The conspiracy of Caesar’s captains—Machiavelli and Valentino—Vacillation of the conspirators—They offer to return to Caesar—They again take heart—A reconciliation is effected—Caesar separates the conspirators—He enters into an alliance with Bentivoglio—The rebels return to Caesar—Paolo Orsini takes possession of Urbino in Caesar’s name—Execution of Don Remiro de Lorca—Caesar goes to Sinigaglia and meets his commanders—The trap at Sinigaglia—Fate of the rebels—Caesar informs the Italian princes of his act—The Orsini and their adherents in Rome are seized—Cardinal Orsini’s palace is plundered—Fermo and Perugia surrender to Valentino—He puts Paolo and Francesco Orsini to death—Cardinal Orsini dies in prison—Caesar demands that the Sienese expel Pandolfo Petrucci—He ravages the country about Siena—Activity of the Orsini in the neighbourhood of Rome—Caesar returns to Rome—He lays siege to Ceri—Contemporary opinions of the Pope and Caesar—Gonsalvo de Cordova in Naples—The Pope and Caesar are stricken by the plague—Death of Alexander VI.—Rumours of poison—Caesar recovers—He takes possession of the dead Pope’s property.
Caesar’s preparations for attacking Milan were the signal for the final rupture with his captains, who met at Todi, where they had concentrated their troops. Here they entered into a formal agreement to refuse to obey any of Caesar’s orders directed against their ally Giovanni Bentivoglio. The first meeting was held about the end of September, and a second one took place a little later at Magione, near Perugia. Those present were Ermes and Annibale Bentivoglio, Cardinal Orsini,207 the Duke of Gravina, two other members of the Orsini family, Guido Petrucci (who also represented Pandolfo Petrucci), and Gentile and Giampaolo Baglioni. Vitellozzo Vitelli, who was ill, had himself carried to the meeting on a litter. At this meeting of the conspirators it was resolved not only to refuse to attack Bentivoglio but also to take active steps against Caesar, their former commander.
October 2nd news of the conspiracy reached the Vatican. In the north Bentivoglio was advancing on Imola; in the south the Orsini and Vitelli were preparing to attack Urbino. Caesar was in Imola awaiting the arrival of the French lances, and there he learned of the revolt of his lieutenants. The loss of the Orsini was especially serious, and he endeavoured to win them over from the conspirators. In the meantime he sent out agents to enlist new troops. As soon as the condition of affairs became known soldiers of fortune hastened to him from all directions; among the first to appear were Gasparo Sanseverino, Luigi della Mirandola, Galeazzo Palavicini, Raffaelle de’ Pazzi, Ranieri della Sassetta, and Francesco de Luna. The Romagnols hurried to his assistance, and he placed them under the command of his ablest leaders, Dionigi di Naldo, Marc Antonio di Fano, Gabrielle da Faenza, Guido di Vaini, and Giovanni Sassatelli. To his Spanish captains he entrusted the command of the cities and strongholds, upon which the security of his new duchy depended.
In the meantime the Pope had used his influence with Giulio Orsini, who was now ready to desert Vitelli, while Pandolfo Petrucci, dismayed by the208 preparations Caesar was making to crush his enemies, dispatched a messenger to Imola to assure his former commander of his loyalty.
To secure the support of Florence Caesar now requested the Republic to send an ambassador to him to confer on matters of mutual interest, and again the envoy selected was Machiavelli.
No other man was so well fitted as he to read the devious mind of Valentino; he had given evidence of the greatest perspicacity and shrewdness, and if any one was a match for the son of Alexander VI. the Florentine secretary was. Not only his friends the Adriani, the Soderini, the Valori, but even his opponents approved of the selection. Machiavelli accepted his commission eagerly; he was naturally restless and was intensely interested in the political life of the day. He had met Caesar a few months before, and he regarded him as the Italian ideal, a personification of virtu, the aggregation of the qualities most dear to the Italian heart; it is therefore not surprising that he eagerly embraced the opportunity to study Valentino and match wits with him.
Machiavelli having promised his young wife, Marietta di Ludovico Corsini, whom he had married but a few months before, that he would return in eight days, set out for Imola. On the road he met Agapito Gerardino, Caesar’s secretary, on his way to Florence to ask aid of the Signory. The Pope also, foreseeing the danger, had dispatched an envoy to the Republic. Caesar’s secretary decided to turn back and accompany Machiavelli to Imola, where they arrived October 7th.
