Here, finally, was a link to all three killings, and a potential killer who had means and motive in all three instances.”
“Did you know that Bernina was Giulia Farnese’s sister?” Nicola asked the priora.
“No one did, until she confessed it to you,” came the reply. “We knew she was a Farnese, of course, but they were a country family. No one knew much about them, until Giulia became the pope’s mistress.”
Nicola nodded. “Priora, I have always wondered: why wouldn’t you let me ask questions about Sister Annaluisa? I never understood it.”
The priora sighed. “We were ashamed, Nicola. Ashamed, upset and grieved that she ran away. We suspected it had to do with a man, and felt guilty that we had not watched her more carefully. We agreed to pray for her in privacy, but pretend she never existed publicly—for the reputation of the convent. But you kept bringing her up. And your questions were salt in our wounds.”
“So is that the whole story?” Carlo asked. “I still don’t see how you knew.”
“Well, of course, there was Leonardo's sketch,” continued Caterina. “At first, only Nicola could see Bernina in the sketch, because the shoulders were at an angle--her short leg, you know. Most of us knew she had a limp, but only Nicola had a mental picture of her shoulders. We sent Maestro da Vinci to observe her, and he confirmed it: she was the one he saw, leaving the hallway outside the priora's dining room. No one noticed her because she was always around the kitchens and storerooms, because of her work. That made it all the easier for her to administer the poison.”
“Sister Bernina could have gone back and forth, too, without attracting any attention,” Caterina added. “The kitchens and storerooms were her primary workplace. The others we suspected were present that day only once, for a single reason. That raised a problem: how could they have known that Cesare Borgia was here, quickly enough to obtain and administer the poison? The priora said she told no one.”
Here, the priora took over the tale. “I was skeptical about Caterina's candidate for murderer, but I agreed, at least, that it was possible that all three murders were linked. And then I learned something that Caterina did not know: Sister Annaluisa was pregnant with Maestro Rudolfo’s child when she died. She fled the convent after one of our nuns refused to help her rid herself of the baby.”
“I told Maestro da Vinci this,” she continued, “to be sure that he considered Rudolfo as a possible suspect in the death of Sister Annaluisa. I also asked him his opinion as a man: should we tell Maestro Rudolfo about his unborn child, or spare him the pain of this knowledge? Maestro da Vinci recommended that Rudolfo be told.”
Rudolfo nodded. “You did right,” he said.
“It was Maestro da Vinci who proposed the trap that we set for the killer,” the priora continued. “He asked Maestro Rudolfo if I could announce to the officers of the convent that Maestro Rudolfo was thinking of donating money for masses for Annaluisa and their unborn child. If Caterina's theory was correct, Bernina would be desperate to stop Annaluisa's seducer from announcing her pregnancy. She would be looking for any means to prevent this further disgrace to their family.”
“Finding whoever killed Annaluisa and our child meant more to me than preserving her reputation,” Rodolfo added. “Annaluisa would have agreed with me. Incidentally, Priora, I do intend to leave funds for those masses.”
“Leonardo and I stayed close to you,” Carlo assured him. “I thought it was silly, but I was wrong.”
“Since the priora tasted all their food, poison was no longer an option for Bernina,” Caterina said. “Maestro da Vinci thought the attack would most likely come in an isolated place, where it could be blamed on an outsider. This, after all, had been the killer's pattern until the third death. The graveyard was the perfect location for our trap. We sent Rudolfo to pray with the nuns at mass, and hid in the Death House. Bernina followed him from the church, as we thought she might. She must have had a garrote hidden under her habit, waiting for such an opportunity.”
“We are lucky the trap worked,” Caterina concluded. “Now Carlo and I can go home and settle Ugo's estate. But I will be back in the fall, Nicola! Rudolfo and I have been discussing expanding the Biaggi business in Rome. Leonardo da Vinci has promised to assist us with his knowledge of guns and artillery.” Caterina smiled and patted her daughter's hand.
Nicola rolled her eyes. “Better to hire him as a painter than a gun maker,” she said.
“Let Rudolfo and me worry about making weapons, Nicola,” Caterina responded. “All you need to decide is whether you want to become a nun.”
