Chapter 22

[194]E.g. Jovian. Pontan. in hisCharon. In the dialogue between Æcus, Minos, and Mercurius (Op.ed. Bas. ii. p. 1167) the first says: ‘Vel quod haud multis post sæculis futurum auguror, ut Italia, cujus intestina te odia male habent Minos, in unius redacta ditionem resumat imperii majestatem.’ And in reply to Mercury’s warning against the Turks, Æcus answers: ‘Quamquam timenda hæc sunt, tamen si vetera respicimus, non ab Asia aut Græcia, verum a Gallis Germanisque timendum Italiæ semper fuit.’[195]Comines,Charles VIII., chap. 7. How Alfonso once tried in time of war to seize his opponents at a conference, is told by Nantiporto, in Murat. iii. ii. col. 1073. He was a genuine predecessor of Cæsar Borgia.[196]Pii II. Commentarii, x. p. 492. See a letter of Malatesta in which he recommends to Mohammed II. a portrait-painter, Matteo Passo of Verona, and announces the despatch of a book on the art of war, probably in the year 1463, in Baluz.Miscell.iii. 113. What Galeazzo Maria of Milan told in 1467 to a Venetian envoy, namely, that he and his allies would join with the Turks to destroy Venice, was said merely by way of threat. Comp. Malipiero,Ann. Veneti, Archiv. Stor.vii. i. p. 222. For Boccalino, see page 36.[197]Porzio,Congiura dei Baroni, l. i. p. 5. That Lorenzo, as Porzio hints, really had a hand in it, is not credible. On the other hand, it seems only too certain that Venice prompted the Sultan to the deed. See Romanin,Storia Documentata di Venezia, lib. xi. cap. 3. After Otranto was taken, Vespasiano Bisticci uttered his ‘Lamento d’Italia,Archiv. Stor. Ital.iv. pp. 452 sqq.[198]Chron. Venet.in Murat. xxiv. col. 14 and 76.[199]Malipiero, l. c. p. 565, 568.[200]Trithem.Annales Hirsaug, ad. a. 1490, tom. ii. pp. 535 sqq.[201]Malipiero, l. c. 161; comp. p. 152. For the surrender of Djem to Charles VIII. see p. 145, from which it is clear that a connection of the most shameful kind existed between Alexander and Bajazet, even if the documents in Burcardus be spurious. See on the subject Ranke,Zur Kritik neuerer Geschichtschreiber, 2 Auflage, Leipzig, 1874, p. 99, and Gregorovius, bd. vii. 353, note 1.Ibid.p. 353, note 2, a declaration of the Pope that he was not allied with the Turks.[202]Bapt. Mantuanus,De Calamitatibus Temporum, at the end of the second book, in the song of the Nereid Doris to the Turkish fleet.[203]Tommaso Gar,Relaz. della Corte di Roma, i. p. 55.[204]Ranke,Geschichte der romanischen und germanischen Völker. The opinion of Michelet (Reforme, p. 467), that the Turks would have adopted Western civilisation in Italy, does not satisfy me. This mission of Spain is hinted at, perhaps for the first time, in the speech delivered by Fedra Inghirami in 1510 before Julius II., at the celebration of the capture of Bugia by the fleet of Ferdinand the Catholic. SeeAnecdota Litteraria, ii. p. 419.[205]Among others Corio, fol. 333. Jov. Pontanus, in his treatise,De Liberalitate, cap. 28, considers the free dismissal of Alfonso as a proof of the ‘liberalitas’ of Filippo Maria. (See above, p. 38, note 1.) Compare the line of conduct adopted with regard to Sforza, fol. 329.[206]Nic. Valori,Vita di Lorenzo; Paul Jovius,Vita Leonis X.l. i. The latter certainly upon good authority, though not without rhetorical embellishment. Comp. Reumont, i. 487, and the passage there quoted.[207]If Comines on this and many other occasions observes and judges as objectively as any Italian, his intercourse with Italians, particularly with Angelo Catto, must be taken into account.[208]Comp. e.g. Malipiero, pp. 216, 221, 236, 237, 468, &c., and above pp. 88, note 2, and 93, note 1. Comp. Egnatius, fol. 321a. The Pope curses an ambassador; a Venetian envoy insults the Pope; another, to win over his hearers, tells a fable.[209]In Villari,Storia di Savonarola, vol. ii. p. xliii. of the ‘Documenti,’ among which are to be found other important political letters. Other documents, particularly of the end of the fifteenth century in Baluzius,Miscellanea, ed. Mansi, vol. i. See especially the collected despatches of Florentine and Venetian ambassadors at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of sixteenth centuries in Desjardins,Négotiations diplomatiques de la France avec la Toscane. vols. i. ii. Paris. 1859, 1861.[210]The subject has been lately treated more fully by Max Jähns,Die Kriegskunst als Kunst, Leipzig, 1874.[211]Pii II. Comment.iv. p. 190, ad. a. 1459.[212]The Cremonese prided themselves on their skill in this department. SeeCronaca di Cremonain theBibliotheca Historica Italica, vol. i. Milan, 1876, p. 214, and note. The Venetians did the same, Egnatius, fol. 300 sqq.[213]To this effect Paul Jovius (Elogia, p. 184) who adds: ‘Nondum enim invecto externarum gentium cruento more, Italia milites sanguinarii et multæ cædis avidi esse didicerant.’ We are reminded of Frederick of Urbino, who would have been ‘ashamed’ to tolerate a printed book in his library. SeeVespas. Fiorent.[214]Porcellii Commentaria Jac. Picinini, in Murat. xx. A continuation for the war of 1453,ibid.xxv. Paul Cortesius (De Hominibus Doctis, p. 33, Florence, 1734) criticises the book severely on account of the wretched hexameters.[215]Porcello calls Scipio Æmilianus by mistake, meaning Africanus Major.[216]Simonetta,Hist. Fr. Sfortiæ, in Murat. xxi. col. 630.[217]So he was considered. Comp. Bandello, parte i. nov. 40.[218]Comp. e.g.De Obsidione Tiphernatium, in vol. 2, of theRer. Italic. Scriptores excodd. Florent.col. 690. The duel of Marshal Boucicault with Galeazzo Gonzaga (1406) in Cagnola,Arch. Stor.iii. p. 25. Infessura tells us of the honour paid by Sixtus IV. to the duellists among his guards. His successors issued bulls against duelling.[219]We may here notice parenthetically (see Jähns, pp. 26, sqq.) the less favourable side of the tactics of the Condottieri. The combat was often a mere sham-fight, in which the enemy was forced to withdraw by harmless manœuvres. The object of the combatants was to avoid bloodshed, at the worst to make prisoners with a view to the ransom. According to Macchiavelli, the Florentines lost in a great battle in the year 1440 one man only.[220]For details, seeArch. Stor.Append. tom. v.