Chapter XVIII: Cæsar at Pesaro

Towards the end of September, Cæsar entered Romagna with seven hundred heavy men at arms, two hundred light horsemen, and six thousand foot soldiers. First he advanced against Pesaro for the purpose of driving out his former brother-in-law. Sforza, on hearing of the terrible fate of his successor as husband of Lucretia, had good reason to congratulate himself on his escape. He was literally consuming with hate of all the Borgias, but, instead of being able to avenge himself for the injury they had done him, he found himself threatened with another, a greater and almost unavoidable one. He had been informed by his representative in Rome and by the ambassador of Spain, who was friendly to him, of the preparations his enemy was making, a fact proved by his letter to Francesco Gonzaga, the brother of his first wife, Maddalena.[81]

September 1, 1500, he informed the Marquis of Cæsar's intention to attack Pesaro, and asked him to endeavor to interest the Emperor Maximilian in his behalf. On the twenty-sixth he wrote an urgent appeal for help. This the marquis did not refuse, but he sent him only a hundred men under the command of an Albanian. Thus do we see how these illegitimate dynasties of Italy were in danger of being overthrown by every breath. Faenza was the only place where the people loved their lord, the young and fair Astorre Manfredi, and remained true to him. In all the other cities of Romagna, however, the regime of the tyrants was detested. Sforza himself could be cruel and exacting, and not in vain had he been a pupil of the Borgias in Rome.

Never was throne so quickly overturned as his, or, rather, so promptly abandoned before it was attacked. Cæsar was some distance from Pesaro when there was a movement in his favor among the people; a party hostile to the Sforza was formed, while the whole populace, excited by the thought of what might follow the storming of the city by the heartless enemy, was anxious to make terms with him. In vain did the poet, Guido Posthumus, who had recently returned from Padua to his fatherland, urge his fellow citizens, in ardent verses, to resist the enemy.[82] The people rose Sunday, October 11th, even before Cæsar had appeared under the city walls. What then happened is told in Sforza's letter to Gonzaga:

ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER-IN-LAW: Your
Excellency doubtless has learned ere this how the people of Pesaro,
last Sunday morning, incited by four scoundrels, rose in arms, and
how I, with a few who remained faithful, was forced to retire to
the castle as best I could. When I saw that the enemy was
approaching, and that Ercole Bentivoglio, who was near Rimini, was
pressing forward, I left the castle at night to avoid being shut
in--this was on the advice and with the help of the Albanian
Jacomo. In spite of the bad roads and great obstacles, I escaped to
this place, for which I have, first of all, to thank your
Excellency--you having sent me Jacomo--and next, to thank him for
bringing me through safely. What I shall now do, I know not; but if
I do not succeed in getting to your Excellency within four days, I
will send Jacomo, who will tell you how everything happened, and
what my plans are. In the meantime I wish you to know that I am
safe, and that I commend myself to you. Bologna, October 17, 1500.
Your Excellency's Brother-in-Law and Servant,

JOHANNES SFORZA of Aragon, Count of Cotignola and Pesaro.

October 19th he again wrote from Bologna, saying he was going to Ravenna, and intended to return from there to Pesaro, where the castle was still bravely holding out; he also asked the marquis to send him three hundred men. Three days later, however, he reported from Ravenna that the castle had capitulated.

Cæsar Borgia had taken the city of Pesaro, not only without resistance, but with the full consent of the people, and with public honors he entered the Sforza palace, where only four years before his sister had held her court. He took possession of the castle October 28th, summoned a painter and commanded him to draw a picture of it on paper for him to send the Pope. From the battlements of the castle of the Sforza twelve trumpeters sounded the glad tidings, and the heralds saluted Cæsar as Lord of Pesaro. October 29th he set out for the castle of Gradara.[83]

Among those who witnessed his entry into Pesaro was Pandolfo Collenuccio. On receiving news of the fall of the city, Duke Ercole, owing to fear, and also on account of a certain bargain between himself and the Pope, of which we shall soon speak, sent this man, whom Sforza had banished, and who had found an asylum in Ferrara, to Cæsar to congratulate him. Collenuccio gave the duke a report of his mission, October 29th, in the following remarkable letter:

