CHAPTER IV.THE CARDINALATE OF GIOVANNI DE’ MEDICI.Bothcontemporary and later writers have passed an unfavourable judgment on Pope Innocent VIII. ‘Though the life of Innocent VIII. was useless for the general good,’ remarks Guicciardini at the beginning of his great history, ‘at least it was useful thus far, in that, frightened at his unsuccessful attempt to meddle in the Barons’ War, during the remainder of his pontificate he directed his attention to trifles instead of planning for himself and his belongings things which might have disturbed the peace of Italy.’ This negative praise is not without truth, but it gives little insight into the character and aims of the Pope. His greatest faults were weakness and inconsistency: hence the sorry part which he played as a ruler, although he had no tendency towards nepotism and was gifted with sound judgment. It was his weakness which made him abandon the affairs of Aquila and of the Barons, and caused his ever-wavering conduct towards the King of Naples. The latter alternately lured and contemptuously defied him, rendered the treatment of his own restless feudatories uncertain, and provoked disturbances in Rome which led to the robbing of the papal treasury by the Pope’s own son. Yet that son, compared with the nephews of the last Pope—not to mention the one who followed—was but very modestly provided for; so barely indeed that, but for the resources of the Medici, Franceschetto Cybò, at the Pope’s death, would have been, for one in his position, a poor man. It was long beforeInnocent made up his mind to do anything serious for him; and considering the traditions of all the Papal ‘nephews,’ the Colonna, Piccolomini, Della Rovere, and Riari, it may be well imagined that Franceschetto became impatient; more so, perhaps, as the Pope’s health was failing owing to the two apoplectic attacks he had had in January 1485, and in February of the following year, during which he had been given up for dead. ‘These occurrences,’ remarks his biographer,[481]‘made his family anxious to secure their position for the future, and they begged the Pope to make provision for this while it was yet time.’But they gained little, and not till after Franceschetto’s marriage did his circumstances begin really to improve. Lorenzo was not behindhand with his persuasions: ‘It is not without a blush,’ he wrote on February 26, 1488,[482]‘that I commend to your Holiness the affairs of Signor Francesco; for it seems to me unreasonable to commend to your Holiness that which for natural reasons must be nearer your heart than anything else. My letters and intercession cannot in reason have more weight than the natural relationship between your Holiness and Signor Francesco; but as I see that his affairs proceed very slowly, I feel I ought not to refuse him my recommendation and every other support. As he is, he tells me, very happy in possessing Maddalena, this should be to your Holiness an occasion for treating him so as to please me too. This will be the case if his position becomes such as shall befit the dignity of your Holiness and set my mind at rest. I never had any idea that your Holiness should take anything from others, or give offence to any, in order to make him great. As this would be dishonourable and contrary to the nature of your Holiness, so, on the other hand, I think that it would not be in accordance with your natural kindness and goodness if your Holiness did not provide for him, as he can easily be portionedin a manner befitting his rank without any injury to others. I humbly beg your Holiness to relieve yourself as well as me of this trouble, and establish him so that further importunity shall be needless. Thus your Holiness will be doing a work worthy of your goodness, not only sensible and pious, but necessary, and greatly desired by me, as a good example for all those who set their hopes on your Holiness.’Still the Pope was far too slow for Franceschetto’s impatience, and seems to have had no great opinion of the latter’s judgment. The son-in-law’s letters to his father-in-law are full of complaints which really display Innocent in a more honourable light than those by whom he was thus beset. ‘Like the ox, he needs the goad.’ This was a son writing of his father, and that father the Pope! Lorenzo was not much behind his son-in-law. One of his letters to the Pope[483]is but too glaring an example of the profane tone in which this man, who could display such a refined sense of decorum in other things, addressed with the utmost coolness the very head of the Church. Innocent had had another of his attacks of illness, and Lorenzo was getting anxious: ‘As St. Francis, by means of the stigmata, experienced in his own body the Passion of Christ, so do I feel in and about myself all the sufferings of your Holiness; for, putting aside other reasons, I have the situation of our dear Signor Francesco and of many servants of your Holiness very much at heart. Owing to your Holiness’ conscientious holding back, all these remain almost empty-handed and have no part of the fortune and favour which God has given your Holiness for your merits; so that, should your Holiness be called away, which God forbid, they would sink likewise into the grave. More especially, however, am I moved, as must be the case with your Holiness also, by the position of poor Signor Francesco, who, after five years of your pontificate, is only just beginning to have something he can call his own.Your Holiness knows better than I what supporters he has in the Sacred College. The history of the Popes shows how few have reigned much beyond five years, and how many have not waited so long before showing themselves as Popes, without giving way to such scruples and forbearance, justifiable no doubt before God and man, but which, if they last long, may be misconstrued. Perhaps I seem too bold; but zeal and conscience impose upon me the duty of speaking freely and reminding you that men are not immortal, that a Pope is what he chooses to be, that he cannot leave his pontificate to his heirs, and can call nothing his own but honour and glory and what he does for his relatives. Instead of depending on health and luck, your Holiness should not put off doing what you project, and for which later there might perhaps be no opportunity. Above all I commend to you your and my dear Signor Francesco and Maddalena, who pray God to grant your Holiness a long life that you may set their affairs in order. It is now about time to release these holy fathers from Limbo, that their fate may not be like that of the Jews waiting for the Messiah.’While the Pope was thus plagued about secular matters, it was much the same with ecclesiastical ones. In both cases the object was one and the same—increase of riches and power. Everything was regarded and treated from this point of view; of anything beyond, politicians—even highly-gifted ones like Lorenzo—had no conception. Lorenzo was impatient to get property for Franceschetto Cybò, he was still more impatient to get the red hat for his own son. Giovanni was born on December 11, 1475, and was consequently in his ninth year when Innocent became Pope.[484]Some preparations had been made even then: ‘Cousin,’ wrote Louis XI. from Plessis-les-Tours on February 3, 1483, in reply to Lorenzo who had applied to him on the death of Cardinal d’Estouteville, ‘I have seen what you wrote to meconcerning the benefices of the Cardinal of Rouen, and much regret not to have known thereof sooner; for I should be very pleased if your son should obtain a good provision and benefice in my kingdom.’The king was as good as his word; that same spring he conferred on the child not only the abbacy of Font Doulce in the diocese of Saintes, but also the archbishopric of Aix, which was supposed to be vacant. ‘On May 19, 1483,’ says Lorenzo in his memoirs,[485]‘news came that the King of France, of his own free will, had conferred the abbacy of Font Doulce on our Giovanni; and on the 31st we heard from Rome that the Pope (Sixtus IV.) had confirmed the appointment, declared him capable of holding benefices at the age of seven, and appointed him a protonotary.[486]On June 1, Giovanni, accompanied by me, came from Poggio (a Cajano) to Florence, whereupon he was confirmed and tonsured by the Lord Bishop of Arezzo, and was thenceforth called Messer Giovanni. The aforesaid ceremonies took place in our private chapel, and in the evening we returned to Poggio. On the morning of June 8, Jacopino the courier came with a letter from the French king, whereof the contents were that he had conferred on our Messer Giovanni the archbishopric of Aix in Provence. In the evening he went on to Rome with letters from the king to the Pope and the Cardinal of Maçon (Philibert Hugonet), and at the same time a courier was sent to Forlì with a letter for Count Girolamo. On the 11th the courier came back from Forlì with letters from the count for the Pope and San Giorgio (Cardinal Riario), which were forwarded to Rome by the Milanese post. May God direct all for good. On the same day, after mass, all the children, except Messer Giovanni, were confirmed in the chapel. On the 15th, about the sixth hour of the evening, intelligence came from Rome that the Pope raised difficulties about theappointment to the archbishopric on account of Messer Giovanni’s youth; of which news the king was at once informed by the same messenger. On the 20th came from Lionetto (de’ Rossi) the announcement that the archbishop was still alive! On March 1, 1484 (1485), the Abbot of Passignano died, and an express was sent to Messer Giovan Antonio Vespucci, envoy at Rome, to beg the abbey from the Pope (Innocent VIII.) for our Messer Giovanni. On the 2nd, in pursuance of an ordinance of the Signoria, possession was taken of it, in virtue of the reservation made in Messer Giovanni’s favour by Pope Sixtus and confirmed by Pope Innocent when our Piero went to Rome to do him homage.’ These details show but too plainly how benefices were dealt with, and how at the mere rumour of a prelate’s death temporal sovereigns disposed of a high spiritual office in favour of a child. A few years after this, King Matthias Corvinus conferred on a boy of seven—his nephew Ippolito of Este—the primatial see of Hungary, the archbishopric of Gran. Like Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII. at first refused to confirm the appointment, but he ended by yielding.The abbey of Passignano, belonging to the monks of Vallombrosa, was one of the richest in Tuscany. The young abbot continued to enjoy its possession till 1499, when he gave it up to the General of the Order for a pension of 2,000 scudi. The grand fortress-like building, which remained in the possession of the Order down to our own day, stands in the valley of the Pesa, sixteen miles south of Florence, on the left of the Roman military road; its church is adorned with paintings by Domenico Cresti, who was somewhat of the Caracci school, and was called by the name of his birthplace, Passignano. Everything in the shape of benefices of all kinds, commanderies, rectorships, and so forth, that came within reach of the Medici, fell to Lorenzo’s son; in 1486 he actually obtained, as a commandery, the abbey of Monte Cassino; King Ferrante having, in order to conciliate the Pope, given him free disposal of the famous convent of S.Benedict.[487]How anxious the king was to appease the Medicean hunger after benefices is shown by his letter of August 23, 1486, in answer to Lorenzo’s thanks.[488]‘Thanks from you were needless, for God knows we are ready and willing to do anything in the world to prove to you our gratitude for what you have continually done for our good and that of our state, on which you may reckon as on your own property. Our obligations to you demand this; and we can never do enough in favour of you and your house to satisfy the thousandth part of our desire, as we hope you will perceive more clearly every day.’ Lodovico il Moro answered in the same strain when Lorenzo thanked him for giving his son the abbacy of Miramondo.[489]All this, however, was but the prelude. There is something very repulsive in the impatience with which Lorenzo looked forward to his son’s cardinalate, and pressed the Pope to confer it. For the ambassadors of the Republic there seemed to be nothing more important than this. Lorenzo always took special good care that men who were in his own deepest confidence should be sent to the Popes. In the spring of 1487 Innocent wished that Pier Filippo Pandolfini, who had formerly been in Rome, should be appointed to the vacant post of ambassador; but he could not leave Florence, and the place was taken by Giovanni Lanfredini, whose capabilities had lately been tested at Naples. ‘I have used my influence with the Signoria,’ wrote Lorenzo to the Pope on May 6,[490]‘to procure the appointment of a man with whom your Holiness will be perfectly satisfied. For besides that Giovanni Lanfredini (he who is destined for Rome) is an excellent honest man and conversant with business, he also possesses my heart (il core mio), as I am much attached to him on account of his merits.’ To Lanfredini himselfLorenzo wrote on June 16 of the following year:[491]‘I have heard what his Holiness said to you about the creation of cardinals. I think the Pope should not put off the nomination any longer than is absolutely necessary. According to my view his Holiness will be quite another Pope after it. For whereas hitherto he has been a head without members, he must get some; whereas he has been the creature of others, now others must be the creatures of him. Therefore persuade him, yea, urge him, to take the needful decision; the sooner the better.Periculum est in mora; as much as he gains by acting he loses by hesitating. Use all your influence to procure this blessed promotion as soon as possible. As the matter is before the Sacred College, it cannot be delayed without great damage to the holy father’s dignity and power. As to the persons to be nominated, I approve of all the names which are marked; they are those of which you have spoken to me. If he can do us that pleasure, let him do it. If the promotion were to be put off on our account, tell him he may act according to his judgment. If he thinks it well to begin with a single one to show that it is in his power, he can nominate more by degrees till everybody is satisfied.’Months passed away; the Pope’s indecision was unconquerable, and Lorenzo’s impatience increased. ‘As I understand from our ambassador,’ he wrote to Innocent on October 1, 1488,[492]‘that your Holiness intends shortly to create some cardinals, I should think myself deserving of grave censure did I not put you in mind of the honour of this city and my own, though I am sure that your Holiness in your goodness remembers both. I do not believe that in the whole course of your pontificate you could do anything that would deserve more gratitude from the city; and as the dignity of a cardinal is lofty and much sought after, this city would feel it deeply should her hopes not be fulfilled.’ It concerned the honour of Florence that a son of Lorenzo—a mere boy—should be received into the senate of the Church! Meantime, while Lorenzo thus unceasingly urged his claim, he was taking equal trouble to prevent the same dignity from being conferred on some fellow-countryman for whom he had no predilection. ‘The Pope,’ he wrote to the ambassador,[493]‘does not know our people’s ways (i polli nostri) as we do. Not only the cardinalate, but any increase of position and dignity, would be dangerous if it came otherwise than in the right way.’ Who can tell whether the chief cause of this long delay in the only promotion undertaken by this Pope was not really a scruple, struggling with political considerations? Innocent himself had decided that no one under thirty should be admitted to the cardinalate, and Giovanni de’ Medici was not yet fourteen. Lorenzo never ceased writing,[494]Lanfredini never ceased talking. Cardinals Sforza, Borgia, La Balue, and Zeno, were pressed into the service. ‘The services daily rendered us by Monsignor Ascanio,’ says Lorenzo in a letter to the ambassador, February 21, 1489, ‘deserve better thanks than words. My obligations to him could not be greater if I were recalled from death to life.’ The story current in Florence—perhaps exaggerated—of the sums spent on the occasion furnishes a commentary on these words.At last, on March 9, 1489, the promotion took place.[495]It resulted in five cardinals, among whom were the Pope’s relative Lorenzo de’ Mari, who took the name of Cybò, and the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, the heroic defender of Rhodes, Pierre d’Aubusson. But besides these five, at the same consistory, Innocent conferred the samedignity on three others, without publishing their names—what is now called a reservationin petto. One of these was Maffeo Gherardi, a Camaldulensian, patriarch of Venice; the second was Federigo Sanseverino, son of Roberto; the third was Giovanni de’ Medici.It was quite clear that the Pope was ashamed of himself. In the worst days of the Church no child had yet been made a cardinal. The nomination was to be kept secret for three years; whosoever divulged it was to be excommunicated. It was very soon seen how this was observed. On the day of the promotion, cardinals Sforza and La Balue, the Bishop of Cortona, prefect of the Apostolic Chamber, and the ambassador, announced to Lorenzo that his son had been made cardinal-deacon of Sta. Maria in Domenica.[496]‘God be thanked,’ wrote Lorenzo to the last-mentioned,[497]‘for the good news received yesterday about Messer Giovanni; news which gave me all the greater pleasure, because I expected it the less on account of the importance of the matter and its difficulty bordering on impossibility, besides which it far exceeds my deserts.... I know not whether the Pope is displeased at the rejoicings which have taken place here on all sides, and in such a degree as I never saw before; there would have been a yet more brilliant expression of general joy, had I not interfered. To prevent the demonstration was out of my power. As Messer Giovanni’s promotion is secret, these festivities certainly seem out of place. But you at Rome have let the thing become so well known that it could not be otherwise here; and it would have been impossible for me to keep aloof from the congratulations of whole cities, small and great. If it is wrong, it cannot be helped. Now I want to know how we are to behave ourselves in future, and how Messer Giovanni’s mode of life, dress, and servants are to be arranged; for I would not reward so great a benefit by notmaking a proper display according to the manner most likely to please the Pope. Messer Giovanni keeps at home; the house is full of people. (The foreign ambassadors had immediately come to offer their congratulations.) I wait to hear from you whether I shall, as I proposed to you, send Piero to Rome. Perhaps it would be more befitting the importance of the favour that I should go there myself.’ Poliziano had written a letter to the Pope, taking occasion of the nomination to praise Innocent and describe the lad as worthy of his new distinction. He wanted to have it read out in the Consistory; but Lorenzo had too much tact to join in such an absurdity, and sent the letter to the ambassador, not concealing his own adverse opinion, and leaving it to Lanfredini to do with it what he thought fit.[498]On the same day, March 4, Lorenzo addressed to the Pope the following letter of thanks.[499]‘I have received with the utmost reverence your Holiness’s brief of the 9th instant, concerning the promotion of Messer Giovanni. As this news had already reached me through our ambassador, I at once wrote to your Holiness, more to put into words my inability to thank you fittingly, than to give expression to my gratitude. That God alone can do, not I. This only can I say in reference to this undying benefit, that through what your Holiness has done for my son you have at the same time elevated me; and this increase of authority, as well as whatever more may accrue to me, I place at the disposal of your Holiness, to whom it belongs rather than to me.’ Then comes an apology for the publication of the news, which had originated not with Lorenzo but in Rome. The Italian princes by no means undervalued this new proof of Lorenzo’s influence over the Pope. The Duke of Calabria said to Vettori, the ambassador,[500]that one could see how great was Lorenzo’spower, and that the Florentine ambassador ruled Innocent. He wished he could be together with Lorenzo and Sforza to talk over the strife with Rome. He believed it would not be difficult for him to make the alliance of the three states such as should be apparent in their whole conduct. One could see how much the Pope did for Lorenzo, and how he had made his son a cardinal at an unheard-of age; so that one might conclude that everything could be arranged if he chose to do all he could.The man who had contributed most to overcome the Pope’s scruples, Giovanni Lanfredini, only survived his success a few months. In November 1488, he had lost at Rome his eldest son, Orsino, a youth of sixteen.[501]‘It is with much regret,’ wrote Lorenzo,[502]‘that I have heard of your son’s death; the news was the more painful to me as I had not known of his illness. If I did not know your strength of mind, and how accustomed you are to both good and evil, I should use more words of consolation than I do, and represent to you my own heavy losses, which are but too well known to you. Resign yourself to the decree of God; the more so as your son is far rather to be envied than pitied. You and yours will never want for friends who regard your concerns as their own. As for me, on account of the sympathy I feel for you and for the sake of your old and tried attachment, I shall always conduct myself towards you as your sentiments and actions, and my duty and gratitude, require. Be comforted, Giovanni; take courage, trust in God, and reckon on your friends.’ Another letter[503]is expressed in equally cordial terms. But the loss of the son broke the father’s heart. ‘Giovanni Lanfredini,’ wrote the Ferrarese ambassador on March 16, 1489,[504]‘is at Rome confined to his bed; and as business presses, the Signoria hasordered Pier Filippo Pandolfini, who is now at Pitigliano, to proceed thither immediately. Lanfredini has asked for leave of absence. He seems to have had quite enough of his post, and I think he feels he can now give it up with honour, after helping the son of the illustrious Lorenzo to attain the dignity of cardinal.’ As soon as the promotion took place, Lorenzo had expressed his strong sense of what he owed to Lanfredini.[505]‘I recognise the duty of always remembering him who has directed the whole affair, and of putting those who shall come after me in mind of it. For no greater event has ever befallen our house, and I owe more than three quarters of it to your zeal and attachment.’ Lanfredini’s condition improved so that he could resume his duties; but this did not last. He died on January 5, 1490, in the house of the Acciaiuoli in the Leonine city.[506]The Bishop of Rimini wrote to Lorenzo:[507]‘The man is dead who kept this court at your service. Henceforth things may take another turn; and they have already gone so far that it has been said you will no longer have everything your own way.’ It seems, indeed, that the weak-minded Pope had allowed some suspicious remarks to escape him, to the effect that he could not safely trust to Florence, where individual interests were in the ascendant. These expressions induced Lorenzo to send Bernardo Dovizi to Rome to consult with Pandolfini. The instructions drawn up by Lorenzo[508]show his irritation at the changeableness of the Pope. ‘Such as neither know me personally nor have seen me put faith in my word; and now I am met with want of confidence after all my trouble and exertions, and the experience there has been of my sentiments.’ The ill-feeling, however, seems to have soon passed away.One of the last affairs in which Lanfredini had to act was the canonisation of the Archbishop Antonine, in which theEmperor Frederic III. was also interested. Lorenzo proposed that the Bishop of Arezzo and Volterra should undertake the cause. Lanfredini’s successor Pandolfini continued the negotiations; but it was not till 1523 that the reverence of the Florentine people for this worthy and pious man received the sanction of the Church from Pope Hadrian VI.
CHAPTER IV.THE CARDINALATE OF GIOVANNI DE’ MEDICI.Bothcontemporary and later writers have passed an unfavourable judgment on Pope Innocent VIII. ‘Though the life of Innocent VIII. was useless for the general good,’ remarks Guicciardini at the beginning of his great history, ‘at least it was useful thus far, in that, frightened at his unsuccessful attempt to meddle in the Barons’ War, during the remainder of his pontificate he directed his attention to trifles instead of planning for himself and his belongings things which might have disturbed the peace of Italy.’ This negative praise is not without truth, but it gives little insight into the character and aims of the Pope. His greatest faults were weakness and inconsistency: hence the sorry part which he played as a ruler, although he had no tendency towards nepotism and was gifted with sound judgment. It was his weakness which made him abandon the affairs of Aquila and of the Barons, and caused his ever-wavering conduct towards the King of Naples. The latter alternately lured and contemptuously defied him, rendered the treatment of his own restless feudatories uncertain, and provoked disturbances in Rome which led to the robbing of the papal treasury by the Pope’s own son. Yet that son, compared with the nephews of the last Pope—not to mention the one who followed—was but very modestly provided for; so barely indeed that, but for the resources of the Medici, Franceschetto Cybò, at the Pope’s death, would have been, for one in his position, a poor man. It was long beforeInnocent made up his mind to do anything serious for him; and considering the traditions of all the Papal ‘nephews,’ the Colonna, Piccolomini, Della Rovere, and Riari, it may be well imagined that Franceschetto became impatient; more so, perhaps, as the Pope’s health was failing owing to the two apoplectic attacks he had had in January 1485, and in February of the following year, during which he had been given up for dead. ‘These occurrences,’ remarks his biographer,[481]‘made his family anxious to secure their position for the future, and they begged the Pope to make provision for this while it was yet time.’But they gained little, and not till after Franceschetto’s marriage did his circumstances begin really to improve. Lorenzo was not behindhand with his persuasions: ‘It is not without a blush,’ he wrote on February 26, 1488,[482]‘that I commend to your Holiness the affairs of Signor Francesco; for it seems to me unreasonable to commend to your Holiness that which for natural reasons must be nearer your heart than anything else. My letters and intercession cannot in reason have more weight than the natural relationship between your Holiness and Signor Francesco; but as I see that his affairs proceed very slowly, I feel I ought not to refuse him my recommendation and every other support. As he is, he tells me, very happy in possessing Maddalena, this should be to your Holiness an occasion for treating him so as to please me too. This will be the case if his position becomes such as shall befit the dignity of your Holiness and set my mind at rest. I never had any idea that your Holiness should take anything from others, or give offence to any, in order to make him great. As this would be dishonourable and contrary to the nature of your Holiness, so, on the other hand, I think that it would not be in accordance with your natural kindness and goodness if your Holiness did not provide for him, as he can easily be portionedin a manner befitting his rank without any injury to others. I humbly beg your Holiness to relieve yourself as well as me of this trouble, and establish him so that further importunity shall be needless. Thus your Holiness will be doing a work worthy of your goodness, not only sensible and pious, but necessary, and greatly desired by me, as a good example for all those who set their hopes on your Holiness.’Still the Pope was far too slow for Franceschetto’s impatience, and seems to have had no great opinion of the latter’s judgment. The son-in-law’s letters to his father-in-law are full of complaints which really display Innocent in a more honourable light than those by whom he was thus beset. ‘Like the ox, he needs the goad.’ This was a son writing of his father, and that father the Pope! Lorenzo was not much behind his son-in-law. One of his letters to the Pope[483]is but too glaring an example of the profane tone in which this man, who could display such a refined sense of decorum in other things, addressed with the utmost coolness the very head of the Church. Innocent had had another of his attacks of illness, and Lorenzo was getting anxious: ‘As St. Francis, by means of the stigmata, experienced in his own body the Passion of Christ, so do I feel in and about myself all the sufferings of your Holiness; for, putting aside other reasons, I have the situation of our dear Signor Francesco and of many servants of your Holiness very much at heart. Owing to your Holiness’ conscientious holding back, all these remain almost empty-handed and have no part of the fortune and favour which God has given your Holiness for your merits; so that, should your Holiness be called away, which God forbid, they would sink likewise into the grave. More especially, however, am I moved, as must be the case with your Holiness also, by the position of poor Signor Francesco, who, after five years of your pontificate, is only just beginning to have something he can call his own.Your Holiness knows better than I what supporters he has in the Sacred College. The history of the Popes shows how few have reigned much beyond five years, and how many have not waited so long before showing themselves as Popes, without giving way to such scruples and forbearance, justifiable no doubt before God and man, but which, if they last long, may be misconstrued. Perhaps I seem too bold; but zeal and conscience impose upon me the duty of speaking freely and reminding you that men are not immortal, that a Pope is what he chooses to be, that he cannot leave his pontificate to his heirs, and can call nothing his own but honour and glory and what he does for his relatives. Instead of depending on health and luck, your Holiness should not put off doing what you project, and for which later there might perhaps be no opportunity. Above all I commend to you your and my dear Signor Francesco and Maddalena, who pray God to grant your Holiness a long life that you may set their affairs in order. It is now about time to release these holy fathers from Limbo, that their fate may not be like that of the Jews waiting for the Messiah.’While the Pope was thus plagued about secular matters, it was much the same with ecclesiastical ones. In both cases the object was one and the same—increase of riches and power. Everything was regarded and treated from this point of view; of anything beyond, politicians—even highly-gifted ones like Lorenzo—had no conception. Lorenzo was impatient to get property for Franceschetto Cybò, he was still more impatient to get the red hat for his own son. Giovanni was born on December 11, 1475, and was consequently in his ninth year when Innocent became Pope.[484]Some preparations had been made even then: ‘Cousin,’ wrote Louis XI. from Plessis-les-Tours on February 3, 1483, in reply to Lorenzo who had applied to him on the death of Cardinal d’Estouteville, ‘I have seen what you wrote to meconcerning the benefices of the Cardinal of Rouen, and much regret not to have known thereof sooner; for I should be very pleased if your son should obtain a good provision and benefice in my kingdom.’The king was as good as his word; that same spring he conferred on the child not only the abbacy of Font Doulce in the diocese of Saintes, but also the archbishopric of Aix, which was supposed to be vacant. ‘On May 19, 1483,’ says Lorenzo in his memoirs,[485]‘news came that the King of France, of his own free will, had conferred the abbacy of Font Doulce on our Giovanni; and on the 31st we heard from Rome that the Pope (Sixtus IV.) had confirmed the appointment, declared him capable of holding benefices at the age of seven, and appointed him a protonotary.[486]On June 1, Giovanni, accompanied by me, came from Poggio (a Cajano) to Florence, whereupon he was confirmed and tonsured by the Lord Bishop of Arezzo, and was thenceforth called Messer Giovanni. The aforesaid ceremonies took place in our private chapel, and in the evening we returned to Poggio. On the morning of June 8, Jacopino the courier came with a letter from the French king, whereof the contents were that he had conferred on our Messer Giovanni the archbishopric of Aix in Provence. In the evening he went on to Rome with letters from the king to the Pope and the Cardinal of Maçon (Philibert Hugonet), and at the same time a courier was sent to Forlì with a letter for Count Girolamo. On the 11th the courier came back from Forlì with letters from the count for the Pope and San Giorgio (Cardinal Riario), which were forwarded to Rome by the Milanese post. May God direct all for good. On the same day, after mass, all the children, except Messer Giovanni, were confirmed in the chapel. On the 15th, about the sixth hour of the evening, intelligence came from Rome that the Pope raised difficulties about theappointment to the archbishopric on account of Messer Giovanni’s youth; of which news the king was at once informed by the same messenger. On the 20th came from Lionetto (de’ Rossi) the announcement that the archbishop was still alive! On March 1, 1484 (1485), the Abbot of Passignano died, and an express was sent to Messer Giovan Antonio Vespucci, envoy at Rome, to beg the abbey from the Pope (Innocent VIII.) for our Messer Giovanni. On the 2nd, in pursuance of an ordinance of the Signoria, possession was taken of it, in virtue of the reservation made in Messer Giovanni’s favour by Pope Sixtus and confirmed by Pope Innocent when our Piero went to Rome to do him homage.’ These details show but too plainly how benefices were dealt with, and how at the mere rumour of a prelate’s death temporal sovereigns disposed of a high spiritual office in favour of a child. A few years after this, King Matthias Corvinus conferred on a boy of seven—his nephew Ippolito of Este—the primatial see of Hungary, the archbishopric of Gran. Like Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII. at first refused to confirm the appointment, but he ended by yielding.The abbey of Passignano, belonging to the monks of Vallombrosa, was one of the richest in Tuscany. The young abbot continued to enjoy its possession till 1499, when he gave it up to the General of the Order for a pension of 2,000 scudi. The grand fortress-like building, which remained in the possession of the Order down to our own day, stands in the valley of the Pesa, sixteen miles south of Florence, on the left of the Roman military road; its church is adorned with paintings by Domenico Cresti, who was somewhat of the Caracci school, and was called by the name of his birthplace, Passignano. Everything in the shape of benefices of all kinds, commanderies, rectorships, and so forth, that came within reach of the Medici, fell to Lorenzo’s son; in 1486 he actually obtained, as a commandery, the abbey of Monte Cassino; King Ferrante having, in order to conciliate the Pope, given him free disposal of the famous convent of S.Benedict.[487]How anxious the king was to appease the Medicean hunger after benefices is shown by his letter of August 23, 1486, in answer to Lorenzo’s thanks.[488]‘Thanks from you were needless, for God knows we are ready and willing to do anything in the world to prove to you our gratitude for what you have continually done for our good and that of our state, on which you may reckon as on your own property. Our obligations to you demand this; and we can never do enough in favour of you and your house to satisfy the thousandth part of our desire, as we hope you will perceive more clearly every day.’ Lodovico il Moro answered in the same strain when Lorenzo thanked him for giving his son the abbacy of Miramondo.