Chapter 46—Niccolò Arrives
Convent of San Sisto
November, 1503
Niccolò Machiavelli looked dumbstruck as he gazed at Nicola when she appeared in the convent garden in response to the priora's summons. “You are the living image of your mother,” he said to her, his voice filled with wonder.
“We think she looks like her Aunt Caterina,” said Sister Beatrice, nodding toward the female figure retreating toward the opposite garden wall. Bowing, she left them.
“Her Aunt. . .Caterina,” he repeated blankly, following the nun's gesture with his eyes. “Is that. . .could that really Caterina?” he asked his daughter.
“'Tis she. Why are you here?”
Hearing her hostility, he tore his eyes away from Caterina. “This is the first time I have been in Rome since I left you here. Leonardo wrote me about you, and I thought to see you. I had no idea your mother. . .was even alive.”
Nicola stared at her father, keeping her emotions in check, and searching for something to say. Caterina was right—he was not handsome. And he was short and slender, but somehow larger than life in his fur-trimmed red riding cloak, with matching fur cap held in richly-gloved hands.
He smiled. “You look just as she did when she was angry. I cannot blame you, if you feel that way. But you cannot expect me to apologize for begetting you. And I did the best I could for you, considering how young I was. I gave you my name, and delivered you personally to this exceptional convent, where you have been well cared for and well educated. If my father had his way, you would be some farmer's unwanted daughter and Caterina a farmer's wife—if either of you were even alive.”
“’Tis no thanks to you she is still alive. You should have married her. And you never so much as wrote to me.”
For a moment, he showed no reaction. Then he smiled slightly. “Spoken with spirit. You even sound like your mother. I would have protected her, if she hadn't run away. But I do apologize, for never writing to you. Many a time I took up my quill to do it, but I could not find the words. I didn't even know how to begin.”
He turned to stare at Caterina again. “I see she is a widow. Was it recent? Is she in need?”
“Yes it was recent. But no, she is not in need.”
“I am sorry for her loss.”
“Go tell her that, then. And apologize to her—she deserves it, more than me.”
“You are right, of course.” Machiavelli bowed briefly to her, then squared his shoulders like a man facing his executioner. Striding between trees and grapevines still clinging to a few yellow leaves, he approached Caterina, who stood at the rear of the garden, framed by naked branches of fruit trees espaliered against the outer wall.
Nicola watched in silence, her emotions in turmoil. So much had happened since spring. After signing a confession to three murders, Sister Bernina had poisoned herself. The priora feared punishment from the pope for failing to prevent Bernina’s suicide--but suddenly he was dead, too, and his son Cesare deathly ill. Rumor was, they poisoned each other accidentally at a summer dinner party.
Rome exploded. Cesare Borgia’s men robbed the papal apartments before fleeing town with their master, leaving servants to sack what was left. The Roman mob stormed the Castel Sant'Angelo and released all the Borgia prisoners. Prominent families slaughtered their way into their former homes and possessions. Borgia supporters were beaten or killed. Spanish
homes were burned. In the chaos, no one could be found to say the Office of the Dead for the pope's grotesque swollen corpse, which servants crammed into a too-small coffin and buried two days later, without even a priest present.
Lucrezia Borgia prudently stayed in faraway Ferrara, where she had moved after marrying the heir to its duke, the year before. She wrote to thank the priora, however, and to confess her own part in the deaths.
“May Dio forgive me,” her letter said, “I helped Sister Annaluisa escape from the convent, by giving her gold as an early wedding present. Gerolama talked me into it. We thought she had been killed for her purse. I am so thankful we were wrong.”
Now, the new pope was Giuliano della Rovere, who had taken the ominous papal name Julius II, harkening back to Julius Caesar. Caterina, who had returned to Milan, predicted that Julius would be a warrior pope just like Alexander. She had just arrived in Rome, carrying a bank draft for 5,000 ducats from her husband's estate. While staying in the guesthouse at San Sisto, she was working to set up a partnership for arms manufacture with Rudolfo Giamatti, consistent with Ugo's will.
