Renaissance Murders

by Michael Hone

  Ludovico

  Ludovico embraced both Bona and Simonetta to better strangle them. A year later Simonetta was hanged, and Milan rejoiced. Gian Galeazzo was taken away from Bona, and Bona sent her beloved Tassino to the court of Ferrara for his own protection, begging the duke to care for the boy who had rendered both her husband and herself ‘’innumerable services.’’

  Ludovico was now in power. Like Richard III of England, he would kill his nephew Gian Galeazzo and get away with it. At age 13 Ludovico was already at the head of part of his father Francesco’s troops, renowned for his force, ambition and intelligence. He was nicknamed Il Moro, some say because of his olive skin, others tell us that his name had originally been Ludovico Maurus, that his mother changed to Maria to thank the Virgin for saving him from a deadly fever when he was a child.

  Ludovico was a versatile Renaissance man in that he could go from boys to women without complex, and as a person he was equally adaptable. He was in no way the warrior that his father had been, and indeed he would become known for his preference for peace at every opportunity that peace became possible. He increased wheat production by extending canals of irrigation, his economic policy was sound, and he encouraged the arts by inviting to Milan the best that Italy had to offer, in this case Leonardo da Vinci whom the Milanese found beautiful and, said one, ‘’so pleasant in conversation that he drew the souls of men to him.’’ At the same time Ludovico took charge of the education of the little Gian Galeazzo. Whether it was the nature of the boy or the result of Ludovico’s nefariousness, the child grew to be passive and without will, content to hunt and hump the girls Ludovico put at his disposition, to such an extent that when the boy died, Ludovico claimed, with a straight face, that the cause was an excess of coitus.

  Ludovico was lucky in his choice of wife, Beatrice d’Est, vivacious and an excellent huntress, bagging deer, wolves and boars.

  With the death of Lorenzo Il Magnifico in 1492 all hell broke out, albeit slowly. Lorenzo was replaced by his son Piero who had inherited nothing of his father other than his gout. Alexander VI was elected pope largely thanks to Ludovico’s brother Cardinal Ascanio, which put the powerful new pope squarely behind Milan. Ferrante of Naples, whose father had been named to succeed Filippo Maria Visconti, began to flex his muscles. Ludovico, no longer certain that he had sufficient strength to ward off an attack from Naples, decided to seek help from his dear friends the French, especially Louis XI. When Louis up and died Ludovico turned to his son Charles VIII. In doing so he signed his own death warrant, a very slow and very painful death. The story of Charles’s descent into Italy is fully covered in the chapter on both Cesare Borgia and Alexander VI.

  It was during Charles’s invasion that Ludovico had Gian Galeazzo murdered, a move that Machiavelli would have approved of. But not the people of Milan. The invasion of the French, the assassination of their beloved Francesco Sforza’s boy, and the revival of extreme taxation, made Ludovico more and more unpopular.

  Charles VIII died and Louis d’Orléans came to power under the name of King of France and Duke of Milan, thanks to Grandmother Valentina Visconti. Louis, as belligerent as Charles had been, decided to recuperate his Duchy. Louis made a pact with Venice, which was easy as the Serenissima and Milan had been at each other’s throats, on and off, since the creation of both empires. To this Louis added the support of Alexander VI who had learned, thanks to his experiences with Charles VIII, that France had become a veritable super power, the only nation in the world with a standing army. Only Naples, also on Louis’ menu, backed Milan. Florence hesitated so long in deciding whom to support that it earned Louis’ wrath. But as a city of merchants, it soon ruled in favor of the biggest potential market, France. As detailed in the chapter on Cesare Borgia and Alexander VI, they and Louis had an infinite number of good reasons to get along, other than Alexander’s simple fear of the French.

  Ludovico fled to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian in Austria. Louis, welcomed to Milan by the Milanese, soon returned home to Paris, leaving the Duchy in the hands of men who took what they wanted in provisions and women, and who taxed Milan and the other city-states to death. Louis made presents of Milanese lands to those who had given him their support, land to Pope Alexander’s Papal States and land to Venice.

