On the evening of March 17 a compact was published, which had been concluded on the 13th at Naples by Agostino Biliotti and Niccolò Michelozzi in the name of the Republic.[314]They had made peace; but the conditions were not easy, and the suspicion arose among the people that the most oppressive articles were kept secret. If all the circumstances are considered, however, the conditions were supportable. The Florentines had been conquered, and from whatever point of view the cause of the war might be judged, the fact of defeat could not be denied.On March 25, 1480, the feast of the Annunciation, peace and alliance were formally proclaimed throughout Florence, and a grand procession took place headed by the statue from Sta. Maria dell’Impruneta, which was brought into the city for the purpose. The two opponents bound themselves mutually to defend their states; the occupied places should be restored to the Florentines, but at the king’s own time, and with the exception of Castellina and a part of the Chianti, which was to be given to Siena. The Duke of Calabria was to be paid a salary under the name ofcondotta. The Pazzi imprisoned in the tower of Volterra were to be restored to freedom. The lords of Romagna were not included in the treaty of peace but the king pledged himself to preserve their interests. Lorenzo had exerted himself in vain in this respect. Ferrante out of regard for the Pope was not to be moved. The dynasties, with the exception of the Ordelaffi, had not to complain later, as we shallsee. Efforts on behalf of the Chianti had likewise been fruitless. Lorenzo endeavoured to show how advantageously it would affect the future connections of the Republic with the king if their territory remained undiminished.[315]It offended the Florentines most of all that they did not even receive a promise respecting Sarzana, the restitution of which they had tried to obtain during the negotiations, in order to diminish the number of claims of compensation from their opponents. The demand of payment to Girolamo Riario which had been threatened them, and would indeed have been an insult, was allowed to remain in abeyance. ‘The conditions,’ remarks Francesco Guicciardini, ‘were not unfavourable to the vanquished.’ But the populace in Florence were not of the same opinion. That they were not satisfied with the demeanour of Lodovico Sforza and his influence on the negotiation is shown by a letter of the Duke of Ferrara to his ambassador, wherein he requires him to represent to Lorenzo that he would do well to go as much as possible hand in hand with Milan, even if some things in the compact were displeasing. He was not to forget that Florence and Milan were two states whose interests coincided, and whose true union would be useful to both, as it had been before.[316]At Rome and Milan the compact was made known on the same day as at Florence. In the presence of the Pope and his cardinals, Ambrogio Cerano, general of the Augustinians, announced peace[317]from the pulpit in Sta. Maria del Popolo, where the Papal service took place on the feast of the Annunciation.The position with regard to Sixtus IV. remained, however, as uncertain as before. Scarcely had Lorenzo left Naples when the king received through Lorenzo Giustini, new proposalsof agreement which appeared to him of sufficient importance to justify his sending after Medici, and requesting him to return from Gaeta or Pisa in order to effect an agreement with Sixtus. The latter, so wrote the king, had displayed the greatest readiness to agree to the proposals made by Florence and Milan; and as Girolamo Riario had expressed himself in like manner, Lorenzo’s return appeared to him highly desirable to bring the matter to a conclusion, all the more so as the Pope had regarded his departure as a sign of ill-will. He, the king, had indeed answered that this departure had been caused by affairs at Florence; but he advised him to announce at home that bad weather had hindered him on the way, and as, meanwhile, the Papal decision had arrived, he had considered it necessary to return in order not to delay the complete conclusion of the affair. In this manner he would render the League and Milan a real service, put an end to the Pope’s suspicion, recover his affection, and promote the king’s interests also. The negotiation could then proceed without delay on the part of the Milanese ambassadors, who had a time of departure appointed them, and he would return with the fame of having completed his work.[318]In this suggestion a cunning intention has sometimes been suspected, as if the king, enticed by the new proposals of the Pope, had repented his compact with Lorenzo, and tried to get the latter into his power again in order to dictate his will to him. Ferrante’s whole subsequent behaviour affords no ground for such a suspicion. But that Lorenzo did not accede to the king’s wishes is explained sufficiently by the painful suspense in which the Papal policy had kept him so long, and by the necessity of his presence at home. Probably, too, the king expected no result from this step, which he was obliged to take for the sake of the Pope. Sixtus IV. did, indeed, ratify the peace, as we have seen; but he was very ill satisfied with the whole course of the matter, and LorenzoGiustini, who had conducted the negotiation, lost the confidence of the Pope and his nephew, which he had long enjoyed.[319]Antonio Ridolfi and Piero Masi were sent to Rome to defend the cause of the Republic. They accomplished little. The Pope demanded that Lorenzo himself should come to Rome, for which the latter showed no inclination, and which was also advised against by others, Ferrara for example.[320]Sixtus complaining that the agreement and new alliance were to the disadvantage of the Church, allied himself with the Venetians, who regarded their ancient relation to Milan and Florence as dissolved, and left the Florentines still under the pressure of the interdict laid upon them.Evils soon followed this policy in Romagna. Costanzo Sforza was in a difficulty, but his powerful relations came to his aid this time also against the plans of the Pope’s nephew. In Forli, on the other hand, affairs took a turn very unfavourable for the Republic. Pino degli Ordelaffi, whom we saw in 1466 violently freed from his brother Cecco, almost the only one of these lords of Romagna who took the side of Sixtus IV., had died on February 10, worn out by his dissipated life, which made it impossible for him to support the fatigues of a short campaign, which did not tax him heavily. In 1473 be had obtained from the Pope the renewal of his vice-regency for his own natural descendants, to the exclusion of his nephew Antonio or Antoniello, to whom, according to previous family statutes, the joint government of Forli belonged, and who, like his father, held to Florence as firmly as Pino to the opposite party. The natural son of the latter, Sinibaldo, a boy of thirteen years, had been acknowledged by the inhabitants of Forli as his successor. His stepmother and guardian, Zaffiera Manfredi, soon made herself so hated that an insurrection broke out as early as the beginning of July, in consequence of which Antoniello on the 8th entered Forli. Here the people were still fightingthe mercenaries of Sinibaldo, who had sought protection in the fortress of Ravaldino. Sixtus IV. took advantage of this opportunity. The Duke of Urbino received a command to march to Forli; Antoniello was declared deprived of all his rights, and as the boy Sinibaldo died about this time—how is unknown—the Pope granted Forli to Girolamo Riario as a lapsed fief. The citizens at first showed themselves willing to defend the cause of the rightful heir; but when the duke approached the city, and a few skirmishes had ended unfavourably, neither provisions nor money for a longer opposition were existing, and Antoniello recognised the impossibility of maintaining himself. On August 8 he quitted Forli and repaired to Florentine territory, and on the following day the Papal army entered, and Riario was proclaimed lord of Forli. How displeased they were in Florence to see these embittered enemies at their frontier with increased powers, may be understood. Two conspiracies in favour of the Ordelaffi, which broke out in the course of the year, failed, and Antoniello, who remained in the service of the Republic, awaited better times.Far more serious cause of anxiety was afforded by affairs in Siena. Peace had been proclaimed on March 25 at Siena, but the Duke of Calabria made no sign of evacuating the territory of that Republic. During the winter he had been frequently in the city, and he managed to make himself beloved by the inhabitants. They gave him festivals in the palace, balls, banquets, and masquerades; and in return he bestowed knighthood, stood sponsor for children, and was present at the election of magistrates. In February he had been with troops in the Maremma, whence an attack from the Duke of Lorraine was feared. Three days after the proclamation of peace Alfonso went to Viterbo in order to consult with the Duke of Urbino, who was taking the baths there; and when he returned, the city sent him to Buonconvento, where the greater part of his troops were encamped, to meet three illustrious citizens with the ostensible object of welcominghim, and inviting him to Siena—in reality, to discover his intentions. For suspicion was already roused regarding Neapolitan affairs, and not without reason. Twice already in King Alfonso’s as well as in Ferrante’s days, the Aragonese had sought to gain ground in Siena. The discord which had always prevailed more in this city than in any other offered frequent opportunity for intervention. One happened at this very time. The Duke of Calabria, who had a residence in Siena, although he was chiefly in the camp, had put himself in communication with the disaffected of the aristocratic party, the Monte de’ Nove, the heads of which had lived in banishment since 1456 or stood aloof from government. His repeated endeavours to obtain the recall of the exiles had remained without result. It was now attempted in another way. On the morning of June 22, the friends of the duke, with the help of some of his troops, who were secretly admitted into the city, seized on the piazza and palace of the commonwealth, summoned a council of the people to which only their own adherents were admitted, abolished the government which had existed hitherto, and excluded its heads and partisans from office, appointing for the next two months a new magistracy composed entirely of members of their party. Without violence or bloodshed, an entire faction of the citizens which had ruled the city for seventy-seven years was expelled from home and position.The duke was in Buonconvento when this revolution took place, either in order not to seem to countenance it, or to avoid danger in case the citizens rose in favour of the government, as they had done once before in the Emperor Charles IV.’s time. He calculated that the victors would call upon him, if only to accept the military aid without which they were too weak to maintain themselves permanently—and he calculated rightly. The Signory and magistrates went to meet him at the gates on his entry; and during his stay of several days the people were so amused by festivities that the new rulers had time to recall the exiles, and weaken theirenemies by banishment and fines. All this was of a kind to inspire the Florentines with the most serious anxiety; for if the Aragonese obtained a firm footing in Tuscany, their own independence was much more endangered, for late events had shown how inferior their military power was to that of the king. ‘Suspicion,’ remarks Machiavelli, ‘seized not only the people, but the heads of the State likewise;’ and it is considered that the city had never been in such danger of losing her freedom. This suspicion was strengthened by events on the Ligurian frontier, in which from the first the Duke of Calabria’s hand had been recognised. Sarzana was not only not given up to the Republic, but the garrison disturbed the neighbouring territory so that Giovanni Aldobrandini, commander of the fortress of Sarzanello, received commands to repel force by force.Such was the position of affairs when an unexpected occurrence produced a decided reaction in the political situation of Central Italy. The quarrels of the Christian princes, which armed Louis XI. against Maximilian of Austria, and Mathias Corvinus against Ladislaus of Poland, the Tuscan war, and the Venetian peace, had been very advantageous for Mohammed II. The aged sultan wished to crown the series of his conquests with a brilliant feat of arms. The Sicilian coasts had been threatened in 1479. In May 1480 a numerous Turkish fleet attacked Rhodes. The heroic courage of Pierre d’Aubusson and his knights saved the island, which was held to be the bulwark of Christendom. Returning from the fruitless siege, a part of the squadron took a westerly direction, and, sailing by the Venetian islands of the Ionian sea, landed a considerable number of troops—about seven thousand men—on the southern coast of Apulia (July 28), where, after a terrible slaughter of the neighbouring population, the blockade of Otranto began. On August 11, after a hard struggle, the town fell into the hands of the inhuman opponents of the Christians.The blow was stunning. The whole of Italy was in a flame.The threat of Mohammed to plant the Crescent instead of the Cross in Rome was remembered. It is said that in his first terror the Pope thought of quitting the city and retiring to Avignon. But Sixtus IV. was not a man to lose courage. He wrote to all the Christian princes, representing the urgent danger to them. Cardinal Gabriele Rangoni went to Naples, Cardinal Savelli to Genoa, to mediate between the disputants, Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini to France and England. A French fleet was to combine with the Neapolitan. The first result for the Florentines was the return of the Duke of Calabria to Naples. On August 1 the king had received news of the Turks, and he immediately recalled his son.[321]The advantage accruing to the Florentines from the new position of affairs was so great and so evident that many voices were heard accusing Lorenzo de’ Medici of having encouraged the sultan to attack Apulia. The friendly relations with Mohammed II., which had been proved at the Pazzi conspiracy, must have likewise afforded grounds for such an accusation, the influence of which is, however, not discernible in the subsequent attitude of the king.[322]On August 7 the duke quitted Siena. If he accused fate of wresting from him the fruits of his two years’ exertions in Tuscany the very moment he believed himself certain of success, he caused those to complain who had calculated on his assistance, and now feared having to yield for want of it. The same Prinzivalle di Gennaro who had accompanied Lorenzo was entrusted with the superintendence of the place which, for the present, was to remain in the king’s hands, and be given back to the Florentines at the end of March of the next year. The reconciliation of the Republic with the Pope could be no longer delayed. It must have been especiallyimportant to him to leave no cause for discontent in Florence when such danger threatened Christendom.At the request of King Ferrante, the Signoria, who had conducted the government during the two last months of the year 1480 with the Gonfaloniere Bernardo Rucellai, appointed a solemn embassy which should request Sixtus IV. to revoke the spiritual interdict. The most distinguished men of the city undertook the mission: Francesco Soderini, Bishop of Volterra, and afterwards Cardinal, Luigi Guicciardini, Bongianni Gianfigliazzi, Piero Minerbetti—who all three possessed the dignity of knighthood—Guid’Antonio Vespucci, Maso degli Albizzi, Gino Capponi, Jacopo Lanfredini, Domenico Pandolfini, Giovanni Tornabuoni, Antonio de’ Medici—names some of which have already appeared in the course of this history, others yet to be seen. Antonio Ridolfi, who was in Rome holding the office of regular ambassador of the Republic, was to join them. The instructions given to the deputies[323]were conciliatory, but moderate and dignified. ‘After the disturbances permitted by God,’ it says, ‘which have been principally pacified by the grace of his Holiness, peace and quiet never appeared so sweet to us as at present, for the true peace of our people devoted to the Holy See depends on the right understanding with him whom Divine Providence has placed there, and appointed vicegerent of Christ and successor of Peter. We know that in public and private we have committed various errors from human weakness, which the Holy Father has perceived better than we, and therefore send you to entreat pardon for the same and acknowledge our guilt, and commend our city and citizens, clergy and laity, to his protection for the future.’ But the ambassadors were at the same time recommended to watch over the honour and interests of city and State, to give way in reasonable matters, to refuse unreasonable and dishonourable demands prompted by secret motives, whetherthey referred to a public demonstration of obedience, payments of money, or other things; they were to depart with their protest in case it should not seem suitable to send for fresh instructions. The affairs of Lorenzo de’ Medici were to be included in the general instructions; for special cases Antonio de’ Medici was to represent him. The Archbishop Rinaldo Orsini, residing at Rome, should be informed of all, and his mediation with the Pope claimed.Sixtus IV. had long resolved on reconciliation. On St. Catherine’s day, November 25, the ambassadors arrived at Rome, welcomed only by their adherents in the State and friends, as the interdict was still in force. Two days later they were admitted to the secret consistory, where the Bishop of Ferrara made a suitable and well-composed speech. On the first Advent Sunday, December 3, the solemn abrogation took place in the portico of St. Peter’s. Before the closed bronze gate of the central nave of the basilica, seated on a throne covered with purple silk, surrounded by the cardinals, prelates, and officers, and in presence of a great crowd, the Pope received the ambassadors, who kissed his foot, and on bended knee besought his forgiveness in the name of the city, and promised to fulfil the conditions prescribed. Luigi Guicciardini, an aged man, spoke, but his address was brief, and difficult to be understood from the noise. An apostolic notary then read aloud the conditions in the presence of the fiscal advocate and procurators, to which the ambassadors bound themselves by oath. The Pope then addressed them, reproved them briefly for what they had done against the Church, and then declared them free by touching the shoulder of each lightly with a staff such as penitents were accustomed to carry, with the words ‘Miserere mei Deus,’ to which the cardinals responded. Hereupon the ambassadors again kissed the Pope’s foot, and received his blessing, after which the gates were opened, and Sixtus IV. being raised on his throne, all went into church, and high mass was celebrated.Peace was restored. Most of the members of the embassy returned immediately to Florence. Only Francesco Soderini and Guid’Antonio Vespucci remained in order to arrange matters. They also quitted Rome on December 18 with small pomp and suite, and by no means in a cheerful frame of mind. For among the conditions imposed on them by the Pope was the one that the Republic should furnish fifteen galleys for the war with the Turks;[324]a severe condition considering the depressed position in which Florence found herself at the end of a war which had required the hardest pecuniary sacrifices, and desolated a great part of her territory.

