In the same year that this her father's last son appeared at her court Lucretia also learned of the death of her mother. Vannozza was already a widow when Alexander VI died. During his last illness she had placed herself under the protection of the troops of her son CÆsar. This she was able to do as he himself was sick at the same time. There are documents in existence which show that immediately after Alexander's death, and while the papal throne was vacant, she was living in the palace of the Cardinal of S. Clemente in the Borgo. As CÆsar was compelled to betake himself to Nepi she accompanied him thither, and on the election of Piccolomini she returned to the papal city.

She did not follow her sons to Naples, but remained in Rome, where affairs became normal after the election of Rovere to the papacy. The retainers of the Borgia feared that certain suits would be brought against them. March 6, 1504, a chamberlain of Cardinal S. Angelo, who had been poisoned, was condemned to death, and in a loud voice he proclaimed that he had committed the murder on the explicit command of Alexander and CÆsar.[234] Cardinals Romolini and Ludovico Borgia at once fled to Naples. Don Micheletto, the man who executed CÆsar's bloody orders, was a prisoner in the castle of S. Angelo. The Venetian ambassador, Giustinian, informed his government in May, 1504, that Micheletto was charged with having caused the death of a number of persons, among them the Duke of Gandia, Varano of Camerino, Astorre and Ottaviano Manfredi, the Duke of Biselli, the youthful Bernardino of Sermoneta, and the Bishop of Cagli. Micheletto was brought before the representatives of the Senate for examination. He was placed upon the rack and confessed, among other things, that it was the Pope Alexander himself who had given the command for the murder of the youthful Alfonso of Biselli. This the magistrate immediately reported to Ferrara.[235]

As CÆsar was out of the way, Vannozza was still able to reckon on the protection of certain powerful friends, especially the Farnese, the Cesarini, and several cardinals. She feared her property would be confiscated, for the title to much of it was questionable. Early in 1504 Ludovico Mattei charged her with having stolen, in March, 1503, through her paid servants, eleven hundred and sixty sheep while CÆsar was carrying on his war against the Orsini. These sheep had been sent by Maria d'Aragona, wife of Giovanni Giordano Orsini, to Mattei's pastures for safety. Vannozza was found guilty.[236]

She endeavored in every way to save her property. December 4, 1503, she gave the Church of S. Maria del Popolo a deed of her house on the Piazza Pizzo di Merlo and of her family chapel, reserving the use of it during her life. The Augustinians on their part bound themselves to say a mass for Carlo Canale March 24th, another October 13th for Giorgio di Croce, and a third on the day of Vannozza's own death. In this instrument she calls herself widow of Carlo Canale of Mantua, apostolic secretary of the deceased Alexander VI, and she speaks of Giorgio di Croce as her first husband. This deed was executed in the Borgo of St. Peter's in the residence of Agapitus of Emelia.[237] From this it appears that at the close of December Vannozza was still living in the Borgo, and under the protection of her son's own chancellor, while CÆsar himself was a prisoner in the Torre Borgia in the Vatican, and not until he left Rome forever did she remove from the Borgo.

April 1, 1504, a dwelling on the Piazza of the Holy Apostles in the Trevi quarter, which was situated in a district where the Colonna were all-powerful, was specified as her residence. The Colonna had suffered less than others from CÆsar, and by virtue of an agreement made with him they were enabled to retain their property after the death of Alexander. Vannozza had sold certain other houses which she owned to the Roman Giuliano de Lenis, and April 1, 1504, he annulled the sale, declaring that it was only through fear of force in consequence of the death of Alexander that it had taken place.[238]

As she now had nothing more to fear, she again took up her abode in the house on the Piazza Branca, as is shown by an instrument of November, 1502, in which she is described as "Donna Vannozza de Cataneis of the Regola Quarter," where this house was situated. This document is regarding a complaint which the goldsmith Nardo Antonazzi of this same quarter had lodged against her.

The artist demanded payment for a silver cross which he had made for Vannozza in the year 1500; he charged her with having appropriated this work of art without paying for it, which, he stated, frequently happened "at the time when the Duke of Valentino controlled the whole city and nearly all of Italy." We have not all the documents bearing on the case, but from the statements of witnesses for the accused it appears that she had grounds for bringing a suit for libel.[239]

While Vannozza may not have been actually placed in possession of the castle of Bleda near Viterbo by Alexander VI, some of its appanages were allotted to her. July 6, 1513, she complained to the Cardinal-Vicar Rafael Riario that the commune of the place was withholding certain sums of money which, she claimed, belonged to her. This document, which is on parchment, is couched in pompous phraseology and is addressed to all the magistrates of the world by name and title.[240]

Vannozza lived to witness the changes in affairs in the Vatican under three of Alexander's successors. There the Rovere and the Medici occupied the place once held by her own all-powerful children. She saw the Papacy changing into a secular power, and she must have known that but for Alexander and CÆsar it could never have done this. If, perchance, she saw from a distance the mighty Julius II, for example, when he returned to Rome after seizing Bologna, entering the city with the pomp of an emperor, this woman, lost in the multitude, must have exclaimed with bitter irony that her own son CÆsar had a part in this triumph, and that he had been instrumental in raising Julius II to the Papacy. It must have been a source of no little satisfaction to her to know that this pope recognized her son's importance when he wrote to the Florentines in November, 1503, saying that "on account of the preeminent virtues and great services of the Duke of Romagna" he loved him with a father's love. She may also have been acquainted with Macchiavelli's "Prince," in which the genial statesman describes CÆsar as the ideal ruler.

