Chapter XIV: The “last Day of Italy” (1)

[Sidenote: [1494-1530 A.D.]]

The period was at length arrived when Italy--which had restored intellectual light to Europe, reconciled civil order with liberty, recalled youth to the study of laws and of philosophy, created the taste for poetry and the fine arts, revived the science and literature of antiquity, given prosperity to commerce, manufactures, and agriculture--was destined to become the prey of those very barbarians whom she was leading to civilisation. Her independence must necessarily perish with her liberty, which was hitherto the source of her grandeur and power. In a country covered with republics three centuries before, there remained but four at the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici; and in those, although the word “liberty” was still inscribed on their banners, that principle of life had disappeared from their institutions. Florence, already governed for three generations by the family of the Medici, corrupted by their licentiousness, and rendered venal by their wealth, had been taught by them to fear and to obey. Venice with its jealous aristocracy, Siena and Lucca, each governed by a single caste of citizens, if still republics, had no longer popular governments or republican energy. Neither in those four cities, nor in Genoa, which had surrendered its liberty to the Sforzas, nor in Bologna, which yielded to the Bentivoglios, nor in any of the monarchical states, was there to be found throughout Italy that power of a people whose every individual will tends to the public weal, whose efforts are all combined for the public benefit and the common safety. The princes of that country could appeal only to order and the obedience of the subject, not to the enthusiasm of the citizen, for the protection of Italian independence and of their own.

Immense wealth, coveted by the rest of Europe, was, it is true, always accumulating in absolute monarchies, as well as in republics; but if, on the one hand, it furnished the pay of powerful armies, on the other, it augmented the danger of Italy, by exciting the cupidity of its neighbours. The number of national soldiers was very considerable; their profession was that which led the most rapidly to distinction and fortune. Engaged only for the duration of hostilities, and at liberty to retire every month, instead of spending their lives in the indolence of garrisons or abandoning the freedom of their will, they passed rapidly from one service to another, seeking only war, and never becoming enervated by idleness. The horses and armour of the Italian men-at-arms were reckoned superior to those of the transalpine nations, against which they had measured themselves in France during “the war of the public weal.” The Italian captains had made war a science, every branch of which they thoroughly knew. It was never suspected for a moment that the soldier should be wanting in courage; but the general mildness of manners and the progress of civilisation had accustomed the Italians to make war with sentiments of honour and humanity towards the vanquished. Ever ready to give quarter, they did not strike a fallen enemy. Often, after having taken from him his horse and armour, they set him free; at least, they never demanded a ransom so enormous as to ruin him. Horsemen who went to battle clad in steel were rarely killed or wounded, so long as they kept their saddles. Once unhorsed, they surrendered. The battle, therefore, never became murderous. The courage of the Italian soldiers, which had accommodated itself to this milder warfare, suddenly gave way before the new dangers and ferocity of barbarian enemies. They became terror-struck when they perceived that the French caused dismounted horsemen to be put to death by their valets, or made prisoners only to extort from them, under the name of ransom, all they possessed. The Italian cavalry, equal in courage and superior in military science to the French, were for some time unable to make head against an enemy whose ferocity disturbed their imaginations.

While Italy had lost a part of the advantages which, in the preceding century, had constituted her security, the transalpine nations had suddenly acquired a power which destroyed the ancient equilibrium. Up to the close of the fifteenth century, wars were much fewer between nation and nation than between French, Germans, or Spaniards among themselves. Even the war between the English and the French, which desolated France for more than a century, sprang not from enmity between two rival nations, but from the circumstance that the kings of England were French princes, hereditary sovereigns of Normandy, Poitou, and Guienne. Charles VII at last forced the English back beyond sea, and reunited to the monarchy provinces which had been detached from it for centuries. Louis XI vanquished the dukes and peers of France who had disputed his authority; he humbled the house of Burgundy, which had begun to have interests foreign to France. His young successor and son, Charles VIII, on coming of age, found himself the master of a vast kingdom in a state of complete obedience, a brilliant army, and large revenues; but was weak enough to think that there was no glory to be obtained unless in distant and chivalrous expeditions. The different monarchies of Spain, which had long been rivals, were united by the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon with Isabella of Castile, and by the conquest which they jointly made of the Moorish kingdom of Granada. Spain, forming for the first time one great power, began to exercise an influence which she had never till then claimed. The emperor Maximilian, after having united the Low Countries and the county of Burgundy, his wife’s inheritance, to the states of Austria, which he inherited from his father, asserted his right to exercise over the whole of Germany the imperial authority which had escaped from the hands of his predecessors. Lastly, the Swiss, rendered illustrious by their victories over Charles the Bold, had begun, but since his death only, to make a traffic of their lives, and enter the service of foreign nations. At the same time, the empire of the Turks extended along the whole shore of the Adriatic, and menaced at once Venice and the kingdom of Naples. Italy was surrounded on all sides by powers which had suddenly become gigantic, and of which not one had, half a century before, given her uneasiness.

[Sidenote: [1492-1494 A.D.]]