[221]Here once for all we refer our readers to Ranke’sPopes, vol. i., and to Sugenheim,Geschichte der Entstehung und Ausbildung des Kirchenstaates. The still later works of Gregorovius and Reumont have also been made use of, and when they offer new facts or views, are quoted. See alsoGeschichte der römischen Papstthums, W. Wattenbach, Berlin, 1876.[222]For the impression made by the blessing of Eugenius IV. in Florence, seeVespasiano Fiorent, p. 18. See also the passage quoted in Reumont,Lorenzo, i. 171. For the impressive offices of Nicholas V., see Infessura (Eccard, ii. col. 1883 sqq.) and J. Manetti,Vita Nicolai V.(Murat. iii. ii. col. 923). For the homage given to Pius II., seeDiario Ferrarese(Murat. xxiv. col. 205), andPii II. Commentarii,passim, esp. iv. 201, 204, and xi. 562. For Florence, seeDelizie degli Eruditi, xx. 368. Even professional murderers respect the person of the Pope.The great offices in church were treated as matters of much importance by the pomp-loving Paul II. (Platina, l. c. 321) and by Sixtus IV., who, in spite of the gout, conducted mass at Easter in a sitting posture. (Jac. Volaterran. Diarium, Murat. xxiii. col. 131.) It is curious to notice how the people distinguished between the magical efficacy of the blessing and the unworthiness of the man who gave it; when he was unable to give the benediction on Ascension Day, 1481, the populace murmured and cursed him. (Ibid.col. 133.)[223]Macchiavelli,Scritti Minori, p. 142, in the well-known essay on the catastrophe of Sinigaglia. It is true that the French and Spanish soldiers were still more zealous than the Italians. Comp. in Paul. Jov.Vita Leonis X.(l. ii.) the scene before the battle of Ravenna, in which the Legate, weeping for joy, was surrounded by the Spanish troops, and besought for absolution. See further (ibid.) the statements respecting the French in Milan.[224]In the case of the heretics of Poli, in the Campagna, who held the doctrine that a genuine Pope must show the poverty of Christ as the mark of his calling, we have simply a kind of Waldensian doctrine. Their imprisonment under Paul II. is related by Infessura (Eccard, ii. col. 1893), Platina, p. 317, &c.[225]As an illustration of this feeling see the poem addressed to the Pope, quoted in Gregorovius, vii. 136.[226]Dialogus de Conjuratione Stephani de Porcariis, by his contemporary Petrus Godes de Vicenza, quoted and used by Gregorovius, viii. 130. L. B. Alberti,De Porcaria Conjuratione, in Murat. xxv. col. 309. Porcari was desirous ‘omnem pontificiam turbam funditus exstinguere.’ The author concludes: ‘Video sane, quo stent loco res Italiæ; intelligo qui sint, quibus hic perturbata esse omnia conducat....’ He names them ‘Extrinsecus impulsores,’ and is of opinion that Porcari will find successors in his misdeeds. The dreams of Porcari certainly bore some resemblance to those of Cola Rienzi. He also referred to himself the poem ‘Spirto Gentil,’ addressed by Petrarch to Rienzi.[227]‘Ut Papa tantum vicarius Christi sit et non etiam Cæsaris.... Tunc Papa et dicetur et erit pater sanctus, pater omnium, pater ecclesiæ,’ &c. Valla’s work was written rather earlier, and was aimed at Eugenius IV. See Vahlen,Lor. Valla(Berlin, 1870), pp. 25 sqq., esp. 32. Nicholas V., on the other hand, is praised by Valla, Gregorovius, vii. 136.[228]Pii II. Comment.iv. pp. 208 sqq. Voigt,Enea Silvio, iii. pp. 151 sqq.[229]Platina,Vita Pauli II.[230]Battista Mantovano,De Calamitatibus Temporum, l. iii. The Arabian sells incense, the Tyrian purple, the Indian ivory: ‘Venalia nobis templa, sacerdotes, altaria sacra, coronæ, ignes, thura, preces, cælum est venale Deusque.’Opera, ed. Paris, 1507, fol. 302b. Then follows an exhortation to Pope Sixtus, whose previous efforts are praised, to put an end to these evils.[231]See e.g. theAnnales Placentini, in Murat. xx. col. 943.[232]Corio,Storia di Milano, fol. 416-420. Pietro had already helped at the election of Sixtus. See Infessura, in Eccard,Scriptores, ii. col. 1895. It is curious that in 1469 it had been prophesied that deliverance would come from Savona (home of Sixtus, elected in 1471) within three years. See the letter and date in Baluz.Miscell.iii. p. 181. According to Macchiavelli,Storie Fiorent.l. vii. the Venetians poisoned the cardinal. Certainly they were not without motives to do so.[233]Honorius II. wished, after the death of William I. (1127), to annex Apulia, as a feof reverted to St. Peter.[234]Fabroni,Laurentius Mag.Adnot. 130. An informer, Vespucci, sends word of both, ‘Hanno in ogni elezione a mettere a sacco questa corte, e sono i maggior ribaldi del mondo.’[235]Corio, fol. 450. Details, partly from unpublished documents, of these acts of bribery in Gregorovius, vii. 310 sqq.[236]A most characteristic letter of exhortation by Lorenzo in Fabroni,Laurentius Magn.Adnot. 217, and extracts in Ranke,Popes, i. p. 45, and in Reumont,Lorenzo, ii. pp. 482 sqq.[237]And perhaps of certain Neapolitan feofs, for the sake of which Innocent called in the Angevins afresh against the immovable Ferrante. The conduct of the Pope in this affair and his participation in the second conspiracy of the barons, were equally foolish and dishonest. For his method of treating with foreign powers, see above p. 127, note 2.[238]Comp. in particular Infessura, in Eccard.Scriptores, ii.passim.[239]According to theDispacci di Antonio Giustiniani, i. p. 60, and iii. p. 309, Seb. Pinzon was a native of Cremona.[240]Recently by Gregorovius,Lucrezia Borgia, 2 Bände 3 Aufl., Stuttgart, 1875.[241]Except the Bentivoglio at Bologna, and the House of Este at Ferrara. The latter was compelled to form a family relationship, Lucrezia marrying Prince Alfonso.[242]According to Corio (fol. 479) Charles had thoughts of a Council, of deposing the Pope, and even of carrying him away to France, this upon his return from Naples. According to Benedictus,Carolus VIII.