Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy (42 page)

Unfortunately for the Este, the blessed Beatrice’s knockings only served to usher in the most dangerous year Alfonso and Lucrezia would yet experience. Julius II had reverted to the policy of Alexander VI and intended to re-establish the authority of the papacy over the States of the Church, which included Ferrara. With the cry of ‘Out with the barbarians’ he signalled his intention to expel the French from Italy which, considering that, as cardinal, he had been among the first to invite them in, could be considered a bit rich. He saw Venice as the only Italian power fit to provide a counterbalance against the French, and early in the new year of 1510 came to a secret peace with the Republic. He was furious with Alfonso for his friendship with France: as he told the Venetian envoy, ‘It is God’s will that the Duke of Ferrara should be punished and Italy freed from the hands of the French.’
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The Cardinal d’Aragona warned Alfonso that an attack on Ferrara was to be the first stage of a campaign against the French by Julius in alliance with Venice and Ferdinand of Spain. ‘The Pope wants to be lord and master of the world’s game,’ the Venetian envoy Domenico Trevisan warned the Signory on 1 April 1510.

In July 1510 Julius’s campaign against Ferrara began. It was to be spearheaded in somewhat lackadaisical fashion by Gonzaga, released that month (thanks, it was rumoured, to the intervention of the Sultan with whom he traded in horses), and appointed by Julius Gonfalonier of the Church in place of Alfonso d’Este. Gonzaga’s ten-year-old son Federico was sent to Rome to be kept by the Pope as hostage for his father’s good behaviour. On 26 July, Lucrezia sent Bernardino di Prosperi to Francesco with an emotional letter in her own hand congratulating him on his ‘most desired liberation’ and thanking him for the message he had sent to her via Padre Francesco. It was also a plea for help: ‘I pray the Lord God preserve Your Lordship for many years and that he will place his holy hand in these tribulations of ours and yours for which truly I have no less at heart than my own. And I pray Your Lordship with all my heart that in every matter which may help this state you will be pleased to do as I trust in you . . .’
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The war was to last until Julius’s death in January 1513, only to be taken up again by his successor Leo X, the former Cardinal de’Medici. During these years Lucrezia, Alfonso and their family endured conditions of extreme danger, worse than any they had ever known. As the papal troops moved northwards through Ferrarese territory in the summer of 1510, on 9 August the Pope delivered the crushing blow of an interdict: Alfonso was excommunicated and deprived of the Duchy of Ferrara. Sanudo reported:

Today in consistory was read out the Bull depriving the Duke of Ferrara of all he has of the Holy Church, that is Ferrara, Comacchio and those things he has in Romagna, and Reggio which the house of Este was invested with by Pope Pius II; and similarly the Duke is excommunicated and anyone who gave him help or favour will be equally deprived. It is a most long Bull and tomorrow will be published in Bologna and printed. And there is a report that . . . France will abandon the Duke of Ferrara, and will not lend him any help, saying they do not wish to mix in the affairs of Ferrara, this being immediately in all things subject to the Holy See.
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On 19 August, the diarist noted the message from the Venetian envoy at Rome that Venice was to support the Pope in his enterprises against Ferrara and Genoa, and send a fleet to the Po with the announcement that anyone who wished to should go to damage the Duke of Ferrara.
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In this desperate situation, Lucrezia appealed to Francesco for help. On 12 August she sent Lorenzo Strozzi to him with private messages on her behalf. On 22 August she besought Francesco to order his officials to accept for safe keeping the herds and possessions at Hostia of her people of Mellara endangered by the taking of the Polesine di Rovigo by the Venetians and the recent interdict placed on Ferrara by the Pope. ‘I would not know how nor would I be able to deny them any of their just petition, particularly of this kind in this case,’ she wrote. ‘I pray Your Lordship for love of me to signify to your officials that they should accept the livestock and possessions of my subjects for their security . . .’
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In mid August Sanudo reported that Alfonso had sent forty artillery pieces to Parma and that Lucrezia had asked Venice for a safe conduct for herself, her children and her possessions to go there, but that Venice did not want to grant it to her without licence from the Pope.
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On 21 August there was panic in Ferrara; Sanudo wrote that Lucrezia had her carriages ready to leave with her children for Milan but that the citizens rose up saying that if she left they would also flee the city, so she stayed. That very day, alone in charge at Ferrara since Alfonso was away in camp and Ippolito also, Lucrezia, despite Sanudo’s report of panic, kept her head, informing Alfonso of all she was doing to help, including sending a spy to Venice to find out whether the Venetians were arming forces and, if so, of what kind. She also reminded him, among his many other preoccupations, ‘of that affair of the Marchese [Gonzaga] about which you spoke to me before you left’. It can hardly be a coincidence that that same day she had Strozzi write a letter to Gonzaga conveying her feelings towards him: ‘. . . the love, faith and trust she has in Your Lordship is of such an order that she has more hope in Your Lordship than in any other person in the world, and with all her heart she begs you not to abandon her in these times, and to demonstrate effectively the fraternal love that Your Lordship bears her.’ And as if that were not enough, Strozzi added a verbatim report of what she had told him: ‘The Duchess said to me: “Lorenzo, if it were not for the hope that I have in the Lord Marchese that in my every need he will aid and protect me, I would die of grief. . .”’
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There was a certain practicality behind these effusions: beyond the military and diplomatic capabilities of her husband and brother-in-law, maintaining her hold on Francesco’s affections was the most effective form of insurance for Ferrara, which Gonzaga, as Julius’s commander, was now pledged to attack. As we have seen, there was mutual dislike between the Este men and Gonzaga, a feeling which, as far as Francesco was concerned, now extended to his own wife. In view of the discussion about Francesco which Lucrezia says she had with Alfonso before he left, it seems likely that they agreed that she should act as a conduit between them —as to just how friendly, however, Alfonso was no doubt left in ignorance.