France was the first to carry abroad an activity unemployed at home, and to make Italy feel the change which had taken place in the politics of Europe. Its king, Charles VIII, claimed the inheritance of all the rights of the second house of Anjou on the kingdom of Naples. Those rights, founded on the adoption of Louis I of Anjou by Joanna I, had never been acknowledged by the people or confirmed by possession. For the space of a hundred and ten years Louis I, II, and III, and René, the brother of the last, made frequent but unsuccessful attempts to mount the throne of Naples. The brother and the daughter of René, Charles of Maine and Margaret of Anjou, at last either ceded or sold those rights to Louis XI. His son, Charles VIII, as soon as he was of age, determined on asserting them. Eager for glory, in proportion as his weak frame and still weaker intellect incapacitated him for acquiring it, he, at the age of twenty-four, resolved on treading in the footsteps of Charlemagne and his paladins; and undertook the conquest of Naples as the first exploit that was to lead to the conquest of Constantinople and the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre.

Charles VIII entered Italy in the month of August, 1494, with thirty-six hundred men-at-arms or heavy cavalry; twenty thousand infantry, Gascons, Bretons, and French; eight thousand Swiss, and a formidable train of artillery. This last arm had received in France, during the wars of Charles VII, a degree of perfection yet unknown to the rest of Europe. The states of upper Italy were favourable to the expedition of the French. The duchess of Savoy and the marchioness of Montferrat, regents for their sons, who were under age, opened the passages of the Alps to Charles VIII. Lodovico the Moor, regent of the duchy of Milan, recently alarmed at the demand made on him by the king of Naples, to give up the regency to his nephew, Giovanni Galeazzo, then of full age, and married to a Neapolitan princess, had himself called the French into Italy; and to facilitate their conquest of the kingdom of Naples, opened to them all the fortresses of Genoa which were dependent on him. The republic of Venice intended to remain neutral, reposing in its own strength, and made the duke of Ferrara and the marquis of Mantua, its neighbours, adopt the same policy; but southern Italy formed for its defence a league, comprehending the Tuscan republics, the states of the church, and the kingdom of Naples.

At Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici left three sons; of whom Piero II, at the age of twenty-one, was named chief of the republic. His grandfather, Piero I, son of Cosmo, oppressed with infirmities and premature old age, had shown little talent, and no capacity for the government of a state. Piero II, on the contrary, was remarkable for his bodily vigour and address; but he thought only of shining at festivals, tilts, and tournaments. It was said that he had given proofs of talent in his literary studies, that he spoke with grace and dignity; but in his public career he proved himself arrogant, presumptuous, and passionate. He determined on governing the Florentines as a master, without disguising the yoke which he imposed on them; not deigning to trouble himself with business, he transmitted his orders by his secretary, or some one of his household, to the magistrates.

Piero de’ Medici remained faithful to the treaty which his father had made with Ferdinand, king of Naples, and engaged to refuse the French a free passage, if they attempted to enter southern Italy by Tuscany. The republics of Siena and Lucca, too feeble to adopt an independent policy, promised to follow the impulse given by Medici. In the states of the church, Rodrigo Borgia had succeeded to Innocent VIII, on the 11th of August, 1492, under the name of Alexander VI. He was the richest of the cardinals, and at the same time the most depraved in morals, and the most perfidious as a politician. The marriage of one of his sons (for he had several) with a natural daughter of Alfonso, son of Ferdinand, had put the seal to his alliance with the reigning house of Naples. That house then appeared at the summit of prosperity. Ferdinand, though seventy years of age, was still vigorous: he was rich, he had triumphed over all his enemies; he passed for the most able politician in Italy. His two sons, Alfonso and Frederick, and his grandson, Ferdinand, were reputed skilful warriors; they had an army and a numerous fleet under their orders. However, Ferdinand dreaded a war with France, and he had just opened negotiations to avoid it when he died suddenly, on the 25th of January, 1494. His son, Alfonso II, succeeded him; while Frederick took command of the fleet, and the young Ferdinand that of the army, destined to defend Romagna against the French.

It was by Pontremoli and the Lunigiana that Charles VIII, according to the advice of Lodovico the Moor, resolved to conduct his army into southern Italy. This road traversing the Apennines from Parma to Pontremoli, over poor pasture lands, and descending through olive groves to the sea, the shore of which it follows at the foot of the mountains, was not without danger. The country produces little grain of any kind. Corn was brought from abroad, at a great expense, in exchange for oil. The narrow space between the sea and the mountains was defended by a chain of fortresses, which might long stop the army on a coast where it would have experienced at the same time famine and the pestilential fever of Pietrasanta. Piero de’ Medici, upon learning that the French were arrived at Sarzana, and perceiving the fermentation which the news of their approach excited at Florence, resolved to imitate that act of his father which he had heard the most praised--his visit to Ferdinand at Naples. He departed to meet Charles VIII. On his road he traversed a field of battle, where three hundred Florentine soldiers had been cut to pieces by the French, who had refused to give quarter to a single one. Seized with terror, on being introduced to Charles, he, on the first summons, caused the fortresses of Sarzana and Sarzanello to be immediately surrendered. He afterwards gave up those of Librafratta, Pisa, and Livorno (Leghorn), consenting that Charles should garrison and keep them until his return from Italy, or until peace was signed, and thus establishing the king of France in the heart of Tuscany. It was contrary to the wish of the Florentines that Medici had engaged in hostilities against the French, for whom they entertained an hereditary attachment; but the conduct of the chief of the state, who, after having drawn them into a war, delivered their fortresses, without authority, into the hands of the enemy whom he had provoked, appeared as disgraceful as it was criminal.