(in Eccard,Scriptores, ii. col. 1584), Charles, while in Naples, when Pope and cardinals refused to recognise his new crown, had certainly entertained the thought ‘de Italiæ imperio deque pontificis statu mutando,’ but soon after made up his mind to be satisfied with the personal humiliation of Alexander. The Pope, nevertheless, escaped him. Particulars in Pilorgerie,Campagne et Bulletins de la Grande Armée d’Italie, 1494, 1495 (Paris, 1866, 8vo.), where the degree of Alexander’s danger at different moments is discussed (pp. 111, 117, &c.). In a letter, there printed, of the Archbishop of St. Malo to Queen Anne, it is expressly stated: ‘Si nostre roy eust voulu obtemperer à la plupart des Messeigneurs les Cardinaulx, ilz eussent fait ung autre pappe en intention de refformer l’église ainsi qu’ilz disaient. Le roy désire bien la reformacion, mais il ne veult point entreprandre de sa depposicion.’[243]Corio, fol. 450. Malipiero,Ann. Veneti, Arch. Stor.vii. i. p. 318. The rapacity of the whole family can be seen in Malipiero, among other authorities, l. c. p. 565. A ‘nipote’ was splendidly entertained in Venice as papal legate, and made an enormous sum of money by selling dispensations; his servants, when they went away, stole whatever they could lay their hands on, including a piece of embroidered cloth from the high altar of a church at Murano.[244]This in Panvinio alone among contemporary historians (Contin. Platinæ, p. 339), ‘insidiis Cæsaris fratris interfectus ... connivente ... ad scelus patre,’ and to the same effect Jovius,Elog. Vir. Ill.p. 302. The profound emotion of Alexander looks like a sign of complicity. After the corpse was drawn out of the Tiber, Sannazaro wrote (Opera Omnia Latine Scripta1535, fol. 41a):‘Piscatorem hominum ne te non, Sixte, putemusPiscaris natum retibus, ecce, tuum.’Besides the epigram quoted there are others (fol. 36b, 42b, 47b, 51a,b—in the last passage 5) in Sannazaro on, i.e. against, Alexander. Among them is a famous one, referred to in Gregorovius i. 314, on Lucrezia Borgia:Ergo te semper cupiet Lucretia Sextus?O fatum diri nominis: hic pater est?Others execrate his cruelty and celebrate his death as the beginning of an era of peace. On the Jubilee (see below, p. 108, note 1), there is another epigram, fol. 43b. There are others no less severe (fol. 34b, 35a,b, 42b, 43a) against Cæsar Borgia, among which we find in one of the strongest:Aut nihil aut Cæsar vult dici Borgia; quidni?Cum simul et Cæsar possit, et esse nihil.(made use of by Bandello, iv. nov. 11). On the murder of the Duke of Gandia, see especially the admirable collection of the most original sources of evidence in Gregorovius, vii. 399-407, according to which Cæsar’s guilt is clear, but it seems very doubtful whether Alexander knew, or approved, of the intended assassination.[245]Macchiavelli,Opere, ed. Milan, vol. v. pp. 387, 393, 395, in theLegazione al Duca Valentino.[246]Tommaso Gar,Relazioni della Corte di Roma, i. p. 12, in theRel. of P. Capello. Literally: ‘The Pope has more respect for Venice than for any other power in the world.’ ‘E però desidera, che ella (Signoria di Venezia) protegga il figliuolo, e dice voler fare tale ordine, che il papato o sia suo, ovvero della signoria nostra.’ The word ‘suo’ can only refer to Cæsar. An instance of the uncertainty caused by this usage is found in the still lively controversy respecting the words used by Vasari in theVita di Raffaello: ‘A Bindo Altoviti fece il ritratto suo, &c.’[247]Strozzii Poetae, p. 19, in the ‘Venatio’ of Ercole Strozza: ’ ... cui triplicem fata invidere coronam.’ And in the Elegy on Cæsar’s death, p. 31 sqq.: ‘Speraretque olim solii decora alta paterni.’[248]Ibid.Jupiter had once promised‘Affore Alexandri sobolem, quæ poneret olimItaliæ leges, atque aurea sæcla referret,’ etc.[249]Ibid.‘Sacrumque decus majora parantem deposuisse.’[250]He was married, as is well known, to a French princess of the family of Albret, and had a daughter by her; in some way or other he would have attempted to found a dynasty. It is not known that he took steps to regain the cardinal’s hat, although (acc. to Macchiavelli, l. c. p. 285) he must have counted on the speedy death of his father.[251]Macchiavelli, l. c. p. 334. Designs on Siena and eventually on all Tuscany certainly existed, but were not yet ripe; the consent of France was indispensable.[252]Macchiavelli, l. c. pp. 326, 351, 414; Matarazzo,Cronaca di Perugia, Arch. Stor.xvi. ii. pp. 157 and 221. He wished his soldiers to quarter themselves where they pleased, so that they gained more in time of peace than of war. Petrus Alcyonius,De Exilio(1522), ed. Mencken, p. 19, says of the style of conducting war: ‘Ea scelera et flagitia a nostris militibus patrata sunt quæ ne Scythæ quidem aut Turcæ, aut Pœni in Italia commisissent.’ The same writer (p. 65) blames Alexander as a Spaniard: ‘Hispani generis hominem, cujus proprium est, rationibus et commodis Hispanorum consultum velle, non Italorum.’ See above, p. 109.[253]To this effect Pierio Valeriano,De Infelicitate Literat.ed. Mencken, p. 282, in speaking of Giovanni Regio: ‘In arcano proscriptorum albo positus.’[254]Tommaso Gar, l. c. p. 11. From May 22, 1502, onwards theDespatches of Giustiniani, 3 vols. Florence, 1876, edited by Pasquale Villari, offer valuable information.[255]Paulus Jovius,Elogia, Cæsar Borgia. In theCommentarii Urbaniof Ralph. Volaterianus, lib. xxii. there is a description of Alexander VI., composed under Julius II., and still written very guardedly. We here read: ‘Roma ... nobilis jam carneficina facta erat.’[256]Diario Ferrarese, in Muratori, xxiv. col. 362.[257]Paul. Jovius,Histor.ii. fol. 47.[258]See the passages in Ranke,Röm. Päpste; Sämmtl. Werke, Bd. xxxvii. 35, and xxxix. Anh. Abschn. 1, Nro. 4, and Gregorovius, vii. 497, sqq. Giustiniani does not believe in the Pope’s being poisoned. See hisDispacci, vol. ii. pp. 107 sqq.; Villari’s Note, pp. 120 sqq., and App. pp. 458 sqq.[259]Panvinius,Epitome Pontificum, p. 359. For the attempt to poison Alexander’s successor, Julius II., see p. 363. According to Sismondi, xiii. p. 246, it was in this way that Lopez, Cardinal of Capua, for years the partner of all the Pope’s secrets, came by his end; according to Sanuto (in Ranke,Popes, i. p. 52, note), the Cardinal of Verona also. When Cardinal Orsini died, the Pope obtained a certificate of natural death from a college of physicians.[260]Prato,Arch. Stor.iii. p. 254; comp. Attilio Alessio, in Baluz.Miscell., iv. p. 518 sqq.[261]And turned to the most profitable account by the Pope. Comp.Chron. Venetum, in Murat. xxiv. col. 133, given only as a report: ‘E si giudiceva, che il Pontefice dovesse cavare assai danari di questo Giubileo, che gli tornerà molto a proposito.