  Ludovico returned to Italy with an army, but was soon abandoned by his mercenaries and his own men. He himself dressed as a mercenary in order to escape back to Austria, but was betrayed for money, an event that marked the beginning of the end of the Sforza. Ludovico was allowed three attendants in prison. He was reportedly treated liberally until he tried to escape in a wagon full of straw, only to get lost in the forest later. After that he was held more stringently until his death at age 57. Tradition has it that his body was returned to Milan and buried beside that of his wife.

  What came next, the reigns of Massimiliano and Francesco II, were prolonged death throes.

  Swiss trade with Milan was essential to Swiss survival, and beyond Milan the Swiss traded with Florence, also a source of wealth. To get to both markets the Swiss needed free circulation through two cols guarded by two Milanese towns, Bellinzona and Domodossola. On many occasions the Swiss tried to seize them from the hands of Milan in an effort to assure Swiss survival. They failed to do so, despite the fact that they were ferocious warriors. They nonetheless decided to back Massimiliano Sforza, Ludovico’s son, because he seemed an overall more stable force than the French who now ruled the Duchy of Milan, the French who could simple pack up and go home whenever they chose.

  The Swiss were not only traders, they were also fierce mercenaries. France therefore paid gold for their services. This meant that the Swiss were often divided: merchants against mercenaries. Cleverly, Louis XII found a solution by giving Bellinzona to the Swiss in perpetuity, allowing free access to markets, while continuing to pay Swiss mercenaries in the purest bullion.

  Milan now wanted to be free of the French and to live under a veritable Italian. The French suffered two disasters, the lose of their best general, de Foix, and they had been incorrectly informed as to where those Swiss who backed Massimiliano would attach Milan in order to bring Massimiliano to power. French troops were pounced on from behind, forcing them to flee back to France. Massimiliano entered Milan, its new duke.

  Like his brother the murdered Gian Galeazzo, Massimiliano had been badly educated and was feeble in character, a perfect puppet for the Swiss. He seemed to have taken life as it came, eating when given food, begging for it when it was lacking. Exiled to Innsbruck since the assassination of his father Galeazzo Maria, he was handed over to the Dutch by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, after whom he had been named, at the emperor’s request, when a boy. The boy who now entered Milan in 1512 had nothing Italian. In dress, language, comportment and behavior he was German, a lad who had certainly never found himself.

  In the meantime, Louis XII had been preparing for still another incursion into Italy. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, who had welcomed Massimiliano to Austria, was shone up for a powerless fake, and only with the coming of his grandson Charles V would real authority return to the Roman Empire. The new Medici pope Leo X was not the warrior Julius II had been, and the Swiss were still divided as to whether to fight for their champion Massimiliano or accept French gold. The Milanese, too, in the age-old tradition of treason, were now pro-French, although perhaps with reason as they were literally dying of starvation due to Massimiliano’s incompetence. In the end the Swiss came through, proving themselves among the world’s greatest warriors. At the Battle of Ariotta the French were again defeated and still again forced to retreat.

  Back in Milan Massimiliano gave himself over to balls and banquets, expenditures without end, while the people went hungry. He spent money on items like 30,000 ducats for clothing, he raised taxes, especially that on salt, ignoring the fact that throughout the Renaissance the lowering or raising of taxes would mean the life or death of a tyrant. The people rebelled, forcing the Swiss to take cover
in Milanese fortifications.

  In France Louis died, replaced by his son François I (fully covered in the chapter on Cellini). François was a direct descendant of Valentina Visconti, a woman inadvertently responsible for countless deaths and years of misery. The year was 1515 and François was just 20. The clash came outside Milan. François bought as many Swiss as would turn traitor, he had his own formidable army and the support of Venetian troops. The battle against the Swiss and Massimiliano was said to have been one of the most terrible in history, with the Swiss losing 10,000 men who had remained loyal to Massimiliano. Due to the lose of so many Milanese lives, Milan slaughtered any French merchants within the city, and anyone suspected of French leanings was bludgeoned to death. But Massimiliano, seeing the writing on the wall, decided to cut his loses when François offered him a golden retreat in France itself, where he would have his own castle and a yearly pension of 36,000 crowns. So ended this short and sad hiccup in the history of the Sforza and Milan.