Piero de’ Medici, after this act of weakness, quitted Charles, to return in haste to Florence, where he arrived on the 8th of November, 1494. On his preparing, the next day, to visit the signoria, he found guards at the door of the palace, who refused him admittance. Astonished at this opposition, he returned home, to put himself under the protection of his brother-in-law, Paolo Orsini, a Roman noble, whom he had taken, with a troop of cavalry, into the pay of the republic. Supported by Orsini, the three brothers Medici rapidly traversed the streets, repeating the war-cry of their family, “_Palle! Palle!_”--without exciting a single movement of the populace, upon whom they reckoned, in their favour. The friends of liberty, the Piagnoni, on the other hand, excited by the exhortations of Savonarola, assembled, and took arms. Their number continually increased. The Medici, terrified, left the city by the gate of San Gallo, traversed the Apennines, retired first to Bologna, then to Venice, and thus lost, without a struggle, a sovereignty which their family had already exercised sixty years. The same day, the 19th of November, 1494, on which the Medici were driven out of Florence, the Florentines were driven out of Pisa.[d]

CHARLES VIII; HIS ARMY (1494 A.D.)

The French army was now ready to march on Florence. It consisted of thirty-six hundred men-at-arms; six thousand foot-archers from Brittany; six thousand crossbowmen from the central provinces; eight thousand Gascon infantry, at that time the most esteemed in France; all armed with arquebuses and two-handed swords; and eight thousand Swiss or German pikemen and halberdiers. An immense number of attendants followed and increased this splendid force which was led by the king, the duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis XII, the duke of Vendôme; the count of Montpensier; Louis de Ligne, lord of Luxemburg; Louis de la Trémouille and other great seigniors; besides the seneschal of Beaucaire, Briçonnet, bishop of St. Malo, both confidential advisers of Charles; and, though last not least, his father’s old and faithful counsellor Philip de Comines, lord of Argenton, who has left so interesting and instructive a history of his own times to posterity. The French man-at-arms or lance (a name which seems to have been gradually dropped in Italy after the disappearance of transalpine condottieri by whom it was introduced) consisted of six horsemen, of which two were archers; they were nearly all French subjects, and all gentlemen, who were neither enrolled nor removed at the general’s pleasure nor paid by him as in Italy, but received their salary direct from the crown. Their squadrons were always maintained complete, and every man was well equipped both with arms and horses, for their circumstances were equal to it, and there was a good spirit and an honourable emulation to distinguish themselves not only for the sake of glory but promotion; and the same spirit existed among the leaders and generals, who were all lords and barons or of illustrious family and nearly all native Frenchmen. None of the subordinate chiefs commanded more than a hundred lances, and when these were complete they looked only to glory and promotion, which were pursued with a singular devotion to the king whom they considered the source of both. The result of this spirit and this equality was a steadiness in their service, an absence of any desire, whether from avarice or ambition, to change their masters, and a similar absence of any rivalry with other captains for a larger command.

All this differed from the Italian army in which the men-at-arms were at this time principally composed of the lower ranks of society, of strangers from other states, the subjects of other princes; all depending on the condottieri, with whom they agreed for their salary and by them alone was it paid, yet without any generous stimulus to honour, glory, or good service--but on the contrary the certainty of an unfeeling dismissal when no longer wanted. The generals themselves were rarely the subjects of those they served and frequently had different ends and interests, which were sometimes even directly inimical. Amongst them there was abundance of hatred and rivalry and consequent absence of discipline: nor had they always a prefixed period of service; wherefore being entire masters of their troops they left their numbers incomplete, though paid for; defrauded their employers; demanded shameful contributions from them in emergencies, and then tired of the service, or stimulated by ambition or avarice or some other temptation they were not only fickle but unfaithful. Nor was there less difference in the infantry of France and Italy; the latter fought in compact and well-ordered battalions, but scattered over the country and taking advantage of its banks and ditches and all its local peculiarities. The Swiss in French pay on the contrary combated in large masses of an invariable number of rank and file, and never breaking this order they presented themselves like a strong, solid, and almost unconquerable wall where there was sufficient space to deploy their battalions; with similar discipline and similar order did the French and Gascon infantry fight, but not with equal bravery. In their ordnance however the French were far superior to the Italians and sent so great a quantity both of battering and field artillery to Genoa for this war, and of so superior a nature, that the Italian officers were astonished. Hitherto in Italy this warlike arm whether used in the field or fortress had been of a very cumbrous construction; the largest were denominated _bombarde_ and were made both of brass and iron, but of great size--difficult of transport, difficult to place, and difficult to discharge; much time was consumed in loading; a long interval passed after every round; and the effect in general was comparatively trifling with reference to the time and labour employed, there being always a sufficient interval after each discharge for the garrison to repair the damage at their leisure. The French had already cast much lighter pieces of brass ordnance to which they seem to be the first who gave the name of cannon, and used iron shot instead of stone balls: these were placed on lighter carriages, and instead of bullocks as in Italy, they were drawn by horses and kept pace with the army. They were placed in battery with a rapidity that astonished the Italians, and their fire was so quick and well-directed that what had previously been many days’ work amongst the latter was accomplished in a few hours by the Frenchmen; so that this alone made their army formidable to all Italy independent of their native ferocity and valour.[e]