[262]Anshelm,Berner Chronik, iii. pp. 146-156. Trithem.Annales Hirsaug.tom. ii. pp. 579, 584, 586.[263]Panvin.Contin. Platinae, p. 341.[264]Hence the splendour of the tombs of the prelates erected during their lifetime. A part of the plunder was in this way saved from the hands of the Popes.[265]Whether Julius really hoped that Ferdinand the Catholic would be induced to restore to the throne of Naples the expelled Aragonese dynasty, remains, in spite of Giovio’s declaration (Vita Alfonsi Ducis), very doubtful.[266]Both poems in Roscoe,Leone X.ed. Bossi, iv. 257 and 297. Of his death theCronaca di Cremonasays: ‘quale fu grande danno per la Italia, perchè era homo che non voleva tramontani in Italia, ed haveva cazato Francesi, e l’animo era de cazar le altri.’Bibl. Hist. Ital.(1876) i. 217. It is true that when Julius, in August, 1511, lay one day for hours in a fainting fit, and was thought to be dead, the more restless members of the noblest families—Pompeo Colonna and Antimo Savelli—ventured to call ‘the people’ to the Capitol, and to urge them to throw off the Papal yoke—‘a vendicarsi in libertà ... a publica ribellione,’ as Guicciardini tells us in his tenth book. See, too, Paul. Jov. in theVita Pompeji Columnae, and Gregorovius, viii. 71-75.[267]Septimo decretal.l. i. tit. 3, cap. 1-3.[268]Franc. Vettori, in theArch. Stor.vi. 297.[269]Besides which it is said (Paul. Lang.Chronicon Cilicense) to have produced not less than 500,000 gold florins; the order of the Franciscans alone, whose general was made a cardinal, paid 30,000. For a notice of the various sums paid, see Sanuto, xxiv. fol. 227; for the whole subject see Gregorovius, viii. 214 sqq.[270]Franc. Vettori, l.c. p. 301.Arch. Stor.Append. i. p. 293 sqq. Roscoe,Leone X.ed. Bossi, vi. p. 232 sqq. Tommaso Gar, l. c. p. 42.[271]Ariosto, Sat. vi. v. 106. ‘Tutti morrete, ed è fatal che muoja Leone appresso.’ Sat. 3 and 7 ridicule the hangers on at Leo’s Court.[272]One of several instances of such combinations is given in theLettere dei Principi, i. 65, in a despatch of the Cardinal Bibbiena from Paris of the year 1518.[273]Franc. Vettori, l.c. p. 333.[274]At the time of the Lateran Council, in 1512, Pico wrote an address:J. E. P. Oratio ad Leonem X. et Concilium Lateranense de Reformandis Ecclesiæ Moribus(ed. Hagenau, 1512, frequently printed in editions of his works). The address was dedicated to Pirckheimer and was again sent to him in 1517. Comp.Vir. Doct. Epist. ad Pirck., ed. Freytag, Leipz. 1838, p. 8. Pico fears that under Leo evil may definitely triumph over good, ‘et in te bellum a nostræ religionis hostibus ante audias geri quam pariri.’[275]Lettere dei Principi, i. (Rome. 17th March, 1523): ‘This city stands on a needle’s point, and God grant that we are not soon driven to Avignon or to the end of the Ocean. I foresee the early fall of this spiritual monarchy.... Unless God helps us we are lost.’ Whether Adrian were really poisoned or not, cannot be gathered with certainty from Blas Ortiz,Itinerar. Hadriani(Baluz.Miscell.ed. Mansi, i. p. 386 sqq.); the worst of it was that everybody believed it.[276]Negro, l.c. on Oct. 24 (should be Sept.) and Nov. 9, 1526, April 11, 1527. It is true that he found admirers and flatterers. The dialogue of Petrus Alcyonus ‘De Exilio’ was written in his praise, shortly before he became Pope.[277]Varchi,Stor. Fiorent.i. 43, 46 sqq.[278]Paul. Jov.,Vita Pomp. Columnae.[279]Ranke,Deutsche Geschichte(4 Aufl.) ii. 262 sqq.[280]Varchi,Stor. Fiorent.ii. 43 sqq.[281]Ibid.and Ranke,Deutsche Gesch.ii. 278, note, and iii. 6 sqq. It was thought that Charles would transfer his seat of government to Rome.[282]See his letter to the Pope, dated Carpentras, Sept. 1, 1527, in theAnecdota litt.iv. p. 335.[283]Lettere dei Principi, i. 72. Castiglione to the Pope, Burgos, Dec. 10, 1527.[284]Tommaso Gar,Relaz. della Corte di Roma, i. 299.[285]The Farnese succeeded in something of the kind, the Caraffa were ruined.[286]Petrarca,Epist. Fam.i. 3. p. 574, when he thanks God that he was born an Italian. And again in theApologia contra cujusdam anonymi Galli Calumniasof the year 1367 (Opp.ed. Bas. 1581) p. 1068 sqq. See L. Geiger,Petrarca, 129-145.[287]Particularly those in vol. i. of Schardius,Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Basel, 1574. For an earlier period, Felix Faber,Historia Suevorum, libri duo (in Goldast,Script. rer. Suev.1605); for a later, Irenicus,Exegesis Germaniæ, Hagenau, 1518. On the latter work and the patriotic histories of that time, see various studies of A. Horawitz,Hist. Zeitschrift, bd. xxxiii. 118, anm. 1.[288]One instance out of many:The Answers of the Doge of Venice to a Florentine Agent respecting Pisa, 1496, in Malipiero,Ann. Veneti. Arch. Stor.vii. i. p. 427.[289]Observe the expressions ‘uomo singolare’ and ‘uomo unico’ for the higher and highest stages of individual development.[290]By the year 1390 there was no longer any prevailing fashion of dress for men at Florence, each preferring to clothe himself in his own way. See theCanzoneof Franco Sacchetti: ‘Contro alle nuove foggie’ in theRime, publ. dal Poggiali, p. 52.[291]At the close of the sixteenth century Montaigne draws the following parallel (Essais, l. iii. chap. 5, vol. iii. p. 367 of the Paris ed. 1816): ‘Ils (les Italiens) ont plus communement des belles femmes et moins de laides que nous; mais des rares et excellentes beautés j’estime que nous allons à pair. Et j’en juge autant des esprits; de ceux de la commune façon, ils en ont beaucoup plus et evidemment; la brutalité y est sans comparaison plus rare; d’ames singulières et du plus hault estage, nous ne leur en debvons rien.’[292]And also of their wives, as is seen in the family of Sforza and among other North Italian rulers. Comp. in the work of Jacobus Phil. Bergomensis,De Plurimis Claris Selectisque Mulieribus, Ferrara, 1497, the lives of Battista Malatesta, Paola Gonzaga, Bona Lombarda, Riccarda of Este, and the chief women of the House of Sforza, Beatrice and others. Among them are more than one genuine virago, and in several cases natural gifts are supplemented by great humanistic culture. (See below, chap. 3 and part v.)

