Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent (vol. 2 of 2)

by Alfred von Reumont

PROCLAMATION OF THE CARDINALATE OF GIOVANNI DE’ MEDICI.

It was a wise decision of Lorenzo to fix on Pisa as a residence for his son Giovanni. His efforts to raise that unfortunate city and to bridge over as much as he could the gulf between it and Florence had been unwearying. Moreover, Pisa not only offered to the youth, in the persons of its learned men, ample means of scientific cultivation, it also gave the needful quiet which, while his elevation to a great dignity was an open secret, he could not find in his father’s house, constantly filled with friends and clients. Philosophy, law, and polite literature seem to have been Giovanni’s chief studies; his whole after-life shows that he was not much taken up with theology. Filippo Decio and Bartolommeo Sozzini were his chief instructors in civil and ecclesiastical law. With his quick mind his studies were a pleasure; and the uncommon capacity which he always displayed in literary matters, independently of the accurate taste he inherited from his father, and his perfect mastery of the Latin tongue, suffice to show that he no more lost his time at Pisa than he had done in the villa or the house at Florence. He always attached great weight to Latin scholarship, as he proved by his choice of secretaries when he became Pope. In a brief of 1517, he speaks of the enrichment of the Latin tongue, doubtless alluding both to the increased publicity of its master-pieces, and to the efforts made, in accordance with Poliziano’s views, to apply that language to the purposes of modern science and modern life, instead of confining it to mere imitation, yet without offending against the severity of the classical. His tutor Bernardo Michelozzi has already been mentioned. Chalkondylas and Peter of Ægina are named as his instructors in Greek. His constant companion was Bernardo Dovizj, in whom he placed as much confidence as Lorenzo had given to his father, and, indeed, also gave to the son. Another of Giovanni’s companions was Silvio Passerini, who belonged to the Cortona branch of a good Florentine family, and whose father was one of the stanchest adherents of the Medici. Lorenzo caused the boy to be brought up with his second son; and Silvio, who was five years older than Giovanni, followed him faithfully through prosperity and adversity. In later days he enjoyed the revived glory of the family, and was raised to the highest ecclesiastical dignities, and also to civil power in Florence; but he showed himself unequal to the situation when another storm overthrew the Medicean authority.[549] The degree of doctor of canon law had already been conferred on Giovanni. Towards the end of his stay at Pisa he had a strange fellow-student—the Cardinal vice-chancellor Rodrigo Borgia’s son Cesare, who was studying jurisprudence under the future Cardinals Vera and Romolino, and attended the lectures of Filippo Decio.[550]

Naturally Giovanni held a prominent position, and his influence was reckoned on in favour of the city and university, as well as for private persons. His letters to his father, mostly short, are written in the tone of respect and obedience which at that time universally characterised the relation of children to their parents, and in a great degree does so still. He occasionally retired to the solitude of Camaldoli for the purpose of meditation and of indulging in the spiritual exercises usual to one in his circumstances. In the beginning of August 1491, he was residing in the abbey of Passignano with his cousin Giulio. Lorenzo had not ceased interceding for benefices for his son. When a Tuscan abbot was dying in May 1489, he wrote to the ambassador at Rome: ‘Induce the Pope to give the benefice to his Messer Giovanni. I say his, because he is far more his servant than my son. On account of the importance of the benefice, his Holiness should confer it only on one of our people (Florentines), and if it is given to one of ours, it can come to no one who will be more thankful for it.’[551]

