James Dennistoun

Youth of Duke Francesco Maria I.—The League of Cambray—His marriage—His first military service—The Cardinal of Pavia’s treachery—Julius II. takes the field.

TO the family della Rovere, whom we have traced in the preceding chapter, an heir was born on the 25th of March, 1490. His father, the Lord Prefect, acknowledged his arrival to be a divine blessing, and, as then usual, testified gratitude by the selection of his baptismal names. St. Francis was the established tutelary saint of the family, under whose guidance Sixtus IV. believed himself to have obtained the tiara, and to whom his brother the Prefect addressed his orisons for a male child. It came into the world on the fÊte of the Annunciation, and was immediately christened Francesco Maria,[*230] in honour of the saint and of the Madonna. In this, his only male offspring, centred the hopes and interests of the Lord of Sinigaglia; and after his death, in 1501, the boy was carried to the court of Urbino, where his progress was watched with almost paternal anxiety by Duke Guidobaldo. His mother occasionally visited there after her widowhood, although from motives of perhaps misplaced delicacy, she resided chiefly on her husband's fiefs of Sora and Arci in the Neapolitan territory.

The first care of his uncle Guidobaldo was to obtain for him a renewal of the prefecture of Rome, which his father had held; and as that appointment was in the hands of Alexander VI., an enemy of the della Rovere, the Duke of Urbino had recourse to the influence of Louis XII. with the Pontiff. This application was warmly seconded in the same quarter by the Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vinculis, paternal uncle of Francesco Maria, and an adherent of the French interests. The readiness wherewith his Holiness accorded this dignity, and even held out hopes of marrying his niece, Angela Borgia, to the young Prefect, induced his uncles to hint at their project of adopting him as heir to the dukedom, a step which required the papal sanction. But they were met by temporising answers, and found, ere long, that the apparent frankness of Alexander was but a cover to that deep-laid plot of destruction, involving both Guidobaldo and his nephew, which we have already developed.

Meanwhile, Francesco Maria's education advanced in letters and arms, with every aid which books, talented preceptors, and distinguished society could afford. His earliest instructor had been Antonio Crastini of Sassoferrato, a man of excellent judgment, and well skilled in theology and philosophy, to whom his father had entrusted the command of Sinigaglia, and whose services were eventually rewarded by Julius II. with the sees of Cagli and Montefeltro. Ludovico Odasio still resided at the court of his former pupil Duke Guidobaldo, who placed under his superintendence his youthful relation. The lad, though small in stature for his years, was remarkable for strength and activity, as well as for an active temperament and lively talents. He was liberal, and even careless, of money; but all his pleasure was in the military art, all his ambition centred in martial glory, for NicolÒ of Fossombrone, and another famous astrologer, had predicted from his horoscope high deeds of arms. After passing hours in the study of history and classical literature, and of those sciences wherein princes then sought pre-eminence, he found relaxation in horsemanship and martial exercises, under the eye of such honoured veterans of Duke Federigo as still wore their well-won laurels in the palace of his son. Thus was his youthful mind moulded to the noblest forms of chivalry, without those idle appendages which the affectation of other times has exaggerated into caricature.

The whirlwind that broke in upon this calm, and sent the Lords of Urbino and Sinigaglia into houseless exile, has been described in the eighteenth chapter of these memoirs. Francesco Maria, after accompanying his uncle's midnight flight as far as Sta. Agata, reached Bologna through mountain paths; and, having by great prudence escaped the attempts of Giovanni Bentivoglio to apprehend him, in compliance with Valentino's orders, he made his way by Genoa to Savona, where his uncle, the Cardinal della Rovere, resided. But the latter, not satisfied of his security, and anxious to place him where he would have better means of improvement, sent him to his see of Avignon, and thence recommended him to Louis XII., who received him with high favour. In the court then established at Lyons he resumed his education, especially in those military and personal accomplishments for which it was distinguished, and quickly acquired great proficiency in the French language. There he attached himself much to the youthful Gaston de Foix, acting as his page of honour, and gained some notice from the King, who bore testimony to his precocious attainments in chivalry, by bestowing upon him the order of St. Michael ere he had completed his thirteenth year.