  François I entered Milan in 1515 dressed in sky-blue velvet adorned with gold lilies, Cecilia Ady in A History of Milan under the Sforza, tells us, and Milanese girls sought entrance into his court to find out if the rumors were true that he was as big there as his nose was huge. He was. He topped Massimiliano’s taxes with a wopping 100,000 ducts to pay for his war efforts, and the following years added 200,000 more for the Peace of Fribourg. Lamented one citizen, ‘’Our leaders go from bad to worse.’’ But peace wasn’t destined to last because in Germany Charles V was elected Holy Roman Emperor over François I and Henry VIII, making an enemy of them both. Ferdinand of Spain, in continual combat with France for supremacy in Naples, named Charles as his successor to the throne of Spain. The opposing forces were now clearly in place.

  Added to this was the indomitable brother of Massimiliano, Francesco (the future Francesco II), who had refused François’s offer of a golden retirement in France. And the Milanese were also against the French king as they were obsessed with the idée fixe of having a ruler from Milan, speaking Milanese.

  Francesco made his way to Charles’s court and received total satisfaction. The Medici pope Leo X also decided that Charles was more acceptable to Florence and Rome than François. The pope and Charles therefore decided to place Francesco Sforza in power in Milan. In one full swoop the boy had the Vatican, the Papal States, the Holy Roman Emperor, Austria, Germany and Spain in his corner. Only Henry VIII, who had lost his election to Charles--and was historically hostel to the French--stayed on the sidelines. The Swiss were ordered by their Cantons to remain neutral, but those who favored Charles refused to do so, as did those who wanted François’s gold. Francesco left Germany at the head of 5,000 German troops and made his way to Pavia where a friendly Spanish army awaited the young man.

  Together they entered Milan on the heels of the fleeing French. To say that the Milanese were wild with joy is a litotes. And Francesco’s popularity increased further when he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. Riding alongside a friend, Bonifazio Visconti, he had ordered his troops to stay a few paces back so as not to be discomforted by the dust the horses raised. Around a bend, out of sight of the others, Visconti struck at him with a dagger. The thrust was deflected by a sudden movement of Visconti’s horse and Francesco was only slightly hurt, although some believe that the dagger had been poisoned and was therefore the cause of the ill health that plagued Francesco thereafter. Although a Visconti, Bonifazio’s reasons seem to have been strictly personal. On the one hand he had not benefited enough from Francesco’s rise to eminence, on the other Francesco was hated for allowing the execution of a Visconti relative. Through the haze of the 500 years that separate us from the attack, we can’t be sure of anything.

  The summer of 1524 saw Milan ravaged by the plague. 100,000 were said to have died, quite simply wiping out the city. Charles was losing control of his troops for lack of pay, which led to the Sack of Rome (see the chapter on Cellini who took part in the battle for Rome and the chapter on Julius III). The new Medici pope Clement VII locked himself away in the Castel Sant’Angelo and threw his weight behind Louis XII. Giovanni de’ Medici, dalle Bande Nere (see the chapter on Astorre Manfredi), joined his forces to those of the French king. Logically François was assured victory, but resistance to his forces would prove irresistible due to the arrogant tyrants he had placed over those he ruled. Battle after battle literally decimated the French nobility who fought as bravely as their Italian, German and Spanish counterparts. Total catastrophe came when François himself was taken prisoner and rushed off to Spain. He was later freed, giving up his two sons as a ransom, although one of them, the future Henri II, would be physiologically crippled for life (see the chapter Henri III).

  In Milan Charles’s hold over the city and over Francesco was so stifling that Francesco’s generals plotted to free Francesco from German oppression. The plot was discovered and Francesco accused of treason. Since the dagger attack, he had been so ill that he spent most of his time in bed. Charles’s accusations against Francesco coincided with a general hatred for the Germans, the end result of which was the formation of a pact, the League of Cognac, between Francesco, France, Pope Clement VII, Henry VIII, Venice and Florence. The League fought against German and Spanish troops, as Charles was both Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. What followed was death and famine as one city-state after another was besieged by Charles. Milan was sacked as Rome had been and Florence was besieged. The destruction and misery was such that even Francesco, who had escaped to Cremona, was said to have been reduced to skin and bones (although this may have been due to his illness). Children died literally suckling at the dried up breasts of their mothers. One priest exclaimed, ‘’Those who continue to believe in the goodness of men and the existence of a merciful God are fools.’’