Machiavelli explained to Valentino that he had209 come to assure him of the friendship of the Republic and to inform him that it had refused to join his enemies. Valentino received the envoy cordially, and thanked him for the professions of friendship on the part of his Government. They discussed the political situation at great length, and Caesar appeared very anxious to conclude some sort of an agreement with Florence for their mutual support, but Machiavelli was unable to get any very definite suggestion from the Duke. The Borgia, who was then only twenty-six, showed himself a consummate diplomatist and more than a match for the Florentine secretary.
October 9th Machiavelli had another interview with Caesar, who, to strengthen the demands he had made for an alliance with Florence, produced a letter from the King of France in which aid was promised for the undertaking against Bologna. Valentino seemed much elated. “Now, you see, secretary, this letter is an answer to my request for permission to attack Bologna.”
Machiavelli did not allow himself to be deceived by Caesar’s astuteness and eloquence, but he carefully weighed the causes for the Duke’s confidence in the success of his projects; he estimated his actual military strength and the number of troops he could collect, and he found that Caesar was far from weak, but also that his enemies were much more powerful than he had represented them to be.
The Florentine was greatly impressed by Valentino’s astuteness, but he was, nevertheless, able to discern his real purpose. Caesar had boldly stated that if he effected a reconciliation with the Orsini it would be impossible for him to enter into any210 treaty of friendship with their enemy Florence, and Machiavelli knew that this was true, consequently he wrote the Signory that it would be well to make some sort of compact with the Duke at once.
Machiavelli’s first impressions of Caesar were vague and uncertain. The Duke was not more perspicacious than the secretary, but he had greater self-control, had a sharper insight into motives, and he possessed powers of dissimulation which Machiavelli entirely lacked. Above all else Caesar was perfect master of himself. He therefore succeeded in hiding much of his real purpose from the secretary.
The Signory of Florence, however, attached the greatest importance to Machiavelli’s report of his interviews with Caesar, and Valori wrote him, October 11th, saying his “relation was clear cut, exact, and sincere—and to be relied upon.”
Among the conspirators it had been decided that Bentivoglio should attack Romagna, while the Orsini and Vitelli should try to take Urbino. Some of the leaders had hesitated and the plan was still in abeyance when an unexpected event gave them new courage.
The Castle of San Leo, the bulwark of Urbino, was seized by a supporter of the Montefeltre early in October, and Caesar had been informed of the fact before Machiavelli reached Imola. Valentino was not disturbed by the news, and the Florentine envoy says that he expressed his pity for those who had chosen such an unfavourable moment to attack him; he made light of the loss of a State he had no intention of retaining; he could recover it any time he saw fit. He even showed Machiavelli211 copies of the orders he had sent his lieutenants to retire within their lines of defence.
These commanders, Ugo Moncada, Michelotto de Corella, Bartolomeo Capranica, and Giovanni de Cordova, retreated, but destroyed the villages that lay in their way, delivering them over to fire and pillage. Pergola and Fossombrone were laid waste and all their inhabitants, men, women, and children, put to the sword. The news of these crimes reached Imola October 12th, and Caesar exultingly exclaimed to Machiavelli, “The stars this year seem to be unfavourable to rebels!”
One after another the towns in Urbino revolted, but still the conspirators hesitated. Paolo Orsini announced that he would return to Caesar if he would relinquish his intention of attacking Bologna and direct his energies against Florence; Vitelli, at first the most active of the conspirators, now offered to follow Valentino if he would assure him of his safety. That all Italy was afraid of Caesar and the Pope there is no doubt.
The Duke pretended to believe in the sincerity of his captains and received them again into his favour; he even dispatched them to the support of the garrisons in Urbino that were still loyal to him. Vitelli had advanced as far as Castel-Durante, and the Baglioni were at Cagli. The Orsini were in the neighbourhood of the stronghold of San Leo, holding aloof from both Caesar and Montefeltre, who had taken refuge in Venice, where he had recruited a considerable number of troops. October 12th a courier arrived in Urbino with the news that Montefeltre was advancing to the aid of the garrison. This meant that Venice was helping212 the conspirators, who consequently again took heart and threw off the mask. The 15th the Orsini, who had apparently been willing to return to Caesar, fell upon the troops of Ugo Moncada and made him prisoner. Michelotto was forced to flee to Fossombrone, and a few days later the Duke of Urbino again entered his capital.
