Unknown to Borgia, Leonardo had already received a similar offer from Naples, to which he was also partially committed. But Borgia’s new offer sounded much more interesting. Leonardo must have been more than impressed by the charm and intellectual grasp of this strikingly handsome young man. Here was a combination of learning, aesthetic appreciation and interest in military matters which all but matched his own. Leonardo was undeniably a Renaissance man in the creative sense. Cesare Borgia must certainly have come across as a Renaissance man in the practical sense, in his ambition to apply these new ideas. Leonardo was not to know that Borgia’s admirable knowledge of the new humanist ideas may not quite have squared with his actual political practices and their undeniably ruthless application. Here, in Leonardo’s view, was undoubtedly a man with a future, and indeed a man who was willing to involve him in this future. Borgia was evidently more than just another capricious patron.
What is also interesting here is how advanced Cesare Borgia’s plans were for his new territory. There is no doubt that before setting out for France he had spent long hours discussing these matters in secret with his father. Alexander VI may have understood that his son was capable of hot-headed and impulsive action, but he also recognized Cesare’s undoubted capabilities. If the Pope was to succeed in his ambitious plans, and their unprecedented conclusions (the full extent of which even Cesare remained as yet unaware), he would have to rely upon his son. Now that Juan was gone, Cesare was the only reliable family ally he had left: Cesare alone could enable his father to implement his plan. And now that this impulsive young man – often so ruthless and beyond his control – was closely allied to the French king there was hope that he would begin to calm down, to mature, perhaps. Cesare and Louis XII had undoubtedly developed a close friendship, and Cesare had even been admitted into the French royal family. Now that Cesare was well married it was likely that the thoughtlessness of youth would become a thing of the past, allowing his many talents to come to fruition. Alexander VI was proud of his son, seeing so much of his younger self in his difficult offspring. He had no doubt that Cesare would in time become a true Borgia. His cultural learning evolving into wisdom, his impulsiveness evolving into the tactical deviousness required of a true ruler. An heir, no less.
While Cesare Borgia was meeting with Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Alexander VI was doing his best to sort out some rather more personal matters in Rome. To understand these fully, we must go back a year to the time when Alexander VI stood in his greatest peril. As we have seen, during the previous year Giulia Farnese appears to have given birth to the Infans Romanus, who had by now been accepted by the Pope as his son and been named Giovanni Borgia. This would have been Alexander VI’s sixth son, and his eighth child.* Shortly after Giovanni’s birth, his sixty-eight-year-old father and his twenty-four-year-old mother evidently had a falling out. At any rate, Giulia Farnese certainly moved out of the Vatican. This had wounded Alexander VI deeply; all the indications are that he still doted on ‘Guilia la bella’. Just when his papacy risked falling into turmoil, he had been abandoned by the person who had given him such solace. This was also the period when he had been dealing with the recalcitrant Savonarola, who kept calling for a Council of the Church, with powers to adjudicate on the Pope’s fitness to remain as pontiff. At the same time, Cesare was preparing to depart on his all-important trip to France – the greatest gamble of Alexander VI’s career, in the face of opposition from all the major city states in Italy. Either Alexander VI would emerge from this gamble with a cast-iron alliance with France, or his son and heir would be held hostage to curtail his papal powers, bringing all his plans to an abrupt halt. His only solace had been the joyous marriage of Lucrezia to Alfonso, Duke of Bisceglie – until this, too, had been cast asunder with Alfonso’s flight back home to Naples.
Yet now, just a year later, Alexander VI was filled with happiness. Not only were his plans for Cesare coming to fruition, but in August his beloved ‘Giulia la bella’ responded to his pleas and returned to live with him at the Vatican. There ensued an act which may or may not have been connected with this happy event. Burchard reported that a handsome young groom attached to the household of Cardinal Juan Borgia* was found dead in the Tiber, his body grotesquely mutilated. The Pope was a jealous man, especially where Giulia was concerned, and it seems that the young groom had fallen foul of Alexander VI on account of some exaggerated rumour concerning him and Giulia.