Charles VIII, on receiving from Piero de’ Medici the fortresses of Librafratta, Pisa, and Livorno, in the Pisan states, engaged to preserve to the Florentines the countries within the range of these fortresses, and to restore them at the conclusion of the war. But Charles had very confused notions of the rights of a country into which he carried war, and was by no means scrupulous as to keeping his word. When a deputation of Pisans represented to him the tyranny under which they groaned, and solicited from him the liberty of their country, he granted their request without hesitation, without even suspecting that he disposed of what was not his, or that he broke his word to the Florentines; he equally forgot every other engagement with them. Upon entering Florence, on the 17th of November, at the head of his army, he regarded himself as a conqueror, and therefore as dispensed from every promise which he had made to Piero de’ Medici--he hesitated only between restoring his conquest to Piero, or retaining it himself. The magistrates in vain represented to him that he was the guest of the nation, and not its master; that the gates had been opened to him as a mark of respect, not from any fear; that the Florentines were far from feeling themselves conquered, whilst the palaces of Florence were occupied not only by the citizens but by the soldiers of the republic. Charles still insisted on disgraceful conditions, which his secretary read as his ultimatum. Piero Capponi suddenly snatched the paper from the secretary’s hand, and tearing it, exclaimed, “Well, if it be thus, sound your trumpets, and we will ring our bells!” This energetic movement daunted the French; Charles declared himself content with the subsidy offered by the republic, and engaged on his part to restore as soon as he had accomplished the conquest of Naples, or signed peace, or even consented to a long truce, all the fortresses which had been delivered to him by Medici. Charles after this convention departed from Florence, by the road to Siena, on the 28th of November. The Neapolitan army evacuated Romagna, the patrimony of St. Peter, and Rome, in succession, as he advanced. He entered Rome on the 31st of December, without fighting a blow.[d]

Some very interesting details of the king’s entry into Rome and his reception there by the pope have been preserved to us in a diary kept by one John Burchard, “master of ceremonies of the chapel of Pope Alexander VI.” A few extracts from this diary are here given:

_Charles VIII in Rome: A Contemporary Account_

From the diary of John Burchard, master of ceremonies of the chapel of Pope Alexander VI (1494-1495). “Book of notes collected by me, John Burchard of Strasburg, protonotary of the apostolic see, etc.”

The 19th and 21st, 22nd and 23rd of December the troops of the king of France made excursions as far as San Lazaro and across the meadows which surround the castle of St. Angelo. They had even formed the plan of seizing Rome by treachery at night in one direction, while the Colonna would enter from another with the aid of a thousand Frenchmen who were to come down the river from the environs of Ostia; but a high wind so disturbed their intentions that they could not put them into execution. They wished, in truth, to enter the city by the Porto San Paolo, fire, pillage it, and commit a thousand other atrocities, and the author of the project was, they say, Cardinal Gurck, who himself would have come to the gate of the city, had not the fierce storm compelled him to go back.

This same cardinal was one of the principal abettors of the king of France’s march upon Rome. He had, in fact, decided the inhabitants of Aquapendente and other lands of the church to grant passage to the king of France, by vaunting the liberality and affability of that prince and of the French in general; he assured them that the French would take nothing without paying for it, not even a fowl, an egg, or the slightest thing, affirming also that our holy father had promised the king he would let him cross the estates of the church. By such discourse and similar he induced the people to let the king of France and his troops in, contrary to the pope’s express wish. And to prove to the German officials who were in the city that he was looking after their interests, he wrote an open letter which he caused to be distributed among the most prominent of them in the city:

To our brothers and friends the prelates and other dignitaries
of the German nation and the estates of the Most Illustrious
Archduke Philip: residents of this city:

We call on God who sounds all hearts and loins to witness that
we have made every effort with the Most Christian King, as well
in the name of our Sovereign Pontiff and in our own, to induce
friendship and good feeling between the Pope and the King;
nevertheless we have not as yet been able to succeed; we do not
know to whom to attribute the fault, but it certainly is not
to the King of France who has no other desires than to conduct
himself as a submissive son towards the Sovereign Pontiff and
the Holy See according to the example of his predecessors.
Doubtless the principal obstacle to this arrangement comes from
the gravity of our offences towards God, and if he does not
let Himself be appeased by the prayers of pious souls, this
alliance and the consequent peace between Christian princes
cannot take place. In any case as it is to be feared that the
troops of the Most Christian King and his allies will in a few
days invade the city, if the enemies, which the King has in
Rome, oppose the ratification of the above mentioned agreement.
I have used my influence with the Prince that his troops may
cause no harm to foreigners, to whatever nation they may
belong, residing for the moment in Rome, at least unless they
are found in arms against his Majesty. In consequence, the King
wishes and directs that all subjects of the Most Serene King
of the Romans, and the Most Illustrious Prince, Archduke of
Austria, be not treated by his troops with less respect than
his own subjects and all the Roman citizens. To this effect
he has sent me to my Lord Count of Montpensier, his relative
and lieutenant-general, to let him know on the part of the
King that he must take measures to prevent the troops from
committing any outrage or annoyance upon the above mentioned
residents of Rome and especially upon the Most Reverend
Cardinals, foreigners of all nations, Roman citizens, and
finally the subjects of the Emperor and the Archduke.

