A Trembling Upon Rome

by Richard Condon

  I sat slightly apart from the others as a matter of duty to my station. The king charged, across the room to greet me, all at once laying the heavy courtier ready to prostrate himself before a representative of holiness. I extended my ring. He kissed it like a lover, then gazed perfervidly into my eyes, saying, `My life shall be given to Christ's work.' Having observed the routine social requirements, he turned to the ladies, arms outstretched, fingers fluttering with eagerness. `How enchanting that you have made your way across the Alps to let us see you,' he sang. `The mother and sister of our dearest friend's own beloved.' The ladies' curtsied with stately balance, while Maria Louise did stare at him as if he were a plate of four-day-old fish. The effect on Sigismund was dynamic. He hovered over them. Maria Louise ostentatiously shook him off, rewarding him with a glare of pale distaste. It was aphrodisiac to Sigismund.

  We were served a dinner which balanced massive portions of Hungarian, Bohemian, Austrian and Swiss food. There were many kinds of dumplings, Tokay wine, smoked meat soup, segedinsky gulas loaded with lard, sauerkraut and flour, then cokoladovy, arechovy and darazsfeszek, because the king had a famous sweet tooth. I didn't think the food was at all bad. Rose and Pippo Span were careful to eat none of it. The marchesa held to what etiquette and he; figure demanded. The king gorged himself Maria Louise treated all the food as disdainfully as she regarded the king, as if it were covered with ants.

  `You don't like Hungarian food?' the king asked her.

  `Oh, yes.' From her look, she pitied him that-he could think this proper Hungarian food.

  `This was cooked by the great Georgi Marton, the magician of Buda.''

  She refused to comment lest toads, pour from her mouth.

  `But tonight there has also been Bohemian food and delectable Austrian food.' He could not fathom this woman such a sensually beautiful woman, the kind of a woman who should have lifted her skirts and reclined on her back when the turnings of life's byways had brought her to a monarch who was so deliciously a man.

  `Delicious,' she repeated, as if reading his thoughts, as if trying g not to gag. To the king, the hopelessness of it was that he could not be sure whether it was the food or himself which had almost made her gag. Perhaps in order to regroup before attacking again, the king fell into conversation with me, directly across the table.

  `Well, Eminence. What is our pope going to do about John Hus?'

  `I will inquire about that,' I said.

  `Well! The man is a brigand of the Bohemian church, one might almost say a heretic, don't you know. His statements concerning the archbishop are really seditious and I really do think the Holy Father is advised to silence the man. He is causing unnecessary problems in Prague. This concerns me because any moment now I shall be crowned King of Bohemia.'

  `His Holiness is studying the Hus case closely, Majesty,' the, marchesa said. `And you may be certain of the outcome.' She glanced at me in a way which, had I been John Hus, would have had me packing and fleeing.

  `Pippo tells me that you are a close- uh -adviser to His Holiness,' Sigismund said to the marchesa.

  `Hardly that, Majesty. The pope is very much his own man, but because he is such a devoutly religious person, one might say immersed in the spiritual meanings and theology, as is in, the nature of the greatest popes because I travel so much and he does not travel at all – he sometimes asks me to bring to him my impressions of people I have met and what they, have told me.'

  `What will you tell him about me, dear lady?'

  `I shall tell him how deliciously handsome you are.'

  Sigismund attempted to chuckle, thinking with satisfaction that this beautiful woman's response proved he had not been turned into a turd as her daughter would have it. To, present yet another facet of his multi-hued person, he fell at once into gravity, at the mention of the Church, and it blotted all intelligence out of his expression. `I am so terribly concerned about the Church, Eminence. My father – as history shows us – set his life upon reuniting the Church with the Greeks. The goal of one church has been my grail. My father is gone from history but the seamless garment of Christ is rent by heinous schism. It is my sworn task to shatter that schism, to unite Christensdom under one pope.'

  When Pippo Span had told him that the marchesa and I were close to Pope John: Sigismund being an instinctive opportunist, had automatically determined to make the political maximum out of meeting us so he had gulped down some Tokay and become instantly pious.

  `His Holiness is one with you, Majesty,' the marchesa assured him. `The Holy Father would gladly give his life to banish the schism from the Church.'

  Sigismund blinked at her. `He would?'

  'A very pleasant climate here at Chur, don't you think, Majesty?'

  `Climate? My dear marchesa' You imply that I was feigning concern about the schism! Please, let me assure you that, if it is necessary to convince you of the icy seriousness of my intent to destroy the schism, I will open a vein; let my royal blood run into a glass and drink a pledge which will stake my life against the end of schism.'

  `I thank God,' she said. `May the extremity of the pope's danger hasten your determination.'

  `How so?’

  'Only a great leader such as you, who would fight, even die, for the virtuous unity of the Church, would have the perception to glean how greatly the Holy Father needs a protector, my sire. He is hemmed in by the ruthless enemies of the Church. But you can guarantee his safety, for which he would wish to show his gratitude by seeking out your counsels and by joining his spiritual meaning to Christians everywhere with the might of your arms.'