  Eight long, interminable years of war came to an end with the Battle of Landriano in 1529. France left Italy for good and Clement VII got Charles to reinstate Francesco Sforza as Duke of Milan, in exchange for Charles being given possession of Naples and Charles being crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement. Francesco’s plot to overturn Charles was forgotten and, anyway, a Sforza as head of Milan, under the aegis of Charles, was a perfect solution to a nagging problem. Francesco was invested as Duke of Milan at the cost of 1,000,000 ducats, paid to the newly crowned Emperor. Charles V was now King of the World, the Old World and the New, thanks to coldblooded murders like Cortés and Pizarro, a handful of men whose courage and brilliance have never been equaled in all History. They’re certainly rotting in Hell, but the glory of their feats, against literally millions, will live in the minds of men until the earth itself is consumed in fire.

  Francesco returned to a city ravaged by disease and war, emptied of its population, as skeletal as he was himself. A physical ruin, not yet 40, there was still a surprise life afforded him. Charles wanted to unite Italy and Germany into an eternal alliance by fusing the Sforza and the Hapsburgs through marriage. Francesco was given the fifteen-year-old Christina of Denmark for bride. Charles himself ventured to Milan where Francesco, on bended knee, begged him to loosen his financial stranglehold on the Milanese, harnessed to the yoke of German debt like mules. Charles promised to reflect on the matter. We will never know what the new bride felt towards her invalid husband who now displaced himself on crutches. He could not ‘’honor’’ her, as the French say, and thusly died childless. The Sforza were now extinct and Milan ... well … that’s a story for another day.

  FERRANTE

  1423 - 1494

  The study of the fascinating life of Ferrante King of Naples affords us the occasion to glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of Renaissance murderers and sociopaths, as well as covering his family history and, along the way, the origins of the worst-of-the-worst, the Borgia.

  The Medici revenge against the Pazzi and others who had tried to assassinate Lorenzo de’ Medici (fully covered in the chapter on the Pazzi Plot) was so severe--especially Cardinal Salviati being hung from the windo
w of the Palazzo della Signoria--that all of Florence was excommunicated. The pope then requested that Ferrante of Naples attack Florence. Lorenzo’s father Piero had already attempted to shore up his relations with King Ferrante by sending Lorenza, superb from the heights of his seventeen years. Lorenzo did more than anticipated, charming the king out of his socks with his youthful candor, intelligence, sparkle and spunk.

  So Lorenzo returned to Naples to persuade Ferrante that he had more to gain by his remaining friends with Florence. Before leaving Florence Lorenzo had mortgaged his castles and palaces to raise money, money he now spent like water on making gifts to the Neapolitans, on lavish festivals and on charities. It’s said, though, that although he laughed at the side of Ferrante during the day, he was in despair at night. Certainly Ferrante had him visit his famous museum where he placed the dried cadavers of his enemies, pickled in herbs and dressed in what they wore when alive. When Ferrante suspected someone of plotting against him, he took him to visit his museum as a deterrent. Before their deaths Ferrante locked his prisoners in cages and let them go insane before starving them to death.

  Ferrante

  The story of Ferrante is the story of three charismas, Lorenzo’s as we’ve seen, capable of charming the birds from the trees, that of Ferrante’s father Alfonso and that of the first Borgia of importance, Alonso.

  Alonso Borgia’s ancestors had been Spanish condottieri who had chased Muslims from Valencia, taking over a good part of their lands for themselves. Entering the university at age fourteen, Alonso left with two doctorates in law. Due to his expertise in canon law, he was chosen as a member of a council set up to bring an end to the Great Schism which had seen popes in both Rome and in Avignon. Rome had two families of great and competing importance, the Orsini and the Colonna, and it was a Colonna who became Pope Martin V, although there had been a holdout, an insignificant Spaniard who was proclaimed, by the vote of three cardinals, Clement VIII. Alfonso V of Aragon was the only person to recognize him.