The events already recorded in connection with the death of Alexander VI., restored Francesco Maria to his rights unquestioned; but his first care was to obey a summons of his cardinal uncle, who had been elected to the tiara. Travelling from France with his cousin-german Galeotto Franciotti, whom Julius had named to the hat just vacated by himself, he reached Rome amid public rejoicings on the 2nd of March, 1504. He immediately received the command of a hundred men-at-arms, and steps were promptly taken for his public recognition as heir-apparent of Urbino. Accompanying Guidobaldo into the Marca, he was welcomed at Sinigaglia, on the 17th of June, by the unanimous voice of his people. On the 18th of September he was invested with the dukedom of Urbino in reversion, when he received the homage of his future subjects with a ceremonial which we have described at p. 37, and which was attended by delegates from all parts of the state, to adhibit the consent of their constituents. As a finishing stroke to these measures for consolidating the della Rovere sovereignty, a marriage was about the same time contracted between the Prefect and Leonora Gonzaga, daughter of Francesco Marquis of Mantua. To this arrangement, which turned out in all respects fortunate, the wishes of her aunt, the Duchess Elisabetta of Urbino,[*231] were mainly conducive; and preliminaries were negotiated by Count Castiglione, whose high favour with both contracting parties, as well as his diplomatic address, well qualified him for the mission. It was announced in January, 1505, but the ceremony was postponed for four years, on account of their youth. To the charms of the bride, Castiglione bears this tribute: "If ever there were united wisdom, grace, beauty, genius, courtesy, gentleness, and refined manners, it was in her person, where these combined qualities form a chain adorning her every movement."

But although too young for matrimony, the Prefettino was allowed to flesh his maiden sword under his future father-in-law's command, in the expedition undertaken by Julius against the lords of Perugia and Bologna. In a military view the campaign was totally uninteresting; but in some skirmishes before Castel S. Pietro, Francesco Maria gained his general's approbation, and thus favourably entered upon the career wherein he was destined to high distinction. The greater part of his time was spent at Urbino, acquainting himself with the people over whom he was to reign, and with the duties that awaited him. Its limited court was rich in merit, and beneath an exterior of elegance and high polish, learning and accomplishments of every sort were cultivated and honoured to a degree elsewhere unknown. The laxity of morals which, notwithstanding the example of both sovereigns, accompanied that refinement, may be estimated from an anecdote sadly instancing the failing in Francesco Maria's character, which proved the bane of his whole life. We shall narrate it in the words of an anonymous diary, already largely drawn upon for the reign of Guidobaldo I.[232] "The Duke, [Guidobaldo] having brought up about his person one Giovanni Andrea, a bravo of Verona, he made him his favourite, and conferred upon him the order of the Golden Spur, as well as the fief of Sasso-Corbaro, and some mills on the Foglia. He was extremely handsome and generally liked; and it happened that Madama Maria, daughter of the late Prefect Giovanna of Sinigaglia, and widow of Venanzio of Camerino, who had been slain by Cesare Borgia, was residing in Urbino with her son. Being still young, she fell in love with this Giovanni Andrea, and was reported to have borne him a son. Whereupon her brother, the Prefect, sent for him one Saturday evening, and in the ducal chamber beset him with his people, and assassinated him with twenty-four blows. At the same moment, one of his attendants went out and slew a servant of Madama Maria, who was said to have delivered their messages. On the following evening, being Sunday, the body was carried to the cathedral with distinguished honours, accompanied by all the gentlemen of the ducal household, and by a concourse of the citizens, for he was generally lamented by persons of every rank, and no one had died for a length of time more regretted. And this occurred on the 6th of October, 1507."

We have elsewhere endeavoured to sketch the brilliant society in which the Prefect's youthful mind was developed; in due time we shall find several of its prominent members crossing him in the tangled weft of human destiny, as friends or foes, according to their several interests. We have also noticed the affectionate duty he continued to interchange with the Duke and Duchess, and the circumstances in which he succeeded to their state. Guidobaldo closed his life of suffering on the 11th of April, 1508, and on the 14th Francesco Maria, after high mass in the cathedral, produced the will naming him heir of the duchy and dignities.[*233] The gonfaloniere of Urbino then presented to him the city keys in a great silver basin, and also its standard, accompanied with a complimentary address. He next was arrayed in the ducal mantle of white satin doubled with gold brocade, and a cap faced with ermine, over which was placed the coronet; then mounting a superb charger richly housed, he was escorted through the principal streets by an enthusiastic multitude shouting "Rovere and Feltro, Duke and Prefect!" in whose joyous hurrahs it would have been difficult to identify the disconsolate populace who not many hours before had raised their coronach over Guidobaldo's mortal remains. On returning, his horse was seized as their perquisite, and his mantle torn into shreds, which were scrambled for as relics to be treasured in memory of the day.