The Pope’s stipulation for delay in proclaiming Giovanni cardinal did not at all suit Lorenzo, and he took no pains to conceal the fact. Within a year from the nomination he was urgent to have it published immediately; but Innocent was not to be moved. ‘I thanked his Holiness,’ wrote on January 8, 1490, Piero Alamanni,[552] temporarily replacing Lanfredini, who had died three days before, ‘for Messer Giovanni’s preferment, and declared how gratifying it was to our whole people, and how grateful they are to the Holy Father; at the same time I hinted, in the most suitable words I could command, that a shortening of the appointed delay was greatly desired. In his detailed reply, the Pope remarked first that what he did was all for the best, and for the reasons and grounds which he had communicated to you through M. Pier Filippo (Pandolfini). Then he turned the conversation to M. Giovanni, and spoke of him in such a way as if he were his own son. He said he had been informed what progress he was making in his studies at Pisa, and how he had distinguished himself in several disputations; at which he showed extreme pleasure. At last he spoke as follows: “Leave me to care for Messer Giovanni’s interests, for I regard him as my son, and shall of my own accord take in hand his proclamation when you are least thinking of it. I have yet other views for his honour and advantage.“‘ This was all very fine, but it was the less calculated to soothe Lorenzo’s impatience, as the Pope’s state of health gave good cause for the gravest anxiety. On September 23, Innocent was seized with another apoplectic fit. All Rome was in the most intense excitement; the Pope’s death was reported; all shops were closed, and all persons working in the fields and vineyards hurried home. Franceschetto Cybò tried to get possession both of the church treasury and of Prince Dschem, in consequence of which, on the following day, while Innocent still lay unconscious, the cardinals took precautionary measures; not, however, it was said, till part of the treasure had been sent to Florence.[553] The invalid came to himself, and on May 27 Pandolfini wrote that he was getting better and hopeful of recovery. It is related that he said to Cardinal Savelli and his colleagues, who came to the palace in the moment of danger to secure the treasure, ‘he hoped yet to bury them all.’ But there was great alarm at Florence. As soon as the news of the Pope’s critical condition arrived, Guid’Antonio Vespucci and Piero Guicciardini were commissioned to go to Rome to demand, in the name of the city, the admission of Giovanni de’ Medici to the approaching Conclave. More favourable news made the embassy needless,[554] but Lorenzo determined to make every effort not to let his success be spoiled. His brother-in-law, the archbishop, was then in Florence, and went to Rome at his request. Through Franceschetto’s mediation he obtained admission to the Pope, whom he found suffering from quartan fever, and in a state which did not at all inspire confidence. His mission had no success with the influential cardinals; his letter to Lorenzo[555] shows how slightingly he was treated. All he gained was the assurance that the family, and especially Lorenzo, should be treated with consideration and not offended. When he became more urgent on the subject of the Conclave, he was told that matters had not got so far as that yet; the Pope was well, and should anything fatal happen to him, they would proceed with due consideration. Pandolfini, too, obtained nothing. On the part of the cardinals, he wrote,[556] there would be no serious difficulty; it lay with the Pope, who was afraid of publication in this individual case, lest it should offend others. ‘Do not think that to speak of the matter at the present moment would lead to the attainment of the object. Everyone is warned to speak to him only of cheerful things, and that only in the presence of others. If one tried to obtain an interview without witnesses, one would expose oneself to the suspicion that it was for something of importance. For more than a month not a cardinal has spoken with him, save those belonging to the palace; and of the prelates, only those who cheer him up are admitted.’

The Pope’s health really became stronger; and as he remained firm, Lorenzo had to wait patiently till the three years’ delay was over. When the moment arrived, neither Innocent nor the young cardinal’s father could hope to live much longer. On the afternoon of March 8, 1492, Giovanni, who had in the meantime left Pisa, proceeded with a small retinue to the abbey of Fiesole. That convent and church, where everything recalled the munificence of the Medici, had been chosen to witness the conferring of the highest honours upon a scion of the family. The next morning Pico della Mirandola and Jacopo Salviati arrived with the notary Simone Staza, and at the sixth hour they accompanied the youth to the church. The office of the Madonna was solemnly sung and was followed by the sacrifice of the mass, the celebrant, the Prior Matteo Bosso, giving the Host to Giovanni as he knelt on the altar-steps. He then blessed the cardinal’s robes, took in his hands the Pope’s bull and brief and said: ‘May it be for the good of God’s church, of our country, and of thy house! This day, Giovanni Medici, the three years’ delay appointed by the bull and this brief for thy dignity as cardinal is expired. Whosoever will read, let him read; all is fulfilled. Do thou, Simone, make a public record of it.’ He then presented to the kneeling youth his insignia, the pallium, biretta, hat, and ring, and the choir sang the Veni Creator. After proclaiming the indulgences to which he was now competent, the cardinal returned to the convent with the rest. After dinner Piero de’ Medici arrived mounted on a handsome horse adorned with gilded trappings, and accompanied by some friends of the family; and the whole party mounted on horseback to proceed to the city.