CHAPTER VI.LORENZO DE’ MEDICI IN NAPLES. PEACE WITH THE KING AND WITH THE POPE.Onthe evening of December 10 two Neapolitan galleys arrived at the little port of Vada, not far from the mouth of the Cecina in the Pisan Maremma, having on board Gian Tommaso Caraffa, son of the Count of Maddaloni, chief counsellor of the king, and Prinzivalle di Gennaro, the confidant of the Duke of Calabria. On the following morning Lorenzo entered Vada. ‘Pray God,’ he had written from Pisa to the Ferrarese ambassador,[300]‘I may journey there and back in safety, and my purpose may be attained.’ On the afternoon of the 18th, a Saturday, the galleys ran into the port of Naples. Informed of his approaching arrival, the king not only sent vessels to meet and welcome him, but his son Federigo and Ferrandino, Prince of Capua, were on the landing-place to receive him. A great crowd had assembled to see the man whose name had long been in the mouths of all. The house of Pasquale Diaz Garloni, Count of Alife, opposite the Castelnuovo, the usual residence of the king, was destined for the guest.[301]The reception was honourable, and the first meeting with the king very cordial.[302]Ferrante could not shake off the impression which Lorenzo made on him personally. It must have been clear to him that if hemade it up with this man who exhibited in his youth so much shrewdness and skill, and such great political sagacity, he could rely directly on the Republic; and, while securing Lorenzo’s authority at home by peace and by alliance, he would be strengthening and establishing his own influence on Italian affairs. Thus far it must have been easy for Lorenzo to persuade the king, who was not expected to give the preference to a popular form of government. But a number of the most varied considerations had to be weighed by Ferrante. He had to consider the Pope, of whom he was not fond, and whom, remembering the position of the Holy See at Naples, he did not trust, but whom he neither dared nor wished to offend on account of this very position. The Venetians had to be considered; they were dangerous neighbours for him as well as the Pope, on account of their constant endeavours to extend their dominion on the Adriatic coasts; while a good understanding with them was all the more uncertain because their policy was mostly determined by conjunctures which were foreign to the relations of the other Italian States. Siena, too, must not be overlooked, which the king and his son had their eye upon; nor Milan, where a change was in progress the extent of which could not be appreciated. All this, combined with the traditions of the policy of the times—namely the policy of a ruler surrounded by foreign and domestic difficulties from the beginning of his reign—must have caused Ferrante to hesitate long. Besides, it cannot be doubted that he wished to see what turn Florentine affairs would take in Lorenzo’s absence.From various causes things were still unsettled in Florence. Lorenzo’s determination and sudden journey had not made the same impression on all the allies. Lodovico il Moro had assisted in it, and the Venetians were taken by surprise. They expressed their distrust and vexation in plain language. The Venetians, relates Francesco Guicciardini,[303]persuadedthemselves that peace had been concluded between Naples and Florence; that Lorenzo had only gone thither for the ratification of peace, and that they were left at their enemies’ discretion. But in order to hinder the treaty in case it were not yet concluded, or, in other words, to secure themselves, it seemed necessary for them to be as well armed as possible. They recalled their troops from Tuscany, but at the same time offered to Milan and Florence a renewal of the compact hitherto existing. The news had spread as far as Rome and elsewhere that this alliance had been dissolved on account of non-fulfilment of the conditions, so that it seemed necessary to renew it formally. In order not to render the negotiations with Naples more difficult, the offer was declined in Florence. When the Venetians offered the command of their troops to Roberto Malatesta—who would have been unable to accept it without the consent of Florence—permission was granted him by the latter, though unwillingly, in order not to offend Venice. ‘The ambassadors of our allies,’ wrote Bartolommeo Scala, on January 4, 1480, to Lorenzo,[304]‘give us trouble enough. They have become suspicious, but I do not believe they are agreed among themselves. They besiege us daily, officially and privately, in order to obtain news. It will not be easy to come to an understanding, especially with the Venetians; but we must keep to that which was given to you at your departure. The affair has its difficulties, and it will be best to conclude it with your aid. Now when you are far away, we, like the fools we are, have learnt to know you better.’ The Venetian ambassador in France expressed the same anxiety that in the new alliance which Lorenzo was endeavouring to effect at Naples, Venice would not only be excluded, but would have to suffer herself.[305]That the most varied tendencies were manifested at homewas but natural. Not only the ancient opponents of the Medici raised their heads but even a few of their own party showed themselves lukewarm or disaffected. The heavy losses made the game easy for the former. It was said to be time to change a system which had lasted so long, and united all political power in the hands of a comparatively small number of families. Offices as well as burdens should for the future be no longer dispensed at the will of these few, but be granted and distributed by the old councils. The uncertainty of Lorenzo’s fate gave this party courage, while it made many of his adherents inclined to come to terms with them by a compromise. It seems, indeed, that they thought of choosing Girolamo Morelli, the former ambassador in Milan, as a new leader. The friends of the Medici thought they had gained much if they prevented a change till Lorenzo’s return. Piero Guicciardini, the historian’s father, was one of those most active in his behalf. The unfavourable position of foreign affairs had been rendered still worse at the moment of his departure. Without regarding the armistice still existing, Lodovico and Agostino Fregoso had by acoup-de-mainseized upon Sarzana, which had been only eleven years in the possession of Florence. When the Republic complained to the leaders of the Neapolitan and Papal army, these expressed themselves angry at the breach of peace by the Genoese, and commanded them to leave the city. But they were not expelled; and the Florentines suspected, certainly not without ground, that the Duke of Calabria had had a hand in the game, in order to increase, for his advantage, the number of claims in the forthcoming treaties of peace. The military situation was likewise much injured by the departure of the Venetians, and the exhaustion and disunion of the Florentines gave no prospect of improvement.[306]The connection with the lords of Romagna was also uncertain.As may easily be understood, the latter followed the negotiations of the Florentines with their former enemies with the greatest anxiety, for their very existence depended on the result. This was particularly the case with Galeotto Manfredi. After the defeat at Poggio Imperiale Costanzo Sforza had marched to Romagna with as many men as could be spared, in order to protect his own territories and those of the Malatesta and Manfredi from an attack which was most to be dreaded by the latter if it came from Imola. But the precaution was not sufficient to pacify Galeotto. On the other side the Florentines could not submit to the capture of their best general Roberto Malatesta, so they ordered an ambassador and 200 men to Faenza in order to protect its master. Gismondo Manfredi, Taddeo’s son, remained in the service of the Republic, and also Antoniello Ordelaffi, Cecco’s son, the rightful heir to Forli, which was withheld from him by his uncle Pino, whom the Pope favoured. Costanzo Sforza felt safer than the other petty lords on account of the Milanese relationship; but a real mutual confidence was not to be thought of, even here.[307]While affairs were in this state in Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici was occupied with troubles of another kind.His appearance in Naples was exceedingly distasteful to the Pope. From the first Sixtus had perceived the king’s inclination to agree to favourable terms, the final result of which he easily foresaw. But, if powerless to prevent an understanding, he would at least have a personal share in it, and insisted that Lorenzo should come to Rome. However, the latter showed no inclination to take the journey, and was strengthened in his objection by Ferrante.[308]Lorenzo Giustini, who had been deputed to Naples by the Pope, left no argument unused to persuade him. When all this resulted innothing, and the treaty between the king and Florence seemed to take a favourable course, Sixtus IV. despatched a special plenipotentiary Antonio Crivelli. The detailed instructions given to this man put the whole course of affairs and the relations of the Pope and king in the clearest light. ‘After the events in Florence had taken a course so displeasing to the Church,’ says the Pope in this remarkable document,[309]‘we held it best to hear the king’s opinion of the imprisonment of the cardinal and other things; and, as his Majesty by several writings not only agreed with us, but called upon and encouraged us to take up arms, with the offer and promise to make every exertion and put his son’s and his own life at stake, in order to avenge this insult shown to the Holy See, it was unanimously determined to begin the war against Lorenzo and his adherents as the stumbling-block and disturber of the peace of Italy. At the same time the freedom of Florence must be restored, to which we and the king’s Majesty have pledged ourselves by autograph and other documentary writings, being moved thereto by Lorenzo’s evil proceedings and the disturbances caused by him in Italy. Lorenzo likewise has endeavoured to sow dissension between us and the king, and to dissolve the alliance in favour of one drawn up by himself.’After the Pope had remarked that the ingratitude of Lorenzo was all the greater because he had won treasure by means of the Holy See, he expatiated on the course of the war, which was only begun when spiritual weapons availed nothing, on the attempts of foreign powers to terminate the strife with due respect to the Holy See and the king, and the great advantages obtained in 1479. When peaceful overtures were made by Milan, the king declined them. At the time it had been remarked by several cardinals that he only did this in order to transfer the negotiations to Naples, and be able toascribe all the merit to himself, and likewise to negotiate with Lorenzo without any regard to the Holy See, as at present was actually the case, according to the report of the royal ambassador. While the Pope was led to believe that the king agreed with him in views and treatment of affairs, the latter had let a number of other considerations influence him. They had decided to insist upon Lorenzo’s banishment from Florence; and then came the king’s doubt as to whether it would be possible to attain this, and whether there was not danger of his returning like his grandfather Cosimo. Little as the Pope believed in the validity of the reasons urged, as he thought that the principal end of the undertaking was overlooked, and that Lorenzo, having shown himself to be so bad when they were doing him good, would be found still worse now that he was irritated, he had yet persuaded himself to agree to a reconciliation with Lorenzo as the king wished, if the conditions demanded by him through his ambassador could be obtained, while, if this did not happen, the war should be continued. The king had commanded the captains of his army to continue operations although they thought of pacification, and on the showing of the Duke of Calabria the prospect of reconciliation offered by the enemy diminished the prospect of success. He had answered that by negotiation he would neither tie his own hands nor those of the army. Even then the Pope had complied with the king’s wishes, although his son’s opinion had seemed to him correct.‘Scarcely had this occurred,’ continued Sixtus, ‘than the armistice followed, which filled us with surprise and displeasure, and confirmed us in the suspicion awakened. Therefore we refused decidedly to acknowledge it, and only yielded to the ambassador’s urgency, and because we perceived that we could not continue the war alone; under the express stipulation, however, that, if the conditions of peace should suffer thereby, we should never pardon the king for it. We made a virtue of necessity, but to our serious displeasure,for we saw how we missed the victory while we were deprived of the satisfaction of liberating Florence from these tyrants, and restoring freedom and quiet to her and peace to all Italy. The hope still remained to us that as the king had turned us whither he wished, he would at least conclude peace on the conditions mentioned, and would have some regard to the honour of God, the Church, and himself. Lorenzo went to Naples. The king announced to us he knew nothing of his movements, but in spite of all, if Lorenzo should refuse to accept the stipulations agreed upon, he would dismiss him. In a case of this kind we must stake the tiara and the whole States of the Church, and his Majesty would venture the crown and ten kingdoms, if he had them, to effect Lorenzo’s expulsion and complete ruin.’ The Pope had demanded that Lorenzo should come to Rome and beg for forgiveness, and that the lords of Romagna, who were guilty of rebellion, should do the same. Lorenzo so decidedly declined the former, that the king requested the Pope to withdraw this demand. He, Sixtus, refused this, however, for it was a point which the king disregarded—the only satisfaction he would receive in the whole affair. Respecting the lords of Romagna, the king desired that time might be afforded to them to fulfil their obligations, if the Pope would not leave it to the king to arrange the matter with them. Both conditions were refused, as also the proposal to send ambassadors to Milan at the same time as the king, to settle the other conditions of peace. The Pope had repeatedly shown that the king had it in his power to terminate the matter by force of arms if he fulfilled the conditions of alliance; and as Lorenzo was in his power, and would yield to him whether willing or not, he might also be induced to negotiate. Instead, however, of breaking with Lorenzo as he had hinted he should in case the latter refused to accept the conditions offered him, he treated him more kindly every day he was in Naples. The Pope wished for peace. In order to attain this peace he had begun the war, which had alreadycost him a heap of money. But he would purchase no peace with his dishonour.The position of affairs is rendered quite clear by these instructions. Ferrante was inclined to come to terms with Lorenzo, but the Pope’s representations could not fail to make some impression on him. Lorenzo did not conceal this from himself, though he appeared content and cheerful before others, but when alone he had many heavy and anxious hours. His letters to the Ten prove this, by the manner in which he describes the rising and falling of his hopes. The affairs of Romagna increased the difficulties considerably; for if Ferrante believed that he had freedom to act in regard to Florentine affairs, inasmuch as he had not to pay attention to Siena, he found himself tied here towards the Pope. Florence did not cease to urge including the dynasties of Romagna in the peace. ‘The lords of Romagna who are in our pay,’ wrote Agnolo della Stufa on January 4, 1480,[310]‘are warmly commended to you for our own honour’s sake. For if they are left to the will of the Pope, I consider them as lost, for I know how the priests act. No one will believe in our protection any more. If the king, as I hope, receives us as his devoted sons, he must be also careful to preserve us this reputation as long as he can.’ No less skill was needful to continue the negotiation, as the Duke of Calabria, who speculated on the weakness of the Florentines, was exceedingly disinclined towards it. Perhaps Lorenzo’s aim would not have been attained had he not won over the most distinguished counsellor of the king, Diomede Carafa, Count of Maddaloni, son of that Malizia Carafa who had been so active in the cause of King Alfonso of Aragon. In the endless street which the people had named Spacca-Napoli, near the Dominican convent, is the palace where he resided—a building of architectural value. In the court of this house, once adorned with the colossal antique horse’s head, the arms of the city, King Ferrante had on one occasion stoodwaiting for the faithful servant who was to accompany him. Diomede Carafa was a man of distinction. He had served under King Alfonso, aided in the conquest of Naples, and penetrated within a few miles of the capital in the Florentine war of 1452. As superintendent of finance he had great influence on the administration—an influence which brought him into violent opposition to the king’s private secretary, a quarrel the fatal ending of which cast a dark shadow on the later period of Ferrante’s reign. With the king and his children, especially the second son Don Federigo, he stood in the most intimate connection. He shared Lorenzo de’ Medici’s interest in literature and art; and, if he was far from rivalling him in his high literary gifts, he showed in several smaller works of a didactic kind, in books on war and courtlife, in the rules of behaviour for the king’s daughters Beatrice and Eleonora, a practical understanding, knowledge of business, and experience of the world that was very rare.The Count of Maddaloni was not the only one whom Lorenzo gained over to his interest. Naples at that time was a city full of busy life and varied culture, which had been promoted first by King Alfonso and then by his sons, in which Lorenzo must have felt himself all the more at home as the literary connections with his native city were various, and many of the artistic circle which had been so intimate with his family for three generations, beginning with Donatello, had laboured here, while the Florentine banking-houses had the greater part of the money matters of the Neapolitans in their own hands. From the royal family, members of which had repeatedly been his guests, to the citizens and country people, increasing affection was shown him, as Pope Sixtus had said. The Duchess of Calabria, remembering old friendship, became, as the king expressed it, his fellow-ally, and reminded him in later years of their wanderings at the villa—probably that near the Riviera di Chiaja of the present day—between the banks and the heights of Vomero, then with a free prospect over sea and shore,which is now changed into the Ferrandina palace with the adjoining gardens and buildings. ‘The present letter will not be one of those which refer to alliance and State affairs, but will merely bring to your remembrance that we always think of you, although we are by no means certain that you often think of our garden, which is now most beautiful and in full bloom.’[311]The century was not wanting in highly-cultivated women, but Ippolita Maria, who excelled so many in grace, also exceeded the ladies of her time in literary knowledge; and as her familiarity with Cicero’s writings was praised, so did she also shine in her knowledge of Greek, in which Constantinos Lascaris had been her teacher. Her learning did not diminish her womanly charm.[312]Lorenzo lived in Naplesen grand seigneur, spared no expense, gave banquets and made presents, and dowered poor girls who came to him from the provinces. He purchased the freedom of a hundred galley-slaves, and gave them new clothes.