This spontaneous loyalty, and their satisfaction at the maintenance of their national independence, did not, however, prevent the citizens from recollecting their interests. On the new Duke's first appearance at Urbino the authorities had gathered round his horse to kiss his hands and knees, and to beseech attention to their wishes. Pleading recent fatigues, he declined entering then upon business, and the gonfaloniere, readily accepting the excuse, summoned a sort of parliament of the principal inhabitants to decide what favours and privileges should be asked as a preliminary to their homage. Estimating this movement at its actual value, rather than by its bearing upon any theories of self-government, Baldi has entered into no details of these demands: their object may, however, be guessed at from the municipal concessions made by Francesco Maria on the 31st of May, whereby precedence was granted to the gonfaloniere over the podestÀ; and the salaries of the city physician, lawyer, and schoolmaster were undertaken by the sovereign, who also consented to a modification of the imposts on agricultural produce.[*234]

Although the popularity both of the extinguished dynasty and of the youth who was destined to replace it, together with an absence of all conflicting claims, rendered the succession safe and certain, every measure which prudence could suggest had been taken by the Pope to secure its being peacefully effected. A few excitable spirits having assumed arms, in apprehension of some revolutionary movement, a proclamation was issued on the morning subsequent to the Duke's decease, commanding all to lay them down. On the 17th a papal brief was addressed to the people, condoling with them on their bereavement, and applauding their dutiful and orderly reception of Francesco Maria. An envoy, deputed by the community to present their answer, returned on the 30th, delighted with the gracious reception he had met with, and with the Pontiff's flattering assurances. The ceremony of swearing allegiance was out of delicacy postponed until the 3rd of May, the day subsequent to his respected predecessor's funeral. Summonses for both solemnities were issued to the various communities in the following terms:—

The deputations willingly rendered the required homage, for they considered this perpetuation of their independence as a boon doubly grateful in the person of a sovereign representing their old and loved dynasty, whose opening character promised no unworthy successor to his esteemed uncle and father. During some days the Duke attended to various demands and representations of the commissioners, and, by well-timed favours to their different cities, quickly established himself in the good graces of his new subjects. The Duchess Regent proved a kind and prudent counsellor until he came of age, and long continued her assistance in his affairs of state, residing at his court while he had a home to share with her. The great discretion and good feeling he now manifested towards her, and the scrupulous anxiety he testified to retain around him all Guidobaldo's tried friends and servants, quickly ripened the popularity which his fortunate position had sown, and which eventually enabled him to recover and maintain his sovereignty in circumstances nearly desperate.

The restless spirit of Julius fretted against the resistance still offered by the Venetians to his incorporating with the papal states those places in Romagna which they had seized, upon the fall of Valentino, nor would he accept the compromise which they proposed, of surrendering Rimini, on receiving from him a formal investiture of Faenza. They were also suspected of irritating by their intrigues the feverish state of that district, and of undermining the preponderating influence which it was his policy there to establish. On pretext of crowning Maximilian, whose title to the imperial dignity had not been completed by that formality, the Pontiff invited him to march into Italy, and support his views. The Emperor, in accepting the proposal, demanded free passage through the Venetian territories, with a threat of forcing his way, if obstructed. Assured of support from their ally of France, the Signory offered compliance, on condition of his going unarmed: but, spurning such terms, he, in February, moved with an army upon the valley of Trent. He was, however, effectually held in check by the Venetian generals, NicolÒ da Petigliano and Bartolomeo d'Alviano; whilst Louis, besides sending Gian Giacomo Trivulzio to their support, instigated the Duke of Gueldres to carry fire and sword into Lower Germany. Maximilian, finding his hands full, made a hasty truce with the Venetians in May, and turned to punish Gueldres. The Venetian and French armies being thereupon disbanded, the moment seemed to Julius favourable for renewing his designs upon Romagna, and in the following November he sent the Cardinal of Sta. Croce to take part in negotiations, which had been opened at Cambray, for reconciliation of the Emperor and the French monarch. Maximilian readily lent himself to any measures calculated to efface his recent disgrace in the Alpine valleys, and to recover some places in Friuli which had remained in the enemy's hands; Louis was induced to accede, in order to wrest from Venice such portions of the old Visconti duchy as owned her sway; and Ferdinand joined the coalition in hopes of regaining several Neapolitan sea-ports, over which the Lion of St. Mark still waved in security of certain advances by the Republic for the wars of Lower Italy. Out of these elements there was concluded, on the 10th of December, a famous treaty, which denounced the Venetians as ambitious perturbators of Italy and all Christian lands, and declared war against them as the common enemies of the allies, who pledged themselves to take the field before April, for recovery of Ravenna, Cervia, Rimini, and Faenza to the Holy See, and of the territories respectively claimed by the other contracting powers in Austria, Lombardy, and Calabria. A subsidiary article took Francesco Maria under their special protection, and guaranteed his states; whilst by another the Duke of Ferrara was left free to become a party, on payment to the Emperor of a sum of money in dispute between them. Such was the notable League of Cambray, misnamed holy, on the vague pretext that the maritime Republic, by retaining Ravenna and Cervia, impeded the pacification of Christendom, and a general armament against the Turks. Not only was it an innovation upon the established custom of pitting the German and French interests against each other, and settling their differences on the blood-stained plains of Lombardy, but, as the first great coalition of European powers for one common political object, it may be regarded as founding the modern system of diplomacy.

