1493
The birth of Beatrice's son marks a new development in her husband's policy. Up to that time the Moro seems to have been content to govern in his nephew's name, and had rejected with horror King Ferrante's suggestion that he should depose Gian Galeazzo as incapable, and reign in his stead. But whether it was that Beatrice in her turn had become ambitious to bear the title of Duchess of Milan and see her son recognized as heir to the crown, or whether the birth of his son stirred up new desires in her lord's breast, it is certain that the spring of 1493 was a turning-point in Lodovico's career. From this time he began to aim at reigning in his nephew's stead, and applied himself in good earnest to obtain legal recognition of his title. In the first place, the birth of Ercole, and the extraordinary honours paid to the child and his mother on this occasion, had the effect of exasperating Isabella of Aragon, and exciting new and bitter rivalry between herself and Beatrice. Gian Galeazzo, sunk in idle pleasures and debauchery, had long ceased to take any interest in the government of Milan, or to show the least wish to assert himself. He was recognized on all hands as altogether unfit to rule—in the words of the historian Guicciardini, "incapacissimo." But with his wife it was different. In public she controlled her rage and appeared with her cousin at fêtes and state ceremonies, but in private she wept bitter tears. Already her father, Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, had begged his sister Duchess Leonora and her husband to try and induce Lodovico to restore the Duke and Duchess of Milan to their rightful position, and the good duchess, who was on friendly terms with Bona of Savoy and with her own niece, Isabella of Aragon, did all in her power to soften the rivalry between the two young princesses. But after her departure from Milan, Isabella's ill-concealed anger broke out, and, according to Corio, she wrote the memorable Latin letter to her father.
"It was then," writes the Milanese chronicler, "that the duchess, being a princess of great spirit, refused to endure the humiliations to which she and her husband were exposed, and wrote to Alfonso her father, after this manner: 'Many years have passed, my father, since you first wedded me to Gian Galeazzo, on the understanding that he would in due time succeed to the sceptre of his father and ascend the throne of Galeazzo and Francesco Sforza and of his Visconti ancestors. He is now of age and is himself a father; but he is not yet in possession of his dominions, and can only obtain the actual necessaries of life from the hands of Lodovico and his ministers. It is Lodovico who administers the state, treats of war and peace, confirms the laws, grants privileges, imposes taxes, hears petitions, and raises money. Everything is in his power, while we are left without friends or money, and are reduced to live as private persons. Not Gian Galeazzo, but Lodovico, is recognized as lord of the kingdom. He places prefects in the castles, raises military forces, appoints magistrates, and discharges all the duties of a prince. He is, in fact, the true duke. His wife has lately borne him a son, who every one prophesies will soon be called Count of Pavia, and will succeed to the dukedom, and royal honours were paid him at his birth, while we and our children are treated with contempt, and it is not without risk to our lives that we remain under the roof of the palace, from which he would remove us in his envious hatred, leaving me widowed and desolate, destitute of help and friends. But I have still spirit and courage of my own; the people regard us with compassion, and look upon him with hatred and curses, because he has robbed them of their gold to satisfy his greed. I am not able to contend with men, and am forced to suffer every kind of humiliation. There is no one here to whom I can speak, for even our servants are given us by him. But if you have any fatherly compassion, if a spark of royal or noble feeling still lives in your heart, if love of me and the sight of my tears can move your soul, I implore you to come to our help, and deliver your daughter and son-in-law from the fear of slavery, and restore them once more to their rightful kingdom. But if you will not help us, I would rather die by my own hands than bear the yoke of strangers, which would be a still greater evil than to allow a rival to reign in my place.'"
