PAUL THIRD.

He aspires to grandeur for his family—His hostility to the emperor and to Doria—He encourages Gianluigi in his designs against the imperial rule in Genoa—Attempts of Cardinal Trivulzio to induce Fieschi to give Genoa to France—France is induced by the count to relinquish her hopes of obtaining Genoa—Verrina and his spirited counsels—Vengeance of Gianluigi against Giovanni Battista della Torre.

Alexander Farnese was elevated to the Papal throne under the title of Paul III., not so much for his personal talents as by the influence of his sister Clara whom he rewarded, as tradition reports, by giving her poison.

The old Alexander VI., having by accident made her acquaintance, was inflamed by her charms with an ardent passion, and found means to open his heart to her. The cunning Farnese at once saw the delirium of the gray-headed pontiff and did not yield to his solicitations until he had promised her brother a cardinal’s hat. When the time for making the nomination approached, the Pope was disposed to fulfil his pledge; but he found a spirited resistance in CÆsar Borgia, who having never kept faith with any one was very unwilling that the holy father should abide by his promises. The name of Abbott Farnese was cancelled from the list and another inserted in its place. On the eve of the ordination of the Cardinals, Clara, suspecting what had happened, passed a night with the pontiff and when he, drunken with lust and wine, fell into a profound slumber, she searched his papers and ascertained the truth of her suspicions.

Being an adept in copying and reckless of consequences, she rewrote the list, counterfeiting the Pope’s handwriting, and placed the name of her brother first on the roll. On the morrow, she put on all her seducing charms and detained her paramour in his bed until messengers came to inform him that the concistory was assembled and only waited his presence. Clara had foreseen that, if he were called in haste, he would have no time to look over his papers. In fact, he entered the concistory and gave the list to the secretaries without looking it over. His surprise was great when the name of Farnese was read out; but he preferred silence to the exposure of his senile debaucheries.

It is not our purpose to go over the long career of Farnese. While yet a youth he had been imprisoned in Sant Angelo for counterfeiting a brief, and Alexander VI. would have beheaded him if he had not contrived to escape from prison. We shall not repeat the errors of his contemporary historians, that he united the black act to his astronomical learning, and that he thus, through intercourse with demons, learned many secrets and became skilled in political intrigues. It is enough to say that, on arriving at the pontifical throne, he devoted all his efforts to the aggrandizement of his family; and, not content with obtaining the duchy of Camerino for his bastard son Pierluigi, intrigued to elevate him to the government of Parma and Piacenza, and even raised his eyes to that of Milan.

It was not then a reproach, says Segni,[37] that a Pope had illegitimate children and sought by every means to confer upon them wealth and dignities; on the contrary, the Pontiff who aspired to temporal grandeur was in repute as a man of prudence and sagacity. Paul III. intrigued for a long time with the emperor to acquire the duchy of Milan for Pierluigi, though he well knew that Charles, in occupying Lombardy, had protested that he did not wish to hold it for his own advantage but for that of Italy. In these intentions he was confirmed by the influence of the Venitians, the marquis Vasto and the king of France. The Spanish monarch had already disappointed the ambition of the duke of Orleans, who aspired to the duchy, and he also refused it to Pierluigi. But the Pope, after long intrigues to overcome the scruples of the cardinals, gave his son the investiture of Parma and Piacenza, making them tributary to the church in the sum of nine thousand ducats.

This act created enmity between the Farnesi and the emperor, though Paul III. had furnished the latter with men and money for his war against the Duke of Saxony, sending twelve thousand horse under the command of Ottavio Farnese and Alessandro Vitelli. But the increasing greatness of Charles, throwing into the shade the prerogatives and power of the Papal See, the disappointed hope of a principality and the league of the emperor with England the enemy of the Papacy, rendered Paul a bitter foe of Spain and awakened in him the ambition to crush the imperial power.

Andrea Doria hated the Farnese not less cordially than Charles. He had opposed the advancement of this family for ten years, and had frustrated a proposed league between the Papal See and the empire. He had influenced Charles to refuse the duchy of Milan to Pierluigi, and subsequently to deny Ottavio, son of Pierluigi, the government of Tuscany according to a promise the emperor had made when Ottavio married his illegitimate daughter Margaret, of Austria. Doria urged against the last scheme that if the Farnese were made masters of Tuscany they would become powerful enough to lay hands on the Lombard provinces.