Yet, though this formidable confederation was the child of his own brain, matured by the address of his legate, Julius shrank before the Promethean monster, and paused ere he animated it by his ratification. Well might it startle him to find that his labours for the ulterior emancipation of Italy from foreign yoke were about to divide one of her finest states among her most formidable ultramontane foes. Had Duke Guidobaldo been spared a little longer, his cool head and pacific disposition, as well as his friendship for the Signory and his influence with the Pope, might have counteracted the unnatural combination; but the die was cast, and the Pontiff had only to await the course of events for an opportunity of undoing his present work.[*235]

Unable to hold a military command, which would have better suited his talents and tastes than the duties of Christ's vicegerent upon earth, Julius gratified his family predilections by appointing his nephew Francesco Maria to be captain-general of the ecclesiastical troops. His investiture took place in the church of S. Petronio, at Bologna, on the 4th of October, 1508, when he received the pontifical baton from the Cardinal of Pavia, a prelate whose destiny we shall find, ere long, fatally bound up in his own. But the time for active service not being yet arrived, he contented himself with a review of the forces thus placed under his charge. Being considered equal to such a command, it is not surprising he should think it time to celebrate his long-projected nuptials.[*236] On the 5th of November, Julius wrote to the Duchess Elisabetta, to send a lettiga or litter, with three horses, in order to bring his bride on a visit to Urbino, where the ceremony took place on Christmas Eve, 1508.[*237] The letters, addressed to Federigo Fregoso by Bembo, who arrived on the 19th, unveil some proofs of the bridegroom's felicity which it were more decorous to pass over; but its revelations throw light upon the contrasted feelings of the still mourning court. "Our reception was truly chilling: no joy or hilarity in the palace; even in the city its wonted aspect; our happy youth himself quite frigid; but there is hope that he will become more ardent...." Writing a week after the marriage, he says that as soon as it was over, the Duke manifested the most unbounded affection, which became daily more passionate; and declares that he had never met with a more comely, merry, or sweet girl, who, to a most amiable disposition, added a surprisingly precocious judgment, which gained for her general admiration.[238] This event was hailed at Urbino with great public rejoicings and sumptuous fÊtes, and the triumphal arches, theatres, and other architectural and pictorial works required for the occasion, were executed under the direction of Timoteo Vite and Girolamo Genga. In 1843 I saw, in the hands of Padre Cellani, at the Augustine convent in Pesaro, an interesting memorial of this marriage. It is a small MS. psalter, with a frontispiece illuminated in the manner of the Veronese limners, representing Nathan rebuking David, whose crown and sceptre are fallen to the ground—a singular theme for a bridal present, which, from the legend "Lionor Gozaga Urbini Ducissa," with the impaled arms of the two families, it may have been. The Lady Leonora was about his own age, and, although neither her beauty nor accomplishments have met with the same celebration as those of her aunt the Duchess Elisabetta, we shall have ample opportunity of observing in her character much energy and good sense, with undeviating affection to her husband; whilst the pencil of Titian has preserved to us a person which in a sovereign must have been lauded as handsome.