  Sigismund began to see the greater opportunity. Using the pope as his shield as he hacked his way to the centre of the schism, he could with one great blow sever the diseased members from the body of the living Church and lay the victory at the feet of the electors who had named him King of the Romans but not yet crowned him.

  `Defend him and protect his beleaguered Church,, Majesty,' I said, to him basso profundo, `and you will be defending all Christendom, for his is the significant papal obedience. With his blessed Church no longer a fugitive from pursuing bandits, he would grasp the necessity to realize your hallowed father's dreams by calling, with you at his side, a grand council of the Church to end the schism. No one may summon such a council except a sitting pope. You know the Church must move itself to save itself. A meeting with His Holiness, under your protection, will make that, happen. You will do it! France has no such desires. She stands by the Council of Pisa, for her obedience is to the papacy of John XXIII. England is indifferent. Spain and Provence are still true to Benedict. Only you, the King of the Romans, is pledged to this in his heart. All of your people in the north must assume this glorious task and accept history's blessing for; doing it.'

  He was stunned by the future. He would sweep the imperial crown upon his own head and by reason of accomplishing what no man and no nation had been able to do would be transformed into the central power and force in, all Christendom. Statues by the hundreds would be erected in his image. Multitudes would sink to their knees at the mention of his name. This haughty young woman on his left, would whimper to have him possess her. This was hard politics.

  After dinner, although Sigismund tried, to place himself next to Maria Louise, she with obvious desperation latched herself on to me, and the king found himself seated across the room beside the marchesa. Rosa and Pippo Span; remained at the table oblivious of everything.

  Sigismund saw that he had been wandering ahead of his soldiers like some elder of a tribe in the wilderness, and that this chance meeting with this woman who was so close to the pope might be delivering to him the key to his future.

  `How may I help His Holiness?' he asked the marchesa guilelessly.

  `I would say, Majesty, that the oppression of Ladislas and the defection of Florence, Anjou and Siena has placed the Church at your feet, as it were. The chief difficulty in, achieving your own dynastic dream-that, you, King Sigismund; end the schism – is to persu
ade His Holiness to discuss with you the assembly of a grand council.'

  `He must come to me for that.'

  `You are one of several kings, among a dozen other princes,, Majesty. He is the pope.'

  `My dear Marchesa, I know these people. They hate councils because councils mean reform.'

  `Indeed yes,' the marchesa said., `And apart from Italy, the entire Christian world clamours for reform.'

  `And you may, be sure that Pope John knows that, if he does convoke such a council, then he must resign his office because there would be no other way to settle it.'

  `That is why there must be a meeting, isn't it? He would need to be assured by you that such a resignation would only be a matter of form. All three sitting popes would be called upon to resign so that the matter will be settled and one true pope elected. But could you not assure him that this one elected pope would surely be himself. He is the pope with the overwhelmingly largest obedience.'

  `Look here, my dear – would you say that you had his confidence to the extent of being able to persuade him to call me out to save the Church?'

  `He thinks with you about the Church's salvation, Majesty. I would tell him of the depth of your faith and zeal, and he would cry out to you.'

  `Then you must do so!'

  She dropped her eyes and made a pretty scene about searching for words. `But, sire,' she said in a small voice, `this is my work we are speaking of.'

  `What?'

  `My, business my livelihood.'

  `I don't understand.'

  `I thought you knew that over the years I have been privileged to represent such distinguished clients as the Dukes of Burgundy and Anjou, the Medici bank, the Chancellor of the University of Paris. Indeed, His Holiness the Pope himself-and a few of the electors.'

  `The electors?'

  'Also, I undertook many private missions for the late Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. My clients are men whose most private interests must be arranged in collusion with others with whom it is more suitable that they should not be seen.'

  Had she come here to solicit his business, he thought, outraged. But that could not be, so, he told himself instantly, for he had originated everything they had discussed. Best to come down flatly upon this thing. `Are you suggesting that I hire your services?' he asked

  She broke out in such a ripple of sweet laughter that he became confused. `Not at all, Majesty,' she said.

  `Then I confess, that I am perplexed.: Will you take me through it again?'

  `There is nothing new here, Majesty. Certain things develop best secretly. Wherever there seems to be no apparent solution, as would seem to be the case here – where the pope certainly will not consent to call a council which could depose him, while at the same time you have no means to convoke such a meeting-` then, under such theoretical, circumstances, my special services become invaluable.'

  `How invaluable?''

  `Do you mean – how costly?'

  `Well – yes.'

  `It is negotiable. Always.'

  'Do you assure results?'

  `You pay me only when there are results.'

  `I will tell you that all this interests me, Marchesa. I therefore commission you to convince the pope that he must meet with me to discuss my protection of the Church and his person – and the details of calling a council. For this I will pay you a retainer of a thousand florins and five thousand more to be paid on the day the pope and I agree to call a council.'

  `I see.'

  `One more thing: I must control the meeting place for the council itself. It must be held outside Italy.'

