The Borgias

by Paul Strathern

  Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia certainly backed his uncle in this meeting. He was already beginning to flex his muscles and discover the power of politicking. He had helped Callixtus III regain Papal Territory; he had also witnessed his uncle threaten to depose a king, as well as impose his will on a reluctant College of Cardinals. This was what a strong-minded pope could do, even when he was old and frail and all but confined to his bed.

  Yet finally, on Sunday, 6 August 1458, the inevitable came about. The Milanese ambassador reported home:

  The Pope died today at nightfall; the Catalans have all fled, and those who are harbouring them are so detested that it will go badly for them if they are found out before the election of a new pope.

  As we have seen, Pedro Luis Borgia, the Captain-General of the Papal Forces, fled the city – in fact, on the Sunday morning before the Pope was actually dead. However, this was not quite the act of cowardice it might at first appear. Initially, he had informed his younger brother Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia that he intended to hold on to his post, so that during the conclave his very presence, along with his troops in the nearby Castel Sant’Angelo, might be used to induce the cardinals to vote for a candidate who was favourable to him retaining his post. Unexpectedly, it was his brother Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia who dissuaded his brother from adopting this bold but reckless plan. Cardinal Rodrigo was beginning to grasp the ways of politicking within the Curia. He understood that the result of the conclave would lie in manipulating the College of Cardinals from within, rather than simply threatening its members from without. He even managed to persuade Pedro Luis to surrender the Castel Sant’Angelo and all the papal troops to the command of the College of Cardinals. Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia ensured that for this gesture Pedro Luis received 22,000 ducats. Only then did Pedro Luis flee to the port of Ostia, where he was more than disappointed to discover that there was no sign of the galley he had ordered to transport him to the safety of Spain. He was thus obliged to take refuge in the fortress at Civitavecchia, some forty miles up the coast.

  In the customary manner, the conclave to elect a new pope would be held within the confines of St Peter’s, beginning on 16 August. The cardinals who had retired to their estates outside Rome on account of the summer heat and rumours of a further outbreak of the plague, quickly made their way back to the eternal city. Meanwhile Cardinal Luis Juan del Milà arrived post-haste from Bologna, covering the 200 miles across the Apennines from Bologna in just three days to arrive on 11 August, the same day as Cardinal Aeneas Piccolomini arrived from Viterbo, some sixty miles north of Rome. Three days later, on the very eve of the conclave, a sensational development took place. Cardinal Domenico Capranica, the only member of the college who had loyally remained in Rome with Callixtus III during the previous outbreak of the plague, and who was widely regarded as one of the favourites to win the election, took ill and suddenly died. According to Gerard Noel, the historian of the Renaissance popes: ‘This meant the loss to the Renaissance papacy of an outstanding humanist and potential reformer.’

  On 16 August eighteen cardinals were gathered within the Vatican’s small chapel of San Niccolò (with dining and sleeping areas nearby in a larger chapel). This conclave consisted of eight Italians, no less than five Spaniards (whereas at the previous conclave there had been but one), one Portuguese (also appointed by Callixtus III), two Frenchmen and two Greeks (one of whom was Cardinal Bessarion, who had suffered such disappointment in the previous conclave). Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia was well aware that he stood no chance of winning the vote himself: all Catalans were despised in Rome, and a large majority of the cardinals present shared this view. Also, he was simply too young. His only slight hope was to try and cling on to his post as vice-chancellor.

  Two days after assembling, the first vote took place. This revealed that two Italian candidates had received the most votes: five for Cardinal Calandrini, Bishop of Bologna and half-brother of the earlier pope Nicholas V, and five for the newly elected Cardinal Piccolomini, Bishop of Siena. Yet both were well short of the necessary two-thirds majority of twelve votes. This was just the opening move: only now did the real bargaining begin.