There were still other motives for Andrea’s jealousy of the power of the Farnese family. A member of the Doria house named Imperiale being reduced to extreme poverty had obtained an appointment in the army of Andrea. He distinguished himself in many actions and rose to the highest honours and wealth. But having satisfied his military ambition he became a priest, in which character he was first abbott of San Fruttuoso and afterwards, through the influence of Andrea, bishop of Sagona in Corsica. Wishing, however, to advance his worldly interests he retired into Apulia where he acquired many estates, and was elevated by Andrea to the government of Melfi, in which he largely increased his wealth.

Before his death, remembering the kindness of Doria, he bequeathed to him all his possessions. The Papal nuncio seized upon and sequestrated the estates of the bishop, claiming that they belonged by right to the church. Andrea protested against this insult before the Papal court, but Rome, being at once a party to the cause and the judge of it, decided in its own favour and issued a decree despoiling the admiral of all his rights in the property of his relative. Paul III. fearing the vengeance of the admiral of the empire, deputed his nephew Alexander Farnese to offer, as a compensation for the outrage, the power of nominating a successor to the bishop. Doria disdained to render a vassal’s homage to a Farnese and ordered Gianettino to assail and capture the Papal galleys in the port of Genoa. This capture inflamed the wrath of the pontiff, and as an act of reprisal he arrested some Genoese who were in Rome, threatening to confiscate their goods unless his ships were immediately released. The Senate laid the matter before Andrea, who answered that Gianettino had captured the Papal vessels solely because he was stronger at sea than his adversary. Afterwards, in order to avoid complicating the Republic with his private quarrel, he released the galleys of the pontiff, after having satisfied the Farnese that he did not lack the power but the will to revenge himself.

The Pope was induced by Charles V. to restore to Andrea his defrauded rights; but the Farnese was deeply chagrined and, not being able to strike openly at the emperor’s favourite, sought secret ways of venting his displeasure.

Private ambition, personal mortification and political views united to stimulate the pontiff to humble the emperor, expel the Spaniards and crush the Dorias. As it was obviously vain to oppose CÆsar so long as Genoa, governed by the constitution of Doria, was under the Spanish influence, he naturally fell in with projects which contemplated a revolution in the Republic.

It is certain, says a modern writer, that Paul was skilled in mingling modern passions with the administration of his venerable office. He stood between the old world and the new, and he possessed the spirit of both; and if the election of Clement had not deprived him of the pontificate for ten years (as he often lamented) perhaps the fortunes of Italy, which were not yet desperate, might have been saved by his industry or, at least, would not have suffered total shipwreck.

At that period several Fieschi families were in a flourishing state, among them that of Ettore, of the Savignone line, who had espoused Maria di Gian-Ambrogio Fieschi. From this marriage were born, Francesco, Giacomo, NicolÒ, Paride, Gian-Ambrogio, Urbano and Innocenzio. Ettore having given some of his property in Rome to Giacomo and NicolÒ, who as priests were stationed in that city, at the death of the first the father found it necessary to make a journey thither.

Having presented himself to the Pope he was graciously received and obtained the bishopric of Savona for his second son.

In their conferences the Pontiff spoke of the past grandeur of the Fieschi family, of the hospitality he had received in the palace in Vialata in the time of Sinibaldo, and expressed surprise that none of the sons of Sinibaldo, whom he knew to be young men of spirit and ambition, had sought honours in the Papal court,—honours which could not be denied to the scions of a noble house, which counted two successors of St. Peter and four hundred mitred heads in its ancestry. He also begged Ettore to inform Fieschi that he entertained the most flattering opinion of their merits, and should be happy to give full proof of his esteem.

On his return to Genoa, Ettore informed Gianluigi of the sentiments of Paul III. and of his nephew the cardinal towards the family, and the count resolved personally to render thanks to the Pontiff. He visited Rome, though dissuaded by Panza, in May, 1546 (as Bonfadio tells us). Some maintain that he went there at other periods, but we find no authentic evidence to support the assertion.