[195]Comines,Charles VIII., chap. 7. How Alfonso once tried in time of war to seize his opponents at a conference, is told by Nantiporto, in Murat. iii. ii. col. 1073. He was a genuine predecessor of Cæsar Borgia.

[196]Pii II. Commentarii, x. p. 492. See a letter of Malatesta in which he recommends to Mohammed II. a portrait-painter, Matteo Passo of Verona, and announces the despatch of a book on the art of war, probably in the year 1463, in Baluz.Miscell.iii. 113. What Galeazzo Maria of Milan told in 1467 to a Venetian envoy, namely, that he and his allies would join with the Turks to destroy Venice, was said merely by way of threat. Comp. Malipiero,Ann. Veneti, Archiv. Stor.vii. i. p. 222. For Boccalino, see page 36.

[197]Porzio,Congiura dei Baroni, l. i. p. 5. That Lorenzo, as Porzio hints, really had a hand in it, is not credible. On the other hand, it seems only too certain that Venice prompted the Sultan to the deed. See Romanin,Storia Documentata di Venezia, lib. xi. cap. 3. After Otranto was taken, Vespasiano Bisticci uttered his ‘Lamento d’Italia,Archiv. Stor. Ital.iv. pp. 452 sqq.

[198]Chron. Venet.in Murat. xxiv. col. 14 and 76.

[199]Malipiero, l. c. p. 565, 568.

[200]Trithem.Annales Hirsaug, ad. a. 1490, tom. ii. pp. 535 sqq.

[201]Malipiero, l. c. 161; comp. p. 152. For the surrender of Djem to Charles VIII. see p. 145, from which it is clear that a connection of the most shameful kind existed between Alexander and Bajazet, even if the documents in Burcardus be spurious. See on the subject Ranke,Zur Kritik neuerer Geschichtschreiber, 2 Auflage, Leipzig, 1874, p. 99, and Gregorovius, bd. vii. 353, note 1.Ibid.p. 353, note 2, a declaration of the Pope that he was not allied with the Turks.

[202]Bapt. Mantuanus,De Calamitatibus Temporum, at the end of the second book, in the song of the Nereid Doris to the Turkish fleet.

[203]Tommaso Gar,Relaz. della Corte di Roma, i. p. 55.

[204]Ranke,Geschichte der romanischen und germanischen Völker. The opinion of Michelet (Reforme, p. 467), that the Turks would have adopted Western civilisation in Italy, does not satisfy me. This mission of Spain is hinted at, perhaps for the first time, in the speech delivered by Fedra Inghirami in 1510 before Julius II., at the celebration of the capture of Bugia by the fleet of Ferdinand the Catholic. SeeAnecdota Litteraria, ii. p. 419.

[205]Among others Corio, fol. 333. Jov. Pontanus, in his treatise,De Liberalitate, cap. 28, considers the free dismissal of Alfonso as a proof of the ‘liberalitas’ of Filippo Maria. (See above, p. 38, note 1.) Compare the line of conduct adopted with regard to Sforza, fol. 329.

[206]Nic. Valori,Vita di Lorenzo; Paul Jovius,Vita Leonis X.l. i. The latter certainly upon good authority, though not without rhetorical embellishment. Comp. Reumont, i. 487, and the passage there quoted.

[207]If Comines on this and many other occasions observes and judges as objectively as any Italian, his intercourse with Italians, particularly with Angelo Catto, must be taken into account.

[208]Comp. e.g. Malipiero, pp. 216, 221, 236, 237, 468, &c., and above pp. 88, note 2, and 93, note 1. Comp. Egnatius, fol. 321a. The Pope curses an ambassador; a Venetian envoy insults the Pope; another, to win over his hearers, tells a fable.

[209]In Villari,Storia di Savonarola, vol. ii. p. xliii. of the ‘Documenti,’ among which are to be found other important political letters. Other documents, particularly of the end of the fifteenth century in Baluzius,Miscellanea, ed. Mansi, vol. i. See especially the collected despatches of Florentine and Venetian ambassadors at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of sixteenth centuries in Desjardins,Négotiations diplomatiques de la France avec la Toscane. vols. i. ii. Paris. 1859, 1861.

[210]The subject has been lately treated more fully by Max Jähns,Die Kriegskunst als Kunst, Leipzig, 1874.

[211]Pii II. Comment.iv. p. 190, ad. a. 1459.

[212]The Cremonese prided themselves on their skill in this department. SeeCronaca di Cremonain theBibliotheca Historica Italica, vol. i. Milan, 1876, p. 214, and note. The Venetians did the same, Egnatius, fol. 300 sqq.

[213]To this effect Paul Jovius (Elogia, p. 184) who adds: ‘Nondum enim invecto externarum gentium cruento more, Italia milites sanguinarii et multæ cædis avidi esse didicerant.’ We are reminded of Frederick of Urbino, who would have been ‘ashamed’ to tolerate a printed book in his library. SeeVespas. Fiorent.

[214]Porcellii Commentaria Jac. Picinini, in Murat. xx. A continuation for the war of 1453,ibid.xxv. Paul Cortesius (De Hominibus Doctis, p. 33, Florence, 1734) criticises the book severely on account of the wretched hexameters.

[215]Porcello calls Scipio Æmilianus by mistake, meaning Africanus Major.

[216]Simonetta,Hist. Fr. Sfortiæ, in Murat. xxi. col. 630.

[217]So he was considered. Comp. Bandello, parte i. nov. 40.

[218]Comp. e.g.De Obsidione Tiphernatium, in vol. 2, of theRer. Italic. Scriptores excodd. Florent.col. 690. The duel of Marshal Boucicault with Galeazzo Gonzaga (1406) in Cagnola,Arch. Stor.iii. p. 25. Infessura tells us of the honour paid by Sixtus IV. to the duellists among his guards. His successors issued bulls against duelling.

[219]We may here notice parenthetically (see Jähns, pp. 26, sqq.) the less favourable side of the tactics of the Condottieri. The combat was often a mere sham-fight, in which the enemy was forced to withdraw by harmless manœuvres. The object of the combatants was to avoid bloodshed, at the worst to make prisoners with a view to the ransom. According to Macchiavelli, the Florentines lost in a great battle in the year 1440 one man only.

[220]For details, seeArch. Stor.Append. tom. v.

[221]Here once for all we refer our readers to Ranke’sPopes, vol. i., and to Sugenheim,Geschichte der Entstehung und Ausbildung des Kirchenstaates. The still later works of Gregorovius and Reumont have also been made use of, and when they offer new facts or views, are quoted. See alsoGeschichte der römischen Papstthums, W. Wattenbach, Berlin, 1876.

[222]For the impression made by the blessing of Eugenius IV. in Florence, seeVespasiano Fiorent, p. 18. See also the passage quoted in Reumont,Lorenzo, i. 171. For the impressive offices of Nicholas V., see Infessura (Eccard, ii. col. 1883 sqq.) and J. Manetti,Vita Nicolai V.(Murat. iii. ii. col. 923). For the homage given to Pius II., seeDiario Ferrarese(Murat. xxiv. col. 205), andPii II. Commentarii,passim, esp. iv. 201, 204, and xi. 562. For Florence, seeDelizie degli Eruditi, xx. 368. Even professional murderers respect the person of the Pope.The great offices in church were treated as matters of much importance by the pomp-loving Paul II. (Platina, l. c. 321) and by Sixtus IV., who, in spite of the gout, conducted mass at Easter in a sitting posture. (Jac. Volaterran. Diarium, Murat. xxiii. col. 131.) It is curious to notice how the people distinguished between the magical efficacy of the blessing and the unworthiness of the man who gave it; when he was unable to give the benediction on Ascension Day, 1481, the populace murmured and cursed him. (Ibid.col. 133.)