  This is the earliest conclave where we have a first-hand account of the secret proceedings. Not surprisingly, these appear in the secret memoirs of the literary Aeneas Piccolomini, who refers to himself in the third person, and with some confidence: ‘It was common talk that Aeneas, Cardinal of Siena would be pope, since no one was held in higher esteem.’ He devotes eight pages to describing in some detail the machinations which took place in the conclave. Most of these centred on the fabulously rich Guillaume d’Estouteville, Cardinal of Rouen and a cousin of the king of France, who saw himself as the obvious choice for the papal throne. Where the Frenchman was concerned, no deceit was too low, no trick too blatant, to ensure his victory. After the next vote, the ballot papers were tipped on to a table in the centre of the room:

  Then they read out the ballots one after another and noted down the names written on them. And there was not a single cardinal who did not likewise make notes of those named, that there might be no possibility of trickery.

  The following passages (in italics in the translated edition) had been censored in previous editions:

  This proved to be to Aeneas’s advantage, for when the votes were counted and the teller, Rouen, announced that Aeneas had eight, though the rest said nothing about another man’s loss, Aeneas did not allow himself to be defrauded. ‘Look more carefully at the ballots,’ he said to the teller, ‘for I have nine votes.’ The others agreed with him. Rouen said nothing, as if he had merely made a mistake.

  From now on things began in earnest:

  Many cardinals met in the privies as being in a secluded and retired place. Here they agreed as to how they might elect Guillaume [d’Estouteville] pope, and they bound themselves by written pledges and by oath. Guillaume was presently promising benefices and preferment and dividing provinces among them. A fit place for such a pope to be elected!

  But Aeneas Piccolomini ensured that one of his spies secreted himself in the latrines, so that he could eavesdrop on these proceedings. As the historian of the Renaissance Popes, Gerard Noel surmises: ‘This may have been Cardinal Calindrini. No one knows, as this part of the scenario was only pieced together from evidence emerging later.’

  Through his spy, Piccolomini learned: ‘Not a few were won over by Rouen’s splendid promises and were caught like flies by their gluttony.’ Even Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia said he would give d’Estouteville his vote, after he was promised that he would retain his post as vice-chancellor. On the night before the final voting, Borgia sought out his friend Piccolomini, urging him to vote for d’Estouteville, as he was bound to win. Borgia’s defence of his decision is revealing: ‘It is not for my advantage to remain with a small minority out of favour with a new pope. I am joining the majority and I have looked after my own interests.’ Borgia revealed that he had been promised he would retain the vice-chancellorship. But Piccolomini berated him: ‘You young fool! Will you put an enemy of your nation in the Apostle’s chair?’ He informed Borgia that he had been tricked: Piccolomini knew d’Estouteville had already promised the vice-chancellorship to the Bishop of Avignon. Borgia was left to brood on this dumbfounding news, as Piccolomini moved on to visit other cardinals with similar revelations.

  Next morning, following the celebration of Mass (in order that God could guide the cardinals in their choice) the voting began. As d’Estouteville had so blatantly tried to rig the ballot papers, it was decided that each cardinal should cast his vote by verbal accession, so that all could see who had voted, and for whom, when each cardinal cast his vote. At this point the atmosphere in the chapel became charged in the extreme. ‘All sat pale and silent in their places, as if entranced. For some time no one spoke, no one moved any part of his body except the eyes which kept glancing all about. Then Rodrigo, the Vice-Chancellor, rose and said, “I accede to the Cardinal of Siena,” an utterance which was like a dagger in
Rouen’s heart, so pale did he turn.’

  Voting continued, with many cardinals breaking their promises to d’Estouteville and deciding to cast their vote for Piccolomini.

  Aeneas now lacked but one vote. Realizing this, Cardinal Prospero Colonna thought that he must get for himself the glory of announcing the Pope. He rose and was about to pronounce this vote when he was seized by the Cardinals of Nicaea [Bessarion] and Rouen . . .

  The two cardinals attempted to silence him, shouting at him, trying to drag him from the room. But just in time Cardinal Colonna managed to call out: ‘I too accede to the Cardinal of Siena and I make him pope.’