In spite of the rainy weather thousands had crowded to the Porta San Gallo to see the procession. To avoid a press a regulation had been made that no one should cross the bridge over the Mugnone; so the whole space before the gate and the convent was filled with people. When the cardinal and his companions rode up, they found the whole of the clergy, protonotaries and prelates, the chief citizens, and the foreign ambassadors. On reaching the city the procession entered the Servite Church, where Giovanni prayed in the chapel of the Annunziata, and thence to Sta. Maria del Fiore. After this the cardinal paid a visit to the Signoria, and then, accompanied by the ambassadors, rode to his father’s house, where Lorenzo received his son. The streets through which the procession passed were gaily decorated, and the windows and roofs filled with people. The whole population was astir. At night the houses and numerous towers were brilliant with illuminations; bonfires were lighted in the squares, so that it was as bright as daylight, and shouts of rejoicing and the sound of musical instruments continued so long that sleep seemed forgotten. The next morning, Sunday, March 10, the grand ecclesiastical celebration took place in Sta. Maria del Fiore, whither the cardinal was accompanied by the ambassadors and chief citizens. The church was full; the Signoria were present: eight bishops sang the Mass of the Holy Ghost. It was not fourteen years since the blood of a Medici had been shed on that spot, in the presence of another youthful cardinal. After Mass, Giovanni took leave of the Signoria and returned home, where a grand banquet was prepared in his honour. Sixty covers were laid; the guests were the foreign diplomatists and the foremost men of the city. For several days preparations had been made and provisions procured ‘for the solemnity of our Monsignore.’[557] Lorenzo was so ill on his son’s day of triumph that he could not take part either in the service at church or at the banquet. He had himself carried into the hall to see the brilliant company at table; that was all he could do. Before the end of the banquet the Signoria presented to the new Prince of the Church a gift of honour, consisting of silver plate of the finest workmanship and more than a thousand pounds in weight; its value was estimated at 10,000 gold florins at the least. After Giovanni had withdrawn to his own apartments with the ambassadors and Signori, the various communities of the State, and the Jews of Florence, sent him presents of handsome silver plate; all of which, as also gifts from private persons, except his own relatives, he immediately returned with thanks.[558]

Little more than two years and a half after this day of triumph, he whom Florence now greeted with acclamations left his desolate home in the habit of a Franciscan monk; the convent of St. Mark, built by his family, closed its gates against him, and the terrified fugitive turned towards the Apennines; thus beginning an exile destined to last for eighteen years, to be followed later on by a period of yet greater, and, in its way, unequalled splendour.

Giovanni stayed but one day more in his native city. He had to go to Rome to express his thanks to the Pope and take his place in the Sacred College. On Tuesday, March 12, he took leave of his sick father and set off on horseback, accompanied by his suite. Among the latter was the general of the Camaldulensians, Pietro Delfino, descended from a noble Venetian family; he had been formerly in the monastery of San Michele di Murano, was elected general of his Order in 1480, and was a great friend of Lorenzo and other distinguished Florentines; no one could be better fitted to direct the first steps of a youth raised to such high honours. A letter written by him from Rome to Guido, prior of the monastery of the Angeli, gives an account of the journey and reception. For two miles from the Porta Romana, as far as the Carthusian convent, the departing cardinal was escorted by a number of distinguished citizens; they then returned to Florence, and he rode on to his abbey of Passignano. The greater part of his suite went to pass the night at Poggibonzi, and on the following morning reached Siena, where the cardinal arrived in the afternoon, and was triumphantly and joyfully received by the people. March 16 the party resumed their journey, and dined at Buonconvento; they passed that night at San Quirico and the next at Acquapendente. Throughout the Sienese territory they were entertained at the public expense. Several prelates came to meet the cardinal at Acquapendente, and he was saluted on the way to Viterbo by several of the Orsini whose territories near the lake of Bolsena bordered on those of Siena.[559]

At Viterbo Franceschetto Cybò received his brother-in-law, and all rode together to Bracciano, whose lord, Gentil Virginio Orsini, had gone eight miles, up to the foot of the Viterbo mountains, to meet the welcome guest. They were all housed in the gigantic pentagonal fortress, impregnable in those days, and even now startling in its gloomy grandeur as it towers above the slumbering depths of the lake below. The travellers spent a whole day with the powerful lord of Bracciano, who in a few years was ruined by the same storm that overthrew the Medici. On the following day, March 22, the Pope announced to the cardinals and envoys the approaching arrival of the new member of the Sacred College. It took place in the afternoon amid pouring rain. Giovanni dismounted at Sta. Maria del Popolo, prayed in the church and slept in the convent, and the next morning his colleagues and the ambassadors came to fetch him. Francesco Piccolomini and Raffael Riario headed the procession; Giovanni himself rode between the cardinal-deacons Giovan Battista Savelli and Giovanni Colonna. The new cardinal-deacon of Sta. Maria in Dominica was received by the Pope in the Consistory. After the ceremony they all escorted him back to his dwelling in the Campo di Fiore, and the rain was unceasing. Pietro Delfino reports that the youth’s bearing and conduct made a favourable impression on all, and he was thought more mature in mind than was to be expected from his age; which may be accounted for by considering what great care his father, who himself had been early brought into public life, had bestowed upon his son’s education, and what a lasting impression was left on that son by the father’s example.