I have wished to make known to you this determination that in
case (from which God preserve us) of the King’s troops entering
Rome in arms, you would be informed of his Most Christian
Majesty’s good intentions; if you would protect the more easily
your persons and your property, I advise you in case of tumult,
to take refuge, with the permission of the Lord Secretary, the
Cardinal of Lyons, in my palace; I am writing at the moment to
the said Secretary to ask that he be pleased to give you this
shelter; indeed I have not forgotten that God created me out of
nothing, that He raised me to the dignity and responsibilities
of the Cardinalate, at the prayers of the King of the Romans
and the electors of the Empire. This is why, as long as I
shall live, I shall force myself, through gratitude, to render
service to the Emperor, the Archduke Philip, and all their
subjects with the same devotion as if I were born in their
states. Adieu, dearly beloved brethren. Pray God to hear our
desires which are for universal peace among all Christians and
universal war against the Turks.

Your friend and brother,

CARDINAL GURCK.

Formello, 23rd December.

December 25th, feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the most reverend cardinal Mont-Real, who was to say high mass, was appointed by the holy father, on receipt of what had been learned of the king of France’s intentions concerning his entry into Rome, to go to that prince and beg him to send one of his men who would consult with the pope as to the manner in which he would make his entry. The morning of the same day our holy father the pope before going to his chapel called all the cardinals, with the exception of the cardinal of Alessandria who was to say mass, together in the hall known as Papagallo, and announced the arrival of the king of France, in the presence of the duke of Calabria.

On Friday the 26th of the same month, our holy father betook himself to the large chapel of the palace where he received the king’s ambassadors who, to the number of three, had been sent the night previous. They were: the grand marshal of the realm, Messire Jean de Gannay first president of the parliament of Paris, and one other--all laymen. I caused them to be placed--the grand marshal on the steps of the pontifical throne, in front and above the senator; the two others on the bench of the lay ambassadors, where were seated two ambassadors from the king of Naples, who, refusing to recognise the new-comers on pretext that they knew nothing of their characters as ambassadors, got up and left the place; but on the information I gave them by special order of the pope that they were ambassadors of the king of France, they came back to their bench and yielded the point. The king’s envoys were accompanied by a large number of Frenchmen, several of whom, forgetting all decorum, tried to place themselves close to the prelates and even in their seats. I was obliged to make them get out and assign them more suitable positions. Whereupon the pope called me to him and said in great irritation that I was compromising his interests, that the French must be let place themselves where they wished; I replied to his holiness, who thus let himself be carried away a little, that his wish being known to me I would let them place themselves where they wished without making any observation.

Wednesday December 31st, at early morning, I set out on horseback by order of our holy father the pope to meet the king of France, to inform him of the order of his reception according to the ceremonial, to learn his wishes and execute all that his majesty would prescribe for me: I was accompanied by the reverend father in Jesus Christ, the lord Bartolommeo, bishop of Nepi, the pope’s secretary; by Lord Jerome Porcario, auditor of the Rote, by the dean Coronato de Planca; and by Marius Milorius, Christopher Buzolus, chancellor of Rome, and Jacob de Sinibaldis--Roman citizens. At Galera, two miles from the city, we met the most reverend cardinals of San Pietro in Vincoli, Gurck and Savelli, to whom I made homage without descending from my horse. A short time after we came upon the king to whom we made our respectful salutations, but still remained on horseback on account of the mud and the bad weather.

[Sidenote: [1494-1495 A.D.]]

The bishop of Nepi having explained to the king what the holy father charged him with saying touching the prince’s reception, on my side I made known to his majesty the object of our errand. The king replied that he desired to enter Rome without pomp; he then listened to Lord Jerome Porcario who spoke on behalf of his Roman colleagues, placing the citizens and all they possessed at the king’s disposition. The king made a short reply without explaining what he was going to do about the offer Porcario had just made him. The Romans withdrew. On the king’s invitation I accompanied him for the space of about four miles; he questioned me on the ceremonial, the pope, and the cardinals, of Valentino’s (Cesare Borgia) rank and position, plying his questions so that I could scarce answer one satisfactorily. In the outskirts of Burghetto two Venetian ambassadors presented themselves before the king; they were soon followed by the most reverend cardinal Ascagni, who, without descending from his mule, uncovered himself before the king; the prince did the same to the cardinal; both then resumed their headgear, and the most reverend cardinal Ascagni rode on the king’s left hand and accompanied him over the Milvian bridge and as far as the palace of St. Mark, ordinary residence of the most reverend cardinal of Benevento. We arrived there towards the second hour of the night, over roads deep with mud. From the palace of the most reverend cardinal of Lisbon, close to the church of San Laurentio, to the palace of St. Mark the whole route was lighted up with fires, torches, and candles, and from nearly all the houses came shouts of “_Francia! Francia! Columna! Columna! Vincula! Vincula!_”