The great offices in church were treated as matters of much importance by the pomp-loving Paul II. (Platina, l. c. 321) and by Sixtus IV., who, in spite of the gout, conducted mass at Easter in a sitting posture. (Jac. Volaterran. Diarium, Murat. xxiii. col. 131.) It is curious to notice how the people distinguished between the magical efficacy of the blessing and the unworthiness of the man who gave it; when he was unable to give the benediction on Ascension Day, 1481, the populace murmured and cursed him. (Ibid.col. 133.)

[223]Macchiavelli,Scritti Minori, p. 142, in the well-known essay on the catastrophe of Sinigaglia. It is true that the French and Spanish soldiers were still more zealous than the Italians. Comp. in Paul. Jov.Vita Leonis X.(l. ii.) the scene before the battle of Ravenna, in which the Legate, weeping for joy, was surrounded by the Spanish troops, and besought for absolution. See further (ibid.) the statements respecting the French in Milan.

[224]In the case of the heretics of Poli, in the Campagna, who held the doctrine that a genuine Pope must show the poverty of Christ as the mark of his calling, we have simply a kind of Waldensian doctrine. Their imprisonment under Paul II. is related by Infessura (Eccard, ii. col. 1893), Platina, p. 317, &c.

[225]As an illustration of this feeling see the poem addressed to the Pope, quoted in Gregorovius, vii. 136.

[226]Dialogus de Conjuratione Stephani de Porcariis, by his contemporary Petrus Godes de Vicenza, quoted and used by Gregorovius, viii. 130. L. B. Alberti,De Porcaria Conjuratione, in Murat. xxv. col. 309. Porcari was desirous ‘omnem pontificiam turbam funditus exstinguere.’ The author concludes: ‘Video sane, quo stent loco res Italiæ; intelligo qui sint, quibus hic perturbata esse omnia conducat....’ He names them ‘Extrinsecus impulsores,’ and is of opinion that Porcari will find successors in his misdeeds. The dreams of Porcari certainly bore some resemblance to those of Cola Rienzi. He also referred to himself the poem ‘Spirto Gentil,’ addressed by Petrarch to Rienzi.

[227]‘Ut Papa tantum vicarius Christi sit et non etiam Cæsaris.... Tunc Papa et dicetur et erit pater sanctus, pater omnium, pater ecclesiæ,’ &c. Valla’s work was written rather earlier, and was aimed at Eugenius IV. See Vahlen,Lor. Valla(Berlin, 1870), pp. 25 sqq., esp. 32. Nicholas V., on the other hand, is praised by Valla, Gregorovius, vii. 136.

[228]Pii II. Comment.iv. pp. 208 sqq. Voigt,Enea Silvio, iii. pp. 151 sqq.

[229]Platina,Vita Pauli II.

[230]Battista Mantovano,De Calamitatibus Temporum, l. iii. The Arabian sells incense, the Tyrian purple, the Indian ivory: ‘Venalia nobis templa, sacerdotes, altaria sacra, coronæ, ignes, thura, preces, cælum est venale Deusque.’Opera, ed. Paris, 1507, fol. 302b. Then follows an exhortation to Pope Sixtus, whose previous efforts are praised, to put an end to these evils.

[231]See e.g. theAnnales Placentini, in Murat. xx. col. 943.

[232]Corio,Storia di Milano, fol. 416-420. Pietro had already helped at the election of Sixtus. See Infessura, in Eccard,Scriptores, ii. col. 1895. It is curious that in 1469 it had been prophesied that deliverance would come from Savona (home of Sixtus, elected in 1471) within three years. See the letter and date in Baluz.Miscell.iii. p. 181. According to Macchiavelli,Storie Fiorent.l. vii. the Venetians poisoned the cardinal. Certainly they were not without motives to do so.

[233]Honorius II. wished, after the death of William I. (1127), to annex Apulia, as a feof reverted to St. Peter.

[234]Fabroni,Laurentius Mag.Adnot. 130. An informer, Vespucci, sends word of both, ‘Hanno in ogni elezione a mettere a sacco questa corte, e sono i maggior ribaldi del mondo.’

[235]Corio, fol. 450. Details, partly from unpublished documents, of these acts of bribery in Gregorovius, vii. 310 sqq.

[236]A most characteristic letter of exhortation by Lorenzo in Fabroni,Laurentius Magn.Adnot. 217, and extracts in Ranke,Popes, i. p. 45, and in Reumont,Lorenzo, ii. pp. 482 sqq.

[237]And perhaps of certain Neapolitan feofs, for the sake of which Innocent called in the Angevins afresh against the immovable Ferrante. The conduct of the Pope in this affair and his participation in the second conspiracy of the barons, were equally foolish and dishonest. For his method of treating with foreign powers, see above p. 127, note 2.

[238]Comp. in particular Infessura, in Eccard.Scriptores, ii.passim.

[239]According to theDispacci di Antonio Giustiniani, i. p. 60, and iii. p. 309, Seb. Pinzon was a native of Cremona.

[240]Recently by Gregorovius,Lucrezia Borgia, 2 Bände 3 Aufl., Stuttgart, 1875.

[241]Except the Bentivoglio at Bologna, and the House of Este at Ferrara. The latter was compelled to form a family relationship, Lucrezia marrying Prince Alfonso.

[242]According to Corio (fol. 479) Charles had thoughts of a Council, of deposing the Pope, and even of carrying him away to France, this upon his return from Naples. According to Benedictus,Carolus VIII.(in Eccard,Scriptores, ii. col. 1584), Charles, while in Naples, when Pope and cardinals refused to recognise his new crown, had certainly entertained the thought ‘de Italiæ imperio deque pontificis statu mutando,’ but soon after made up his mind to be satisfied with the personal humiliation of Alexander. The Pope, nevertheless, escaped him. Particulars in Pilorgerie,Campagne et Bulletins de la Grande Armée d’Italie, 1494, 1495 (Paris, 1866, 8vo.), where the degree of Alexander’s danger at different moments is discussed (pp. 111, 117, &c.). In a letter, there printed, of the Archbishop of St. Malo to Queen Anne, it is expressly stated: ‘Si nostre roy eust voulu obtemperer à la plupart des Messeigneurs les Cardinaulx, ilz eussent fait ung autre pappe en intention de refformer l’église ainsi qu’ilz disaient. Le roy désire bien la reformacion, mais il ne veult point entreprandre de sa depposicion.’

[243]Corio, fol. 450. Malipiero,Ann. Veneti, Arch. Stor.vii. i. p. 318. The rapacity of the whole family can be seen in Malipiero, among other authorities, l. c. p. 565. A ‘nipote’ was splendidly entertained in Venice as papal legate, and made an enormous sum of money by selling dispensations; his servants, when they went away, stole whatever they could lay their hands on, including a piece of embroidered cloth from the high altar of a church at Murano.