The twenty-first of August seems to have been a key day. Quite apart from the two letters she wrote to Alfonso and the one to Gonzaga, she wrote a third enclosing a letter containing important news which she had received from one Abraham Thus, a Jewish contact in Parma. The Este were known as protectors of the Jews. During the fifteenth century the Jewish population of Ferrara had developed rapidly: they were allowed autonomy as a community and permitted to live wherever they wished in the city – although in practice they mostly lived together in certain streets in an area known as ‘La Zuecca’. They were neither ‘ghettoized’ nor walled off from the Christian inhabitants. Their activities were not confined to money-lending: they were active as retailers, manufacturers and tradesmen. They were exempt from the extra taxes demanded by the papal legates but in 1505, confirming their privileges, Alfonso had declared that they should share the – by now—heavy burden of tax borne by the rest of the community. The Jewish population had rapidly expanded after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal under Ferdinand and Isabella: on 20 November 1492 the fugitive Sephardim received their passports from Ercole and on 1 February 1493 an agreement was made by which they shared all the privileges of the established community: they were permitted to follow any trade, farm taxes, act as apothecaries and practise medicine among Christians. By the end of the century there were some five thousand Jews in Ferrara and the community by now included the sophisticated new arrivals with their international contacts in the silk and wool industries and in imports such as pearls from India. The Spanish and Portuguese Jews in particular brought with them their superior artisan skills in gold and silverwork and embroidery. Jews both professing and converted were welcomed at court; as we have seen, one of Lucrezia’s damsels, La Violante, was Jewish, and Alfonso frequently played cards with a Jewish friend. The Este protected the Jews against the Church and secured their loyalty. Lucrezia herself wrote to Gonzaga on one occasion to obtain justice for the heirs of ‘the former Habraham jew of Bresello’ whose goods David the moneylender in Brescello was threatening to sell: ‘We have answered that we will inform ourself of the details of this and what commission exists: and we will not permit that any injustice be done to these heirs . . .’
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In return the Jewish community gave the Este their loyalty, particularly when Ferrara was threatened by the Pope as Lucrezia’s letter from Abraham Thus demonstrated.