This letter was probably composed by the historian, but there is no doubt that it reproduces the wronged duchess's sentiments, and that Corio does not exaggerate the effect which his daughter's indignant appeal produced upon Alfonso. "Shall we suffer our own blood to be despised?" he is said to have exclaimed, when he called upon his father to avenge his daughter's wrong, and at the same time pointed out how fraught with danger to the realm of Naples was the existence of so powerful and independent a prince as Lodovico. But the old king preferred to have recourse to his usual expedients of cunning and intrigue, and while he employed every artifice to undermine Lodovico's influence both at the other courts of Italy and in France, he sent ambassadors to congratulate the Moro on his son's birth, and only expostulated in a friendly manner with his kinsman. Lodovico himself, however, was too astute not to see the dangers which threatened him, and he became doubly anxious to form a close alliance with the Pope, and with his old enemies the Signory of Venice. Early in 1493, Alexander VI., now Lodovico Sforza's firm friend, proposed a new alliance between himself, Milan, and Venice to the Doge and Senate, and Count Caiazzo was sent by Lodovico to negotiate the terms of the treaty, which was to hold good for twenty-five years, and had for its express object the maintenance of the peace of Italy. Ferrara and Mantua both joined the new league, which was solemnly proclaimed at Venice on St. Mark's day, when, after high mass, the Doge conferred the honour of knighthood on Taddeo Vimercati, the Milanese ambassador, and the banners of Milan and of the Pope were borne in procession round the Piazza.
In order to confirm the alliance, Lodovico not only agreed to visit Ferrara in May, but also decided to send his wife at the head of an embassy to Venice, as a proof of his friendship for his new allies. Four experienced councillors, Count Girolamo Tuttavilla, Galeazzo Visconti, Angelo Talenti, and Pietro Landriano, were chosen to accompany her, and an elaborate paper of secret directions was drawn up by Lodovico himself, dated the 10th of May. On the same day a still more important paper of instructions was delivered by the Moro to Erasmo Brasca, the envoy whom he sent that week to Germany. This agent was instructed to lay two proposals before Maximilian, King of the Romans. In the first place, he was to offer him the hand of Bianca Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan's sister, with the enormous dowry of 400,000 ducats. In the second, he was to ask Maximilian, on Lodovico's behalf, for a renewal of the investiture of Milan, formerly granted to the Visconti dukes, but never obtained by the three princes of the house of Sforza. As, on the extinction of the Visconti race, the fief ought to have returned to the empire, it was in the emperor's power to bestow the duchy upon Lodovico, whose title would thus be rendered perfectly legal, while Gian Galeazzo would become the usurper, he himself, his father, and grandfather having only held the dukedom by right of a popular election, which had never been confirmed by the emperor. This, then, was the proposal which the Moro secretly made to Maximilian, whose father, the Emperor Frederic III., was at the time still living, but was known to be in very failing health. The King of the Romans was by no means insensible to the advantages of an alliance with the powerful Regent of Milan, or to the large dowry which Bianca Maria would bring with her to replenish his empty coffers. Some objections were raised by the German princes, who chose to consider this marriage with a Sforza princess beneath the imperial dignity, but Maximilian himself readily consented to all Lodovico's conditions, and promised to grant him the investiture of the duchy of Milan as soon as he succeeded his father, only stipulating that this part of the agreement should be kept secret for the present. The royal bridegroom was to receive three hundred thousand ducats as Bianca's dowry, while the remaining hundred thousand, which represented the tribute dues on the investiture of the duchy, as an imperial fief, were to be paid when this part of the transaction was accomplished.
Meanwhile Maximilian had already entered into negotiations with Charles VIII., who, in his anxiety to undertake the expedition of Naples, was ready to make any sacrifices in other directions; and on the 15th of May the Treaty of Senlis was concluded between the two monarchs. Lodovico's ambassador, Belgiojoso, accompanied the French king to Senlis, and kept his master fully informed of all that happened at court. But while the Moro had repeatedly assured Charles of his friendly intentions, he had hitherto prudently abstained from offering any device as to the young king's warlike designs against Naples, and had, it was well known, opposed them. When in March, Charles VIII. had begged him, as a personal favour, to send him his son-in-law, Galeazzo di Sanseverino, of whose knightly prowess he had heard so much, in order that he might confer with this distinguished captain on military questions, Lodovico absolutely refused to consent, fearing the suspicions which Messer Galeazzo's presence at the French court might excite.
Such was the state of political affairs when, on the 18th of May, 1493, Lodovico and Beatrice, with their infant son, arrived at Ferrara. They spent the night before their arrival at the palazzo Trotti, in the suburbs, and on the following morning entered the town by the bridge of Castel Tealde. After riding in state up the Via Grande and the Via degli Sablioni to the Castello they visited the Duomo, attended mass, and made an offering at the altar. The Piazza was decorated with green boughs and bright draperies, and crowds thronged the streets, shouting "Moro! Moro!" as the young duchess rode by in all her bravery, escorted by her brother Alfonso and Madonna Anna, who had ridden out to meet her, with a gay company of Ferrarese lords and ladies. That day Beatrice wore the camora of wonderful crimson brocade, embroidered with the lighthouse towers of the port of Genoa, and a velvet cap studded with big pearls, "as large as are Madama's very largest gems," wrote the faithful Prosperi to Isabella d'Este, "as well as five splendid rubies."