From his honeymoon happiness the boy-bridegroom was speedily summoned to the field. After issuing a preparatory apostolic admonition to the Signory, on the 27th of April, 1509, Julius ordered his nephew to assume offensive operations against Romagna, supported by the Baglioni, Vitelli, and other vassals of the Church. The Duke was already on foot, and after some skirmishes before Rimini, he attacked Brisghella on the 4th of May; the place speedily surrendering, he occupied himself in saving its inhabitants, so far as possible, from the miseries of a sack, which Muratori denounces as worthy of the Turks, and which Roscoe unwarrantably imputes to him as an act of wanton cruelty. Following up this success, he, with youthful enthusiasm, adopted various expedients for harassing the enemy, but obtained still more credit for the judgment displayed in a singular dilemma, which might have disconcerted a more experienced commander.

There existed between some bands of Spanish and Italian soldiery in his camp, various heart-burnings ready to kindle at a spark. Ramocciotto, an Italian captain, having been sent upon secret duty, as evening approached his men were seized with a vague impression that he had met with foul play from the Spaniards. Just then, during a wrangle among some camp-followers about a baggage-mule, one of them called out in stentorian voice, "Taglia! taglia!" meaning that the packing-cords should be cut. These words, which rang through the stilly air, were mistaken for "Italia! Italia!" and were caught up by the feverish followers of Ramocciotto as a watchword, which they loudly echoed, and rushed to arms. Their cry and action were repeated by most of the troops, who had just finished their evening meal, and in a moment the camp was a scene of inexplicable confusion, the fury of some and the consternation of others combining to produce a general panic. Francesco Maria and his officers were taken by surprise, but with great presence of mind he ordered an advance upon Faenza as the readiest means of restoring order. The gloom of twilight now settled down upon the camp, augmenting the embarrassment, and ere the troops evacuated it, a good many Spaniards had been cut down in the mÊlÉe. Military discipline at length prevailed, and the Duke, finding the town on its guard, returned to quarters. Ramocciotto's reappearance appeased the originators of the tumult, but it was not till next day that a stern inquiry detected its casual origin. Thus did the promptitude and prudence of the juvenile general save his character from compromise, and his little army from disaster.[239]

The ecclesiastical army consisted of eight thousand infantry and one thousand six hundred horse, a force by no means adequate for the service it was called upon to perform. The Pontiff, with fatal partiality, had entrusted the entire control of the commissariat and stores for the campaign to the Cardinal of Pavia, of whom the remark passed into a proverb, that whoever would make up a jerkin of every colour should employ the words and actions of the Legate of Bologna. Francesco Alidosio was second son of the Lord of Castel del Rio, an inconsiderable mountain fief adjoining the state of Imola, which latter, after being long held in sovereignty by his family, had been bought or wrested from his grandfather by Sixtus IV. and the Sforza. Having been educated for the Church, he attached himself on the death of that Pontiff to Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, whose entire favour and confidence he won, not only by long personal service, but by firmly withstanding various offers made him by the Borgia to dispose of his master by poison. As soon as his patron was placed in the chair of St. Peter, his services were rewarded by a scarlet hat, followed by the see of Pavia, the rich office of Datario, and other valuable preferments. But his character had been regarded as so questionable, in the scandalous pontificate of Alexander, that many objections were raised in the consistory to his promotion, and even the silver-tongued Jovius attributes his rapid advancement to the advantages of a fine person and an unscrupulous pliancy of principle. The influence he had obtained over the open-hearted Julius was maintained by his facility in accommodating himself to the outbreaks of his patron's impetuous temper; and it entirely blinded the Pope to the danger of reposing implicit confidence in such a counsellor. But the Cardinal, not satisfied to share these favours with another, did all in his power to obtain an undivided mastery over his affections, and especially to supplant his nephew in his regards. The means which he adopted to effect this were, as we shall soon see, to thwart all the Duke's plans, and throw upon him the blame of their failure. But the mainspring of his hopes and intrigues was the restoration of Imola to himself or his brother; and as the policy of Julius rendered him deaf to such a request, even from a favourite, the latter scrupled not to purchase his object from the French, by betraying to them those interests with which as legate of Bologna he was entrusted.

