Caesar Borgia: A Study of the Renaissance

by John Leslie Garner

Michelotto, who was closely confined in the Torre di Nona awaiting trial, was subjected to searching examinations regarding the deaths of numerous persons, principal among whom were the Duke of Gandia; Giulio Cesare Varano, Lord of Camerino, and his two sons, Piero and Venanzio, who were captured when Camerino surrendered and later were strangled by Valentino’s orders; the Lord of Faenza, Astorre Manfredi and his illegitimate brother, Giovanni Evangelista; the Duke of Bisceglia, Lucretia Borgia’s second husband; Bernardino Gaetani da Sermoneta, slain by Caesar’s orders in 1500, about the same time that Alexander caused the death in the Castle of St. Angelo of Giacomo Gaetani, the head of the House, seizing their estates and conferring them on his daughter Lucretia; and the Bishop of Cagli, who was hanged in the public square for his brave resistance to Valentino’s lieutenants in 1503.

Caesar’s arrest so pleased his Holiness that he spoke of it as un’ opera divina—although it was brought about by himself.

August 20th Gonsalvo had Caesar taken to Spain by sea and by a refinement of cruelty his jailer on the trip was his bitterest enemy, Prospero Colonna.

Valentino was destined never again to see the peninsula, and it is no exaggeration to say that all Italy breathed easier when it became known that he was a prisoner on board a galley bound for Spain.

The faithful Baldassare di Scipione, inspired by love for his imprisoned lord, issued a challenge addressed to “any Spaniard who might dare to maintain: That the Duke Valentino had not been made a prisoner in Naples in violation of the safe-conduct of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and owing to their utter want of faith, and all to their eternal infamy and everlasting shame”—and the challenge was exposed in public places throughout Christendom, and never a Spaniard dared reply.

For a long time Romagna suffered for want of a strong governing hand; the country was being ruined by rival factions, the cities were deserted, and many there were who regretted the overthrow of Valentino.

With Caesar’s removal to Spain his influence in the affairs of Italy became negligible. In fact, since that time the Borgia family has been inconspicuous in the history of the peninsula.

About this time an event occurred in the Vatican which was duly chronicled by Burchard—the betrothal of Niccolò della Rovere and Donna Laura, the illegitimate daughter of Alexander VI. by Giulia Farnese. Gregorovius remarks that the consent of Julius II. to the union of his nephew with his enemy’s natural daughter is one of the most extraordinary facts in the personal history of this Pope. It looks like a pledge of reconciliation with the Borgia. While these men were his opponents Julius had hated them, but his hostility was not based on any moral grounds. He had never felt any contempt for Alexander or Caesar, but on the contrary, like Machiavelli, he had admired their power and ability. They were his enemies because they tried to crush him and frustrate his ambitions, and he retaliated.

July 10th the Pope informed the Venetian orator that Gonsalvo had proposed to aid Caesar with men and cannon in his undertaking against the Lord of Piombino on account of the latter’s opposition to the Spaniards, but that, dissatisfied with this, Valentino had endeavoured to disarrange the Great Captain’s plans, and had engaged in his customary scheming—this was the cause of his arrest—and “God had so ordained it on account of his misdeeds—inducing others to do what we were unwilling to do.”

Ten days later his Holiness informed the Venetian ambassador that Caesar had been sent to Spain carefully guarded and with a single servant. He added that certain cardinals had urged him to write a letter to his Catholic Majesty in Caesar’s behalf and that he had promised to do so, but he feared even if he merely recommended protection for Caesar’s life and person, his letter would be misconstrued and the King would show him greater favour than he had intended, and might even undertake to recover for him a part, if not all, of his estates, which would be dangerous to himself; he therefore had revoked the order to write the brief, and “I assured his Holiness that he was most prudent and circumspect—and with this I took my leave.”