In the following month, after constant diplomatic pressure, King Federigo of Naples agreed to send back his son Alfonso, Duke of Bisceglie, who had fled Rome in fear of his life. With the political situation such as it was, and a large French army back on Italian soil, King Federigo could ill afford to upset the Pope. Alexander VI was only too pleased to emphasize his new friendship with the French king, giving the impression that he alone was capable of restraining Louis XII and any thoughts he might have entertained of marching south to pursue the French claim to the throne of Naples.
Alfonso, Duke of Bisceglie, duly departed from Naples. Cautiously, he decided against returning directly to Rome. Instead, skirting the Holy City, he travelled directly to Spoletto, where he was reunited with his heavily pregnant wife Lucrezia, who was overjoyed at this miraculous reunion organized for her by her father. Not to be outdone, Alexander VI himself travelled north for a brief visit to receive the ecstatic gratitude of his daughter and the wary thanks of her husband Alfonso. But there was more than just pleasure to this visit.
Previously, Lucrezia had always been integral to his plans, but mainly as an asset on the marriage market, useful for forging relations with major powers. However, there must have been something in her strength of character which caused him to entrust her, at least for the time being while Cesare was away, with a more prominent and powerful role. And this, despite her pregnant state and the fact that she would be dealing with male officials in the habit of wielding extensive power on their own behalf.
Alexander VI had recently appointed Lucrezia as governor of Spoletto, though this had appeared to many as little more than placing her there as a proxy for himself. Now, during the course of his short visit north to meet her and her reunited husband, he appointed her to the command of the fortress at Nepi. This was a classic, twelfth-century, high-walled castle, with four large circular defensive towers, one at each corner, garrisoned with a permanent force of papal soldiers. Despite such apparent invulnerability, Alexander VI was determined to fortify Nepi even further, so that it would become impregnable. This was to be his ultimate bolt-hole, where in time of trouble he could hold out until his allies came to his rescue. It had recently been occupied by Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, until he abandoned it to flee north and join his brother Ludovico, Duke of Milan.
Just twenty miles north of Rome, Nepi formed a link with Spoletto in the Papal Territories, adding considerably to Lucrezia’s governorship. Alexander VI was consolidating his papal presence north of Rome at the expense of his enemies. Certain estates of the Caetani and the Colonna were also ‘absorbed’ during the absence of their previous owners who had fled. Alexander VI’s appropriations went unopposed, owing to a ‘reconciliation’ which he had recently engineered with the Orsini family, who now had much more need of the Pope’s friendship than his enmity if they wished to retain their possessions and influence in Rome.
Alexander VI also continued to strengthen his position in Rome. Just three years previously he had promoted his great-nephew Juan to the College of Cardinals. Now it was the turn of his fifty-eight-year-old great-nephew Francesco Borgia, who had recently been appointed to the important financial post of treasury general. In fact, he had almost certainly taken over many of the duties of the absent vice-chancellor Cardinal Ascanio Sforza. On 3 November the incumbent Bishop of Cosenza (a city in southern Italy) was staying in Viterbo, north of Rome, when, according to Burchard, he suddenly ‘died of the plague’, having seemed to be in perfect health the previous day. Three days later, Francesco Borgia was appointed to this lucrative
see. (The following year he would become a cardinal, and in his later years he would act as tutor to Alexander VI’s youngest son Giovanni.) Having overcome any external vulnerability through his alliance to the French, Alexander VI was determined to consolidate his position in Rome before making his next move.