  `That is intricate work for a mere thousand florins.' She groaned deeply within herself as she thought of the effort it would require to convince Cossa that such a council which would most certainly move to depose him should meet outside Italy, his own Italy, where; by numbers of his own clergy alone, he could overwhelm any vote. She felt certain that the matter of talking to Sigismund about calling a council at all would be considered treason by Cossa but she knew, and Cosimo di Medici knew, and Giovanni di Bicci di Medici knew, it was necessary for the common good of the entire European business community, if not for Cossa's.

  `A mere thousand florins?'

  `We have to settle the matter of expenses,' she said languidly.

  Expenses?'

  `Travel. Wear and tear. The maintenance of style. The presents and, bribes which will be necessary. All those things must be a part of our contract.'

  42

  At dawn the next day, the marchesa, Maria Louise, their household of ninety-one people and her colourfully uniformed escort of forty soldiers, my household of thirty-four people, including a somewhat drably uniformed-escort, rode out of Chur to travel across the Alps through Milan, where our parties would separate – the marchesa going on to Florence, I to Bologna. Cossa was no longer at San Antonio; he had returned to Bologna, Malatesta's forces having been driven out of the city by its soldiers and citizens, so great was the force of their economic need for their pope.

  I had been instructed by the marchesa just to sit quietly and play the cardinal during the meetings with Sigismund, but that is not my way and I believe I conducted myself with considerable effect. There could be no doubt that King Sigismund would remember me, even if it did irritate her.

  Maria Giovanna told me years later that, when the marchesa's households reached Florence, her mother bathed and slept for the remainder of the night – from six o'clock in the evening until dawn -sending word to Cosimo through Maria Giovanna, at whose house she was resting, to ask him to meet with her in the early morning. Cosimo came to Maria Giovanna's house shortly after dawn.

  The marchesa told him of the outcome of the meeting. `Sigismund has retained me to arrange a meeting with Cossa so that he may persuade Cossa to call a council which would act to end the schism,' she said with more than a touch of arrogance.

  `I don't know how you do it, Decima. My father will be enormously pleased.'

  `You don't really want to know how I do it as long as I get it done.'

  He smiled. `We have to be sure that Cossa thinks Sigismund is being drawn into his scheme for the protection of Cossa's papacy.'

  `I may have done that already. I should think the, first shock for Cossa wail be when Sigismund tells him that a council must be called to reform the Church as the only way to dissolve the schism.'

  That is a good risk. Cossa is desperate. Ladislas turned him into the papal waif of San Antonio.'

  `He is a man. He wants to believe in himself, and the basis of his belief is the awe and respect in which he holds his cunning. He will feel – and I will help him along in that feeling – that he can agree to the meeting to get, Sigismund's protection, then that he can outmanoeuvre Sigismund when it comes to calling a council.'

  `You can always point to the Council of Pisa to reassure Cossa. No prince had his way at Pisa. No reform resulted from Pisa. Only cardinals can make reforms and accept the resignations of popes. You can certainly feed all that to him. Cossa knows that he controls the cardinals – or believes that he does. He will assume that Sigismund will be powerless. He will feel safe.'

  'I wish he were in different work,' the marchesa said wistfully. `I am fond of Cossa: I wish he had stayed in his family's business. It will be hard for him when, once the council gets into full sway, everything is reversed and he loses the cardinals.'

  `Don't worry about Cossa. The bank will take care of Cossa. Have you found the way to subvert the cardinals?'

  'Yes,' she said (almost) sadly. `We will need to instruct the bank's inside man at the council whoever he will be – to organize the nations to isolate the cardinals… Who is our man?'

  'Two. D'Ailly and Spina.'

  `D'Ailly has the eloquence. And Spina, God knows, has the deviousness. All they have to do is to see that the council decrees that only the vote of nations can carry any reforms, not any majority of cardinals or Italian prelates. The nations, must see to it that the three popes resign.


  `You really do have a knack for these things, Decima,' Cosimo said admiringly.

  `There is other business today.'

  `What else?'

  `Ladislas wants to negotiate a loan of one hundred thousand florins so: that he can continue his war against Cossa. It is important.

  Cossa has to be kept stretched on the rack so that he needs the protection of Sigismund and so that, because of his fear of Ladislas, he will agree to call a council.'

  `How did it come to you?'

  `From Ladislas to Spina to Rosa.'

  Who will negotiate the loan? It must be a secret thing.'

  Rosa will go to Naples on her honeymoon with Pippo Span. She has explained that she must arrange for the shipment of her clothing and furniture. Rosa will negotiate the loan.'

  `Tell her to encourage him to ask for double the amount.'

  'No. Keep it at a hundred, thousand. 'I don't want Ladislas to be able to crush Cossa… You will need him to call the council:'

  Cosimo grinned at her. `You are right. Better yet, tell Rosa to negotiate a loan for half as much as Ladislas wants.'

  Cosimo told me about that conversation three months ago, ten years after it happened. He was as self-righteous as always, saving the Church from Cossa, its enemy whom he had put into the papacy – never remembering that what he was saving was the Medici bank and its branches, so that it could become bigger and bigger until some day it must own the earth.