In the beginning of June Lorenzo went to Pisa to be nearer the scene of action. On the 8th he was in the camp and ordered the town to be more closely surrounded. An attempt to relieve it failed. On the 21st it was decided to storm it, but a white flag was hoisted on the walls, and the next morning the gates were opened. The inhabitants were spared, the garrison remained prisoners of war. Two days before midsummer Lorenzo returned to Florence. ‘Never,’ writes the Ferrarese ambassador, ‘was he received with such acclamations by the people, who attribute the recapture of Sarzana to him before all others.’[300] It was not the importance of the place itself that Florence cared for; she regarded its seizure as an insult. ‘After you have saluted in our name the illustrious Signoria, my lords the Eight, and the illustrious lord Lorenzo,’ thus ran Ferrante’s instructions[301] of July 27 to Antonio Sperandeo, whom he was sending to Florence, ‘you shall express to them our joy at the recovery of Sarzana; a joy which beseems true and sincere friends on such a happy occasion, and is meet for a connection which makes the advantage and welfare of the one the advantage and welfare of the other. Therefore we rejoice at the conclusion of this affair as at a piece of good fortune to ourselves, and pray God that He may further the interests and well-being of us both, and lead us from good to better through a continuance of our reciprocal friendship.’ How much of these assurances of friendship should be laid to the account of the complications at home, may be left undecided.
Lodovico il Moro took no trouble to hide his ill-humour, and immediately recalled his troops from the Florentine camp on the Magra, whereat the Florentines were highly indignant. Lorenzo said he supposed the Duke of Bari thought Genoa and the Castelletto would be given up to him next. But it actually came to pass. The Cardinal-Doge, Paolo Fregoso, perceived that he could not hold his ground amidst his many enemies, even if the Florentines—as they were certainly disposed to do—did not advance further towards the Riviera, where the neighbourhood of the gulf of Spezia was almost unprotected. While he began negotiating with Sforza the Adorni party were negotiating with France. Lodovico was quicker than the counsellors of the young king, and, after much debating in one form and another, the matter ended in Genoa once more acknowledging the Duke of Milan as her superior; whereupon the doge was pensioned and went to end his much-disturbed days at Rome. The Florentines were not destined long to enjoy the possession of Sarzana, which had cost them so much blood and still more money. During Charles VIII.’s campaign against Naples, both the town and the fortress passed into the hands of the French, who, when Florentine troops and commissioners came to demand their restoration, sold them to that same bank of San Giorgio with which the Republic had fought so long for their possession.
CHAPTER VI.
LORENZO AS MEDIATOR BETWEEN ROME AND NAPLES.
For a long time past there could have been no question as to Lorenzo’s earnest desire to arrive at a good understanding with Innocent VIII. Immediately after the latter’s election circumstances appeared favourable, and the Florentines had reasonable hopes of putting an end to the contest for Sarzana. Unfortunately, the dispute between the Pope and the King of Naples interfered to retard the good understanding, but, though Florence took the king’s side, no declarations of war were published, and the negotiations with the Pope were never broken off. Lorenzo always remained in communication with Innocent. It was through him that at the peace of 1486, the Orsini, who were left unprotected, were reconciled with the Pope. He attached great importance to the latter’s friendship on both public and private grounds. He fully understood the instability of the Italian league and the extent of the influence of the States of the Church on those at home. With regard to family affairs he had to take into consideration not only money matters relative to an advantageous marriage for his eldest son and his daughters, who were now growing up, but also of preferment for his second son, who, by his father’s wish, was early to enter on the career once designed for his uncle. All these various interests were fully developed in Lorenzo’s conduct during the year 1487.