[489]All this, however, was but the prelude. There is something very repulsive in the impatience with which Lorenzo looked forward to his son’s cardinalate, and pressed the Pope to confer it. For the ambassadors of the Republic there seemed to be nothing more important than this. Lorenzo always took special good care that men who were in his own deepest confidence should be sent to the Popes. In the spring of 1487 Innocent wished that Pier Filippo Pandolfini, who had formerly been in Rome, should be appointed to the vacant post of ambassador; but he could not leave Florence, and the place was taken by Giovanni Lanfredini, whose capabilities had lately been tested at Naples. ‘I have used my influence with the Signoria,’ wrote Lorenzo to the Pope on May 6,[490]‘to procure the appointment of a man with whom your Holiness will be perfectly satisfied. For besides that Giovanni Lanfredini (he who is destined for Rome) is an excellent honest man and conversant with business, he also possesses my heart (il core mio), as I am much attached to him on account of his merits.’ To Lanfredini himselfLorenzo wrote on June 16 of the following year:[491]‘I have heard what his Holiness said to you about the creation of cardinals. I think the Pope should not put off the nomination any longer than is absolutely necessary. According to my view his Holiness will be quite another Pope after it. For whereas hitherto he has been a head without members, he must get some; whereas he has been the creature of others, now others must be the creatures of him. Therefore persuade him, yea, urge him, to take the needful decision; the sooner the better.Periculum est in mora; as much as he gains by acting he loses by hesitating. Use all your influence to procure this blessed promotion as soon as possible. As the matter is before the Sacred College, it cannot be delayed without great damage to the holy father’s dignity and power. As to the persons to be nominated, I approve of all the names which are marked; they are those of which you have spoken to me. If he can do us that pleasure, let him do it. If the promotion were to be put off on our account, tell him he may act according to his judgment. If he thinks it well to begin with a single one to show that it is in his power, he can nominate more by degrees till everybody is satisfied.’Months passed away; the Pope’s indecision was unconquerable, and Lorenzo’s impatience increased. ‘As I understand from our ambassador,’ he wrote to Innocent on October 1, 1488,[492]‘that your Holiness intends shortly to create some cardinals, I should think myself deserving of grave censure did I not put you in mind of the honour of this city and my own, though I am sure that your Holiness in your goodness remembers both. I do not believe that in the whole course of your pontificate you could do anything that would deserve more gratitude from the city; and as the dignity of a cardinal is lofty and much sought after, this city would feel it deeply should her hopes not be fulfilled.’ It concerned the honour of Florence that a son of Lorenzo—a mere boy—should be received into the senate of the Church! Meantime, while Lorenzo thus unceasingly urged his claim, he was taking equal trouble to prevent the same dignity from being conferred on some fellow-countryman for whom he had no predilection. ‘The Pope,’ he wrote to the ambassador,[493]‘does not know our people’s ways (i polli nostri) as we do. Not only the cardinalate, but any increase of position and dignity, would be dangerous if it came otherwise than in the right way.’ Who can tell whether the chief cause of this long delay in the only promotion undertaken by this Pope was not really a scruple, struggling with political considerations? Innocent himself had decided that no one under thirty should be admitted to the cardinalate, and Giovanni de’ Medici was not yet fourteen. Lorenzo never ceased writing,[494]Lanfredini never ceased talking. Cardinals Sforza, Borgia, La Balue, and Zeno, were pressed into the service. ‘The services daily rendered us by Monsignor Ascanio,’ says Lorenzo in a letter to the ambassador, February 21, 1489, ‘deserve better thanks than words. My obligations to him could not be greater if I were recalled from death to life.’ The story current in Florence—perhaps exaggerated—of the sums spent on the occasion furnishes a commentary on these words.At last, on March 9, 1489, the promotion took place.[495]It resulted in five cardinals, among whom were the Pope’s relative Lorenzo de’ Mari, who took the name of Cybò, and the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, the heroic defender of Rhodes, Pierre d’Aubusson. But besides these five, at the same consistory, Innocent conferred the samedignity on three others, without publishing their names—what is now called a reservationin petto. One of these was Maffeo Gherardi, a Camaldulensian, patriarch of Venice; the second was Federigo Sanseverino, son of Roberto; the third was Giovanni de’ Medici.It was quite clear that the Pope was ashamed of himself. In the worst days of the Church no child had yet been made a cardinal. The nomination was to be kept secret for three years; whosoever divulged it was to be excommunicated. It was very soon seen how this was observed. On the day of the promotion, cardinals Sforza and La Balue, the Bishop of Cortona, prefect of the Apostolic Chamber, and the ambassador, announced to Lorenzo that his son had been made cardinal-deacon of Sta. Maria in Domenica.[496]‘God be thanked,’ wrote Lorenzo to the last-mentioned,[497]‘for the good news received yesterday about Messer Giovanni; news which gave me all the greater pleasure, because I expected it the less on account of the importance of the matter and its difficulty bordering on impossibility, besides which it far exceeds my deserts.... I know not whether the Pope is displeased at the rejoicings which have taken place here on all sides, and in such a degree as I never saw before; there would have been a yet more brilliant expression of general joy, had I not interfered. To prevent the demonstration was out of my power. As Messer Giovanni’s promotion is secret, these festivities certainly seem out of place. But you at Rome have let the thing become so well known that it could not be otherwise here; and it would have been impossible for me to keep aloof from the congratulations of whole cities, small and great. If it is wrong, it cannot be helped. Now I want to know how we are to behave ourselves in future, and how Messer Giovanni’s mode of life, dress, and servants are to be arranged; for I would not reward so great a benefit by notmaking a proper display according to the manner most likely to please the Pope. Messer Giovanni keeps at home; the house is full of people. (The foreign ambassadors had immediately come to offer their congratulations.) I wait to hear from you whether I shall, as I proposed to you, send Piero to Rome. Perhaps it would be more befitting the importance of the favour that I should go there myself.’ Poliziano had written a letter to the Pope, taking occasion of the nomination to praise Innocent and describe the lad as worthy of his new distinction. He wanted to have it read out in the Consistory; but Lorenzo had too much tact to join in such an absurdity, and sent the letter to the ambassador, not concealing his own adverse opinion, and leaving it to Lanfredini to do with it what he thought fit.[498]On the same day, March 4, Lorenzo addressed to the Pope the following letter of thanks.[499]‘I have received with the utmost reverence your Holiness’s brief of the 9th instant, concerning the promotion of Messer Giovanni. As this news had already reached me through our ambassador, I at once wrote to your Holiness, more to put into words my inability to thank you fittingly, than to give expression to my gratitude. That God alone can do, not I. This only can I say in reference to this undying benefit, that through what your Holiness has done for my son you have at the same time elevated me; and this increase of authority, as well as whatever more may accrue to me, I place at the disposal of your Holiness, to whom it belongs rather than to me.’ Then comes an apology for the publication of the news, which had originated not with Lorenzo but in Rome. The Italian princes by no means undervalued this new proof of Lorenzo’s influence over the Pope. The Duke of Calabria said to Vettori, the ambassador,[500]that one could see how great was Lorenzo’spower, and that the Florentine ambassador ruled Innocent. He wished he could be together with Lorenzo and Sforza to talk over the strife with Rome. He believed it would not be difficult for him to make the alliance of the three states such as should be apparent in their whole conduct. One could see how much the Pope did for Lorenzo, and how he had made his son a cardinal at an unheard-of age; so that one might conclude that everything could be arranged if he chose to do all he could.The man who had contributed most to overcome the Pope’s scruples, Giovanni Lanfredini, only survived his success a few months. In November 1488, he had lost at Rome his eldest son, Orsino, a youth of sixteen.[501]‘It is with much regret,’ wrote Lorenzo,[502]‘that I have heard of your son’s death; the news was the more painful to me as I had not known of his illness. If I did not know your strength of mind, and how accustomed you are to both good and evil, I should use more words of consolation than I do, and represent to you my own heavy losses, which are but too well known to you. Resign yourself to the decree of God; the more so as your son is far rather to be envied than pitied. You and yours will never want for friends who regard your concerns as their own. As for me, on account of the sympathy I feel for you and for the sake of your old and tried attachment, I shall always conduct myself towards you as your sentiments and actions, and my duty and gratitude, require. Be comforted, Giovanni; take courage, trust in God, and reckon on your friends.’ Another letter[503]is expressed in equally cordial terms. But the loss of the son broke the father’s heart. ‘Giovanni Lanfredini,’ wrote the Ferrarese ambassador on March 16, 1489,[504]‘is at Rome confined to his bed; and as business presses, the Signoria hasordered Pier Filippo Pandolfini, who is now at Pitigliano, to proceed thither immediately. Lanfredini has asked for leave of absence. He seems to have had quite enough of his post, and I think he feels he can now give it up with honour, after helping the son of the illustrious Lorenzo to attain the dignity of cardinal.’ As soon as the promotion took place, Lorenzo had expressed his strong sense of what he owed to Lanfredini.[505]‘I recognise the duty of always remembering him who has directed the whole affair, and of putting those who shall come after me in mind of it. For no greater event has ever befallen our house, and I owe more than three quarters of it to your zeal and attachment.’ Lanfredini’s condition improved so that he could resume his duties; but this did not last. He died on January 5, 1490, in the house of the Acciaiuoli in the Leonine city.[506]The Bishop of Rimini wrote to Lorenzo:[507]‘The man is dead who kept this court at your service. Henceforth things may take another turn; and they have already gone so far that it has been said you will no longer have everything your own way.’ It seems, indeed, that the weak-minded Pope had allowed some suspicious remarks to escape him, to the effect that he could not safely trust to Florence, where individual interests were in the ascendant. These expressions induced Lorenzo to send Bernardo Dovizi to Rome to consult with Pandolfini. The instructions drawn up by Lorenzo[508]show his irritation at the changeableness of the Pope. ‘Such as neither know me personally nor have seen me put faith in my word; and now I am met with want of confidence after all my trouble and exertions, and the experience there has been of my sentiments.’ The ill-feeling, however, seems to have soon passed away.One of the last affairs in which Lanfredini had to act was the canonisation of the Archbishop Antonine, in which theEmperor Frederic III. was also interested. Lorenzo proposed that the Bishop of Arezzo and Volterra should undertake the cause. Lanfredini’s successor Pandolfini continued the negotiations; but it was not till 1523 that the reverence of the Florentine people for this worthy and pious man received the sanction of the Church from Pope Hadrian VI.
THE CARDINALATE OF GIOVANNI DE’ MEDICI.
Bothcontemporary and later writers have passed an unfavourable judgment on Pope Innocent VIII. ‘Though the life of Innocent VIII. was useless for the general good,’ remarks Guicciardini at the beginning of his great history, ‘at least it was useful thus far, in that, frightened at his unsuccessful attempt to meddle in the Barons’ War, during the remainder of his pontificate he directed his attention to trifles instead of planning for himself and his belongings things which might have disturbed the peace of Italy.’ This negative praise is not without truth, but it gives little insight into the character and aims of the Pope. His greatest faults were weakness and inconsistency: hence the sorry part which he played as a ruler, although he had no tendency towards nepotism and was gifted with sound judgment. It was his weakness which made him abandon the affairs of Aquila and of the Barons, and caused his ever-wavering conduct towards the King of Naples. The latter alternately lured and contemptuously defied him, rendered the treatment of his own restless feudatories uncertain, and provoked disturbances in Rome which led to the robbing of the papal treasury by the Pope’s own son. Yet that son, compared with the nephews of the last Pope—not to mention the one who followed—was but very modestly provided for; so barely indeed that, but for the resources of the Medici, Franceschetto Cybò, at the Pope’s death, would have been, for one in his position, a poor man. It was long beforeInnocent made up his mind to do anything serious for him; and considering the traditions of all the Papal ‘nephews,’ the Colonna, Piccolomini, Della Rovere, and Riari, it may be well imagined that Franceschetto became impatient; more so, perhaps, as the Pope’s health was failing owing to the two apoplectic attacks he had had in January 1485, and in February of the following year, during which he had been given up for dead. ‘These occurrences,’ remarks his biographer,[481]‘made his family anxious to secure their position for the future, and they begged the Pope to make provision for this while it was yet time.’
But they gained little, and not till after Franceschetto’s marriage did his circumstances begin really to improve. Lorenzo was not behindhand with his persuasions: ‘It is not without a blush,’ he wrote on February 26, 1488,[482]‘that I commend to your Holiness the affairs of Signor Francesco; for it seems to me unreasonable to commend to your Holiness that which for natural reasons must be nearer your heart than anything else. My letters and intercession cannot in reason have more weight than the natural relationship between your Holiness and Signor Francesco; but as I see that his affairs proceed very slowly, I feel I ought not to refuse him my recommendation and every other support. As he is, he tells me, very happy in possessing Maddalena, this should be to your Holiness an occasion for treating him so as to please me too. This will be the case if his position becomes such as shall befit the dignity of your Holiness and set my mind at rest. I never had any idea that your Holiness should take anything from others, or give offence to any, in order to make him great. As this would be dishonourable and contrary to the nature of your Holiness, so, on the other hand, I think that it would not be in accordance with your natural kindness and goodness if your Holiness did not provide for him, as he can easily be portionedin a manner befitting his rank without any injury to others. I humbly beg your Holiness to relieve yourself as well as me of this trouble, and establish him so that further importunity shall be needless. Thus your Holiness will be doing a work worthy of your goodness, not only sensible and pious, but necessary, and greatly desired by me, as a good example for all those who set their hopes on your Holiness.’
Still the Pope was far too slow for Franceschetto’s impatience, and seems to have had no great opinion of the latter’s judgment. The son-in-law’s letters to his father-in-law are full of complaints which really display Innocent in a more honourable light than those by whom he was thus beset. ‘Like the ox, he needs the goad.’ This was a son writing of his father, and that father the Pope! Lorenzo was not much behind his son-in-law. One of his letters to the Pope[483]is but too glaring an example of the profane tone in which this man, who could display such a refined sense of decorum in other things, addressed with the utmost coolness the very head of the Church. Innocent had had another of his attacks of illness, and Lorenzo was getting anxious: ‘As St. Francis, by means of the stigmata, experienced in his own body the Passion of Christ, so do I feel in and about myself all the sufferings of your Holiness; for, putting aside other reasons, I have the situation of our dear Signor Francesco and of many servants of your Holiness very much at heart. Owing to your Holiness’ conscientious holding back, all these remain almost empty-handed and have no part of the fortune and favour which God has given your Holiness for your merits; so that, should your Holiness be called away, which God forbid, they would sink likewise into the grave. More especially, however, am I moved, as must be the case with your Holiness also, by the position of poor Signor Francesco, who, after five years of your pontificate, is only just beginning to have something he can call his own.Your Holiness knows better than I what supporters he has in the Sacred College. The history of the Popes shows how few have reigned much beyond five years, and how many have not waited so long before showing themselves as Popes, without giving way to such scruples and forbearance, justifiable no doubt before God and man, but which, if they last long, may be misconstrued. Perhaps I seem too bold; but zeal and conscience impose upon me the duty of speaking freely and reminding you that men are not immortal, that a Pope is what he chooses to be, that he cannot leave his pontificate to his heirs, and can call nothing his own but honour and glory and what he does for his relatives. Instead of depending on health and luck, your Holiness should not put off doing what you project, and for which later there might perhaps be no opportunity. Above all I commend to you your and my dear Signor Francesco and Maddalena, who pray God to grant your Holiness a long life that you may set their affairs in order. It is now about time to release these holy fathers from Limbo, that their fate may not be like that of the Jews waiting for the Messiah.’