[313]But that he urgently wished to attain his purpose and be able to return home may be well understood, for the ground under him was not safe either here or there. When the king presented him with a beautiful horse, he remarked, in thanking him, that the man who would be the bearer of good news needed indeed a swift steed.At length the main conditions of the treaty were agreed upon, and without having come to a formal conclusion Lorenzo deemed it possible to quit Naples, and to leave further steps to the Republic. At the end of February he departed by sea as he had arrived. Three months had passed, a time full of doubts and fears, but crowned with success. ‘He landed,’ says Niccolò Valori, ‘in Livorno, from whence he went to Pisa. In the harbour and town he was received with such a manifestation of joy, with such signs of attachmentand shouts of applause from the whole population, that the place itself seemed to join in the rejoicing. But it is impossible to describe how he was received at his entry into Florence. Young and old, men and women, flocked together. The people and the nobles rejoiced together to see him return safely. To all he gave his hand kindly and gratefully. The people embraced each other for joy.’ But a reaction soon set in. On the evening of March 17 a compact was published, which had been concluded on the 13th at Naples by Agostino Biliotti and Niccolò Michelozzi in the name of the Republic.[314]They had made peace; but the conditions were not easy, and the suspicion arose among the people that the most oppressive articles were kept secret. If all the circumstances are considered, however, the conditions were supportable. The Florentines had been conquered, and from whatever point of view the cause of the war might be judged, the fact of defeat could not be denied.On March 25, 1480, the feast of the Annunciation, peace and alliance were formally proclaimed throughout Florence, and a grand procession took place headed by the statue from Sta. Maria dell’Impruneta, which was brought into the city for the purpose. The two opponents bound themselves mutually to defend their states; the occupied places should be restored to the Florentines, but at the king’s own time, and with the exception of Castellina and a part of the Chianti, which was to be given to Siena. The Duke of Calabria was to be paid a salary under the name ofcondotta. The Pazzi imprisoned in the tower of Volterra were to be restored to freedom. The lords of Romagna were not included in the treaty of peace but the king pledged himself to preserve their interests. Lorenzo had exerted himself in vain in this respect. Ferrante out of regard for the Pope was not to be moved. The dynasties, with the exception of the Ordelaffi, had not to complain later, as we shallsee. Efforts on behalf of the Chianti had likewise been fruitless. Lorenzo endeavoured to show how advantageously it would affect the future connections of the Republic with the king if their territory remained undiminished.[315]It offended the Florentines most of all that they did not even receive a promise respecting Sarzana, the restitution of which they had tried to obtain during the negotiations, in order to diminish the number of claims of compensation from their opponents. The demand of payment to Girolamo Riario which had been threatened them, and would indeed have been an insult, was allowed to remain in abeyance. ‘The conditions,’ remarks Francesco Guicciardini, ‘were not unfavourable to the vanquished.’ But the populace in Florence were not of the same opinion. That they were not satisfied with the demeanour of Lodovico Sforza and his influence on the negotiation is shown by a letter of the Duke of Ferrara to his ambassador, wherein he requires him to represent to Lorenzo that he would do well to go as much as possible hand in hand with Milan, even if some things in the compact were displeasing. He was not to forget that Florence and Milan were two states whose interests coincided, and whose true union would be useful to both, as it had been before.[316]At Rome and Milan the compact was made known on the same day as at Florence. In the presence of the Pope and his cardinals, Ambrogio Cerano, general of the Augustinians, announced peace[317]from the pulpit in Sta. Maria del Popolo, where the Papal service took place on the feast of the Annunciation.The position with regard to Sixtus IV. remained, however, as uncertain as before. Scarcely had Lorenzo left Naples when the king received through Lorenzo Giustini, new proposalsof agreement which appeared to him of sufficient importance to justify his sending after Medici, and requesting him to return from Gaeta or Pisa in order to effect an agreement with Sixtus. The latter, so wrote the king, had displayed the greatest readiness to agree to the proposals made by Florence and Milan; and as Girolamo Riario had expressed himself in like manner, Lorenzo’s return appeared to him highly desirable to bring the matter to a conclusion, all the more so as the Pope had regarded his departure as a sign of ill-will. He, the king, had indeed answered that this departure had been caused by affairs at Florence; but he advised him to announce at home that bad weather had hindered him on the way, and as, meanwhile, the Papal decision had arrived, he had considered it necessary to return in order not to delay the complete conclusion of the affair. In this manner he would render the League and Milan a real service, put an end to the Pope’s suspicion, recover his affection, and promote the king’s interests also. The negotiation could then proceed without delay on the part of the Milanese ambassadors, who had a time of departure appointed them, and he would return with the fame of having completed his work.[318]In this suggestion a cunning intention has sometimes been suspected, as if the king, enticed by the new proposals of the Pope, had repented his compact with Lorenzo, and tried to get the latter into his power again in order to dictate his will to him. Ferrante’s whole subsequent behaviour affords no ground for such a suspicion. But that Lorenzo did not accede to the king’s wishes is explained sufficiently by the painful suspense in which the Papal policy had kept him so long, and by the necessity of his presence at home. Probably, too, the king expected no result from this step, which he was obliged to take for the sake of the Pope. Sixtus IV. did, indeed, ratify the peace, as we have seen; but he was very ill satisfied with the whole course of the matter, and LorenzoGiustini, who had conducted the negotiation, lost the confidence of the Pope and his nephew, which he had long enjoyed.[319]Antonio Ridolfi and Piero Masi were sent to Rome to defend the cause of the Republic. They accomplished little. The Pope demanded that Lorenzo himself should come to Rome, for which the latter showed no inclination, and which was also advised against by others, Ferrara for example.[320]Sixtus complaining that the agreement and new alliance were to the disadvantage of the Church, allied himself with the Venetians, who regarded their ancient relation to Milan and Florence as dissolved, and left the Florentines still under the pressure of the interdict laid upon them.Evils soon followed this policy in Romagna. Costanzo Sforza was in a difficulty, but his powerful relations came to his aid this time also against the plans of the Pope’s nephew. In Forli, on the other hand, affairs took a turn very unfavourable for the Republic. Pino degli Ordelaffi, whom we saw in 1466 violently freed from his brother Cecco, almost the only one of these lords of Romagna who took the side of Sixtus IV., had died on February 10, worn out by his dissipated life, which made it impossible for him to support the fatigues of a short campaign, which did not tax him heavily. In 1473 be had obtained from the Pope the renewal of his vice-regency for his own natural descendants, to the exclusion of his nephew Antonio or Antoniello, to whom, according to previous family statutes, the joint government of Forli belonged, and who, like his father, held to Florence as firmly as Pino to the opposite party. The natural son of the latter, Sinibaldo, a boy of thirteen years, had been acknowledged by the inhabitants of Forli as his successor. His stepmother and guardian, Zaffiera Manfredi, soon made herself so hated that an insurrection broke out as early as the beginning of July, in consequence of which Antoniello on the 8th entered Forli. Here the people were still fightingthe mercenaries of Sinibaldo, who had sought protection in the fortress of Ravaldino. Sixtus IV. took advantage of this opportunity. The Duke of Urbino received a command to march to Forli; Antoniello was declared deprived of all his rights, and as the boy Sinibaldo died about this time—how is unknown—the Pope granted Forli to Girolamo Riario as a lapsed fief. The citizens at first showed themselves willing to defend the cause of the rightful heir; but when the duke approached the city, and a few skirmishes had ended unfavourably, neither provisions nor money for a longer opposition were existing, and Antoniello recognised the impossibility of maintaining himself. On August 8 he quitted Forli and repaired to Florentine territory, and on the following day the Papal army entered, and Riario was proclaimed lord of Forli. How displeased they were in Florence to see these embittered enemies at their frontier with increased powers, may be understood. Two conspiracies in favour of the Ordelaffi, which broke out in the course of the year, failed, and Antoniello, who remained in the service of the Republic, awaited better times.Far more serious cause of anxiety was afforded by affairs in Siena. Peace had been proclaimed on March 25 at Siena, but the Duke of Calabria made no sign of evacuating the territory of that Republic. During the winter he had been frequently in the city, and he managed to make himself beloved by the inhabitants. They gave him festivals in the palace, balls, banquets, and masquerades; and in return he bestowed knighthood, stood sponsor for children, and was present at the election of magistrates. In February he had been with troops in the Maremma, whence an attack from the Duke of Lorraine was feared. Three days after the proclamation of peace Alfonso went to Viterbo in order to consult with the Duke of Urbino, who was taking the baths there; and when he returned, the city sent him to Buonconvento, where the greater part of his troops were encamped, to meet three illustrious citizens with the ostensible object of welcominghim, and inviting him to Siena—in reality, to discover his intentions. For suspicion was already roused regarding Neapolitan affairs, and not without reason. Twice already in King Alfonso’s as well as in Ferrante’s days, the Aragonese had sought to gain ground in Siena. The discord which had always prevailed more in this city than in any other offered frequent opportunity for intervention. One happened at this very time. The Duke of Calabria, who had a residence in Siena, although he was chiefly in the camp, had put himself in communication with the disaffected of the aristocratic party, the Monte de’ Nove, the heads of which had lived in banishment since 1456 or stood aloof from government. His repeated endeavours to obtain the recall of the exiles had remained without result. It was now attempted in another way. On the morning of June 22, the friends of the duke, with the help of some of his troops, who were secretly admitted into the city, seized on the piazza and palace of the commonwealth, summoned a council of the people to which only their own adherents were admitted, abolished the government which had existed hitherto, and excluded its heads and partisans from office, appointing for the next two months a new magistracy composed entirely of members of their party. Without violence or bloodshed, an entire faction of the citizens which had ruled the city for seventy-seven years was expelled from home and position.The duke was in Buonconvento when this revolution took place, either in order not to seem to countenance it, or to avoid danger in case the citizens rose in favour of the government, as they had done once before in the Emperor Charles IV.’s time. He calculated that the victors would call upon him, if only to accept the military aid without which they were too weak to maintain themselves permanently—and he calculated rightly. The Signory and magistrates went to meet him at the gates on his entry; and during his stay of several days the people were so amused by festivities that the new rulers had time to recall the exiles, and weaken theirenemies by banishment and fines. All this was of a kind to inspire the Florentines with the most serious anxiety; for if the Aragonese obtained a firm footing in Tuscany, their own independence was much more endangered, for late events had shown how inferior their military power was to that of the king. ‘Suspicion,’ remarks Machiavelli, ‘seized not only the people, but the heads of the State likewise;’ and it is considered that the city had never been in such danger of losing her freedom. This suspicion was strengthened by events on the Ligurian frontier, in which from the first the Duke of Calabria’s hand had been recognised. Sarzana was not only not given up to the Republic, but the garrison disturbed the neighbouring territory so that Giovanni Aldobrandini, commander of the fortress of Sarzanello, received commands to repel force by force.Such was the position of affairs when an unexpected occurrence produced a decided reaction in the political situation of Central Italy. The quarrels of the Christian princes, which armed Louis XI. against Maximilian of Austria, and Mathias Corvinus against Ladislaus of Poland, the Tuscan war, and the Venetian peace, had been very advantageous for Mohammed II. The aged sultan wished to crown the series of his conquests with a brilliant feat of arms. The Sicilian coasts had been threatened in 1479. In May 1480 a numerous Turkish fleet attacked Rhodes. The heroic courage of Pierre d’Aubusson and his knights saved the island, which was held to be the bulwark of Christendom. Returning from the fruitless siege, a part of the squadron took a westerly direction, and, sailing by the Venetian islands of the Ionian sea, landed a considerable number of troops—about seven thousand men—on the southern coast of Apulia (July 28), where, after a terrible slaughter of the neighbouring population, the blockade of Otranto began. On August 11, after a hard struggle, the town fell into the hands of the inhuman opponents of the Christians.The blow was stunning. The whole of Italy was in a flame.The threat of Mohammed to plant the Crescent instead of the Cross in Rome was remembered. It is said that in his first terror the Pope thought of quitting the city and retiring to Avignon. But Sixtus IV. was not a man to lose courage. He wrote to all the Christian princes, representing the urgent danger to them. Cardinal Gabriele Rangoni went to Naples, Cardinal Savelli to Genoa, to mediate between the disputants, Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini to France and England. A French fleet was to combine with the Neapolitan. The first result for the Florentines was the return of the Duke of Calabria to Naples. On August 1 the king had received news of the Turks, and he immediately recalled his son.[321]The advantage accruing to the Florentines from the new position of affairs was so great and so evident that many voices were heard accusing Lorenzo de’ Medici of having encouraged the sultan to attack Apulia. The friendly relations with Mohammed II., which had been proved at the Pazzi conspiracy, must have likewise afforded grounds for such an accusation, the influence of which is, however, not discernible in the subsequent attitude of the king.[322]On August 7 the duke quitted Siena. If he accused fate of wresting from him the fruits of his two years’ exertions in Tuscany the very moment he believed himself certain of success, he caused those to complain who had calculated on his assistance, and now feared having to yield for want of it. The same Prinzivalle di Gennaro who had accompanied Lorenzo was entrusted with the superintendence of the place which, for the present, was to remain in the king’s hands, and be given back to the Florentines at the end of March of the next year. The reconciliation of the Republic with the Pope could be no longer delayed. It must have been especiallyimportant to him to leave no cause for discontent in Florence when such danger threatened Christendom.At the request of King Ferrante, the Signoria, who had conducted the government during the two last months of the year 1480 with the Gonfaloniere Bernardo Rucellai, appointed a solemn embassy which should request Sixtus IV. to revoke the spiritual interdict. The most distinguished men of the city undertook the mission: Francesco Soderini, Bishop of Volterra, and afterwards Cardinal, Luigi Guicciardini, Bongianni Gianfigliazzi, Piero Minerbetti—who all three possessed the dignity of knighthood—Guid’Antonio Vespucci, Maso degli Albizzi, Gino Capponi, Jacopo Lanfredini, Domenico Pandolfini, Giovanni Tornabuoni, Antonio de’ Medici—names some of which have already appeared in the course of this history, others yet to be seen. Antonio Ridolfi, who was in Rome holding the office of regular ambassador of the Republic, was to join them. The instructions given to the deputies[323]were conciliatory, but moderate and dignified. ‘After the disturbances permitted by God,’ it says, ‘which have been principally pacified by the grace of his Holiness, peace and quiet never appeared so sweet to us as at present, for the true peace of our people devoted to the Holy See depends on the right understanding with him whom Divine Providence has placed there, and appointed vicegerent of Christ and successor of Peter. We know that in public and private we have committed various errors from human weakness, which the Holy Father has perceived better than we, and therefore send you to entreat pardon for the same and acknowledge our guilt, and commend our city and citizens, clergy and laity, to his protection for the future.’ But the ambassadors were at the same time recommended to watch over the honour and interests of city and State, to give way in reasonable matters, to refuse unreasonable and dishonourable demands prompted by secret motives, whetherthey referred to a public demonstration of obedience, payments of money, or other things; they were to depart with their protest in case it should not seem suitable to send for fresh instructions. The affairs of Lorenzo de’ Medici were to be included in the general instructions; for special cases Antonio de’ Medici was to represent him. The Archbishop Rinaldo Orsini, residing at Rome, should be informed of all, and his mediation with the Pope claimed.Sixtus IV. had long resolved on reconciliation. On St. Catherine’s day, November 25, the ambassadors arrived at Rome, welcomed only by their adherents in the State and friends, as the interdict was still in force. Two days later they were admitted to the secret consistory, where the Bishop of Ferrara made a suitable and well-composed speech. On the first Advent Sunday, December 3, the solemn abrogation took place in the portico of St. Peter’s. Before the closed bronze gate of the central nave of the basilica, seated on a throne covered with purple silk, surrounded by the cardinals, prelates, and officers, and in presence of a great crowd, the Pope received the ambassadors, who kissed his foot, and on bended knee besought his forgiveness in the name of the city, and promised to fulfil the conditions prescribed. Luigi Guicciardini, an aged man, spoke, but his address was brief, and difficult to be understood from the noise. An apostolic notary then read aloud the conditions in the presence of the fiscal advocate and procurators, to which the ambassadors bound themselves by oath. The Pope then addressed them, reproved them briefly for what they had done against the Church, and then declared them free by touching the shoulder of each lightly with a staff such as penitents were accustomed to carry, with the words ‘Miserere mei Deus,’ to which the cardinals responded. Hereupon the ambassadors again kissed the Pope’s foot, and received his blessing, after which the gates were opened, and Sixtus IV. being raised on his throne, all went into church, and high mass was celebrated.Peace was restored. Most of the members of the embassy returned immediately to Florence. Only Francesco Soderini and Guid’Antonio Vespucci remained in order to arrange matters. They also quitted Rome on December 18 with small pomp and suite, and by no means in a cheerful frame of mind. For among the conditions imposed on them by the Pope was the one that the Republic should furnish fifteen galleys for the war with the Turks;[324]a severe condition considering the depressed position in which Florence found herself at the end of a war which had required the hardest pecuniary sacrifices, and desolated a great part of her territory.

