Anderson
DETAIL OF THE URBINO VENUS
Supposed portrait of Duchess Leonora, from the picture by Titian in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence
The restless spirit of Julius fretted against the resistance still offered by the Venetians to his incorporating with the papal states those places in Romagna which they had seized, upon the fall of Valentino, nor would he accept the compromise which they proposed, of surrendering Rimini, on receiving from him a formal investiture of Faenza. They were also suspected of irritating by their intrigues the feverish state of that district, and of undermining the preponderating influence which it was his policy there to establish. On pretext of crowning Maximilian, whose title to the imperial dignity had not been completed by that formality, the Pontiff invited him to march into Italy, and support his views. The Emperor, in accepting the proposal, demanded free passage through the Venetian territories, with a threat of forcing his way, if obstructed. Assured of support from their ally of France, the Signory offered compliance, on condition of his going unarmed: but, spurning such terms, he, in February, moved with an army upon the valley of Trent. He was, however, effectually held in check by the Venetian generals, Nicolò da Petigliano and Bartolomeo d'Alviano; whilst Louis, besides sending Gian Giacomo Trivulzio to their support, instigated the Duke of Gueldres to carry fire and sword into Lower Germany. Maximilian, finding his hands full, made a hasty truce with the Venetians in May, and turned to punish Gueldres. The Venetian and French armies being thereupon disbanded, the moment seemed to Julius favourable for renewing his designs upon Romagna, and in the following November he sent the Cardinal of Sta. Croce to take part in negotiations, which had been opened at Cambray, for reconciliation of the Emperor and the French monarch. Maximilian readily lent himself to any measures calculated to efface his recent disgrace in the Alpine valleys, and to recover some places in Friuli which had remained in the enemy's hands; Louis was induced to accede, in order to wrest from Venice such portions of the old Visconti duchy as owned her sway; and Ferdinand joined the coalition in hopes of regaining several Neapolitan sea-ports, over which the Lion of St. Mark still waved in security of certain advances by the Republic for the wars of Lower Italy. Out of these elements there was concluded, on the 10th of December, a famous treaty, which denounced the Venetians as ambitious perturbators of Italy and all Christian lands, and declared war against them as the common enemies of the allies, who pledged themselves to take the field before April, for recovery of Ravenna, Cervia, Rimini, and Faenza to the Holy See, and of the territories respectively claimed by the other contracting powers in Austria, Lombardy, and Calabria. A subsidiary article took Francesco Maria under their special protection, and guaranteed his states; whilst by another the Duke of Ferrara was left free to become a party, on payment to the Emperor of a sum of money in dispute between them. Such was the notable League of Cambray, misnamed holy, on the vague pretext that the maritime Republic, by retaining Ravenna and Cervia, impeded the pacification of Christendom, and a general armament against the Turks. Not only was it an innovation upon the established custom of pitting the German and French interests against each other, and settling their differences on the blood-stained plains of Lombardy, but, as the first great coalition of European powers for one common political object, it may be regarded as founding the modern system of diplomacy.
Yet, though this formidable confederation was the child of his own brain, matured by the address of his legate, Julius shrank before the Promethean monster, and paused ere he animated it by his ratification. Well might it startle him to find that his labours for the ulterior emancipation of Italy from foreign yoke were about to divide one of her finest states among her most formidable ultramontane foes. Had Duke Guidobaldo been spared a little longer, his cool head and pacific disposition, as well as his friendship for the Signory and his influence with the Pope, might have counteracted the unnatural combination; but the die was cast, and the Pontiff had only to await the course of events for an opportunity of undoing his present work.[*235]
Unable to hold a military command, which would have better suited his talents and tastes than the duties of Christ's vicegerent upon earth, Julius gratified his family predilections by appointing his nephew Francesco Maria to be captain-general of the ecclesiastical troops. His investiture took place in the church of S. Petronio, at Bologna, on the 4th of October, 1508, when he received the pontifical baton from the Cardinal of Pavia, a prelate whose destiny we shall find, ere long, fatally bound up in his own. But the time for active service not being yet arrived, he contented himself with a review of the forces thus placed under his charge. Being considered equal to such a command, it is not surprising he should think it time to celebrate his long-projected nuptials.[*236] On the 5th of November, Julius wrote to the Duchess Elisabetta, to send a lettiga or litter, with three horses, in order to bring his bride on a visit to Urbino, where the ceremony took place on Christmas Eve, 1508.[*237] The letters, addressed to Federigo Fregoso by Bembo, who arrived on the 19th, unveil some proofs of the bridegroom's felicity which it were more decorous to pass over; but its revelations throw light upon the contrasted feelings of the still mourning court. "Our reception was truly chilling: no joy or hilarity in the palace; even in the city its wonted aspect; our happy youth himself quite frigid; but there is hope that he will become more ardent...." Writing a week after the marriage, he says that as soon as it was over, the Duke manifested the most unbounded affection, which became daily more passionate; and declares that he had never met with a more comely, merry, or sweet girl, who, to a most amiable disposition, added a surprisingly precocious judgment, which gained for her general admiration.[238] This event was hailed at Urbino with great public rejoicings and sumptuous fêtes, and the triumphal arches, theatres, and other architectural and pictorial works required for the occasion, were executed under the direction of Timoteo Vite and Girolamo Genga. In 1843 I saw, in the hands of Padre Cellani, at the Augustine convent in Pesaro, an interesting memorial of this marriage. It is a small MS. psalter, with a frontispiece illuminated in the manner of the Veronese limners, representing Nathan rebuking David, whose crown and sceptre are fallen to the ground—a singular theme for a bridal present, which, from the legend "Lionor Gozaga Urbini Ducissa," with the impaled arms of the two families, it may have been. The Lady Leonora was about his own age, and, although neither her beauty nor accomplishments have met with the same celebration as those of her aunt the Duchess Elisabetta, we shall have ample opportunity of observing in her character much energy and good sense, with undeviating affection to her husband; whilst the pencil of Titian has preserved to us a person which in a sovereign must have been lauded as handsome.