Berault Stuart, commander of the main body of the French forces, entered Rome June 23rd and was received by all the cardinals and the Pope’s household with great honours. He immediately repaired to the papal palace and was conducted to the Pope in the Chamber of the Papagalli.
“To-day the King’s lieutenants and several of the captains of the French army went to see the Pope in his palace in Rome, where a great many cardinals and nobles of the city were gathered. The Pope is a Spaniard and a poor Frenchman, but he concealed his real feelings and received the French officers with great cordiality and conversed with them good-naturedly. To Monsieur Berault Stuart, the King’s Lieutenant-General, he presented a grey charger, strong and swift, perfectly broken, and richly caparisoned. The rest of the day was spent in sports and various pastimes until evening, when the Cardinal of Sanseverino, Bishop of Maillezais and brother of the Count of Gayas, entertained the officers at a formal banquet at which the viands were exquises et plaisants. The banquet was given in Cardinal Ascanio’s garden amid the oranges, lemons, pomegranates, and other rare and esteemed fruits and fragrant flowers of various sorts, while singers and players, both tragic and comic, displayed their arts. The banquet over, the Frenchmen went and took leave of the Holy Father. This done they returned to their camp. It had been decided that the army should set forth the following morning, to go directly to Naples and continue the work begun.”[23]
CHAPTER VII
The expedition against Naples—The taking of Capua—Naples surrenders—Caesar returns to Rome—The orgy in his apartments in the Vatican—The Pope divides the conquered territory in Romagna among his family—Negotiations for the marriage of Lucretia Borgia and Alfonso d’Este—Caesar receives the Ferrarese envoys—Lucretia’s marriage—Her character—The Pope and Caesar go to Piombino—They visit Elba—Caesar and Leonardo da Vinci.
His Holiness took up his position at a window in the Castle of St. Angelo, June 28, 1501, and “with great joy” watched the armies of France file by and out of the city on their march to Naples to destroy the Aragonese dynasty. Burchard says that there were about 12,000 foot and 2,000 cavalry, 26 wagons, and 36 mortars. Jean d’Auton describes the departure of the French troops, the infantry and the cavalry leading, the file two miles long. The “men-at-arms in good order and fair array, encased in their armour and, with lances on thighs, wearing their casques ready for battle—thus they traversed Rome, the trumpets and clarions sounding, and the great Swiss drums thundering. On the low battlements of the Castle of St. Angelo stood the Pope, surrounded by bishops, archbishops, and cardinals. The illustrious Duke of Romagna and numerous other gentlemen of Rome were with him, and as the army marched by the Holy Father gave it the apostolic blessing; then the troops passed through the city gates and marched forth in the direction of the Kingdom of Naples and they moved rapidly and in perfect order.”
Caesar remained in Rome until July 9, 1501, when he left for Naples, but Burchard adds that he believed he returned to the city again the same evening.
In a secret consistory, June 25th, Frederic of Aragon had been declared deprived of the Kingdom of Naples, and the King of France invested with it. The 29th the league between the Pope and Louis XII. was solemnly proclaimed in St. Peter’s, the Te Deum was sung, and his Holiness repeated the Lord’s Prayer and gave his benediction.
On the way to Naples the French destroyed Marino and Cavi, while San Germano opened its gates to the invaders. Fabrizio and Prospero Colonna, who had abandoned their domain to the Pope, were Frederic’s only allies, but in his employ he had the famous condottiere Rinuccio da Marciano, who with Fabrizio Colonna had command of the forces in Capua. On the approach of the French Frederic promptly retired to Naples, where he was pursued by D’Aubigny, while Valentino and Sanseverino laid vigorous siege to Capua. The siege lasted for eight days, at the end of which time Fabrizio Colonna, seeing that further resistance was useless, endeavoured to arrange a meeting to agree upon the terms of surrender, but in the meantime a traitor had opened the gates and the French army rushed into the town.
“After the wall was destroyed and a breach effected large enough to permit of the assault, the King’s lieutenants had the trumpets and clarions sound the charge, and the drums beaten to arouse the army; the men-at-arms were given all the wine they wanted—to lend them courage—that the valour of France might humble the pride of Italy—and Messire Berault Stuart, Lieutenant-General of the King, addressed the men; on the conclusion of his speech the French were fired with courage and resolved to stand firm in the midst of the terrible adventures of war—and there, whether they lived or died, to maintain the justice of their King’s quarrel. And the assault was given about eleven o’clock on the morning of July 25th and was begun by the infantry, and a hand-to-hand fight ensued and the air was filled with spears and arrows and flashing swords—and beyond was the fire and smoke of the artillery—in the streets of the town pikes and halberds clashed—rude was the attack—but so bravely met that in less than half an hour more than two hundred French and Germans were killed in the breach—and the men of Don Frederic—of a truth they received their share of the blows and many were slain—and the troopers had no rest and it would have gone ill with the French if their men-at-arms had not come to their aid—and the shedding of human blood was each man’s care—and the Neapolitans and the Colonna maintained their quarrel with the sweat of their brow and the blood of their bodies—but the French continued to attack so furiously that the enemy knew not how to save themselves, except by flight—so they fell back and the French gained the breach—and they carried the town by assault and entered—and rivers of blood were shed and men innumerable slaughtered—the soldiers destroyed all whom they found armed in the streets, or hiding in the houses—giving quarter to none—whatever his condition—so that down the streets in great streams ran the blood. I will not describe the groans and shrieks of despairing women who beheld their husbands murdered, or the cries of the children over their slaughtered fathers, or the grief of the old men who saw their homes robbed and their city destroyed—but I will say that besides the butchery of the men, many maidens and women were violated and forced, which is the culmination of the horrors of war. The foot-soldiers of the Duke of Valentino managed to secure thirty of the most beautiful women of the city, who were carried away prisoners to Rome.”