LORENZO DE’ MEDICI IN NAPLES. PEACE WITH THE KING AND WITH THE POPE.

Onthe evening of December 10 two Neapolitan galleys arrived at the little port of Vada, not far from the mouth of the Cecina in the Pisan Maremma, having on board Gian Tommaso Caraffa, son of the Count of Maddaloni, chief counsellor of the king, and Prinzivalle di Gennaro, the confidant of the Duke of Calabria. On the following morning Lorenzo entered Vada. ‘Pray God,’ he had written from Pisa to the Ferrarese ambassador,[300]‘I may journey there and back in safety, and my purpose may be attained.’ On the afternoon of the 18th, a Saturday, the galleys ran into the port of Naples. Informed of his approaching arrival, the king not only sent vessels to meet and welcome him, but his son Federigo and Ferrandino, Prince of Capua, were on the landing-place to receive him. A great crowd had assembled to see the man whose name had long been in the mouths of all. The house of Pasquale Diaz Garloni, Count of Alife, opposite the Castelnuovo, the usual residence of the king, was destined for the guest.[301]The reception was honourable, and the first meeting with the king very cordial.[302]Ferrante could not shake off the impression which Lorenzo made on him personally. It must have been clear to him that if hemade it up with this man who exhibited in his youth so much shrewdness and skill, and such great political sagacity, he could rely directly on the Republic; and, while securing Lorenzo’s authority at home by peace and by alliance, he would be strengthening and establishing his own influence on Italian affairs. Thus far it must have been easy for Lorenzo to persuade the king, who was not expected to give the preference to a popular form of government. But a number of the most varied considerations had to be weighed by Ferrante. He had to consider the Pope, of whom he was not fond, and whom, remembering the position of the Holy See at Naples, he did not trust, but whom he neither dared nor wished to offend on account of this very position. The Venetians had to be considered; they were dangerous neighbours for him as well as the Pope, on account of their constant endeavours to extend their dominion on the Adriatic coasts; while a good understanding with them was all the more uncertain because their policy was mostly determined by conjunctures which were foreign to the relations of the other Italian States. Siena, too, must not be overlooked, which the king and his son had their eye upon; nor Milan, where a change was in progress the extent of which could not be appreciated. All this, combined with the traditions of the policy of the times—namely the policy of a ruler surrounded by foreign and domestic difficulties from the beginning of his reign—must have caused Ferrante to hesitate long. Besides, it cannot be doubted that he wished to see what turn Florentine affairs would take in Lorenzo’s absence.