This same day before the king’s entry into Rome, the keys of all the city gates were delivered into the hands of the grand marshal of the king of France, according to the command of that prince and with the pope’s consent. The French said in fact, and indeed it was quite true, that on a former occasion the keys had been similarly turned over to the duke of Calabria during his visit to Rome, and that the king of France should have the same rights. The following days, all the most reverend cardinals residing in Rome visited the king of France in turn, according to custom, except the cardinals of Naples and of Orsini, who, lodged in the apostolic palace in apartments which the holy father had assigned them, did not leave the palace and make this visit. Before his entry I had informed the king on the way that, in receiving the cardinals’ visits, he should himself go forward to meet them, conduct them to the door on leaving, give them his hand, and I instructed him in other similar customs. But he acted entirely differently. He neither went forward to meet them nor conducted them to the door; the members of his suite did not pay the respects expected of them. The nearest courtyard to the king’s apartments in the palazzo San Marco was strewn with straw and not even cleaned; candles were fastened to the doors and chimney places--in fact, one would have thought himself in a pig pen.

Saturday, January 3rd, the partisans of the Colonna and the French wrecked the residences of the most reverend cardinal of Naples’ nephew, of Jacob de Comititibus’ son, and of Lord Bartolommeo de Lucca, _valet-de-chambre_ of our holy father the pope. The French, that they might lodge themselves in their own fashion, forced an entrance into the houses from all sides, threw out even beasts and movables, burned the woodwork, and ate and drank their fill without paying for anything, all of which caused great talk among the people. In consequence of this, the king of France caused an order to be published all over the city forbidding the entering of houses by force under penalty of death. Monday, January 5th, pontifical vespers were said in the great chapel of the palace and in the pope’s presence. Before his holiness left the Papagallo chamber several Frenchmen were admitted to kiss his foot.

Sunday, January 11th, it was agreed between our holy father the pope and Philip de Bresse, the king of France’s uncle, that his holiness would deliver for six months the sultan Djem, brother of the Grand Turk, to the king of France, who would at once pay twenty thousand ducats to the pope and would pledge himself, under the security of the Florentine and Venetian merchants, to return the same sultan Djem to the pope immediately the six months had expired; the king of France could receive the crown of Naples without prejudice to the right of any others; and that the cardinals of San Pietro in Vincoli, Gurck, Savelli, and Colonna would be safe from all reproach.

Sunday, January 18th, the holy father sent for me by one of the pages and told me that the next day a public consistory would be held to receive the king of France. According to the wishes of his holiness, I arranged that the president of the parliament of Paris should say a few words in the king’s name, a speech in which his majesty would recognise his holiness the pope as the true vicar and successor of St. Peter. The holy father further made known to me his intention of saying mass pontifically and publicly in the basilica of St. Peter on the following Tuesday, the feast of St. Sebastian, in honour of the king, asking me what place the prince should occupy and which mass to celebrate. He counted, in fact, on saying the mass of the Holy Ghost, the office of which he knew best. I replied to his holiness that the mass to celebrate was that of St. Sebastian; and as for the king he would occupy a special seat placed in front of the cardinals’ bench, between that bench and the chair of the cardinal of Naples, who would assist. As a matter of fact, it was not the cardinal’s duty to fulfil that function on this day; but there was no objection to his doing so, as it was the custom to assist his holiness on all days when he was not familiar with the office. While we were conversing, the king of France arrived at the pontifical palace; the pope, informed of his coming, went to meet him at the palace entrance. The pope wore a white camail, a rich stole, and white cap, a costume scarcely suitable under the circumstances. His majesty came to settle definitely with the pope the articles of agreement already concluded and signed, upon which a difference had already risen between them concerning the securities to be given by the king for the return of the Turk at the end of six months.

The agreement stated, in effect, that the king would furnish several nobles and prelates of his realm of the pope’s choosing, for security; the president claimed that this clause must be limited to ten persons only, while the pope demanded thirty or forty. The discussion on this point was prolonged for three or four hours; finally the pope entered an apartment in which two papal chairs had been placed, followed by the king, whom he made sit in one of these chairs, after which he seated himself in the other, on the king’s right. On the pope’s side were the cardinals of St. Anastasia and St. Alessandria. On the king’s side, the most reverend cardinals of St. Denis and St. Malo, the two papal secretaries, the datary, and several others.

The articles of agreement were read and agreed to. Two notaries were called in--namely, the noble Stephen de Harnia for the pope, and the noble Oliver Yvan, clerk of Mans, for the king. These wrote out the treaty in French for his majesty, and in Latin for his holiness.

Monday, January 19th, the great hall of the apostolic palace was arranged in the usual manner for the public consistory, at which the reception of the king of France and the ceremony of obedience were to take place.