Although the power of the Borgias had passed away and their children were either dead or scattered, their greatness was felt in the city as long as Vannozza lived. Her past experiences caused her to be looked upon as one of the most noteworthy personalities of Rome, where every one was curious to make her acquaintance. If we may compare two persons who differed in greatness, but whose destinies and positions were not dissimilar, it might be said that Vannozza at that time occupied the same position in Rome in which Letitia Bonaparte found herself after the overthrow of her powerful offspring.

She looked with pride on her daughter, the Duchess of Ferrara, "la plus triomphante princesse," as the biographer Bayard calls her. She never saw her again, for she would scarcely have ventured to undertake a journey to Ferrara, but she continued to correspond with her. In the archives of the house of Este are nine letters written by Vannozza in the years 1515, 1516, and 1517. Seven of them are addressed to Cardinal Ippolito and two to Lucretia. These letters are not in her own handwriting but are dictated. They disclose a powerful will, a cast of mind that might be described as rude and egotistical, and an insinuating character. They are devoted chiefly to practical matters and to requests of various sorts. On one occasion she sent the cardinal a present of two antique columns which had been exhumed in her vineyard. She also kept up her intercourse with her son GiuffrÈ, Prince of Squillace. In 1515 she had received his ten-year-old son into her house in Rome apparently for the purpose of educating him.[241]

An expression which Vannozza used in signing her letters defines her attitude and position,—"The fortunate and unfortunate Vannozza de Cataneis," or "Your fortunate and unfortunate mother, Vannozza Borgia,"—she used the family name in her private affairs, but not officially.

Her last letter to Lucretia, written December 19, 1515, which refers to her son CÆsar's former secretary, Agapitus of Emelia, is as follows:

Vannozza clearly was an honor to the Borgia school of diplomacy.

Agapitus dei Gerardi, who wrote so many of CÆsar's letters and documents, had remained true to the Borgias, as is shown by this letter, until his death, which occurred in Rome, August 2, 1515. Vannozza, of a truth, had seen many of the former friends, flatterers, and parasites of her house desert it; but a number, among whom were several important personages, remained true. She, as mother of the Duchess of Ferrara, was still able to exert some influence; she was living a respectable life, in comfortable circumstances, as a woman of position, and was described as la magnifica e nobile Madanna Vannozza. She also kept up her relations with such of the cardinals as were Spaniards and relatives of Alexander VI, or who were his creatures. She survived most of them. Of the two cardinals Giovanni Borgia, one had passed away in 1500, the other in 1503; Francesco and Ludovico died in 1511 and 1512 respectively. Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini passed away in 1510. Vannozza, in fact, survived all the favorites and creatures of Alexander in the College of Cardinals with the exception of Farnese, Adrian Castellesi, and d'Albret,—CÆsar's brother-in-law.

By that sort of piety to which senescent female sinners everywhere and at all times devote themselves she secured new friends. She was an active fanatic and was constantly seen in the churches, at the confessionals, and in intimate intercourse with the pious brothers and hospitalers. In this way she made the acquaintance of Paul Jovius, who describes her as an upright woman (donna dabbene). If she had lived another decade she would probably have been canonized. She endowed a number of religious foundations—the hospitals of S. Salvator in the Lateran, of S. Maria in Porticu, the Consolazione for the Company of the Annunziata in the Minerva, and the S. Lorenzo in Damaso, as is shown by her will, which is dated January 15, 1517.[242]

For years there were inscriptions in the hospitals of the Lateran and of the Consolazione which referred to her endowments and also to provisions for masses on the anniversaries of her death and those of her two husbands.

Vannozza died in Rome, November 26, 1518. Her death did not pass unnoticed, as the following letter, written by a Venetian, shows:

Marcantonio Altieri, one of the foremost men of Rome, who was guardian of the Company of the Gonfalone ad Sancta Sanctorum, and as such made an inventory of the property of the brotherhood in 1527, drew up a memorial regarding her, the manuscript of which is still preserved in the archives of the association, and is as follows:

Thus this woman's vanity led her to provide for a ceremonious funeral; she wanted all Rome to talk of her on that day as the mistress of Alexander VI and the mother of so many famous children. Leo X bestowed an official character upon her funeral by having his court attend it; by doing this he recognized Vannozza either as the widow of Alexander VI or as the mother of the Duchess of Ferrara. As the Company of the Gonfalone was composed of the foremost burghers and nobles of Rome, almost the entire city attended her funeral. Vannozza was buried in S. Maria del Popolo in her family chapel, by the side of her unfortunate son Giovanni, Duke of Gandia. We do not know whether a marble monument was erected to her memory, but the following inscription was placed over her grave by her executor: "To Vanotia Catanea, mother of the Duke CÆsar of Valentino, Giovanni of Gandia, GiuffrÈ of Squillace, and Lucretia of Ferrara, conspicuous for her uprightness, her piety, her discretion, and her intelligence, and deserving much on account of what she did for the Lateran Hospital. Erected by Hieronymus Picus, fiduciary-commissioner and executor of her will. She lived seventy-seven years, four months, and thirteen days. She died in the year 1518, November 26th."

Vannozza doubtless had passed away believing that she had expiated her sins and purchased heaven with gold and silver and pious legacies. She had even purchased the pomp of a ceremonious funeral and a lie which was graven deep on her tombstone. For more than two hundred years the priests in S. Maria del Popolo sang masses for the repose of her soul, and when they ceased it was perhaps less owing to their conviction that enough of them had been said for this woman than from a growing belief in the trustworthiness of historical criticism. Later, owing either to hate or a sense of shame, her very tombstone disappeared, not a trace of it being left.