From various causes things were still unsettled in Florence. Lorenzo’s determination and sudden journey had not made the same impression on all the allies. Lodovico il Moro had assisted in it, and the Venetians were taken by surprise. They expressed their distrust and vexation in plain language. The Venetians, relates Francesco Guicciardini,[303]persuadedthemselves that peace had been concluded between Naples and Florence; that Lorenzo had only gone thither for the ratification of peace, and that they were left at their enemies’ discretion. But in order to hinder the treaty in case it were not yet concluded, or, in other words, to secure themselves, it seemed necessary for them to be as well armed as possible. They recalled their troops from Tuscany, but at the same time offered to Milan and Florence a renewal of the compact hitherto existing. The news had spread as far as Rome and elsewhere that this alliance had been dissolved on account of non-fulfilment of the conditions, so that it seemed necessary to renew it formally. In order not to render the negotiations with Naples more difficult, the offer was declined in Florence. When the Venetians offered the command of their troops to Roberto Malatesta—who would have been unable to accept it without the consent of Florence—permission was granted him by the latter, though unwillingly, in order not to offend Venice. ‘The ambassadors of our allies,’ wrote Bartolommeo Scala, on January 4, 1480, to Lorenzo,[304]‘give us trouble enough. They have become suspicious, but I do not believe they are agreed among themselves. They besiege us daily, officially and privately, in order to obtain news. It will not be easy to come to an understanding, especially with the Venetians; but we must keep to that which was given to you at your departure. The affair has its difficulties, and it will be best to conclude it with your aid. Now when you are far away, we, like the fools we are, have learnt to know you better.’ The Venetian ambassador in France expressed the same anxiety that in the new alliance which Lorenzo was endeavouring to effect at Naples, Venice would not only be excluded, but would have to suffer herself.[305]