While the Pope was thus plagued about secular matters, it was much the same with ecclesiastical ones. In both cases the object was one and the same—increase of riches and power. Everything was regarded and treated from this point of view; of anything beyond, politicians—even highly-gifted ones like Lorenzo—had no conception. Lorenzo was impatient to get property for Franceschetto Cybò, he was still more impatient to get the red hat for his own son. Giovanni was born on December 11, 1475, and was consequently in his ninth year when Innocent became Pope.[484]Some preparations had been made even then: ‘Cousin,’ wrote Louis XI. from Plessis-les-Tours on February 3, 1483, in reply to Lorenzo who had applied to him on the death of Cardinal d’Estouteville, ‘I have seen what you wrote to meconcerning the benefices of the Cardinal of Rouen, and much regret not to have known thereof sooner; for I should be very pleased if your son should obtain a good provision and benefice in my kingdom.’
The king was as good as his word; that same spring he conferred on the child not only the abbacy of Font Doulce in the diocese of Saintes, but also the archbishopric of Aix, which was supposed to be vacant. ‘On May 19, 1483,’ says Lorenzo in his memoirs,[485]‘news came that the King of France, of his own free will, had conferred the abbacy of Font Doulce on our Giovanni; and on the 31st we heard from Rome that the Pope (Sixtus IV.) had confirmed the appointment, declared him capable of holding benefices at the age of seven, and appointed him a protonotary.[486]On June 1, Giovanni, accompanied by me, came from Poggio (a Cajano) to Florence, whereupon he was confirmed and tonsured by the Lord Bishop of Arezzo, and was thenceforth called Messer Giovanni. The aforesaid ceremonies took place in our private chapel, and in the evening we returned to Poggio. On the morning of June 8, Jacopino the courier came with a letter from the French king, whereof the contents were that he had conferred on our Messer Giovanni the archbishopric of Aix in Provence. In the evening he went on to Rome with letters from the king to the Pope and the Cardinal of Maçon (Philibert Hugonet), and at the same time a courier was sent to Forlì with a letter for Count Girolamo. On the 11th the courier came back from Forlì with letters from the count for the Pope and San Giorgio (Cardinal Riario), which were forwarded to Rome by the Milanese post. May God direct all for good. On the same day, after mass, all the children, except Messer Giovanni, were confirmed in the chapel. On the 15th, about the sixth hour of the evening, intelligence came from Rome that the Pope raised difficulties about theappointment to the archbishopric on account of Messer Giovanni’s youth; of which news the king was at once informed by the same messenger. On the 20th came from Lionetto (de’ Rossi) the announcement that the archbishop was still alive! On March 1, 1484 (1485), the Abbot of Passignano died, and an express was sent to Messer Giovan Antonio Vespucci, envoy at Rome, to beg the abbey from the Pope (Innocent VIII.) for our Messer Giovanni. On the 2nd, in pursuance of an ordinance of the Signoria, possession was taken of it, in virtue of the reservation made in Messer Giovanni’s favour by Pope Sixtus and confirmed by Pope Innocent when our Piero went to Rome to do him homage.’ These details show but too plainly how benefices were dealt with, and how at the mere rumour of a prelate’s death temporal sovereigns disposed of a high spiritual office in favour of a child. A few years after this, King Matthias Corvinus conferred on a boy of seven—his nephew Ippolito of Este—the primatial see of Hungary, the archbishopric of Gran. Like Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII. at first refused to confirm the appointment, but he ended by yielding.
The abbey of Passignano, belonging to the monks of Vallombrosa, was one of the richest in Tuscany. The young abbot continued to enjoy its possession till 1499, when he gave it up to the General of the Order for a pension of 2,000 scudi. The grand fortress-like building, which remained in the possession of the Order down to our own day, stands in the valley of the Pesa, sixteen miles south of Florence, on the left of the Roman military road; its church is adorned with paintings by Domenico Cresti, who was somewhat of the Caracci school, and was called by the name of his birthplace, Passignano. Everything in the shape of benefices of all kinds, commanderies, rectorships, and so forth, that came within reach of the Medici, fell to Lorenzo’s son; in 1486 he actually obtained, as a commandery, the abbey of Monte Cassino; King Ferrante having, in order to conciliate the Pope, given him free disposal of the famous convent of S.Benedict.[487]How anxious the king was to appease the Medicean hunger after benefices is shown by his letter of August 23, 1486, in answer to Lorenzo’s thanks.[488]‘Thanks from you were needless, for God knows we are ready and willing to do anything in the world to prove to you our gratitude for what you have continually done for our good and that of our state, on which you may reckon as on your own property. Our obligations to you demand this; and we can never do enough in favour of you and your house to satisfy the thousandth part of our desire, as we hope you will perceive more clearly every day.’ Lodovico il Moro answered in the same strain when Lorenzo thanked him for giving his son the abbacy of Miramondo.[489]
All this, however, was but the prelude. There is something very repulsive in the impatience with which Lorenzo looked forward to his son’s cardinalate, and pressed the Pope to confer it. For the ambassadors of the Republic there seemed to be nothing more important than this. Lorenzo always took special good care that men who were in his own deepest confidence should be sent to the Popes. In the spring of 1487 Innocent wished that Pier Filippo Pandolfini, who had formerly been in Rome, should be appointed to the vacant post of ambassador; but he could not leave Florence, and the place was taken by Giovanni Lanfredini, whose capabilities had lately been tested at Naples. ‘I have used my influence with the Signoria,’ wrote Lorenzo to the Pope on May 6,[490]‘to procure the appointment of a man with whom your Holiness will be perfectly satisfied. For besides that Giovanni Lanfredini (he who is destined for Rome) is an excellent honest man and conversant with business, he also possesses my heart (il core mio), as I am much attached to him on account of his merits.’ To Lanfredini himselfLorenzo wrote on June 16 of the following year:[491]‘I have heard what his Holiness said to you about the creation of cardinals. I think the Pope should not put off the nomination any longer than is absolutely necessary. According to my view his Holiness will be quite another Pope after it. For whereas hitherto he has been a head without members, he must get some; whereas he has been the creature of others, now others must be the creatures of him. Therefore persuade him, yea, urge him, to take the needful decision; the sooner the better.Periculum est in mora; as much as he gains by acting he loses by hesitating. Use all your influence to procure this blessed promotion as soon as possible. As the matter is before the Sacred College, it cannot be delayed without great damage to the holy father’s dignity and power. As to the persons to be nominated, I approve of all the names which are marked; they are those of which you have spoken to me. If he can do us that pleasure, let him do it. If the promotion were to be put off on our account, tell him he may act according to his judgment. If he thinks it well to begin with a single one to show that it is in his power, he can nominate more by degrees till everybody is satisfied.’
Months passed away; the Pope’s indecision was unconquerable, and Lorenzo’s impatience increased. ‘As I understand from our ambassador,’ he wrote to Innocent on October 1, 1488,[492]‘that your Holiness intends shortly to create some cardinals, I should think myself deserving of grave censure did I not put you in mind of the honour of this city and my own, though I am sure that your Holiness in your goodness remembers both. I do not believe that in the whole course of your pontificate you could do anything that would deserve more gratitude from the city; and as the dignity of a cardinal is lofty and much sought after, this city would feel it deeply should her hopes not be fulfilled.’ It concerned the honour of Florence that a son of Lorenzo—a mere boy—should be received into the senate of the Church! Meantime, while Lorenzo thus unceasingly urged his claim, he was taking equal trouble to prevent the same dignity from being conferred on some fellow-countryman for whom he had no predilection. ‘The Pope,’ he wrote to the ambassador,[493]‘does not know our people’s ways (i polli nostri) as we do. Not only the cardinalate, but any increase of position and dignity, would be dangerous if it came otherwise than in the right way.’ Who can tell whether the chief cause of this long delay in the only promotion undertaken by this Pope was not really a scruple, struggling with political considerations? Innocent himself had decided that no one under thirty should be admitted to the cardinalate, and Giovanni de’ Medici was not yet fourteen. Lorenzo never ceased writing,[494]Lanfredini never ceased talking. Cardinals Sforza, Borgia, La Balue, and Zeno, were pressed into the service. ‘The services daily rendered us by Monsignor Ascanio,’ says Lorenzo in a letter to the ambassador, February 21, 1489, ‘deserve better thanks than words. My obligations to him could not be greater if I were recalled from death to life.’ The story current in Florence—perhaps exaggerated—of the sums spent on the occasion furnishes a commentary on these words.