MY ILLUSTRIOUS MASTER: Having left your Excellency, I
reached Pesaro two and a half days ago, arriving there Thursday at
the twenty-fourth hour. At exactly the same time the Duke of
Valentino made his entry. The entire populace was gathered about
the city gate, and he was received during a heavy fall of rain, and
was presented with the keys of the city. He took up his abode in
the palace, in the room formerly occupied by Signor Giovanni. His
entry, according to the reports of some of my people who witnessed
it, was very impressive. It was orderly, and he was accompanied by
numerous horse and foot soldiers. The same evening I notified him
of my arrival, and requested an audience whenever it should suit
his Majesty's convenience. About two o'clock at night (eight
o'clock in the evening) he sent Signor Ramiro and his majordomo to
call upon me and to ask, in the most courteous manner, whether I
was comfortably lodged, and whether, owing to the great number of
people in the city, I lacked for anything. He had instructed them
to tell me to rest myself thoroughly, and that he would receive me
the following day. Early Wednesday he sent me by a courier, as a
present, a sack of barley, a cask of wine, a wether, eight pairs of
capons and hens, two large torches, two bundles of wax candles, and
two boxes of sweetmeats. He, however, did not appoint an hour for
an audience, but sent his excuses and said I must not think it
strange. The reason was that he had risen at the twentieth hour
(two o'clock in the afternoon) and had dined, after which he had
gone to the castle, where he remained until night, and whence he
returned greatly exhausted owing to a sore he had in the groin.

To-day, about the twenty-second hour (four in the afternoon), after
he had dined, he had Signor Ramiro fetch me to him; and with great
frankness and amiability his Majesty first made his excuses for not
granting me an audience the preceding day, owing to his having so
much to do in the castle and also on account of the pain caused by
his ulcer. Following this, and after I had stated that the sole
object of my mission was to wait upon his Majesty to congratulate
and thank him, and to offer your services, he answered me in
carefully chosen words, covering each point and very fluently. The
gist of it was, that knowing your Excellency's ability and
goodness, he had always loved you and had hoped to enjoy personal
relations with you. He had looked forward to this when you were in
Milan, but events and circumstances then prevented it. But now that
he had come to this country, he--determined to have his wish--had
written the letter announcing his successes, of his own free will
and as proof of his love, and feeling certain that your Majesty
would be pleased by it. He says he will continue to keep you
informed of his doings, as he desires to establish a firm
friendship with your Majesty, and he proffers everything he owns
and in his power should you ever have need. He desires to look upon
you as a father. He also thanked your Majesty for the letter and
for having sent it him by a messenger, although the letter was
unnecessary; for even without it he would have known that your
Majesty would be pleased by his success. In short, he could not
have uttered better and more seemly words than those he used when
he referred to you as his father and to himself as your son, which
he did repeatedly.

When I take both the actual facts and his words into consideration,
I see why he wishes to establish some sort of friendly alliance
with your Majesty. I believe in his professions, and I can see
nothing but good in them. He was much pleased by your Majesty's
sending a special messenger to him, and I heard that he had
informed the Pope of it; to his followers here he spoke of it in a
way that showed he considered it of the greatest moment.

Replying in general terms, I said that I could only commend the
wisdom he had shown in regard to your Excellency, owing to our
position and to that of our State, which, however, could only
redound to his credit; to this he emphatically assented. He gave me
to understand that he recognized this perfectly, and thereupon,
breaking the thread of our conversation, we came to the subject of
Faenza. His Majesty said to me, "I do not know what Faenza wants to
do; she can give us no more trouble than did the others; still she
may delay matters. I replied that I believed she would do as the
others had done; but if she did not, it could only redound to his
Majesty's glory; for it would give him another opportunity to
display his skill and valor by capturing the place." This seemed to
please him, and he answered that he would assuredly crush it.
Bologna was not mentioned. He was pleased by the messages which I
brought him from your people, from Don Alfonso and the cardinal, of
whom he spoke long and with every appearance of affection.

Thereupon, having been together a full half hour, I took my
departure, and his Majesty, mounting his horse, rode forth. This
evening he is going to Gradara; to-morrow to Rimini, and then
farther. He is accompanied by all his troops, including the
artillery. He told me he would not move so slowly but that he did
not wish to leave the cannon behind.