On arrival at Parma, Thus wrote, ‘At this hour I arrived here in Parma when I found that Modena was taken and it seemed to me that I could not send a letter by the Captain of Reggio, nor come myself which was my intention, but Messer Alfonso Ariosto finding himself here on the point of departure, it now seemed to me [best] to send a most satisfactory formal letter which I have obtained from the Gran Maestro [Jacques de Chabannes, seigneur de Lapalisse].’ The Gran Maestro had told him personally that the affairs of the Bentivoglio were at present on hold pending a decision by the King of France which was expected imminently, and that he would do anything he could in the interest of the King of France and Lucrezia. However, he had not been able to provide troops for Modena for Signor Galeazzo (da Sanseverino, Master of the King’s Horse) because he had to go towards Savoy to prevent the passage of the Pope’s Swiss mercenaries. But he had also told Thus that if the Duke of Ferrara was in need of money he would see to it that the treasurer of the King of France would lend him it against pledges. He had heard the day before from Signor Galeazzo that the Duke had already sent to the Gran Maestro to this effect. ‘This loss [of Modena] grieves me to my soul,’ Thus wrote. ‘However I pray Your Ladyship to bear this with your usual spirit because thus it will cause you less anxiety and thus God will provide: the Gran Maestro recognizes of what great moment is the State of Your Ladyship to the affairs of the King of France, and openly said to me that His Majesty would not fail [you] and that having heard of this case [of the need for money] he would make greater efforts to do that which was asked of him, recognizing [your] extreme need.’

He had spoken to Signor Galeazzo in Parma who would do everything he could for the service of the Duke and Duchess of Ferrara.

And speaking together of Your Ladyship’s predicament we touched on the question of your Ladyship’s sons, and to get them out of Ferrara should anything occur. I told him that perhaps Your Ladyship was minded when it was necessary to send them that they should go to him rather than any other living being. He answered that if Your Ladyship did this it would give him the greatest pleasure in the world. I thought to advise Your Ladyship of this in any case. I will not come to Your Ladyship as I had decided, for fear that these letters might fall into the hands of the enemy. And I will stay here three or four days to see what is happening. If Your Ladyship needs anything of me, know that I am most ready in every place, at any time, and in every [twist of] fortune. Signor Galeazzo is making every effort that Reggio should not be lost . . . he is waiting only on the answer of the Gran Maestro . . . He has pledged his treasure and friends to any need of Your Ladyship as soon as he is advised of it by you . . . M. de la Palisse is ill in Milan and recommends himself to Your Ladyship.
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In a letter of 22 August, Lucrezia wrote to Alfonso about Gonzaga again, concerned that the utmost pressure should be exerted on him to keep him from attacking the Este: ‘Your Lordship writes that I must remind him about the affair of the Marchese [Gonzaga] which I spoke to you about. I tell you that it is to write to the Gran Maestro that he should write formally to the Marchese, even if it should come to pretexts and threats, that he should not attempt anything to damage Your Lordship nor molest you in any way.’ She had received Alfonso’s instructions about their son Ercole and was pleased with them, as the child was still a little indisposed. She meant to wait till he was cured and then choose twenty – five people to accompany him, headed, as Alfonso suggested, by a person of distinction at court. She would prefer M. Hercule da Camerino but he must choose as he thought most suitable. She retailed news of Count Guido Rangoni (whose family had intrigued with the papal legate to hand over Modena). ‘It seems I should remind Your Lordship that it would be a good idea to remove the Capitano here of Castel Tealto as a precaution and if you do so give him some other position and I will provide someone to watch him closely.’ Also she reminded him that he could send some infantry who had come from La Abbatia (where Rangoni now was) to Ferrara where they were doing nothing to Argenta.

By the next day, Ercole’s state of health had deteriorated and Lucrezia thought he should not be subjected to the strain of travelling anywhere. She wanted Alfonso’s opinion as to whether the young Ippolito should leave because it would be better that one of them were elsewhere before the ways were blocked. On the 24th she received good news from Alfonso, that help had arrived in the territories of Parma and Reggio. She had had his letter read out to the leading gentlemen of the city, which had greatly encouraged them, and had seen to it that the news was spread throughout the city. She acknowledged his information about enemy forces commanded by Gonzaga without comment. There was a report that some two hundred men had come from Bologna to attack the Torre del Fundo and burn the houses in San Martina, and that Masino del Forno had been ordered to put out spies. The next day Alfonso returned to Ferrara – ‘because his eldest son is dying’, Sanudo reported optimistically but incorrectly. Ercole made a complete recovery. It is worth noting that in not one of her letters written on the dates when Sanudo reported Lucrezia as being about to leave is there any mention of her planning to do so, only that her sons should escape while they still could, to avoid being taken hostage.