Francesco Maria accordingly found his movements hampered at every turn by the scarcity of supplies, and, in answer to unceasing remonstrances, had from the Legate abundance of fair words and sounding promises leading to no result whatever. This was the more provoking, as sound policy required a speedy conclusion to operations carried on in a province that, though in hostile hands for the time, was eventually destined to remain under the papal sway, towards which it was therefore of importance to conciliate the population, rather than to oppress them by military exactions. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the Duke reduced the castles of Granaruolo and Roscio, Faenza surrendered, and the siege of Ravenna seemed approaching a favourable conclusion, when the Venetians, panic-stricken by the French successes in Lombardy, and especially by the rout they had sustained on the 14th of May, at Vaila in the Ghiaradadda, sued for peace. They hoped, by offering to the Pope, the Emperor, and the Spaniard, all the places occupied on their respective territories, to conciliate these powers, and so be enabled to maintain themselves against French aggression. Their envoy addressed himself to arrange with the Legate a suspension of arms, whilst he should forward to the Pope a formal renunciation of the disputed towns in Romagna; but the wily Cardinal, who, whether from inherent dishonesty, or with some selfish end in view, seems to have acted with invariable bad faith, urged him to resign these places directly into his own hands, and, when the agent persisted in adhering to his instructions, he was thrown into irons and threatened with a halter. Nor was this the only manifest instance of the Legate's treachery; for besides thwarting the Duke on every occasion, and keeping him in the dark as to most important arrangements, he sent some of his own adherents to attack and pillage the garrison of Faenza, as it quitted the city upon a capitulation accorded by himself. Francesco Maria, disgusted with his duplicity, of his own authority liberated the envoy, and so was brought into angry collision with the Cardinal, thus aggravating a quarrel ere long to end in blood.

The difficulties of the youthful commander were increased by the inopportune arrival of four thousand Swiss mercenaries, who, finding matters in train for a pacification which would dash their hopes of booty, could scarcely be restrained from an immediate assault upon Ravenna. Their ruffianly intentions being insidiously encouraged by the Legate, it was only by great prudence and decision that the Duke prevented them from sacking that city, when evacuated on honourable terms by the Venetian authorities. This conciliatory policy was rewarded by a speedy surrender of Cervia, followed on the 11th of June by that of Rimini, the last of the towns claimed by Julius, upon which Francesco Maria lost no time in disbanding his army and returning home. As soon as he was gone, the Cardinal, steady only to his duplicity, imprisoned the Venetian officers who had imprudently lingered within his reach. Although this campaign lasted but six weeks, and produced no considerable engagement, it afforded to the young Duke an insight into mankind, as well as a lesson in military affairs, which enabled him to pass at once from boyhood to the experience, as well as the reputation, of an able commander.

As soon as Francesco Maria was liberated from camp duties, he sent to Mantua for his bride, and at his uncle's desire carried her to visit Rome. The Roman citizens, ever devoted to festivity, received him with distinction, due not less to his personal merit than to his high rank and near relationship to the Pope. Among the pageants exhibited in honour of his marriage were tilting in the Piazza Navona, and a masque celebrating his successes in Romagna, after the manner of those triumphs which that capital used to witness some fifteen centuries before. He carried Giuliano de' Medici with him to the papal court, and effected his reconciliation with Julius, who, suspecting him of some intrigues at Bologna, had given orders for his imprisonment; thus swelling that debt of the Medici to his family, which Leo X. subsequently and most ungratefully expunged.

The Duke also used his influence for removal of the interdict from Venice, the tried ally of his house; and this the Pontiff more readily granted, having now gained all he hoped from the compact of Cambray, and being ready for any new coalition that might tend either to aggrandise the Holy See or to liberate Italy from foreign yoke. He therefore cared not for the remonstrances of his late coadjutors against his abrupt secession from their common policy; and, aware how little signified Maximilian's languid operations, he only sought an apology for putting himself in direct opposition to the French, whose successes in Lombardy were assuming a serious aspect. This was soon afforded by the hollow counsels of the Cardinal of Pavia, whom he had despatched to the camp of Louis on pretence of congratulating him upon his victory at Vaila, but in fact to watch his intentions. In this monarch the Legate found one as ambitious as his master, and not more scrupulous than himself; he therefore with characteristic treason encouraged the projects he had shrewdly penetrated, stipulating in return for the sovereignty of Imola, as soon as Louis should, by his secret aid, add Bologna and Romagna to his Milanese possessions. As an underplot in this drama of ingratitude and treachery, the Cardinal of Rouen proposed that Julius should be deposed by a general council, with a view to securing for himself the tiara. Such at least were the ends which the French King soon after openly pursued; and those historians who seek to establish a case against the Cardinal of Pavia, explanatory of his subsequent conduct, charge him with thus early selling himself to Louis, and betraying his partial and confiding patron the Pope.

