The Life of Cesare Borgia

Naples and to restore the rule of the House of Aragon. In this they had the aid of Ferdinand and Isabella, who sent

orely devastated land. The Spaniards were joined by the allied forces of Venice and the Chur

gia-continued in the pontifical army at the head of a condotta of 600 lances. Another command in the same ranks was one of 700 lances under the youthful Giuffredo Borgia, now Prince of

s able to reenter his capital and reascend his throne. D'Aubigny, the French general, withdrew to

iangiordano Orsini, and his bastard Paolo Orsini and Bartolomeo d'Alviano, were declared outlawed for having borne arms with France against the Church, and their possessions were confiscated to the State. This decree was to be enforced by the sword, and, for the purposes of the impending war, the Duke of Gandia was r

onferred upon him on the occasion of his brother Giuffredo's marriage to Donna Sancia. To these the Pope now added the governorship of

unearthed and served up by most historians and essayists. It cannot positively be said that it is untrue; but it can be said that it is unconfirmed. There is, for instance, no word of it in Burchard's Diarium, and when you co

hare the leadership, in reality that, under so able a master, he might serve his apprenticeship to the trade of arms. So on October 25 Giovanni Borgia was very solemnly created Gonfalonier of the Church and Captain-General of the pontifical troops. On the same day the three standards were

the Cardinal de Luna as papal legate a latere, and w

rtolomeo d'Alviano, a clever, resourceful young soldier who was destined to go far. Thus the campaign, so easily conducted at the outset, received a check which caused it to drag on into the winter. And now the barons received further reinforcements. Vitellozzo Vitelli, the Tyra

the very verge of surrender, when over the hills came Carlo Orsini, with the men of Vitellozzo Vitelli, to take the papal forces by surprise and put them to utter rout. Guidobaldo wa

als. Yet, notwithstanding that defeat, which had left guns and baggage in the hands of the enemy, the Pope w

spero Colonna to the aid of the Church. He laid siege to Ostia, which was being held for the Cardinal della Rovere, and compelled it to a speedy surrender, thereby bringing the Orsini

te defender of Ostia, in chains. He was received with great honour by the Duke of Gandia, accompanied b

ndle-bearer standing on the Pope's right hand. Again we see him on Palm Sunday in attendance upon Alexander, he and Gandia standing together on the steps of the pontifical throne in the Sixtine Chapel during the Blessing of the Palms. There and elsewhere Lucrezia's husband is p

grievance upon this subject reads a little vaguely to us now, whatever it may have conveyed at the time. She complained that Giovanni "did not fittingly keep her company,"(1) which may be taken to mean that a good harmony did not prevail between them, or, almost equally well, that there were the canoni

i faceva buon

etext of going as far as the Church of Sant' Onofrio to take the air, he slipped out of Rome, and so desperately

saro's chamberlain, Giacomino, was in Lucrezia's apartments one evening when Cesare was announced, whereupon, by Lucrezia's orders, Giacomino concealed himself behind a

oose in the matter of a divorce, and that he had refused to be a party to

iacomino if he had heard what had been said, and, upon being answered in the affirmative, urged him to go at onc

unbridled gossip, all of which, however, is too vague to be worthy of the least attention. Aretino's advices to the Cardinal Ippolito d'Este suggest that she did not leave the Vatican on good

he hands of his fond father. The Pope had raised the fief of Benevento to a dukedom, and as a dukedom conferred it upon h

y other offices and benefices it was being proposed to add that of Chamberlain of the Holy See, Cardinal Riario, who held the office, being grievously ill and his recovery despaired of. Together wit

zel eyes, large, quick in their movements, and singularly searching in their glance, were alive with the genius of the soul behind them. He inherited from his father the stupendous health and vigour for which Alexander had been remarkable in his youth, and was remarkable still in his old ag

igo of Aragon-for in the meanwhile another change had taken place on the Neapolitan throne by th

e accompanied by his brother Giovanni, Duke of Gandia. They were both to be back in Rom

od on the eve of the darkest tragedy associated with