There are more than two thousand men quartered here but they have
done no appreciable damage. The surrounding country is swarming
with troops; whether they have done much harm we do not know. He
granted the city no privileges or exemptions. He left as his
lieutenant a certain doctor of Forli. He took seventy pieces of
artillery from the castle, and the guard he left there is very
small.

I will tell your Excellency something which a number of people
mentioned to me; it was, however, related to me in detail by a
Portuguese cavalier, a soldier in the army of the Duke of Valentino
who is lodged here in the house of my son-in-law with fifteen
troopers--an upright man who was a friend of our lord, Don
Fernando, when he was with King Charles. He told me that the Pope
intended to give this city to Madonna Lucretia for her portion, and
that he had found a husband for her, an Italian, who would always
be able to retain the friendship of Valentino. Whether this be true
I know not, but it is generally believed.

As to Fano, the Duke did not retain it. He was there five days. He
did not want it, but the burghers presented it to him, and his it
will be when he desires it. It is said the Pope commanded him not
to take Fano unless the citizens themselves asked him to do so.
Therefore it remained in _statu quo_.

POSTSCRIPT:

The Duke's daily life is as follows: he goes to bed at eight, nine,
or ten o'clock at night (three to five o'clock in the morning).
Consequently, the eighteenth hour is his dawn, the nineteenth his
sunrise, and the twentieth his time for rising. Immediately on
getting up he sits down to the table, and while there and
afterwards he attends to his business affairs. He is considered
brave, strong, and generous, and it is said he lays great store by
straightforward men. He is terrible in revenge--so many tell me. A
man of strong good sense, and thirsting for greatness and fame, he
seems more eager to seize States than to keep and administer them.

Your illustrious ducal Majesty's servant,

PANDULPHUS.

PESARO, _Thursday, October 29_,
Six o'clock at night, 1500.

_The Duke's Retinue_

Bartolomeo of Capranica, Field-Marshal.}
Piero Santa Croce. }
Giulio Alberino. }
Mario Don Marian de Stephano. } All Noblemen of Rome.
A brother of the last. }
Menico Sanguigni. }
Jo. Baptista Mancini. }
Dorio Savello. }

_Prominent Men in the Duke's Household._

Bishop of Elna, } Spaniards.
Bishop of Sancta Sista, }
Bishop of Trani, an Italian.
A Neapolitan abbot.
Sigr Ramiro del Orca, Governor; he is the factotum.
Don Hieronymo, a Portuguese.
Messer Agabito da Amelio, Secretary.
Mesr Alexandro Spannocchia, Treasurer, who says that the duke
since his departure from Rome up to the present time has spent
daily, on the average, eighteen hundred ducats.

Collenuccio in his letter omits to mention the fact that he had addressed to Cæsar, the new master of Pesaro, a complaint against its former lord, Giovanni Sforza, and that the duke had reinstated him in the possession of his confiscated property. He was destined a few years later bitterly to regret having taken this step. Guido Posthumus, on the other hand, whose property Cæsar appropriated, fled to the Rangone in Modena. Sforza, expelled, reached Venice November 2d, where he endeavored, according to Malipiero, to sell the Republic his estates of Pesaro--in which attempt he failed. Thence he went to Mantua. At that time Modena and Mantua were the asylums of numerous exiled tyrants who were hospitably received into the beautiful castle of the Gonzaga, which was protected by the swamps of the Mincio.

After the fall of Pesaro, Rimini likewise expelled its hated oppressors, the brothers Pandolfo and Carlo Malatesta, whereupon Cæsar Borgia laid siege to Faenza. The youthful Astorre, its lord, finally surrendered, April 25, 1501, to the destroyer, on the duke's promise not to deprive him of his liberty. Cæsar, however, sent the unfortunate young man to Rome, where he and his brother Octavian, together with several other victims, were confined in the castle of S. Angelo. This was the same Astorre with whom Cardinal Alessandro Farnese wished to unite his sister Giulia in marriage, and the unfortunate youth may now have regretted that this alliance had not taken place.

FOOTNOTES:

[81] His correspondence with Gonzaga is preserved in the archives of Mantua.

[82] Ad. Pisaurenses: Guidi Posthumi Silvestris Pisaurensis Elegiarum Librii ii, p. 33. Bonon, 1524.

[83] Pietro Marzetti, Memorie di Pesaro. Ms. in the Oliveriana.