The Legate, therefore, on his return to Rome, warmly seconded the Pontiff's views. A rupture with France was the preliminary move in the game he had arranged with Louis, and his zeal in promoting it seemed the surest disguise of his ulterior designs. Florence and Ferrara were bound to the French interests, while Venice was their determined foe; so it only remained for the Pope to join stakes with the Signory, and the party was made up. His intrigues to secure the support of Spain, Austria, and England, and to retain the Swiss in his service, do not require our particular notice.

Unwarned by recent events in Romagna, and blinded by affection for his nephew, and for the Cardinal of Pavia, to the character of the latter, and to the insuperable antipathy which had grown up between them, the Pope, unfortunately, again delegated to them the joint conduct of the war. The first advance was made against Ferrara, with the view, doubtless, of restoring the Polesine to Venice, and extending the temporal sway of the Keys to the banks of the Po. Francesco Maria, who, after wintering in Rome, had returned home with his Duchess in May, entered the Ferrarese ere July was over, at the head of six thousand infantry, and one thousand five hundred horse, and quickly became master of a great part of that duchy. But this army was unequal to operations against the city of Ferrara, strong in its surrounding marshes; and an expected contingent of ten thousand Swiss were intercepted by Chaumont, the French general (called Ciamonte by Guicciardini,) and sent back to their mountains by the combined means of force and gold. The naval armament against Genoa, then in the hands of Louis, proving also a failure, and the Cardinal Legate conducting his department as unsatisfactorily as before, the Duke of Urbino heard with joy that the Pontiff was on his way to the scene of operations. On the 15th of September he passed through Pesaro, leaving the Apostolic benediction, and various indulgences, in acknowledgment of his enthusiastic reception. When he reached Bologna, he found Modena, which had lately surrendered to his army, threatened by Chaumont in person, and a strong feeling abroad among the ecclesiastical officers, that they had been deluded by the Legate, who prevented them from clenching their success by the capture of Reggio, and had wiled them to a fruitless demonstration before Ferrara, thereby not only wasting precious time, but exposing the army to great hazard, and leaving Modena and Bologna uncovered. The Pope immediately directed his nephew to send the Cardinal, under arrest, to Bologna, which he did, with every mark of consideration; but the extraordinary influence which that sneaking spirit exercised over the frank and open-hearted Julius, diverted his suspicions, and was rewarded with new favours.

The unpromising aspect of his affairs, which brought the Pontiff in person to Bologna, did not improve. Disappointed of the assistance he looked for from Switzerland and Naples, feebly supported by his allies of Venice and Mantua, his troops were reduced to a defensive position, fatal to the prestige which had attended their first successes. Encouraged by this state of matters, and by the approach of Chaumont's powerful army, the friends of the exiled Bentivoglii began to agitate for their restoration to the sovereignty of Bologna. Nor were these the worst mortifications awaiting the proud spirit of Julius. The clergy of France had met at Lyons, and decided upon convoking a general council at Pisa, to sit in judgment upon his conduct, a movement already openly supported by Louis, the Emperor, and Florence, and by five members of the Sacred College. These anxieties fretted his fractious temperament into an illness, so serious at his advanced age, as to threaten a fatal termination; and in the prospect of thus losing the mainspring of the war, his confederates were little inclined to compromise themselves by fresh exertions. His courtiers, too, alarmed at the prospect of clinging to a falling cause, beset him with persuasions to obtain a truce on any terms. But they mistook the character with whom they had to deal. In deference to their representations, he opened a negotiation with the French general, wherein, far from assuming a suppliant air, he prescribed as a preliminary stipulation, the sacrifice of the Duke of Ferrara to his vengeance, as a rebellious vassal. Thus passing

he sent a summary threat to his Venetian allies, and to the Marquis of Mantua, that unless their promised contingents instantly marched to his support, he would arrange matters with the French King for their extermination.

The moral influence of this indomitable courage retrieved his affairs. The Venetian, Mantuan, and Neapolitan succours successfully and quickly arrived; many small free companies flocked to his standard; and the Bolognese factions postponed their movement till a fitter moment. Breaking off all negotiations, he thundered censures against Chaumont and the Duke of Ferrara, and ordered his now ample army to assume offensive operations. His physical energy was at the same time restored, and the threatened eclipse proved but a passing cloud, from which his indomitable genius burst forth with renewed brilliancy.