Paul received Gianluigi in the kindest manner, and took pains to show him honour. During their conversations he spoke much of the ancestors of the count as having been the first citizens of Genoa. He lamented that the Dorias had overshadowed the family of Fieschi. Andrea, he said, by his political tact and by refraining from assuming in name the power which he possessed in reality, had rendered his vast influence less obnoxious to his countrymen, but that Gianettino would not imitate this temperate policy nor long delay to place his yoke on the Genoese. Count Fieschi, he added, would be the first one humbled, as being the most dangerous enemy to the empire. He intimated that if Gianluigi had the spirit to oppose the Doria ambition, the support of the Holy See would not be wanting in the hour of trial.

He gave a more positive proof of his willingness to act by proposing that the count should immediately take command of the three galleys included in the Farnese purchase, which still remained in the service of the papal government, in order, said he (and he smiled cunningly), that they may not again be captured by Doria. This conversation, so familiar and hopeful, greatly encouraged Gianluigi and induced him to put his designs into immediate execution.

An event occurred during this visit to Rome which nearly overthrew all these revolutionary schemes. Cardinal Agostino Trivulzio, who, as protector of France, lost no occasion for promoting the policy of that nation, established relations of intimacy with Gianluigi, and undertook to demonstrate that the difficulties of his enterprise were such as to render it necessary to concede to France the government of Genoa. France, he said, would place the count at the head of the local administration, and would give him the command of six galleys, equipped on a war footing and maintained at the expense of the crown, of which he could make such use as seemed best. France would also station a heavy body of troops at Montobbio, to prevent the advance of the Austro-Spanish troops, and make Fieschi captain of a cavalry force with the annual pay of ten thousand crowns.

These new propositions came through Prince Giano Caracciolo, governor-general of Piedmont, and had his seal to their authenticity. They entirely destroyed the previous arrangements made by Gagnino Gonzaga, and contemplated the subjection of the Republic to a foreign power. They did not please Gianluigi, who desired to enlarge the liberties of his country, not to change the masters of the Republic.

Nevertheless, he asked time for consideration, and without making further steps in his design he returned to Genoa. Pondering over the difficulties of his undertaking and the new claims of France, he would probably have relinquished the enterprise, if Gianettino, who, in the tone of one who held the dominion of the waves, complained of the purchase of the Farnese galleys, had not used such bitter and imperious threats as to inflame anew the resentment of the count. The success and malevolence of Gianettino, to whom as to the rising sun all eyes were turned, fortified Gianluigi in his determination to overthrow the expectant tyrant of Genoa.

Fieschi having delayed to respond to Trivulzio, the latter, fearing that the new propositions would discourage the count, sent to him knight NicolÒ Foderato of Savona, a relative of Fieschi, to tell him that Francis I. would abide by the agreement made with Gonzaga, adding that he had only to recommend vigilance and prudence in guiding his ship safe into port.

Gianluigi was delighted beyond measure at this favourable turn of affairs. He subscribed the stipulations at once and sent back the messenger with warm thanks for the generosity of the French monarch. Francis really desired above everything to recover his lost dominion over Liguria, but he was persuaded to defer that ambition to a more favourable combination of circumstances.

Fieschi now exposed his plans (in this point all the historians agree and are confirmed by the manuscripts we have seen) to three of his most devoted friends, Raffaele Sacco, Vincenzo Calcagno and Giovanni Battista Verrina. He submitted to them the question whether he should attempt a revolution relying solely on his own forces, or undertake it in alliance with France.

Sacco was born of not obscure lineage in Savona, being descended from a knight of Malta and entitled to the annual gift of a paschal lamb. We find that a branch of the Sacco family living in Genoa had been united to the family of Venti, and not long after, in 1363, to that of the Franchi. Sacco was auditor and judge in the feuds of the count and knew intimately the feelings of his master. He advised that the French arms be accepted—an opinion partly explained by his being of Savona. Your forces, said he, are too weak to oppose those of Doria and the emperor; and though it may be easy to capture the city by a coup de main, it will be impossible to hold it unless you are promptly reËnforced by a good body of troops.