Caterina had also persuaded her daughter to travel with her to Milan when she was ready to return, so that Nicola could see something of the world before she decided whether to take vows as a nun. Nicola was excited and happy that she would finally see the wider world.
After so much had already happened, here now was Nicola's father, whom neither she nor her mother had seen for fourteen years. Nicola watched as he knelt before Caterina and kissed her hand, which she proffered reluctantly. Caterina crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. Niccolò was pleading with her, evidently. Caterina had said he was a charmer, Nicola reflected. Was his charm working now? And how did Nicola feel about it, if it was?
Eventually, Niccolò rose from his knees and offered Caterina his arm. She placed one hand on it, keeping her distance. They strolled toward Nicola, talking quietly.
“Your father is as persuasive as ever,” Caterina announced.
“And your mother, as always, knows exactly how to take care of herself, and of you,” Machiavelli responded.
Caterina turned to face him. “Your father has agreed to recommend our new arms firm to Pope Julius. Haven't you, Niccolò?”
“Indeed I have.”
“And he has promised to visit often while he is in Rome,” she continued, her voice expressing doubt on this point. “He will be here for some time—he is Florence’s new envoy to the Vatican.”
“I am glad,” said Nicola, savoring the understatement. After fourteen years, she again had two parents, and-- in some yet-to-be understood way-- they again had each other. Their meeting proved the old saying: all roads lead to Rome. Soon she would take the road from Rome to Milan with Caterina. How would it feel, to leave a convent for the outside world, and the world’s center for parts unknown? The only way to know was to go. She was ready.
CAST OF PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
(In order of appearance)
Italics, whether in bold face or regular type, denote historical person(s).
LAY PERSONS:
Giorgio Schiavino: Roman boatman who discovered the murdered corpse of Juan Borgia, Pope Alexander VI's oldest son, but thought nothing of it because he had seen so many corpses disposed of in the Tiber.
Leonardo da Vinci: artist, engineer, theatrical producer, inventor, musician, courtier. The archetypal “Renaissance man” who worked both for Ludovico Sforza, and briefly, for Cesare Borgia.
Caterina Biaggi: mother of Nicola Machiavelli, mistress in his youth to Niccolò Machiavelli, the famous Florentine statesman and author who wrote The Prince and inspired the adjective, “Machiavellian.”
Ugo Biaggi: husband of Caterina Biaggi; armorer to the court of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.
Ludovico Sforza, also known as “Il Moro”: Duke of Milan and employer, for seventeen years, of Leonardo da Vin-ci.
Isabella d'Aragona: believed by some art historians to be the model for Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.” Widow of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, who was likely poisoned by his successor, Ludovico Sforza, known as “Il Moro.”
Nicola Machiavelli: illegitimate daughter of Niccolò Machiavelli, the famous Florentine statesman and author who wrote The Prince and inspired the adjective, “Machiavellian.”
Lucrezia Borgia: favorite daughter of Pope Alexander VI, from whom she took refuge in the Convent of San Sisto. Her lover Perotto and second husband Alfonso were both murdered by her brother, Cesare Borgia.
Niccolò Machiavelli: father of Nicola Machiavelli, friend to Leonardo da Vinci and lover of many women, including Caterina Biaggi. The Florentine statesman who wrote and inspired the term, “Machiavellian.”
Cesare Borgia, also known as “Lord Valentino”: favorite son of Pope Alexander VI, after older brother Juan’s murder (possibly by Cesare himself). Church official, courtier, soldier, statesman, and serial killer. Maintained a staff of professional assassins, including Sebastian Pinzon. Briefly employed Leonardo da Vinci.
Alfonso d’Aragona, Duke of Biscegli: illegitimate son of King Alfonso of Naples. Second husband to Lucrezia Borgia.
Pia Gaetani: a student in Girls' House. Best friend to Nicola Machiavelli.
Caterina Sforza, Contessa of Forli: a sensual beauty, famous in her lifetime for her book of beauty secrets and prowess as an untrustworthy and utterly vicious female warrior. Niece of Il Moro, cousin of Giovanni Sforza, the first husband of Lucrezia Borgia, and mother of Giovanni de’ Medici, progenitor of all the later Grand Dukes of Tuscany. She was also namesake of an even more infamous Caterina: Caterina de’Medici, the queen of France who ordered the massacre of its Protestants on St. Bartholomew’s Day, 1572.