That the most varied tendencies were manifested at homewas but natural. Not only the ancient opponents of the Medici raised their heads but even a few of their own party showed themselves lukewarm or disaffected. The heavy losses made the game easy for the former. It was said to be time to change a system which had lasted so long, and united all political power in the hands of a comparatively small number of families. Offices as well as burdens should for the future be no longer dispensed at the will of these few, but be granted and distributed by the old councils. The uncertainty of Lorenzo’s fate gave this party courage, while it made many of his adherents inclined to come to terms with them by a compromise. It seems, indeed, that they thought of choosing Girolamo Morelli, the former ambassador in Milan, as a new leader. The friends of the Medici thought they had gained much if they prevented a change till Lorenzo’s return. Piero Guicciardini, the historian’s father, was one of those most active in his behalf. The unfavourable position of foreign affairs had been rendered still worse at the moment of his departure. Without regarding the armistice still existing, Lodovico and Agostino Fregoso had by acoup-de-mainseized upon Sarzana, which had been only eleven years in the possession of Florence. When the Republic complained to the leaders of the Neapolitan and Papal army, these expressed themselves angry at the breach of peace by the Genoese, and commanded them to leave the city. But they were not expelled; and the Florentines suspected, certainly not without ground, that the Duke of Calabria had had a hand in the game, in order to increase, for his advantage, the number of claims in the forthcoming treaties of peace. The military situation was likewise much injured by the departure of the Venetians, and the exhaustion and disunion of the Florentines gave no prospect of improvement.[306]

The connection with the lords of Romagna was also uncertain.As may easily be understood, the latter followed the negotiations of the Florentines with their former enemies with the greatest anxiety, for their very existence depended on the result. This was particularly the case with Galeotto Manfredi. After the defeat at Poggio Imperiale Costanzo Sforza had marched to Romagna with as many men as could be spared, in order to protect his own territories and those of the Malatesta and Manfredi from an attack which was most to be dreaded by the latter if it came from Imola. But the precaution was not sufficient to pacify Galeotto. On the other side the Florentines could not submit to the capture of their best general Roberto Malatesta, so they ordered an ambassador and 200 men to Faenza in order to protect its master. Gismondo Manfredi, Taddeo’s son, remained in the service of the Republic, and also Antoniello Ordelaffi, Cecco’s son, the rightful heir to Forli, which was withheld from him by his uncle Pino, whom the Pope favoured. Costanzo Sforza felt safer than the other petty lords on account of the Milanese relationship; but a real mutual confidence was not to be thought of, even here.[307]

While affairs were in this state in Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici was occupied with troubles of another kind.

His appearance in Naples was exceedingly distasteful to the Pope. From the first Sixtus had perceived the king’s inclination to agree to favourable terms, the final result of which he easily foresaw. But, if powerless to prevent an understanding, he would at least have a personal share in it, and insisted that Lorenzo should come to Rome. However, the latter showed no inclination to take the journey, and was strengthened in his objection by Ferrante.[308]Lorenzo Giustini, who had been deputed to Naples by the Pope, left no argument unused to persuade him. When all this resulted innothing, and the treaty between the king and Florence seemed to take a favourable course, Sixtus IV. despatched a special plenipotentiary Antonio Crivelli. The detailed instructions given to this man put the whole course of affairs and the relations of the Pope and king in the clearest light. ‘After the events in Florence had taken a course so displeasing to the Church,’ says the Pope in this remarkable document,[309]‘we held it best to hear the king’s opinion of the imprisonment of the cardinal and other things; and, as his Majesty by several writings not only agreed with us, but called upon and encouraged us to take up arms, with the offer and promise to make every exertion and put his son’s and his own life at stake, in order to avenge this insult shown to the Holy See, it was unanimously determined to begin the war against Lorenzo and his adherents as the stumbling-block and disturber of the peace of Italy. At the same time the freedom of Florence must be restored, to which we and the king’s Majesty have pledged ourselves by autograph and other documentary writings, being moved thereto by Lorenzo’s evil proceedings and the disturbances caused by him in Italy. Lorenzo likewise has endeavoured to sow dissension between us and the king, and to dissolve the alliance in favour of one drawn up by himself.’

After the Pope had remarked that the ingratitude of Lorenzo was all the greater because he had won treasure by means of the Holy See, he expatiated on the course of the war, which was only begun when spiritual weapons availed nothing, on the attempts of foreign powers to terminate the strife with due respect to the Holy See and the king, and the great advantages obtained in 1479. When peaceful overtures were made by Milan, the king declined them. At the time it had been remarked by several cardinals that he only did this in order to transfer the negotiations to Naples, and be able toascribe all the merit to himself, and likewise to negotiate with Lorenzo without any regard to the Holy See, as at present was actually the case, according to the report of the royal ambassador. While the Pope was led to believe that the king agreed with him in views and treatment of affairs, the latter had let a number of other considerations influence him. They had decided to insist upon Lorenzo’s banishment from Florence; and then came the king’s doubt as to whether it would be possible to attain this, and whether there was not danger of his returning like his grandfather Cosimo. Little as the Pope believed in the validity of the reasons urged, as he thought that the principal end of the undertaking was overlooked, and that Lorenzo, having shown himself to be so bad when they were doing him good, would be found still worse now that he was irritated, he had yet persuaded himself to agree to a reconciliation with Lorenzo as the king wished, if the conditions demanded by him through his ambassador could be obtained, while, if this did not happen, the war should be continued. The king had commanded the captains of his army to continue operations although they thought of pacification, and on the showing of the Duke of Calabria the prospect of reconciliation offered by the enemy diminished the prospect of success. He had answered that by negotiation he would neither tie his own hands nor those of the army. Even then the Pope had complied with the king’s wishes, although his son’s opinion had seemed to him correct.

‘Scarcely had this occurred,’ continued Sixtus, ‘than the armistice followed, which filled us with surprise and displeasure, and confirmed us in the suspicion awakened. Therefore we refused decidedly to acknowledge it, and only yielded to the ambassador’s urgency, and because we perceived that we could not continue the war alone; under the express stipulation, however, that, if the conditions of peace should suffer thereby, we should never pardon the king for it. We made a virtue of necessity, but to our serious displeasure,for we saw how we missed the victory while we were deprived of the satisfaction of liberating Florence from these tyrants, and restoring freedom and quiet to her and peace to all Italy. The hope still remained to us that as the king had turned us whither he wished, he would at least conclude peace on the conditions mentioned, and would have some regard to the honour of God, the Church, and himself. Lorenzo went to Naples. The king announced to us he knew nothing of his movements, but in spite of all, if Lorenzo should refuse to accept the stipulations agreed upon, he would dismiss him. In a case of this kind we must stake the tiara and the whole States of the Church, and his Majesty would venture the crown and ten kingdoms, if he had them, to effect Lorenzo’s expulsion and complete ruin.’ The Pope had demanded that Lorenzo should come to Rome and beg for forgiveness, and that the lords of Romagna, who were guilty of rebellion, should do the same. Lorenzo so decidedly declined the former, that the king requested the Pope to withdraw this demand. He, Sixtus, refused this, however, for it was a point which the king disregarded—the only satisfaction he would receive in the whole affair. Respecting the lords of Romagna, the king desired that time might be afforded to them to fulfil their obligations, if the Pope would not leave it to the king to arrange the matter with them. Both conditions were refused, as also the proposal to send ambassadors to Milan at the same time as the king, to settle the other conditions of peace. The Pope had repeatedly shown that the king had it in his power to terminate the matter by force of arms if he fulfilled the conditions of alliance; and as Lorenzo was in his power, and would yield to him whether willing or not, he might also be induced to negotiate. Instead, however, of breaking with Lorenzo as he had hinted he should in case the latter refused to accept the conditions offered him, he treated him more kindly every day he was in Naples. The Pope wished for peace. In order to attain this peace he had begun the war, which had alreadycost him a heap of money. But he would purchase no peace with his dishonour.