  In the words of Gerard Noel: ‘This shocking scene was immediately followed by a scene that could have happened nowhere but at a late medieval papal conclave.’ Immediately all those present, including the ‘panting dishevelled cardinals’, flung themselves to their feet and prostrated themselves before the new pope. ‘Such was the magnetic power of a pope, instantly operative from the moment of his election.’ The Pope remained the direct descendant of St Peter, and as such was God’s representative on earth.

  Piccolomini had won, and took the papal name Pius II. His election was greeted with cheers and rejoicing from the crowds waiting outside. One of his first moves was to confirm Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia as vice-chancellor, in recognition for his role in getting him elected pope.

  Pius II was still only fifty-three. He had already distinguished himself as a papal envoy, as a poet and a writer, and as ‘the father of several bastards’. Even so, he was determined to take seriously his role as St Peter’s successor. Despite his comparative youth, he was by then badly afflicted by gout, as well as the recurrent problem with his feet. Indeed, the reason he had been at Viterbo when Callixtus III died was because he had been taking the famous curative waters, whose powers had been renowned since before Roman times. However, although he strove so hard to overcome the problem of his feet, he was philosophical about the outcome of his gout, ‘because this illness, once it has become chronic and firmly rooted, is only ended by death’. He vowed to mend his ways:

  I do not deny my past. I have been a great wanderer from what is right, but at least I know it and hope that the knowledge has not come too late.

  Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia was now very much in favour, and worked closely with Pius II, as his right-hand man. But this was not without its difficulties. Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia was forced to travel to Civitavecchia, where his task was to persuade his brother Pedro Luis to renounce formally his post as Captain-General of the Papal Forces, and also to divest himself of the various titles bestowed upon him by Callixtus III. These latter mainly involved posts as ‘lord’ or governor of various cities in the Romagna, which Pius II wished to take back, as these cities belonged to the Papal States. Somehow Cardinal Rodrigo managed to persuade his brother to give up all of these titles. This was almost certainly because his brother had once more lapsed into serious illness, for within a month he would die, almost certainly of malaria. This now left the post of Captain-General of the Papal Forces free for Pius II to award to a member of the Colonna family, in recognition of Cardinal Prospero Colonna’s casting vote in the conclave.

  Having retained his post as vice-chancellor, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia was now able to consolidate his hold over the Curia, as well as the Rota, the Church’s supreme court. It was the vice-chancellor who received all communications to the Pope. As we have seen, apart from diplomatic matters, this also included notification of important benefices which had fallen vacant all over Europe on the death of the incumbent. A number of these the vice-chancellor chose to bestow upon himself. Favours, such as ‘recommendations’ for benefices, required financial inducements to the vice-chancellor. As well as accumulating considerable power to himself, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia was now becoming exceedingly wealthy. In consequence he would begin to cast aside some of the restraint he had showed during the reign of his ascetic uncle Callixtus III. As a demonstration of his status, over the coming years Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia would build himself an extravagant palace on the wide main street which ran east–west across Rome from the Vatican to the Lateran (part of which had once formed Ancient Rome’s Sacred Way, the traditional path of triumphal processions into the city). The new Borgia residence was described by a contemporary: ‘The palace is splendidly decorated; the walls of the great entrance hall are hung with tapestries depicting various scenes.’ He goes on to describe ‘a sumptuous day bed upholstered in red satin with a canopy over it, and a chest on which was laid out a vast and beautiful collection of gold and silver plate . . . a couch covered with cloth of gold’ and so on. The exterior was equally imposing. In the centre of the palace was a large courtyard overlooked by three-storey loggias with slender, octagonal columns, indicating a Renaissance influence. This palace Cardinal Rodrigo used as his residence, as well as his chancellery. It dominated the district and towered over the main street passing outside its gates. This street was not only used for papal inaugurations, but also other important processions, when it would be lined by large crowds. Whilst leading one of these processions, Pius II would note that Borgia’s palace was bedecked with a sumptuousness whose decorations outshone all the other palaces along the route, including those of the old aristocratic Roman families and the senior cardinals who resided in Rome.