The king placed himself on the left of the sovereign pontiff, and I motioned him to pronounce the formula of obedience. He said that he was going to do it immediately; but at that moment the president of the parliament of Paris advanced to the pope’s feet and, kneeling, explained that the king had come in person to take the oath of obedience; but before doing so he wished to obtain three favours from his holiness, according to the customary privilege of vassals before the oath or homage of their obedience. He asked the confirmation of the rights granted to him the most Christian king, the queen his spouse, to the dauphin his son, and to all the others included in the book whose title he mentioned; next, the investiture of the kingdom of Naples for himself; and, finally, the annulling of the clause concerning the security to guarantee the return of the Grand Turk’s brother to the pope--an article agreed to the day before with the others. The pope replied that he willingly confirmed the privileges which were the subject of the first demand, as they had been established by custom; but as for the investiture of the kingdom of Naples, since that was an affair in which another was interested, it could not be decided until after mature deliberation and consultation with the cardinals, among whom he would make every effort that his majesty should receive the satisfaction he desired; and as regards Djem--the Grand Turk’s brother--he desired to agree unanimously with the king and the sacred college, hoping that there would be no point of difference between them concerning that article. After receiving this reply the king, who was standing on the pope’s left, pronounced the following words:

“Holy father, I have come to make obedience and reverence to your holiness in the manner that my predecessors the kings of France have done.”

After which the president, of whom we have spoken and who remained on his knees, got up and, standing before his holiness, enlarged in these words upon what the king had just said:

“Most holy father, there is an ancient custom among Christian princes, especially the most Christian kings, to testify through their ambassadors to their veneration for the holy see and for the popes whom the Almighty has put at the head of the church; but the king here present, having formed the design of visiting the tomb of the holy apostles, has come in person to perform this duty. Thus he recognises you, holy father, as the head of all the faithful, as the true vicar of Jesus Christ and as the legitimate successor of the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, willingly granting you that filial obedience which the kings of France, his predecessors, were accustomed to profess to the popes. This is why the king offers himself and all dependent on him to the service of your holiness and of the holy see.”

Tuesday, January 27th, the sultan Djem, brother of the Grand Turk, was taken from the castle of St. Angelo to the palace of St. Mark and delivered into the hands of the king of France.

Wednesday, January 28th, the king of France and his people, all in arms, visited the pope, with whom the king of France remained alone for some time. He then withdrew, and was escorted by the pope as far as the gallery leading to the main apartments, where the king knelt and uncovered. The pope likewise bared his head in order to embrace him; the king pretended to wish to kiss the pope’s feet, but he would not allow it. The king departed and mounted the horse that was waiting for him at the entrance of the private garden, where he waited some time for Cardinal Valentino who was going with him to Naples; finally the latter, after taking leave of the pope, came to the place where the king was waiting, mounted his mule in cardinal’s robes, and presented the king with six superb horses. The king then started with Cardinal Valentino on his left; the other cardinals, whose escort the king did not wish for, retired. The king made straight for Marino, where he arrived during the course of the day. The cardinals of San Pietro in Vincoli, Savelli, and Colonna, and the auditor of the chamber also left Rome with the king. During the evening Cardinal Gurck followed the king. The Grand Turk’s brother had already left for Marino.[f]

_Charles goes to Naples_

The first resistance which Charles encountered was on the frontiers of the kingdom of Naples; and having there taken by assault two small towns, he massacred the inhabitants. This instance of ferocity struck Alfonso II with such terror, that he abdicated the crown in favour of his son, Ferdinand II, and retired with his treasure into Sicily. Ferdinand occupied Capua with his whole army, intending to defend the passage of the Volturno. He left that city to appease a sedition which had broken out at Naples; Capua, during his absence, was given up through fear to the French, and he was himself forced, on the 21st of February, to embark for Ischia. All the barons, his vassals, all the provincial cities, sent deputations to Charles; and the whole kingdom of Naples was conquered without a single battle in its defence. The powers of the north of Italy regarded these important conquests with a jealous eye; they, moreover, were already disgusted by the insolence of the French, who had begun to conduct themselves as masters throughout the whole peninsula. The duke of Orleans, who had been left by Charles at Asti, already declared his pretensions to the duchy of Milan, as heir to his grandmother, Valentina Visconti. Lodovico Sforza, upon this, contracted alliances with the Venetians, the pope, the king of Spain, and the emperor Maximilian, for maintaining the independence of Italy; and the duke of Milan and the Venetians assembled near Parma a powerful army, under the command of the marquis of Mantua.

[Sidenote: [1495-1496 A.D.]]