The position of affairs is rendered quite clear by these instructions. Ferrante was inclined to come to terms with Lorenzo, but the Pope’s representations could not fail to make some impression on him. Lorenzo did not conceal this from himself, though he appeared content and cheerful before others, but when alone he had many heavy and anxious hours. His letters to the Ten prove this, by the manner in which he describes the rising and falling of his hopes. The affairs of Romagna increased the difficulties considerably; for if Ferrante believed that he had freedom to act in regard to Florentine affairs, inasmuch as he had not to pay attention to Siena, he found himself tied here towards the Pope. Florence did not cease to urge including the dynasties of Romagna in the peace. ‘The lords of Romagna who are in our pay,’ wrote Agnolo della Stufa on January 4, 1480,[310]‘are warmly commended to you for our own honour’s sake. For if they are left to the will of the Pope, I consider them as lost, for I know how the priests act. No one will believe in our protection any more. If the king, as I hope, receives us as his devoted sons, he must be also careful to preserve us this reputation as long as he can.’ No less skill was needful to continue the negotiation, as the Duke of Calabria, who speculated on the weakness of the Florentines, was exceedingly disinclined towards it. Perhaps Lorenzo’s aim would not have been attained had he not won over the most distinguished counsellor of the king, Diomede Carafa, Count of Maddaloni, son of that Malizia Carafa who had been so active in the cause of King Alfonso of Aragon. In the endless street which the people had named Spacca-Napoli, near the Dominican convent, is the palace where he resided—a building of architectural value. In the court of this house, once adorned with the colossal antique horse’s head, the arms of the city, King Ferrante had on one occasion stoodwaiting for the faithful servant who was to accompany him. Diomede Carafa was a man of distinction. He had served under King Alfonso, aided in the conquest of Naples, and penetrated within a few miles of the capital in the Florentine war of 1452. As superintendent of finance he had great influence on the administration—an influence which brought him into violent opposition to the king’s private secretary, a quarrel the fatal ending of which cast a dark shadow on the later period of Ferrante’s reign. With the king and his children, especially the second son Don Federigo, he stood in the most intimate connection. He shared Lorenzo de’ Medici’s interest in literature and art; and, if he was far from rivalling him in his high literary gifts, he showed in several smaller works of a didactic kind, in books on war and courtlife, in the rules of behaviour for the king’s daughters Beatrice and Eleonora, a practical understanding, knowledge of business, and experience of the world that was very rare.

The Count of Maddaloni was not the only one whom Lorenzo gained over to his interest. Naples at that time was a city full of busy life and varied culture, which had been promoted first by King Alfonso and then by his sons, in which Lorenzo must have felt himself all the more at home as the literary connections with his native city were various, and many of the artistic circle which had been so intimate with his family for three generations, beginning with Donatello, had laboured here, while the Florentine banking-houses had the greater part of the money matters of the Neapolitans in their own hands. From the royal family, members of which had repeatedly been his guests, to the citizens and country people, increasing affection was shown him, as Pope Sixtus had said. The Duchess of Calabria, remembering old friendship, became, as the king expressed it, his fellow-ally, and reminded him in later years of their wanderings at the villa—probably that near the Riviera di Chiaja of the present day—between the banks and the heights of Vomero, then with a free prospect over sea and shore,which is now changed into the Ferrandina palace with the adjoining gardens and buildings. ‘The present letter will not be one of those which refer to alliance and State affairs, but will merely bring to your remembrance that we always think of you, although we are by no means certain that you often think of our garden, which is now most beautiful and in full bloom.’[311]The century was not wanting in highly-cultivated women, but Ippolita Maria, who excelled so many in grace, also exceeded the ladies of her time in literary knowledge; and as her familiarity with Cicero’s writings was praised, so did she also shine in her knowledge of Greek, in which Constantinos Lascaris had been her teacher. Her learning did not diminish her womanly charm.[312]Lorenzo lived in Naplesen grand seigneur, spared no expense, gave banquets and made presents, and dowered poor girls who came to him from the provinces. He purchased the freedom of a hundred galley-slaves, and gave them new clothes.[313]But that he urgently wished to attain his purpose and be able to return home may be well understood, for the ground under him was not safe either here or there. When the king presented him with a beautiful horse, he remarked, in thanking him, that the man who would be the bearer of good news needed indeed a swift steed.

At length the main conditions of the treaty were agreed upon, and without having come to a formal conclusion Lorenzo deemed it possible to quit Naples, and to leave further steps to the Republic. At the end of February he departed by sea as he had arrived. Three months had passed, a time full of doubts and fears, but crowned with success. ‘He landed,’ says Niccolò Valori, ‘in Livorno, from whence he went to Pisa. In the harbour and town he was received with such a manifestation of joy, with such signs of attachmentand shouts of applause from the whole population, that the place itself seemed to join in the rejoicing. But it is impossible to describe how he was received at his entry into Florence. Young and old, men and women, flocked together. The people and the nobles rejoiced together to see him return safely. To all he gave his hand kindly and gratefully. The people embraced each other for joy.’ But a reaction soon set in. On the evening of March 17 a compact was published, which had been concluded on the 13th at Naples by Agostino Biliotti and Niccolò Michelozzi in the name of the Republic.[314]They had made peace; but the conditions were not easy, and the suspicion arose among the people that the most oppressive articles were kept secret. If all the circumstances are considered, however, the conditions were supportable. The Florentines had been conquered, and from whatever point of view the cause of the war might be judged, the fact of defeat could not be denied.

On March 25, 1480, the feast of the Annunciation, peace and alliance were formally proclaimed throughout Florence, and a grand procession took place headed by the statue from Sta. Maria dell’Impruneta, which was brought into the city for the purpose. The two opponents bound themselves mutually to defend their states; the occupied places should be restored to the Florentines, but at the king’s own time, and with the exception of Castellina and a part of the Chianti, which was to be given to Siena. The Duke of Calabria was to be paid a salary under the name ofcondotta. The Pazzi imprisoned in the tower of Volterra were to be restored to freedom. The lords of Romagna were not included in the treaty of peace but the king pledged himself to preserve their interests. Lorenzo had exerted himself in vain in this respect. Ferrante out of regard for the Pope was not to be moved. The dynasties, with the exception of the Ordelaffi, had not to complain later, as we shallsee. Efforts on behalf of the Chianti had likewise been fruitless. Lorenzo endeavoured to show how advantageously it would affect the future connections of the Republic with the king if their territory remained undiminished.[315]It offended the Florentines most of all that they did not even receive a promise respecting Sarzana, the restitution of which they had tried to obtain during the negotiations, in order to diminish the number of claims of compensation from their opponents. The demand of payment to Girolamo Riario which had been threatened them, and would indeed have been an insult, was allowed to remain in abeyance. ‘The conditions,’ remarks Francesco Guicciardini, ‘were not unfavourable to the vanquished.’ But the populace in Florence were not of the same opinion. That they were not satisfied with the demeanour of Lodovico Sforza and his influence on the negotiation is shown by a letter of the Duke of Ferrara to his ambassador, wherein he requires him to represent to Lorenzo that he would do well to go as much as possible hand in hand with Milan, even if some things in the compact were displeasing. He was not to forget that Florence and Milan were two states whose interests coincided, and whose true union would be useful to both, as it had been before.[316]

At Rome and Milan the compact was made known on the same day as at Florence. In the presence of the Pope and his cardinals, Ambrogio Cerano, general of the Augustinians, announced peace[317]from the pulpit in Sta. Maria del Popolo, where the Papal service took place on the feast of the Annunciation.

The position with regard to Sixtus IV. remained, however, as uncertain as before. Scarcely had Lorenzo left Naples when the king received through Lorenzo Giustini, new proposalsof agreement which appeared to him of sufficient importance to justify his sending after Medici, and requesting him to return from Gaeta or Pisa in order to effect an agreement with Sixtus. The latter, so wrote the king, had displayed the greatest readiness to agree to the proposals made by Florence and Milan; and as Girolamo Riario had expressed himself in like manner, Lorenzo’s return appeared to him highly desirable to bring the matter to a conclusion, all the more so as the Pope had regarded his departure as a sign of ill-will. He, the king, had indeed answered that this departure had been caused by affairs at Florence; but he advised him to announce at home that bad weather had hindered him on the way, and as, meanwhile, the Papal decision had arrived, he had considered it necessary to return in order not to delay the complete conclusion of the affair. In this manner he would render the League and Milan a real service, put an end to the Pope’s suspicion, recover his affection, and promote the king’s interests also. The negotiation could then proceed without delay on the part of the Milanese ambassadors, who had a time of departure appointed them, and he would return with the fame of having completed his work.[318]In this suggestion a cunning intention has sometimes been suspected, as if the king, enticed by the new proposals of the Pope, had repented his compact with Lorenzo, and tried to get the latter into his power again in order to dictate his will to him. Ferrante’s whole subsequent behaviour affords no ground for such a suspicion. But that Lorenzo did not accede to the king’s wishes is explained sufficiently by the painful suspense in which the Papal policy had kept him so long, and by the necessity of his presence at home. Probably, too, the king expected no result from this step, which he was obliged to take for the sake of the Pope. Sixtus IV. did, indeed, ratify the peace, as we have seen; but he was very ill satisfied with the whole course of the matter, and LorenzoGiustini, who had conducted the negotiation, lost the confidence of the Pope and his nephew, which he had long enjoyed.[319]Antonio Ridolfi and Piero Masi were sent to Rome to defend the cause of the Republic. They accomplished little. The Pope demanded that Lorenzo himself should come to Rome, for which the latter showed no inclination, and which was also advised against by others, Ferrara for example.[320]Sixtus complaining that the agreement and new alliance were to the disadvantage of the Church, allied himself with the Venetians, who regarded their ancient relation to Milan and Florence as dissolved, and left the Florentines still under the pressure of the interdict laid upon them.

Evils soon followed this policy in Romagna. Costanzo Sforza was in a difficulty, but his powerful relations came to his aid this time also against the plans of the Pope’s nephew. In Forli, on the other hand, affairs took a turn very unfavourable for the Republic. Pino degli Ordelaffi, whom we saw in 1466 violently freed from his brother Cecco, almost the only one of these lords of Romagna who took the side of Sixtus IV., had died on February 10, worn out by his dissipated life, which made it impossible for him to support the fatigues of a short campaign, which did not tax him heavily. In 1473 be had obtained from the Pope the renewal of his vice-regency for his own natural descendants, to the exclusion of his nephew Antonio or Antoniello, to whom, according to previous family statutes, the joint government of Forli belonged, and who, like his father, held to Florence as firmly as Pino to the opposite party. The natural son of the latter, Sinibaldo, a boy of thirteen years, had been acknowledged by the inhabitants of Forli as his successor. His stepmother and guardian, Zaffiera Manfredi, soon made herself so hated that an insurrection broke out as early as the beginning of July, in consequence of which Antoniello on the 8th entered Forli. Here the people were still fightingthe mercenaries of Sinibaldo, who had sought protection in the fortress of Ravaldino. Sixtus IV. took advantage of this opportunity. The Duke of Urbino received a command to march to Forli; Antoniello was declared deprived of all his rights, and as the boy Sinibaldo died about this time—how is unknown—the Pope granted Forli to Girolamo Riario as a lapsed fief. The citizens at first showed themselves willing to defend the cause of the rightful heir; but when the duke approached the city, and a few skirmishes had ended unfavourably, neither provisions nor money for a longer opposition were existing, and Antoniello recognised the impossibility of maintaining himself. On August 8 he quitted Forli and repaired to Florentine territory, and on the following day the Papal army entered, and Riario was proclaimed lord of Forli. How displeased they were in Florence to see these embittered enemies at their frontier with increased powers, may be understood. Two conspiracies in favour of the Ordelaffi, which broke out in the course of the year, failed, and Antoniello, who remained in the service of the Republic, awaited better times.