Vincenzo Calcagno was beloved by Gianluigi for long and faithful services. After the warmest protestations of his fidelity and obedience as a vassal, he spoke at length of the evils of civil war and foreign intervention which must follow from an attempt to change the government. He enlarged on the difficulties of the enterprise. Doria had twenty galleys. The sea coast and nobility were his. Foreign rule was hateful to the Genoese, but above all that of France. Francis occupied by home politics, embarrassed in Lombardy and in Naples, would not bestow a thought on Genoa if he did not hope to acquire his lost power over her. The nobility are in power and hate revolution, and even the plebeians would oppose a new order of things unless proposed by a noble. The people are unwilling to obey men without high rank, accustomed not to yield even to the nobles without desperate necessity,—and, stimulated by recent events, they would demand full control of the government. But granted that the revolution may succeed, no sooner would the new state be created than the crests of Adorni and Fregoso would be seen in the foreground.

These powerful families, still beloved by the people, would never consent to submit the government to the control of a species of prince—a thing they have for centuries resisted with their blood—so that the efforts of the count will not enhance his personal grandeur, but only promote the interests of rival families; the name of Fieschi will become a reproach, distrusted by the nobles, despised by the people and hated by CÆsar.

Calcagno would have gone on to dissuade the count from the whole scheme if the impetuous Verrina had not interrupted him with impatience and anger.

The family of Verrina was originally of Voltri, and came into the city in 1475. Stefano Verrina had enrolled himself as a noble attached to the company or Albergo of the Franchi. John Baptist Verrina di Vincenzo, a most honourable citizen, was then living in Carignano, though born near the church of San Siro, not far from the count, and was managing his affairs. Party spirit and private animosities rendered him a violent enemy of the old nobles; and he could not digest it that those who had long been excluded from public offices should, through the reforms of Doria, be invested with the entire control of affairs. He had once been rich, but his excessive generosity had wasted his wealth, and he was now supporting the declining fortunes of his family upon the liberality of Fieschi. His intellect was of a high order, his courage that of a hero; his spirit was high and venturous, ever intent on the loftiest designs. He had assumed for a motto—The world belongs to him who will take it.

Verrina demonstrated with great force and eloquence that too much had already been done to leave any pretext for abandoning the enterprise—that retreat was more dangerous than the battle.

Revolutionary schemes ought to be executed as soon as formed. The plans of Fieschi had reached such a stage that the only thing left was to bring them to completion, to dare everything, to risk life itself in the struggle. He argued that the enterprise was not difficult; the Doria ships were idle and their crews scattered along the coasts, the garrison of the city was reduced to only two hundred and fifty infantry, many of whom were vassals of the count. The people wanted a change of government; the Senate was sleeping in imaginary security. It was folly to procrastinate the hour for delivering the country from the ambition of Gianettino, when everything was smiling upon their hopes and nothing but their own hesitation foreboded danger.

He said that it was useless to ask the aid of the French, who had been humiliated by the captivity of their king and were getting the worse in their struggle with Charles V., master of all Germany. The very example of Doria proved the nature of French sympathy for Italy. Doria had learned too well that Francis desired to reduce the importance of Genoa by removing Savona from her jurisdiction, and making the latter the capital of Liguria. The count, said he, has the means of full success. Raise the cry of popular liberty, and thousands of swords will be uplifted for the cause. Let Gianluigi dare to proclaim liberty to these oppressed multitudes. Let him dare to announce himself as their liberator. When CÆsar fell, Pompey was not declared a rebel, but the saviour of Rome. Let our master imitate the high example now, when every wind is propitious; France friendly, Rome and Piacenza ready for alliance with us, and the people prompt for action.

The arguments of Verrina overcame the doubts of the count, and he resolved to proceed with the general plan then worked out. He instructed Foderato to communicate to Trivulzio his desire that the original compact with Gonzaga be observed in every particular. In the meantime he came into closer relations with Paul III., by means of the Pontiff’s nephew the cardinal; and to complete all his preparations he resolved to go to Piacenza and confer with the duke.

It is of importance to observe that Fieschi, following the counsels of Verrina, declined the proffer of French troops and galleys. Some paint this friend of the count as a species of demon. They tell us that he wished to murder the nobility and appropriate their goods, because he was overwhelmed with debts, and to raise the count to the office of Doge, or rather to make him the tyrant of Genoa. In truth, we find these fables in all the historians, even in the least passionate and partisan, who seem to have taken no pains to sift testimony, but to have accepted the Spanish slanders without question.