[244]This in Panvinio alone among contemporary historians (Contin. Platinæ, p. 339), ‘insidiis Cæsaris fratris interfectus ... connivente ... ad scelus patre,’ and to the same effect Jovius,Elog. Vir. Ill.p. 302. The profound emotion of Alexander looks like a sign of complicity. After the corpse was drawn out of the Tiber, Sannazaro wrote (Opera Omnia Latine Scripta1535, fol. 41a):‘Piscatorem hominum ne te non, Sixte, putemusPiscaris natum retibus, ecce, tuum.’Besides the epigram quoted there are others (fol. 36b, 42b, 47b, 51a,b—in the last passage 5) in Sannazaro on, i.e. against, Alexander. Among them is a famous one, referred to in Gregorovius i. 314, on Lucrezia Borgia:Ergo te semper cupiet Lucretia Sextus?O fatum diri nominis: hic pater est?Others execrate his cruelty and celebrate his death as the beginning of an era of peace. On the Jubilee (see below, p. 108, note 1), there is another epigram, fol. 43b. There are others no less severe (fol. 34b, 35a,b, 42b, 43a) against Cæsar Borgia, among which we find in one of the strongest:Aut nihil aut Cæsar vult dici Borgia; quidni?Cum simul et Cæsar possit, et esse nihil.(made use of by Bandello, iv. nov. 11). On the murder of the Duke of Gandia, see especially the admirable collection of the most original sources of evidence in Gregorovius, vii. 399-407, according to which Cæsar’s guilt is clear, but it seems very doubtful whether Alexander knew, or approved, of the intended assassination.

‘Piscatorem hominum ne te non, Sixte, putemusPiscaris natum retibus, ecce, tuum.’

Besides the epigram quoted there are others (fol. 36b, 42b, 47b, 51a,b—in the last passage 5) in Sannazaro on, i.e. against, Alexander. Among them is a famous one, referred to in Gregorovius i. 314, on Lucrezia Borgia:

Ergo te semper cupiet Lucretia Sextus?O fatum diri nominis: hic pater est?

Others execrate his cruelty and celebrate his death as the beginning of an era of peace. On the Jubilee (see below, p. 108, note 1), there is another epigram, fol. 43b. There are others no less severe (fol. 34b, 35a,b, 42b, 43a) against Cæsar Borgia, among which we find in one of the strongest:

Aut nihil aut Cæsar vult dici Borgia; quidni?Cum simul et Cæsar possit, et esse nihil.

(made use of by Bandello, iv. nov. 11). On the murder of the Duke of Gandia, see especially the admirable collection of the most original sources of evidence in Gregorovius, vii. 399-407, according to which Cæsar’s guilt is clear, but it seems very doubtful whether Alexander knew, or approved, of the intended assassination.

[245]Macchiavelli,Opere, ed. Milan, vol. v. pp. 387, 393, 395, in theLegazione al Duca Valentino.

[246]Tommaso Gar,Relazioni della Corte di Roma, i. p. 12, in theRel. of P. Capello. Literally: ‘The Pope has more respect for Venice than for any other power in the world.’ ‘E però desidera, che ella (Signoria di Venezia) protegga il figliuolo, e dice voler fare tale ordine, che il papato o sia suo, ovvero della signoria nostra.’ The word ‘suo’ can only refer to Cæsar. An instance of the uncertainty caused by this usage is found in the still lively controversy respecting the words used by Vasari in theVita di Raffaello: ‘A Bindo Altoviti fece il ritratto suo, &c.’

[247]Strozzii Poetae, p. 19, in the ‘Venatio’ of Ercole Strozza: ’ ... cui triplicem fata invidere coronam.’ And in the Elegy on Cæsar’s death, p. 31 sqq.: ‘Speraretque olim solii decora alta paterni.’

[248]Ibid.Jupiter had once promised‘Affore Alexandri sobolem, quæ poneret olimItaliæ leges, atque aurea sæcla referret,’ etc.

[248]Ibid.Jupiter had once promised

‘Affore Alexandri sobolem, quæ poneret olimItaliæ leges, atque aurea sæcla referret,’ etc.

[249]Ibid.‘Sacrumque decus majora parantem deposuisse.’

[249]Ibid.

‘Sacrumque decus majora parantem deposuisse.’

[250]He was married, as is well known, to a French princess of the family of Albret, and had a daughter by her; in some way or other he would have attempted to found a dynasty. It is not known that he took steps to regain the cardinal’s hat, although (acc. to Macchiavelli, l. c. p. 285) he must have counted on the speedy death of his father.

[251]Macchiavelli, l. c. p. 334. Designs on Siena and eventually on all Tuscany certainly existed, but were not yet ripe; the consent of France was indispensable.

[252]Macchiavelli, l. c. pp. 326, 351, 414; Matarazzo,Cronaca di Perugia, Arch. Stor.xvi. ii. pp. 157 and 221. He wished his soldiers to quarter themselves where they pleased, so that they gained more in time of peace than of war. Petrus Alcyonius,De Exilio(1522), ed. Mencken, p. 19, says of the style of conducting war: ‘Ea scelera et flagitia a nostris militibus patrata sunt quæ ne Scythæ quidem aut Turcæ, aut Pœni in Italia commisissent.’ The same writer (p. 65) blames Alexander as a Spaniard: ‘Hispani generis hominem, cujus proprium est, rationibus et commodis Hispanorum consultum velle, non Italorum.’ See above, p. 109.

[253]To this effect Pierio Valeriano,De Infelicitate Literat.ed. Mencken, p. 282, in speaking of Giovanni Regio: ‘In arcano proscriptorum albo positus.’

[254]Tommaso Gar, l. c. p. 11. From May 22, 1502, onwards theDespatches of Giustiniani, 3 vols. Florence, 1876, edited by Pasquale Villari, offer valuable information.

[255]Paulus Jovius,Elogia, Cæsar Borgia. In theCommentarii Urbaniof Ralph. Volaterianus, lib. xxii. there is a description of Alexander VI., composed under Julius II., and still written very guardedly. We here read: ‘Roma ... nobilis jam carneficina facta erat.’

[256]Diario Ferrarese, in Muratori, xxiv. col. 362.

[257]Paul. Jovius,Histor.ii. fol. 47.

[258]See the passages in Ranke,Röm. Päpste; Sämmtl. Werke, Bd. xxxvii. 35, and xxxix. Anh. Abschn. 1, Nro. 4, and Gregorovius, vii. 497, sqq. Giustiniani does not believe in the Pope’s being poisoned. See hisDispacci, vol. ii. pp. 107 sqq.; Villari’s Note, pp. 120 sqq., and App. pp. 458 sqq.

[259]Panvinius,Epitome Pontificum, p. 359. For the attempt to poison Alexander’s successor, Julius II., see p. 363. According to Sismondi, xiii. p. 246, it was in this way that Lopez, Cardinal of Capua, for years the partner of all the Pope’s secrets, came by his end; according to Sanuto (in Ranke,Popes, i. p. 52, note), the Cardinal of Verona also. When Cardinal Orsini died, the Pope obtained a certificate of natural death from a college of physicians.

[260]Prato,Arch. Stor.iii. p. 254; comp. Attilio Alessio, in Baluz.Miscell., iv. p. 518 sqq.

[261]And turned to the most profitable account by the Pope. Comp.Chron. Venetum, in Murat. xxiv. col. 133, given only as a report: ‘E si giudiceva, che il Pontefice dovesse cavare assai danari di questo Giubileo, che gli tornerà molto a proposito.