Far more serious cause of anxiety was afforded by affairs in Siena. Peace had been proclaimed on March 25 at Siena, but the Duke of Calabria made no sign of evacuating the territory of that Republic. During the winter he had been frequently in the city, and he managed to make himself beloved by the inhabitants. They gave him festivals in the palace, balls, banquets, and masquerades; and in return he bestowed knighthood, stood sponsor for children, and was present at the election of magistrates. In February he had been with troops in the Maremma, whence an attack from the Duke of Lorraine was feared. Three days after the proclamation of peace Alfonso went to Viterbo in order to consult with the Duke of Urbino, who was taking the baths there; and when he returned, the city sent him to Buonconvento, where the greater part of his troops were encamped, to meet three illustrious citizens with the ostensible object of welcominghim, and inviting him to Siena—in reality, to discover his intentions. For suspicion was already roused regarding Neapolitan affairs, and not without reason. Twice already in King Alfonso’s as well as in Ferrante’s days, the Aragonese had sought to gain ground in Siena. The discord which had always prevailed more in this city than in any other offered frequent opportunity for intervention. One happened at this very time. The Duke of Calabria, who had a residence in Siena, although he was chiefly in the camp, had put himself in communication with the disaffected of the aristocratic party, the Monte de’ Nove, the heads of which had lived in banishment since 1456 or stood aloof from government. His repeated endeavours to obtain the recall of the exiles had remained without result. It was now attempted in another way. On the morning of June 22, the friends of the duke, with the help of some of his troops, who were secretly admitted into the city, seized on the piazza and palace of the commonwealth, summoned a council of the people to which only their own adherents were admitted, abolished the government which had existed hitherto, and excluded its heads and partisans from office, appointing for the next two months a new magistracy composed entirely of members of their party. Without violence or bloodshed, an entire faction of the citizens which had ruled the city for seventy-seven years was expelled from home and position.

The duke was in Buonconvento when this revolution took place, either in order not to seem to countenance it, or to avoid danger in case the citizens rose in favour of the government, as they had done once before in the Emperor Charles IV.’s time. He calculated that the victors would call upon him, if only to accept the military aid without which they were too weak to maintain themselves permanently—and he calculated rightly. The Signory and magistrates went to meet him at the gates on his entry; and during his stay of several days the people were so amused by festivities that the new rulers had time to recall the exiles, and weaken theirenemies by banishment and fines. All this was of a kind to inspire the Florentines with the most serious anxiety; for if the Aragonese obtained a firm footing in Tuscany, their own independence was much more endangered, for late events had shown how inferior their military power was to that of the king. ‘Suspicion,’ remarks Machiavelli, ‘seized not only the people, but the heads of the State likewise;’ and it is considered that the city had never been in such danger of losing her freedom. This suspicion was strengthened by events on the Ligurian frontier, in which from the first the Duke of Calabria’s hand had been recognised. Sarzana was not only not given up to the Republic, but the garrison disturbed the neighbouring territory so that Giovanni Aldobrandini, commander of the fortress of Sarzanello, received commands to repel force by force.

Such was the position of affairs when an unexpected occurrence produced a decided reaction in the political situation of Central Italy. The quarrels of the Christian princes, which armed Louis XI. against Maximilian of Austria, and Mathias Corvinus against Ladislaus of Poland, the Tuscan war, and the Venetian peace, had been very advantageous for Mohammed II. The aged sultan wished to crown the series of his conquests with a brilliant feat of arms. The Sicilian coasts had been threatened in 1479. In May 1480 a numerous Turkish fleet attacked Rhodes. The heroic courage of Pierre d’Aubusson and his knights saved the island, which was held to be the bulwark of Christendom. Returning from the fruitless siege, a part of the squadron took a westerly direction, and, sailing by the Venetian islands of the Ionian sea, landed a considerable number of troops—about seven thousand men—on the southern coast of Apulia (July 28), where, after a terrible slaughter of the neighbouring population, the blockade of Otranto began. On August 11, after a hard struggle, the town fell into the hands of the inhuman opponents of the Christians.

The blow was stunning. The whole of Italy was in a flame.The threat of Mohammed to plant the Crescent instead of the Cross in Rome was remembered. It is said that in his first terror the Pope thought of quitting the city and retiring to Avignon. But Sixtus IV. was not a man to lose courage. He wrote to all the Christian princes, representing the urgent danger to them. Cardinal Gabriele Rangoni went to Naples, Cardinal Savelli to Genoa, to mediate between the disputants, Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini to France and England. A French fleet was to combine with the Neapolitan. The first result for the Florentines was the return of the Duke of Calabria to Naples. On August 1 the king had received news of the Turks, and he immediately recalled his son.[321]The advantage accruing to the Florentines from the new position of affairs was so great and so evident that many voices were heard accusing Lorenzo de’ Medici of having encouraged the sultan to attack Apulia. The friendly relations with Mohammed II., which had been proved at the Pazzi conspiracy, must have likewise afforded grounds for such an accusation, the influence of which is, however, not discernible in the subsequent attitude of the king.[322]On August 7 the duke quitted Siena. If he accused fate of wresting from him the fruits of his two years’ exertions in Tuscany the very moment he believed himself certain of success, he caused those to complain who had calculated on his assistance, and now feared having to yield for want of it. The same Prinzivalle di Gennaro who had accompanied Lorenzo was entrusted with the superintendence of the place which, for the present, was to remain in the king’s hands, and be given back to the Florentines at the end of March of the next year. The reconciliation of the Republic with the Pope could be no longer delayed. It must have been especiallyimportant to him to leave no cause for discontent in Florence when such danger threatened Christendom.

At the request of King Ferrante, the Signoria, who had conducted the government during the two last months of the year 1480 with the Gonfaloniere Bernardo Rucellai, appointed a solemn embassy which should request Sixtus IV. to revoke the spiritual interdict. The most distinguished men of the city undertook the mission: Francesco Soderini, Bishop of Volterra, and afterwards Cardinal, Luigi Guicciardini, Bongianni Gianfigliazzi, Piero Minerbetti—who all three possessed the dignity of knighthood—Guid’Antonio Vespucci, Maso degli Albizzi, Gino Capponi, Jacopo Lanfredini, Domenico Pandolfini, Giovanni Tornabuoni, Antonio de’ Medici—names some of which have already appeared in the course of this history, others yet to be seen. Antonio Ridolfi, who was in Rome holding the office of regular ambassador of the Republic, was to join them. The instructions given to the deputies[323]were conciliatory, but moderate and dignified. ‘After the disturbances permitted by God,’ it says, ‘which have been principally pacified by the grace of his Holiness, peace and quiet never appeared so sweet to us as at present, for the true peace of our people devoted to the Holy See depends on the right understanding with him whom Divine Providence has placed there, and appointed vicegerent of Christ and successor of Peter. We know that in public and private we have committed various errors from human weakness, which the Holy Father has perceived better than we, and therefore send you to entreat pardon for the same and acknowledge our guilt, and commend our city and citizens, clergy and laity, to his protection for the future.’ But the ambassadors were at the same time recommended to watch over the honour and interests of city and State, to give way in reasonable matters, to refuse unreasonable and dishonourable demands prompted by secret motives, whetherthey referred to a public demonstration of obedience, payments of money, or other things; they were to depart with their protest in case it should not seem suitable to send for fresh instructions. The affairs of Lorenzo de’ Medici were to be included in the general instructions; for special cases Antonio de’ Medici was to represent him. The Archbishop Rinaldo Orsini, residing at Rome, should be informed of all, and his mediation with the Pope claimed.

Sixtus IV. had long resolved on reconciliation. On St. Catherine’s day, November 25, the ambassadors arrived at Rome, welcomed only by their adherents in the State and friends, as the interdict was still in force. Two days later they were admitted to the secret consistory, where the Bishop of Ferrara made a suitable and well-composed speech. On the first Advent Sunday, December 3, the solemn abrogation took place in the portico of St. Peter’s. Before the closed bronze gate of the central nave of the basilica, seated on a throne covered with purple silk, surrounded by the cardinals, prelates, and officers, and in presence of a great crowd, the Pope received the ambassadors, who kissed his foot, and on bended knee besought his forgiveness in the name of the city, and promised to fulfil the conditions prescribed. Luigi Guicciardini, an aged man, spoke, but his address was brief, and difficult to be understood from the noise. An apostolic notary then read aloud the conditions in the presence of the fiscal advocate and procurators, to which the ambassadors bound themselves by oath. The Pope then addressed them, reproved them briefly for what they had done against the Church, and then declared them free by touching the shoulder of each lightly with a staff such as penitents were accustomed to carry, with the words ‘Miserere mei Deus,’ to which the cardinals responded. Hereupon the ambassadors again kissed the Pope’s foot, and received his blessing, after which the gates were opened, and Sixtus IV. being raised on his throne, all went into church, and high mass was celebrated.

Peace was restored. Most of the members of the embassy returned immediately to Florence. Only Francesco Soderini and Guid’Antonio Vespucci remained in order to arrange matters. They also quitted Rome on December 18 with small pomp and suite, and by no means in a cheerful frame of mind. For among the conditions imposed on them by the Pope was the one that the Republic should furnish fifteen galleys for the war with the Turks;[324]a severe condition considering the depressed position in which Florence found herself at the end of a war which had required the hardest pecuniary sacrifices, and desolated a great part of her territory.

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