Charles VIII had passed three months at Naples in feasts and tournaments, while his lieutenants were subduing and disorganising the provinces. The news of what was passing in northern Italy determined him on returning to France with the half of his army. He departed from Naples, on the 20th of May, 1495, and passed peaceably through Rome, whilst the pope shut himself up in the castle of St. Angelo. From Siena he went to Pisa, and thence to Pontremoli, where he entered the Apennines. Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua, awaited him at Fornovo, on the other side of that chain of mountains. Charles passed the Taro, with the hope of avoiding him; but was attacked on its borders by the Italians, on the 6th of July. He was at the time in full march; the divisions of his army were scattered, and at some distance from each other. For some time his danger was imminent; but the impetuosity of the French, and the obstinate valour of the Swiss, repaired the fault of their general. A great number of the Italian men-at-arms were thrown in the charges of the French cavalry, many others were brought down by the Swiss halberds, and all were instantly put to death by the servants of the army. Gonzaga left thirty-five hundred dead on the field, and Charles continued his retreat. On his arrival at Asti, he entered into treaty with Lodovico Sforza, for the deliverance of the duke of Orleans, whom Sforza besieged at Novara. He disbanded twenty thousand Swiss, who were brought to him from the mountains, but to whose hands he would not venture to confide himself. On the 22nd of October, 1495, he repassed the Alps, after having ravaged all Italy with the violence and rapidity of a hurricane. He had left his relative, Gilbert de Montpensier, viceroy at Naples, with the half of his army; but the people, already wearied with his yoke, recalled Ferdinand II. The French, after many battles, successively lost their conquests, and were at length forced to capitulate at Aversa (Atella), on the 23rd of July, 1496.

The invasion of the French not only spread terror from one extremity of Italy to the other, but changed the whole policy of that country, by rendering it dependent upon that of the transalpine nations. While Charles VIII pretended to be the legitimate heir of the kingdom of Naples, the duke of Orleans, who succeeded him under the name of Louis XII, called himself heir to the duchy of Milan. Maximilian, ambitious as he was inconsistent, claimed in the states of Italy prerogatives to which no emperor had pretended since the death of Frederick II in 1250. The Swiss had learned, at the same time, that at the foot of their mountains there lay rich and feeble cities which they might pillage, and a delicious climate, which offered all the enjoyments of life; they saw neighbouring monarchs ready to pay them for exercising there their brigandage. Finally, Ferdinand and Isabella, monarchs of Aragon and Castile, announced their intention of defending the bastard branch of the house of Aragon, which reigned at Naples. But, already masters of Sicily, they purposed passing the strait and were secretly in treaty with Charles VIII, to divide with him the spoils of the relative whom they pretended to defend. Amidst these different pretensions and intrigues, in which Italian interests had no longer any share, the spirit of liberty revived in Tuscany once more, but only to exhaust itself in a new struggle between the Florentines and Pisans. The French garrisons which Charles had left in Pisa and Librafratta, instead of delivering them to the Florentines, according to his order, had given them up to the Pisans themselves on the 1st of January, 1496. The allies, who had fought Charles at Fornovo, reproached the Florentines with their attachment to that monarch, and took part against them with the Pisans. Lodovico Sforza, and the Venetians, sent reinforcements to the latter, and the emperor Maximilian himself brought them aid. Thus, the only Italians who had at heart the honour and independence of Italy exhausted themselves in unequal struggles and in fruitless attempts.[d]

FLORENTINE AFFAIRS; SAVONAROLA

[Sidenote: [1494-1498 A.D.]]

The Florentine Republic was the only friendly power that Charles had left in Italy; a friendship, though false, in every way important and almost indispensable to France in the prosecution of her Italian conquests, but equally so to Florence as her widest and richest field of commerce. Yet so far from trying to conciliate the latter, that monarch not only broke his oath and retained her fairest possessions, but left his wildest soldiers to protect her revolted subjects; his Gascon infantry, when unchecked by the royal presence, and imbued with all the Pisan hatred of Florence, carried on their warlike operations in a spirit of barbarity as yet unknown to the Italians. Among other excesses they fancied that the Florentines swallowed their gold and jewels before every encounter in order to preserve something if taken prisoners; wherefore all their suspected captives were killed and ripped open to make a thorough search for those embowelled treasures: for such cruelty, however, they paid full dearly when made prisoners at Ponte di Sacco, in despite of every effort of the Florentine commissaries.[e]

At the moment when Florence expelled the Medici, that republic was bandied between three different parties. The first was that of the enthusiasts, directed by Girolamo Savonarola; who promised the miraculous protection of the Divinity for the reform of the church and the establishment of liberty. These demanded a democratic constitution--they were called the Piagnoni. The second consisted of men who had shared power with the Medici, but who had separated from them; who wished to possess alone the powers and profits of government, and who endeavoured to amuse the people by dissipations and pleasures, in order to establish at their ease an aristocracy--these were called the Arabiati. The third party was composed of men who remained faithful to the Medici, but not daring to declare themselves, lived in retirement--they were called Bigi. These three parties were so equally balanced in the balia named by the parliament, on the 2nd of December, 1494, that it soon became impossible to carry on the government. Girolamo Savonarola took advantage of this state of affairs to urge that the people had never delegated their power to a balia which did not abuse the trust. “The people,” he said, “would do much better to reserve this power to themselves, and exercise it by a council, into which all the citizens should be admitted.” His proposition was agreed to: more than eighteen hundred Florentines furnished proof that either they, their fathers, or their grandfathers had sat in the magistracy; they were consequently acknowledged citizens, and admitted to sit in the general council. This council was declared sovereign, on the 1st of July, 1495; it was invested with the election of magistrates, hitherto chosen by lot, and a general amnesty was proclaimed, to bury in oblivion all the ancient dissensions of the Florentine Republic.

(From an old print)]