[262]Anshelm,Berner Chronik, iii. pp. 146-156. Trithem.Annales Hirsaug.tom. ii. pp. 579, 584, 586.

[263]Panvin.Contin. Platinae, p. 341.

[264]Hence the splendour of the tombs of the prelates erected during their lifetime. A part of the plunder was in this way saved from the hands of the Popes.

[265]Whether Julius really hoped that Ferdinand the Catholic would be induced to restore to the throne of Naples the expelled Aragonese dynasty, remains, in spite of Giovio’s declaration (Vita Alfonsi Ducis), very doubtful.

[266]Both poems in Roscoe,Leone X.ed. Bossi, iv. 257 and 297. Of his death theCronaca di Cremonasays: ‘quale fu grande danno per la Italia, perchè era homo che non voleva tramontani in Italia, ed haveva cazato Francesi, e l’animo era de cazar le altri.’Bibl. Hist. Ital.(1876) i. 217. It is true that when Julius, in August, 1511, lay one day for hours in a fainting fit, and was thought to be dead, the more restless members of the noblest families—Pompeo Colonna and Antimo Savelli—ventured to call ‘the people’ to the Capitol, and to urge them to throw off the Papal yoke—‘a vendicarsi in libertà ... a publica ribellione,’ as Guicciardini tells us in his tenth book. See, too, Paul. Jov. in theVita Pompeji Columnae, and Gregorovius, viii. 71-75.

[267]Septimo decretal.l. i. tit. 3, cap. 1-3.

[268]Franc. Vettori, in theArch. Stor.vi. 297.

[269]Besides which it is said (Paul. Lang.Chronicon Cilicense) to have produced not less than 500,000 gold florins; the order of the Franciscans alone, whose general was made a cardinal, paid 30,000. For a notice of the various sums paid, see Sanuto, xxiv. fol. 227; for the whole subject see Gregorovius, viii. 214 sqq.

[270]Franc. Vettori, l.c. p. 301.Arch. Stor.Append. i. p. 293 sqq. Roscoe,Leone X.ed. Bossi, vi. p. 232 sqq. Tommaso Gar, l. c. p. 42.

[271]Ariosto, Sat. vi. v. 106. ‘Tutti morrete, ed è fatal che muoja Leone appresso.’ Sat. 3 and 7 ridicule the hangers on at Leo’s Court.

[272]One of several instances of such combinations is given in theLettere dei Principi, i. 65, in a despatch of the Cardinal Bibbiena from Paris of the year 1518.

[273]Franc. Vettori, l.c. p. 333.

[274]At the time of the Lateran Council, in 1512, Pico wrote an address:J. E. P. Oratio ad Leonem X. et Concilium Lateranense de Reformandis Ecclesiæ Moribus(ed. Hagenau, 1512, frequently printed in editions of his works). The address was dedicated to Pirckheimer and was again sent to him in 1517. Comp.Vir. Doct. Epist. ad Pirck., ed. Freytag, Leipz. 1838, p. 8. Pico fears that under Leo evil may definitely triumph over good, ‘et in te bellum a nostræ religionis hostibus ante audias geri quam pariri.’

[275]Lettere dei Principi, i. (Rome. 17th March, 1523): ‘This city stands on a needle’s point, and God grant that we are not soon driven to Avignon or to the end of the Ocean. I foresee the early fall of this spiritual monarchy.... Unless God helps us we are lost.’ Whether Adrian were really poisoned or not, cannot be gathered with certainty from Blas Ortiz,Itinerar. Hadriani(Baluz.Miscell.ed. Mansi, i. p. 386 sqq.); the worst of it was that everybody believed it.

[276]Negro, l.c. on Oct. 24 (should be Sept.) and Nov. 9, 1526, April 11, 1527. It is true that he found admirers and flatterers. The dialogue of Petrus Alcyonus ‘De Exilio’ was written in his praise, shortly before he became Pope.

[277]Varchi,Stor. Fiorent.i. 43, 46 sqq.

[278]Paul. Jov.,Vita Pomp. Columnae.

[279]Ranke,Deutsche Geschichte(4 Aufl.) ii. 262 sqq.

[280]Varchi,Stor. Fiorent.ii. 43 sqq.

[281]Ibid.and Ranke,Deutsche Gesch.ii. 278, note, and iii. 6 sqq. It was thought that Charles would transfer his seat of government to Rome.

[282]See his letter to the Pope, dated Carpentras, Sept. 1, 1527, in theAnecdota litt.iv. p. 335.

[283]Lettere dei Principi, i. 72. Castiglione to the Pope, Burgos, Dec. 10, 1527.

[284]Tommaso Gar,Relaz. della Corte di Roma, i. 299.

[285]The Farnese succeeded in something of the kind, the Caraffa were ruined.

[286]Petrarca,Epist. Fam.i. 3. p. 574, when he thanks God that he was born an Italian. And again in theApologia contra cujusdam anonymi Galli Calumniasof the year 1367 (Opp.ed. Bas. 1581) p. 1068 sqq. See L. Geiger,Petrarca, 129-145.

[287]Particularly those in vol. i. of Schardius,Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Basel, 1574. For an earlier period, Felix Faber,Historia Suevorum, libri duo (in Goldast,Script. rer. Suev.1605); for a later, Irenicus,Exegesis Germaniæ, Hagenau, 1518. On the latter work and the patriotic histories of that time, see various studies of A. Horawitz,Hist. Zeitschrift, bd. xxxiii. 118, anm. 1.

[288]One instance out of many:The Answers of the Doge of Venice to a Florentine Agent respecting Pisa, 1496, in Malipiero,Ann. Veneti. Arch. Stor.vii. i. p. 427.

[289]Observe the expressions ‘uomo singolare’ and ‘uomo unico’ for the higher and highest stages of individual development.

[290]By the year 1390 there was no longer any prevailing fashion of dress for men at Florence, each preferring to clothe himself in his own way. See theCanzoneof Franco Sacchetti: ‘Contro alle nuove foggie’ in theRime, publ. dal Poggiali, p. 52.

[291]At the close of the sixteenth century Montaigne draws the following parallel (Essais, l. iii. chap. 5, vol. iii. p. 367 of the Paris ed. 1816): ‘Ils (les Italiens) ont plus communement des belles femmes et moins de laides que nous; mais des rares et excellentes beautés j’estime que nous allons à pair. Et j’en juge autant des esprits; de ceux de la commune façon, ils en ont beaucoup plus et evidemment; la brutalité y est sans comparaison plus rare; d’ames singulières et du plus hault estage, nous ne leur en debvons rien.’

[292]And also of their wives, as is seen in the family of Sforza and among other North Italian rulers. Comp. in the work of Jacobus Phil. Bergomensis,De Plurimis Claris Selectisque Mulieribus, Ferrara, 1497, the lives of Battista Malatesta, Paola Gonzaga, Bona Lombarda, Riccarda of Este, and the chief women of the House of Sforza, Beatrice and others. Among them are more than one genuine virago, and in several cases natural gifts are supplemented by great humanistic culture. (See below, chap. 3 and part v.)

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