Charlotte wrote the Pope expressing filial devotion and a desire to come to Rome to make his acquaintance—and she added that she was very much pleased with her new spouse.
Alain’s daughter was the sacrifice and Alexander VI. and Louis XII. were to reap the benefits. Among the documents containing the negotiations with Alain d’Albret are some which clearly reveal their plans.
The treaty made by the Pope and the King has often been published; but the one under discussion when they were endeavouring to bring about a marriage between Caesar and King Frederic’s daughter had never been printed until M. Yriarte reproduced[20] the entire document as an example of the duplicity which then marked all political transactions—and, it might be added, which continues to characterise them.
“Minutes of an agreement between our Holy Father, the Pope Alexander VI. and the Most Christian King:—
“1. In order that the Pope may appreciate the love which the King bears toward him and his, the said lord promises His Holiness to marry Mgr. de Valence to the eldest daughter of Don Frederic, with her express consent, the said daughter being with the queen.
“2. In order that the said seigneur of Valence may have the necessary means for maintaining his proper estate the King will give him, for himself and his heirs in perpetuity, the county of Valence and Diois which is estimated to be worth twenty thousand francs a year; and in case it should not prove to be worth the sum named the King will furnish him from some other source enough to make up the said sum, and as the brothers of the said sieur de Valence are dukes and princes the King will raise the said county into a duchy.
“3. He will give to the said seigneur de Valence one hundred lances, maintained by France, both in time of war and in peace, for carrying on his projects in Italy and elsewhere. The King will increase this number with two or three hundred lances whenever it should seem to him to be for the best.
“4. He will give the said seigneur de Valence an annual pension of twenty thousand francs for his personal expenses.
“5. In case that the said King recovers his duchy of Milan he will give the said seigneur de Valence his county of Asti for him and his, to hold under the King in loyalty and homage.
“Item. He will give the said seigneur de Valence his order of St. Michael; and in order that the King may be satisfied of the good will of our Holy Father, His Holiness will place the said Sieur de Valence in his service and will have him marry the person selected. To conduct the affair more secretly and surely the King will, by the middle of August, place six vessels in order in the port of Ciotat, Bishopric of Aix, to bring the said Sieur de Valence and the legate whom the Pope shall select to perform the requirements of the King. Item because ... runs danger by the absence of Mgr. de Valence the King will send the Pope a thousand men for his guard during his absence for which the King will pay each month four thousand ducats which shall be paid the Pope secretly by Mgr. the Cardinal of St. Denis, who is in Rome, and this engagement shall be for three or four months.