In April 1486 a distinguished and warlike citizen of Osimo in the Marches of Ancona, by name Boccalino de’ Guzzoni, having acquired great influence over the people, profited by the Pope’s hour of difficulty to take forcible possession of that town, which, like many other Papal possessions, was somewhat inclined to be rebellious. He pleaded in extenuation of his proceedings that there was a certain sum owing to him from the Apostolic Chamber.[302] Lodovico immediately remarked that if the man was inclined to join the league against the Pope he should have help, as the matter had fallen out very seasonably.[303] But Boccalino had no intention of accepting the foreign aid, which he would not trust, without first trying his own powers. The peace between Naples and the Pope at first turned to his advantage, as many of Sanseverino’s dispersed soldiers entered his service; but he very soon saw that he was lost, and, yielding to the remonstrances addressed to him in the name of the young Duke of Urbino, he came to terms with the Pope. The accommodation, however, did not last long; Boccalino again set up the standard of revolt, whereupon it was decided to besiege Osimo. Boccalino then conceived the adventurous idea of applying to Constantinople and stirring up Sultan Bajazet to an attack on the Marches, which he himself would administer as a vassal of the Turkish empire. The messenger who was to carry this proposition, a nephew of Boccalino, was arrested at Lecce, and the letters fell into King Ferrante’s hands. He disclosed the story to Trivulzio, who had been in the kingdom with Milanese troops ever since the Barons’ war, and to the ambassadors of Florence and Milan, through whom it reached the ears of the Pope. Rome determined to prevent the rebellion from spreading further. On March 2, Cardinal della Rovere was appointed legate for the Marches,[304] and Giulio Cesare Varano, lord of Camerino, commander of the troops. Both proceeded to Osimo, but failed in their object, for Boccalino managed to blind the cardinal with the eloquence of his speech; so the Pope addressed Lodovico il Moro with a request that he would lend him Trivulzio and some of his troops. The Duke of Bari acceded to the request; on May 8, Gian Jacopo reached Rome, and on the 31st he was in the camp before Osimo.
For a long time this gallant soldier accomplished nothing; he lacked money, artillery, and ammunition. Part of the Milanese troops deserted and left the camp because their pay was in arrears; the papal contingent was quite useless; Boccalino kept on negotiating with the cardinal and with Francesco Gaddi, whom Lorenzo, through the Bishop of Arezzo, had sent to arrange an accommodation with Boccalino.[305] At last Rome grew weary. Cardinal La Balue, the deep intriguer who had reason to congratulate himself that Louis XI. had done no worse than shut him up in an iron cage, but who was not wanting in capacity and had gained some influence at the papal court, was sent in the latter half of June, with money and fresh troops, to relieve Della Rovere. When he arrived, Trivulzio had fortified a height which overhung the town, and had thus rendered further resistance impossible. On July 12 the inhabitants offered to capitulate. The Florentine envoy helped to arrange the terms: Boccalino agreed, on payment of 8,000 ducats, to leave the town and settle at Florence. ‘This evening,’ wrote Trivulzio to Milan on August 1, ‘I have caused 200 foot soldiers and a squadron of men-at-arms to march into Osimo. Early to-morrow morning Messer Boccalino will leave the city, and then my lord the legate will hold his solemn entry. The matter could not have been more happily or honourably settled.’ More happily or honourably! For sixteen months a town by no means strong had held out in rebellion against the lord of the land, and after a five months’ siege it had surrendered for money and pardon. It was fortunate for the inhabitants, but it showed the deplorable condition of military affairs.
Boccalino de’ Guzzoni betook himself to Florence, where he was honourably received, and Lorenzo was commissioned to pay him the greater part of the sum allotted to him, of which he had received 1,000 ducats on his departure. But there were other difficulties to contend with, and Lorenzo’s letters to Giovanni Lanfredini, the ambassador at Rome, show how indignant he was at the delay in fulfilling the promises made him from thence, and how he feared to be compromised by this delay. As the promised money did not arrive and Boccalino pressed for payment, Lorenzo advanced him 500 ducats and charged the ambassador to see to the settlement of the matter. ‘I do not believe,’ he wrote to Lanfredini,’[306] that the Pope is by nature spiteful or quarrelsome. But even if he were so, which I have never observed, he ought not to be so towards me. Try to arrange the matter, for I should regret the least stain on my honour more than life or all else that is dear to me on earth. Make no secret of it that, if no regard is paid to my honour, I shall make no scruple of showing my displeasure. I cannot believe it, but shall act according to experience.’ The Florentines seemed to expect that Boccalino would settle among them and claim the freedom of the city, in which they were willing to help him; they also offered him a military post in their service. After staying awhile, however, he went to Milan, whence Lodovico, who disliked having him in his neighbourhood, got rid of him by force.