Caesar Borgia: A Study of the Renaissance

by John Leslie Garner

Caesar had left a small force to hold each of the towns he had captured in Romagna, and he had placed five hundred horse, under the command of Ercole Bentivoglio, conveniently situated to go to the aid of any garrison that might be threatened.

Valentino, having with him the Countess of Forli, who had again been placed in his charge on the departure of Yves d’Allegre for Milan, set out January 30th with five hundred horse, and passing through Fano, Urbino, and Spoleto, arrived in Rome February 26, 1500.

The Pope evidently wished to make the entrance of the Duke of Valentinois—returning from his victorious campaign in the Romagna—into the Eternal City as imposing as possible, for he instructed all the Church dignitaries then in Rome to meet the illustrious Caesar, with their suites. Several of the cardinals had already gone to greet him at some distance from the city, and now the orators of the various powers, the abbreviators of the Roman Curia, and the secretaries rode forth to welcome him. The Duke entered the city late in the afternoon, and was met near the Church of Sta Maria del Popolo by the Church dignitaries.

First came a train of wagons laden with chests filled with the Duke’s personal effects; then there were a thousand of his foot-soldiers, Swiss and Gascons; these were followed by a papal escort of lancers, with the flag of St. Andrew. Caesar followed, riding between Cardinal Orsini and Cardinal Farnese, who had gone forth to meet him. They were accompanied by a bodyguard of a hundred men clad in black velvet. Caesar wore a black velvet cloak reaching down to his knees. Just behind him were several flute-players wearing his arms, and then came two heralds of his own and one of the King of France. After them were the Duke of Bisceglia on the right and the Prince of Squillace on the left; then the Archbishop of Ragusa on the right and the Bishop of Treguier on the left of the orator of the King of France; then came the Bishop of Zamora and the orator of Spain, who were followed by the two ambassadors of Navarre, who engaged in an altercation with the orators of Naples and England regarding the question of precedence—the former lost and dropped out of the procession in a tiff. Then came the envoys of Venice, Florence, and Savoy, who were followed by a great rabble, who crowded and pushed so rudely that the prelates were unable to secure their proper places.

The Pope had taken up his position in a room above the entrance to the palace, and with him were the Cardinals of Monreale, Alessandria and Capua, together with Cesarini and Farnese.

When the Duke reached the Vatican the Pope went to the Chamber of the Papagalli with several cardinals, and when the doors were thrown open Caesar and a great swarm of nobles and prelates entered. Valentino advanced, and kneeling before the Holy Father, addressed him briefly in Spanish, thanking him for the honours he had conferred upon him. The Pope replied in the same tongue, “which I did not understand,” says Burchard. Thereupon the Duke kissed the Pope’s feet and right hand, and his Holiness kissed his son on the lips. Then such of the nobles who desired to do so kissed the Pontiff’s feet. Sanudo says the Holy Father was so overjoyed at the return of his son, that he laughed and wept at one and the same time, and that he would not grant any audiences that day.

The Master of Ceremonies describes the decorations of the Castle of St. Angelo and the pageants and festivities at great length, and “never before had I beheld such extravagance and display,” he concludes. February 27th, the day after Valentino’s arrival, there was a magnificent pageant representing the “Triumph of Julius Caesar,” in which there were eleven cars, the last bearing the Roman Emperor. The procession went to the palace, where the car of Julius Caesar was left, whence some writers have concluded that Valentino took the part of the Emperor. Burchard says that Caesar rode on horseback from the palace to the Agona quarter, where the festivities of the citizens were held according to their custom. The games, which included races of horses, asses, bulls, buffaloes, lasted until March 5th, when Caesar began to pay his calls on the cardinals. He went unaccompanied by any of the Church dignitaries, but had with him a few of his officers and a military escort of a hundred men clad in black velvet. He displayed his usual tact, and surprised the cardinals by always allowing them the place of precedence.

Caesar had brought his prisoner, Caterina Sforza, to Rome, but the story that he compelled her to grace his triumphal entry into the Eternal City is undoubtedly false, because, had he done so, Burchard, who chronicles the most insignificant details regarding his entry, would certainly have mentioned her, and he does not refer to the Countess. The stories of her having been led through the streets of Rome with golden chains on her wrists were probably picturesque inventions of the enemies of the Borgia.

When the Countess was confined in the Belvedere she made an unsuccessful attempt to escape, whereupon Alexander had her removed to the Castle of St. Angelo, from which, on the expiration of about eighteen months, she was liberated, owing to the intervention of certain French gentlemen, especially of Yves d’Allegre. His Holiness gave her permission to go to Florence, and commended her to the Signory in a letter which is a masterpiece of hypocrisy. In it he refers to our “beloved daughter in Christ”; “we have,” he says, “not only exercised mercy with respect to this Caterina, but also, so far as we were able, with God’s help, have looked with paternal solicitude after her welfare”—and more of the same sort.

In Florence Caterina Sforza married Giovanni de’ Medici, and, dying in 1509, left a son of the same mettle as herself, the famous Giovanni of the Black Bands, the last of the great condottieri.