As Lucrezia Borgia’s time drew near, Alexander VI was determined that his daughter should return to Rome, where the best possible medical services were available. The long and difficult journey was made with Lucrezia carried on a litter, while her husband rode beside her. In early November Lucrezia Borgia finally gave birth in Rome to a son, who was named Rodrigo after his grandfather. The Pope was overcome with joy at the birth of his first (acknowledged) grandchild, who would be christened in a grand ceremony at St Peter’s. This was attended by all the ambassadors in Rome, as well as the members of the College of Cardinals present in the city. The infant was baptized in an ostentatious silver bowl in the shape of a shell, and the ceremony was performed by the new Bishop of Cosenza. At the ensuing banquet, Lucrezia received ‘two silver sweetmeat dishes from the College of Cardinals, laden with 200 ducats which were disguised as bonbons’. Even the infant’s father Alfonso, Duke of Bisceglie, now felt safe in Rome as an honoured guest under the protection of his father-in-law the Pope.
The christening of the Pope’s grandson in St Peter’s, with the College of Cardinals in attendance, was an unprecedented event. And the attendance of all the ambassadors meant that there was no attempt to keep this event a secret. As news of the unique occurrence spread, it was accepted by the long-suffering citizens of Rome as yet a further example of ‘Spanish custom’. Others, throughout Italy, were not always quite so tolerant. Beyond Italy, it was another matter altogether. As the rumours spread throughout Christendom, the story was considered too implausible to be given credence. This was yet another slander against the Pope, disseminated by enemies of the Holy Church. Ironically, the reign of Alexander VI was increasingly being viewed as a boost to the Church in some quarters. Here was a strong pope, capable of suppressing a heretic such as Savonarola. Likewise, he was willing to make a bold alliance with France – to the benefit of both nations, to say nothing of bringing a semblance of lasting peace to Italy.
However, scandalous incidents involving the Borgia family were rapidly approaching a tipping point. From now on, the behaviour of the Borgias – in particular Cesare – would begin to evoke an altogether different reaction.
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*Ironically, it is now known that Torquemada himself was descended from converso ancestors. It is possible that this inner conflict gave an edge to his pathological cruelty.
*The red wine of Chinon, whose praises would be sung by Rabelais, was at the time widely regarded as the finest wine in France. The vineyards of both Burgundy and Bordeaux had yet to recover fully from the ravages of the Hundred Years War with England, which had ended just decades previously.
*This includes the three children to the mistress who preceded Vanozza de’ Cattanei. As we have seen, the oldest of these, Pedro Luis, had died, passing on his title 1st Duke of Gandia, as well as his royally connected Spanish fiancée Maria Enriquez, to the ill-fated Juan Borgia, Cesare’s younger brother. Pedro Luis’s younger sister had married well and had produced the child who would many decades later become Pope Innocent X, but for the time being would play no part in Alexander VI’s dynastic schemes. The third child of Alexander VI’s earlier liaison had died at the age of twenty-four, nine years before his father became pope. This meant that by now Alexander VI’s hopes rested on the shoulders of his favourites Cesare and Lucrezia, while Jofrè had become a liability and Giovanni was still an infant.
*The Pope’s great-nephew.
CHAPTER 10
IL VALENTINO’S CAMPAIGN
AFTER LOUIS XII’S TRIUMPHAL entry into Milan in 1499, all the Italian states made sure that their ambassadors were in attendance at the grand banquet which celebrated his conquest. Now France had established a seemingly permanent foothold in the Italian peninsula. What would come next? The neighbouring states of Venice, Florence and Genoa were all in varying degrees wary, while Naples noted that Louis XII had as yet made no move to renounce any French claim to the kingdom. The ambassadors picked up no verifiable gossip concerning his next move. The only thing that struck them was the exceptional favour he seemed to show to his new favourite Cesare Borgia, the Duke of Valentinois, now known throughout Italy as ‘Il Valentino’.
In fact, the next political move in the Italian peninsula was all too predictable for those who had concentrated on anything but their own interests. Within days of the fall of Milan, according to Burchard, Alexander VI pronounced that:
the vicars [i.e. de facto rulers] of Rimini, Pesaro, Imola, Forli, Camerino and Faenza, as well as the Duke of Urbino, feudatories of the Church in Rome, have failed to pay their annual census to the Apostolic Chamber, and so [the Pope] has removed their titles and declared them forfeit.