At last, on March 9, 1489, the promotion took place.[495]It resulted in five cardinals, among whom were the Pope’s relative Lorenzo de’ Mari, who took the name of Cybò, and the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, the heroic defender of Rhodes, Pierre d’Aubusson. But besides these five, at the same consistory, Innocent conferred the samedignity on three others, without publishing their names—what is now called a reservationin petto. One of these was Maffeo Gherardi, a Camaldulensian, patriarch of Venice; the second was Federigo Sanseverino, son of Roberto; the third was Giovanni de’ Medici.
It was quite clear that the Pope was ashamed of himself. In the worst days of the Church no child had yet been made a cardinal. The nomination was to be kept secret for three years; whosoever divulged it was to be excommunicated. It was very soon seen how this was observed. On the day of the promotion, cardinals Sforza and La Balue, the Bishop of Cortona, prefect of the Apostolic Chamber, and the ambassador, announced to Lorenzo that his son had been made cardinal-deacon of Sta. Maria in Domenica.[496]‘God be thanked,’ wrote Lorenzo to the last-mentioned,[497]‘for the good news received yesterday about Messer Giovanni; news which gave me all the greater pleasure, because I expected it the less on account of the importance of the matter and its difficulty bordering on impossibility, besides which it far exceeds my deserts.... I know not whether the Pope is displeased at the rejoicings which have taken place here on all sides, and in such a degree as I never saw before; there would have been a yet more brilliant expression of general joy, had I not interfered. To prevent the demonstration was out of my power. As Messer Giovanni’s promotion is secret, these festivities certainly seem out of place. But you at Rome have let the thing become so well known that it could not be otherwise here; and it would have been impossible for me to keep aloof from the congratulations of whole cities, small and great. If it is wrong, it cannot be helped. Now I want to know how we are to behave ourselves in future, and how Messer Giovanni’s mode of life, dress, and servants are to be arranged; for I would not reward so great a benefit by notmaking a proper display according to the manner most likely to please the Pope. Messer Giovanni keeps at home; the house is full of people. (The foreign ambassadors had immediately come to offer their congratulations.) I wait to hear from you whether I shall, as I proposed to you, send Piero to Rome. Perhaps it would be more befitting the importance of the favour that I should go there myself.’ Poliziano had written a letter to the Pope, taking occasion of the nomination to praise Innocent and describe the lad as worthy of his new distinction. He wanted to have it read out in the Consistory; but Lorenzo had too much tact to join in such an absurdity, and sent the letter to the ambassador, not concealing his own adverse opinion, and leaving it to Lanfredini to do with it what he thought fit.[498]
On the same day, March 4, Lorenzo addressed to the Pope the following letter of thanks.[499]‘I have received with the utmost reverence your Holiness’s brief of the 9th instant, concerning the promotion of Messer Giovanni. As this news had already reached me through our ambassador, I at once wrote to your Holiness, more to put into words my inability to thank you fittingly, than to give expression to my gratitude. That God alone can do, not I. This only can I say in reference to this undying benefit, that through what your Holiness has done for my son you have at the same time elevated me; and this increase of authority, as well as whatever more may accrue to me, I place at the disposal of your Holiness, to whom it belongs rather than to me.’ Then comes an apology for the publication of the news, which had originated not with Lorenzo but in Rome. The Italian princes by no means undervalued this new proof of Lorenzo’s influence over the Pope. The Duke of Calabria said to Vettori, the ambassador,[500]that one could see how great was Lorenzo’spower, and that the Florentine ambassador ruled Innocent. He wished he could be together with Lorenzo and Sforza to talk over the strife with Rome. He believed it would not be difficult for him to make the alliance of the three states such as should be apparent in their whole conduct. One could see how much the Pope did for Lorenzo, and how he had made his son a cardinal at an unheard-of age; so that one might conclude that everything could be arranged if he chose to do all he could.
The man who had contributed most to overcome the Pope’s scruples, Giovanni Lanfredini, only survived his success a few months. In November 1488, he had lost at Rome his eldest son, Orsino, a youth of sixteen.[501]‘It is with much regret,’ wrote Lorenzo,[502]‘that I have heard of your son’s death; the news was the more painful to me as I had not known of his illness. If I did not know your strength of mind, and how accustomed you are to both good and evil, I should use more words of consolation than I do, and represent to you my own heavy losses, which are but too well known to you. Resign yourself to the decree of God; the more so as your son is far rather to be envied than pitied. You and yours will never want for friends who regard your concerns as their own. As for me, on account of the sympathy I feel for you and for the sake of your old and tried attachment, I shall always conduct myself towards you as your sentiments and actions, and my duty and gratitude, require. Be comforted, Giovanni; take courage, trust in God, and reckon on your friends.’ Another letter[503]is expressed in equally cordial terms. But the loss of the son broke the father’s heart. ‘Giovanni Lanfredini,’ wrote the Ferrarese ambassador on March 16, 1489,[504]‘is at Rome confined to his bed; and as business presses, the Signoria hasordered Pier Filippo Pandolfini, who is now at Pitigliano, to proceed thither immediately. Lanfredini has asked for leave of absence. He seems to have had quite enough of his post, and I think he feels he can now give it up with honour, after helping the son of the illustrious Lorenzo to attain the dignity of cardinal.’ As soon as the promotion took place, Lorenzo had expressed his strong sense of what he owed to Lanfredini.[505]‘I recognise the duty of always remembering him who has directed the whole affair, and of putting those who shall come after me in mind of it. For no greater event has ever befallen our house, and I owe more than three quarters of it to your zeal and attachment.’ Lanfredini’s condition improved so that he could resume his duties; but this did not last. He died on January 5, 1490, in the house of the Acciaiuoli in the Leonine city.[506]
The Bishop of Rimini wrote to Lorenzo:[507]‘The man is dead who kept this court at your service. Henceforth things may take another turn; and they have already gone so far that it has been said you will no longer have everything your own way.’ It seems, indeed, that the weak-minded Pope had allowed some suspicious remarks to escape him, to the effect that he could not safely trust to Florence, where individual interests were in the ascendant. These expressions induced Lorenzo to send Bernardo Dovizi to Rome to consult with Pandolfini. The instructions drawn up by Lorenzo[508]show his irritation at the changeableness of the Pope. ‘Such as neither know me personally nor have seen me put faith in my word; and now I am met with want of confidence after all my trouble and exertions, and the experience there has been of my sentiments.’ The ill-feeling, however, seems to have soon passed away.
One of the last affairs in which Lanfredini had to act was the canonisation of the Archbishop Antonine, in which theEmperor Frederic III. was also interested. Lorenzo proposed that the Bishop of Arezzo and Volterra should undertake the cause. Lanfredini’s successor Pandolfini continued the negotiations; but it was not till 1523 that the reverence of the Florentine people for this worthy and pious man received the sanction of the Church from Pope Hadrian VI.