On this occasion Lodovico was determined to dazzle the eyes of the world by his splendour, and the robes and jewels of Beatrice were the wonder of Ferrara and Venice. Ten chariots and fifty mules laden with baggage followed in their train, and Prosperi describes one marvellous new camora, which Beatrice brought with her, embroidered with Lodovico's favourite device of the caduceus worked in large pearls, rubies, and diamonds, with one big diamond at the top. Not to be outdone by her sister-in-law, Madonna Anna appeared in a crimson and grey satin robe, adorned with letters of massive gold, and borrowed her mother-in-law's finest pearls for the occasion, so that, as Prosperi reports, her jewels made almost as fine a show as those of the duchess. Nor was this rivalry in clothes and jewels limited to the royal ladies themselves. Our lively friend, Duchess Leonora's maid of honour, Teodora, gives Isabella an amusing account of the keen emulation that existed between the Milanese and Ferrarese ladies who were to accompany the two duchesses to Venice.[37] Beatrice's ladies each wore long gold chains, valued at two hundred ducats apiece, and her chief maids of honour had been provided with some of their mistress's brocade robes for the occasion. Hearing of this, the Ferrarese ladies begged duchess Leonora to give them similar necklaces, and did not rest until they were supplied with chains valued at two hundred and twenty ducats apiece. And since it transpired that Beatrice had given some of her ladies strings of pearls for their paternosters, Madama presented each of her attendants with pearl rosaries of a still handsomer and costlier description. When Signor Lodovico saw this, he went up to Beatrice, saying, "Wife, I wish all of your ladies to wear pearl rosaries;" and straightway ordered some much larger and finer ones to be made for the Duchess of Bari's attendants. "But Madama," adds Isabella's correspondent, gleefully, "has given some of her smaller pendants to our ladies, a thing which I do not think the duchess can supply; and there is one other point in which the duchess's suite will come off the worst. Madama has had pelisses of green satin with broad stripes of black velvet made for all her ladies, which they are to wear at Venice, and is taking a fresh supply of jewels to lend them when they arrive. This I think the duchess can hardly manage."
However, the next day Prosperi reports that the famous goldsmith Caradosso has just arrived with a quantity of rubies and diamonds, which Messer Lodovico has bought for two thousand ducats, and is having strung into necklaces for his wife's ladies.
A week of brilliant festivities had been arranged by Duke Ercole in honour of his son-in-law. A splendid tournament was held one day on the Piazza in front of the Castello. "Messer Galeazzo rode in the lists," writes the old chronicler of Ferrara, "with all his usual gentilezza, and carried off the prize against his brothers Caiazzo and Fracassa, Niccolo da Correggio, Ermes Sforza, and all other rivals. Afterwards, taking a massive lance in his hand, he charged a gentleman of Mirandola, broke his lance, and unseated him, so that both horse and man rolled over together. And Lodovico sent one hundred ducats to the soldier of Mirandola, because he fought so well. Another day a single-handed contest between a Milanese and a Mantuan man-at-arms was held in the courtyard of the castle, and won by the Mantuan, and Lodovico gave him a satin vest with a gold fringe and skirt of silver cloth, and the Marquis of Mantua and others made him fine presents."[38] Then came the horse-races for the pallium, which Don Alfonso won, and at which Gianfrancesco Gonzaga's famous Barbary horses made a splendid show. A beautiful festa was also held one afternoon in the gardens, at which all the court assisted, and in the evenings, theatrical representations of the Menæchmi and other Latin plays were given, which pleased Lodovico so well that he declared he must build a theatre at Milan on his return. Amongst the pieces given on this occasion was a comedy, of which the plot, Prosperi remarks, appeared to be aimed against Signor Lodovico, but it seems to have given him no offence.