  As the Borgia historian G. J. Meyer remarks: ‘Anyone who used this great office [the vice-chancellorship] skilfully could make himself one of the most important men in Europe. No one would ever use it more skilfully than Rodrigo Borgia.’ But he also had other skills to learn, and this instruction would begin at the side of Pius II. The new pope found himself facing a number of serious problems. First there was the Kingdom of Naples. France, now by far the most powerful nation in Europe, began re-insisting that it had a claim to this throne. When Queen Joanna II had died, she had no right to leave the kingdom to King Alfonso, when her nearest rightful successor belonged to the Royal House of Anjou, from which the king of France was descended. Then came another claim, this time from the Kingdom of Aragon in Spain. The present King Ferrante had only been the illegitimate son of the previous King Alfonso, and there were legitimate Spanish claimants who had been overlooked. Pius II, advised by Rodrigo Borgia, contacted the powerful Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan, suggesting to him that for the good of Italy it would be best if both the French and the Spanish were kept out of Naples. Reversing the policy of his predecessor, Pius II decided to give his blessing to King Ferrante of Naples. When the House of Anjou mounted a naval invasion of Naples, Sforza and Pius II sent a combined force to repel the invaders. Despite an uprising of barons loyal to the legitimate royal line and against Ferrante, the joint papal and Milanese forces held out. Ferrante remained on the throne, at least for the time being.

  Pius II now found himself facing a second, even more important threat. This came from the expansion of the Ottoman Empire to the east. In a highly symbolic victory, the forces of Mehmed the Conqueror overran Athens in 1458, with Mehmed himself decreeing that the Parthenon be turned into a mosque. The founding city of western classical culture had fallen to the infidels, and now the whole of Greece lay at their mercy. It was only a matter of time before the new Byzantine capital at Mystras was conquered. Pius II understood the pressing need to carry on the work of his predecessor and oppose the Ottoman threat. The new pope wrote to the crowned heads of all Europe, inviting them to meet in the summer of 1459 at Mantua. Pius II was determined to mount the crusade that remained Callixtus III’s unfinished task. This called for drastic measures. Pius II let it be known that he planned to impose a levy on every church and holder of any ecclesiastical post throughout western Christendom. Together with further material and manpower support from all European leaders, a vast army would be raised, ready to mount a two-pronged attack – one force-marching east overland, and the other setting sail for the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. The Ottomans were becoming a threat not only to Italy, but also to western Christendom itself. It was
in everyone’s interests that this scourge be defeated.

  In January 1459 Pius II set off with high hopes for the congress of European leaders he had called at Mantua. He was accompanied by a large entourage which included all available cardinals. This, of course, included Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who had the difficult task of liaising with Rome in his capacity as vice-chancellor, and also ensuring that the city remained in some semblance of order. When so many of the grandees were out of town, the authorities often found it difficult to restrain the local populace from any breakdown of civil order and excesses of unruly behaviour. Likewise, the affairs of the chancery remained central to the functioning of the papacy itself, and were thus far too important to be delegated to a functionary in the Vatican during the Pope’s absence. The vice-chancellor would maintain a constant string of couriers, riding post-haste to and from Rome during the many months of the Pope’s absence.

  Despite Pius II’s high hopes for his congress, it was several months before he and his entourage finally made it to Mantua. It soon became clear that not all was going according to plan. For months the Pope waited, but no one of any importance turned up. During the long hot summer, Pius II and his cardinals endured the humid heat, disease and indifferent cuisine. Cardinal Borgia found himself housed in uncomfortably close proximity to his master in a small city filled with gossips, and was thus forced to behave himself, adopting an uncharacteristically abstemious and frugal way of life. Dealing with consistory business, consulting with Pius II, and replying to the messages from Rome became a necessary distraction. Meanwhile summer passed into autumn, then winter.