Burchard added that the French government in Milan had loaned 45,000 ducats to the Pope, so that he could assemble an army to retake these ‘feudatories’, and that ‘The Duke of Valence, captain of these troops, has received this sum in the name of the Church.’
The above-named cities were all in the Romagna, mostly small towns ruling over a stretch of surrounding countryside. The Romagna itself stretched some 150 miles or so along the north-western Adriatic Coast, extending some 20 to 30 miles inland. This region of remote valleys and woodlands would famously be described by Machiavelli, who came to know it well. His words, as ever, are filled with political acumen, characterizing it as
a breeding ground for all the worst crimes, the slightest incident liable to give rise to outbreaks of widespread murder and rape. This arose because of the wickedness of the ruling lords, and not, as was commonly held, on account of the brutal nature of their subjects. For because these lords were poor, but chose to live as if they were rich, they had to resort to innumerable cruelties, which were inflicted in all manner of ways . . . These people were impoverished, but were subject to no consistent application of law, so they would seek to redress their injuries on others even worse off than themselves.
In fact, such was the prevalent lawlessness that this region had become renowned for providing soldiers to mercenary armies all over Italy. Little wonder that Federigo da Montefeltro, the previous ruler of Urbino,* had been able to raise such an effective force that his services were in constant demand. This had earned him and his comparatively insignificant mountain city a small fortune. The riches of Renaissance Urbino, which remain to this day, stand as his testament; as does its most famous son, Raphael, whose father had been court painter to the Montefeltro family.
Just as Machiavelli so wisely perceived, the unruliness of the region was largely the fault of its more notorious rulers, rather than its indigenous people or its rough terrain. In fact, many parts of the region contained fertile land, large tracts of which could have been amenable to agricultural exploitation, had it not been for the anarchic conditions inspired by its inept, cruel and divisive political rule. The region was also well-protected. Between its powerful northern neighbour Venice lay the buffer states of Ferrara and Bologna. The Apennine Mountains stood before its larger western neighbour Florence. And to the south lay the Papal States north of Rome, a large number of which remained under the Pope’s rule. As Alexander VI had already surmised: if such a region became united, and was returned to the fold of the Papal States, it would command the whole of central Italy.
In mid-November Cesare Borgia made a secret dash from Milan to Rome, arriving in the Holy City on the 18th and entering inconspicuously through one of the minor gates at dusk. He had come to consult with his father, whom he had not seen in person since his departure for France almost precisely a year previously. Three days later, Cesare Borgia rode back north in command of some 1,500 soldiers of the Papal Army, all uniformed in the Borgia colours. This force joined up with the French mercenaries whom the Borgia
s had hired from Louis XII. The French contingent consisted of a formidable force of 4,000 battle-hardened Swiss and Gascon infantry under the control of the Bailly de Dijon, plus 800 cavalry under Yves d’Alègre. Although Cesare Borgia was to be the commander-in-chief, these two experienced commanders would be on hand to guide and advise him in military tactics. Significantly, this force was also accompanied by a number of large horsedrawn cannons. These new French weapons had caused terror throughout Italy when first seen in the invading army of Charles VIII. In battle, they were highly effective against infantry and cavalry alike. But most of all they proved devastating to the walls of any city under siege. These were the weapons which would change the face of war from this time on.
Filled with pride at his new assignment, it was now that Cesare Borgia proclaimed his personal Latin motto: Aut Caesar aut nihil (‘Either Caesar or nothing’). This hinted at the extent of his ambitions. He was identifying himself with the greatest general of ancient Rome, and would go to any lengths to achieve his aim: death or glory. Late in November, Italy’s new Caesar launched a rapid invasion of the Romagna, following the one serviceable road which crossed the heart of the region. This was the ancient Roman Via Emelia, which in traditional Roman fashion travelled in a straight line from Piacenza (in the heart of Milanese territory) directly south-east to the coast at Rimini. Most of the major cities of the Romagna had sprung up at intervals along this trading route.
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