Leonora Sforza: sister to the nun known as “Mortuos,” both of whom are half-sisters to Lucrezia Borgia's first husband, Giovanni Sforza, Duke of Pesaro.
Rudolfo Giamatti: Roman armorer hired by Cesare Borgia to assist with the manufacture of one of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions: a “hand-held cannon” i.e., a musket.
Salai: Leonardo da Vinci’s nickname, meaning “imp,” for Giacomo Caprotti, his apprentice for many years.
Zoroastro: Leonardo da Vinci’s nickname for Tommasso di Giovanni Massini. Metallurgist, alchemist, dabbler in magic, and da Vinci’s servant and companion for many years.
Sebastian di Pinzon: chemist and professional poisoner employed by Cesare Borgia.
CLERGY AND NUNS:
Sister Annaluisa: a murdered nun.
La Greca, whose real name is Theodora Paleologus: a Greek lay sister. Sister to Tsarina Sophia of Russia, niece to the last Byzantine emperor, and daughter of Thomas of Morea, disappointed heir to the Byzantine throne.
Sister Beatrice: infermiera (essentially, both the doctor and pharmacist) at San Sisto.
Rodrigo Borgia, also known as Pope Alexander VI: statesman, pater familias, and perhaps the most amoral pope in history. Father, among others, to Juan Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia, Gerolama Borgia and Cesare Borgia.
Priora Gerolama Picchi: prioress (“priora”) of the Convent of San Sisto, who defied soldiers sent by Pope Alexander VI to fetch his daughter Lucrezia when she took refuge from him there.
Father Testa: priest to the church of San Sisto and confessor to the nuns there.
Gerolama Borgia: second daughter of Pope Alexander VI, believed by historians to have died around age 13. In this narrative, she survives as a nun, Sister Gerolama, only to be murdered in St. Peter's Square by person(s) unknown.
Sister Ignacia, also known as “Mortuos”: a nun and teacher in Girl's House. Sister to Leonora Sforza, half-sister to Lucrezia Borgia's first husband, Giovanni Sforza, Duke of Pesaro.
Sister Domenica, also known as “Vivos”: a nun and teacher in Girl's House.
Sister Amelia: the bursar, or “purse” of the convent.
Sister Bernina: the procuratrice (purchasing agent) for the convent.
Sister Francesca: overseer of the farms and livestock o
wned by the Convent of San Sisto.
Sister Sophia: officially, the sacristan of San Sisto. Unofficially, its abortionist.
Sister Joanna: a Spanish nun; daughter of Pedro de Aranda, a converted Jew who died mysteriously in Pope Alexander VI’s prison, after being stripped of his fortune and accused of the secret practice of Judaism.
FAMILIES WHO HATE THE BORGIAS
The Orsini family: Suspected in the death of Juan Borgia, the pope’s oldest son, as revenge for the mysterious death of Virginio Orsini in the pope’s prison. A generations-old vendetta.
The Sforza family: Pope Alexander accused Giovanni Sforza of impotence, sided with the French against Ludovico Sforza (known as Il Moro), and imprisoned Caterina Sforza to obtain her lands.
The Gaetani family: Pope Alexander seized the lands of Giacomo Gaetani, head of the clan, who promptly died in the pope’s prison.
The Aragona family: When the Aragonese King of Naples refused to marry his heir to Cesare Borgia, the Borgias sided with France in their next attempt to re-take the Aragonas’ formerly French principality.
The Savelli family: Another victim of the pope’s many land seizures.
The Gonzaga family: The pope imprisoned and refused to ransom the head of family. He wanted land instead of money.
The Colonna family: Allied with Naples, their fortunes fell when Naples did., with the help of the Borgias.
AFTERWORD
So little of the background to this book is fictional that it is easiest to identify what is untrue. Here also are comments that belong in a footnote.
A Borgia Daughter Dies Page 23