In a city like Genoa, but recently deprived of the popular liberty which she had enjoyed for centuries, the idea of destroying free institutions could not have entered the brain of a sane politician. Neither Verrina nor the count were so short-sighted as to believe that an enterprise which the emperor, with the support of all the nobles, had found impossible could be easily executed by them. The ancient story is repeated in our times. The victors have written the history of the vanquished with the sword.

This seems to us the place to describe an atrocious deed, which shows, on the one hand, the great affection of the count for the members of his family; and, on the other, how deeply he felt injuries and how terribly he avenged them. The tragedy of which we now speak still lives in tradition on the spot where it was enacted. We have drawn the history of it from old documents, which agree in general with the account written by Bandello, who received it from the lips of Catando d’Arimini, an intimate friend of Gianluigi.[38]

We have already stated that Sinibaldo had, besides his legitimate children, a son named Cornelio and a daughter named Claudia. This daughter was beautiful and attractive in person and manners. While yet very young she was married to Simone Ravaschiero di Manfredi. He was a rich and influential citizen of Chiavari and desired a family alliance with the Fieschi, in order to secure their assistance against count Agostino Lando, with whom he was contesting the jurisdiction of a castle in the duchy of Piacenza. The marriage was celebrated with the splendour to which the Fieschi were habituated, and Claudia took up her residence in Chiavari, acquiring through the purity of her life and the charms of her conversation the admiration of all who knew her. Giovanni Battista Della Torre, one of the most high-born and wealthy citizens of the district, paid her such assiduous court that she soon perceived the object of his attentions. She defended herself with dexterity and disappointed the hopes of her admirer. The young man, beside himself with his foolish passion and consuming with amorous fires, studied to find some means of obtaining by stratagem that which had been denied to his love.

He chose the occasion of her husband’s absence in Genoa to adjust his accounts with Gianluigi, and, by bribing a servant, penetrated into the chamber of Claudia and concealed himself under her bed.

The lady was accustomed, when her husband was absent, to require her maid before she retired to rest to examine all the corners and hiding-places of her apartments; and on that evening, as if presaging the danger which was near, ordered the servant to make careful search whether any one was there concealed. The maid looked under the bed, and, seeing a man hidden there, uttered a loud cry, at which Claudia leaped from her couch and ran into her father-in-law’s room. The old man roused his servants, armed them and went to take vengeance on the violater of his domestic dominions. But Della Torre, finding his plot had failed, leaped from a window of considerable height, and, falling, received severe bruises and wounds. Nor would he have escaped, if some neighbours who heard the noise of his fall had not come to his relief and saved him from the fury of Manfredi, by bearing him away to the house of one of them.

On the following morning Manfredi sent swift messengers to inform his son and Gianluigi of what had happened. The count was terribly enraged, but he concealed his anger and waited to know the nature of Della Torre’s wounds and what hope there might be of his recovery. Learning that, though disfigured for life, he would recover from the effects of the fall, he called to him his brother Cornelio and his cousin Simone and said to them: “You know, Cornelio, the outrage which Della Torre has committed against our sister Claudia, and I believe that if you have the spirit which belongs to your blood you will arrange with Simone to take such vengeance as the case requires. I have prepared two galleys, manned by twenty well-armed and brave men each. Set sail. Three hours before dawn you will be in Chiavari. There, without any delay, you will assail the house of Della Torre, and if you tear him into a thousand pieces you will give him that reward which his crime merits. Having accomplished your purpose, take refuge in my castles which are near there and of which I give you the countersigns. Afterwards leave me to provide for everything. Unless you discharge this duty, you, Cornelio, will never come into my presence lest I kill you with my own hands; and you, Simone, will be no longer kinsman nor friend of mine.”

The two promised to execute his commands, and setting sail, they arrived at Chiavari at the hour appointed. Having landed, three of them went to the gates of the town and asked the guardian to admit them. Once within, the three threw out the drawbridge, and the others, who were concealed close at hand, thus marched in, threatening the guardians with death if they raised an alarm.

They made straight for their enemy’s house, broke down the door, rushed into the apartment where Della Torre was sleeping and tore him in pieces.

Having accomplished their vengeance, they retired to the castle of Roccatagliata, where the government did not dare to molest them.