The Moro was apparently in the highest good-humour, courteous and affable, after his wont, to all, and full of proud delight in his wife and child. He admired the palaces and gardens of Ferrara, and surveyed Duke Ercole's latest improvements with keen interest. The width and cleanliness of the streets, struck him especially, and he determined to follow the duke's example and remove the forges and shops which blocked up the road and interfered with the traffic and the pleasantness of the prospect at Milan. But of all the sights which he saw in Ferrara, what pleased him best was Ercole's beautiful villa of Belriguardo. On Saturday, the 25th of May, after Beatrice and her mother had started for Venice, Ercole took his son-in-law and the Milanese nobles to spend the day at this his favourite country house, and entertained the party at a banquet in the famous terraced gardens on the banks of the Po. The same evening Lodovico found time to write to his wife, in which he tells her how much he is enjoying the loveliness of the summer evening at Belriguardo.
"I would not for all the world have missed seeing this place. Really, I do not think that I have ever seen so large and fine a house, or one which is so well laid out and adorned with such excellent pictures. I do not believe there is another to rival it in the whole world, and did not think it possible to find a villa at once so spacious and so thoroughly comfortable and well arranged. To say the truth, if I were asked whether Vigevano, or the Castello of Pavia, or this place was the finest palace in the world—the Castello must forgive me, for I would certainly choose Belriguardo!"[39]
From Belriguardo, Ercole and his son-in-law proceeded to visit Mirandola, the castle and principality of Bianca d'Este's husband, Count Galeotto, and the court of the scholar princes of Carpi, who were intimately connected with the Sanseverini and other noble Milanese houses. After visiting Modena, the ducal party returned to receive the Venetian ambassadors at Ferrara, and accompanied them to Belriguardo, which Lodovico was not sorry to visit a second time. Here the Moro took farewell of his hosts, and, leaving his infant son at Ferrara to await his mother's return, he set out for Parma, on his way back to Milan.
Here at Torgiara, in the Parmesana, he was joined by his envoy, Count Belgiojoso, who, in his anxiety to bring his master the latest news, had ridden the whole 600 miles from Senlis in six days. This faithful servant had already written to give Lodovico details of the treaty concluded between Charles VIII. and Maximilian, and had informed him of the French king's resolve to invade Italy without delay. Now, at his master's summons, he rode to Parma as fast as relays of the fleetest horses could take him, and fell seriously ill on the day after his arrival. The news which he brought determined Lodovico in the policy which he was about to adopt, and decided him to withdraw all opposition to the French king's expedition against Naples. Charles VIII. now appeared as the friend and ally of Maximilian, and even consented to support Lodovico's suit with the King of the Romans. "It seems strange," wrote the Florentine ambassador at the French court to Piero de' Medici, "that the king should support Signor Lodovico in a thing so harmful to the interests of his cousin the Duke of Orleans' claims, but so it is, and this will show you the influence that now predominates in the royal counsels."
Belgiojoso reached Torgiara, in the district of Parma, on the 4th of June, and on the 24th, Maximilian sent the despatch from the castle of Gmünden, by which he accepted the hand of Bianca Sforza in marriage, and promised Lodovico Sforza the investiture of the duchy of Milan as soon as he himself should receive the imperial dignity. In the same month of June, the marriage of the Pope's daughter, Lucrezia Borgia, to Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro was celebrated with great pomp in the Vatican, and the Pope and cardinals joined in the orgies which followed. But old King Ferrante gnashed his teeth with rage, and his son Alfonso vowed vengeance against the hated Moro and all his crew. And in the Duomo of Florence, the fiery Dominican friar, Fra Girolamo of San Marco, preaching with passionate fervour to the crowds who hung on his lips, boldly denounced the shameless profligacy that reigned in high places, and warned the Church and the world of the avenging sword of the Lord.
FOOTNOTES:
[37] Luzio-Renier, op. cit., p. 374.
[38] Muratori, R. L. S., xxiv. 284.
[39] E. Motta in Giorn. st. d. lett. Ital., vii. 387.
CHAPTER XVI
Visit of Beatrice and her mother to Venice—Letters of Lodovico to his wife—Reception of the duchesses by the Doge at S. Clemente—Their triumphal entry—Procession and fêtes in the Grand Canal—Letter of Beatrice to her husband—The palace of the Dukes of Ferrara in Venice.