Had the conspirators with their united forces attacked Caesar at this moment, it is highly probable that he would have lost the greater part of his domain; but each appeared to be concerned only with his own interests and much time was lost by remaining inactive in Urbino. Finally the rebels began to be suspicious of each other. Giampaolo Baglioni, knowing that Fano was Caesar’s most loyal town, asked permission to enter as his lieutenant. Pandolfo Petrucci of Perugia had always hesitated because he feared the Borgia would finally outwit the conspirators; and a few days after the return of the Duke of Urbino he sent a messenger to suggest in the name of all that a new treaty or agreement be made by which they would again enter his service and recover the territory which had been lost.
Louis XII., unable to accomplish his purpose with respect to Naples without the help of Alexander VI., declared those who opposed the Holy Father’s plans regarding the Romagna were also his enemies. The King had promptly discovered the part Venice had played in effecting the return of Montefeltre to Urbino, consequently he threatened the Republic with his wrath in case it lent any further aid whatsoever to the enemies of Valentino; this again strengthened Caesar.
213 Furnished with a safe conduct from Valentino, Paolo Orsini came to Imola October 20th, and the terms of a reconciliation having been arranged, he was allowed to depart unharmed a few days later. All were to be forgiven, and Caesar agreed to protect the estate of each of his lieutenants, and in return they were to defend him and his territory and those of the Pope, and, theoretically at least, also those of all the princes of the House of Borgia. There was to be a special agreement regarding Bologna, and Cardinal Orsini, Pandolfo Petrucci, and Valentino himself were chosen to arrange the terms.
Machiavelli heard Caesar’s confidant, Agapito of Amelia, laugh at the conspirators and speak of them as rebels after the compact had been signed—“a child would laugh at such a treaty.” In Rome, too, the agreement was not regarded very seriously.
Only a short time elapsed between Paolo Orsini’s departure from Imola and his arrival in Urbino, where he informed Vitelli of the terms of the agreement he had signed in the name of the conspirators with Valentino. In the meantime Vitelli had been very active; he had aided the Duke of Urbino in every way possible; he had attacked Caesar’s lieutenants, and had even put some of his civil officers to death. Oliverotto da Fermo, another of the conspirators, had been equally active and Baglioni had not been idle. Romagna, however, had remained faithful to Caesar.
Vitelli rejected Caesar’s offer and persuaded Baglioni also to join him in supporting the Duke of Urbino. The situation, however, was serious. Caesar was frequently heard to remark that he was “eating the artichoke leaf by leaf.” Having214 detached Petrucci and Orsini from the band of conspirators, he endeavoured to win over Bentivoglio. Finally an agreement was reached with the Lord of Bologna and the treaty was signed in Rome by his representative, Francesco Parato and the Pope’s chamberlain, Michele Romolino. Giovanni Bentivoglio had been left to his fate by the conspirators, and when he entered into the treaty with the Vatican he was acting solely in his own interests without regard to any of the others. The treaty, whose purpose was to assure the integrity of the domain of the two parties, was signed in the Vatican November 23rd. The King of France, the Duke of Ferrara, and the Signory of Florence stood sponsors for the alliance. Bologna agreed to furnish Valentino a hundred men-at-arms and two hundred light cavalry “for one or two enterprises the Duke was planning.” In addition Caesar was engaged by Bologna as a condottiere at an annual salary of 12,000 ducats. The treaty was finally signed November 23rd and was sent to Caesar for ratification.
Giustinian, the Venetian ambassador, in his dispatch of that date reports that he had heard that Cardinal Orsini and the Bolognese envoy had engaged in a violent altercation in the presence of the Pope, the former charging Bentivoglio’s representative with endeavouring to effect an agreement with Caesar and the Vatican without regard to the Orsini.
Vitellozzo Vitelli, finding himself deserted, hastened to accept the terms offered him in Caesar’s name by Paolo Orsini, who, bringing the agreement signed by all the conspirators, arrived215 in Imola November 27th, before Valentino had formally ratified the treaty between Bologna and the Pope. Two days later Orsini set out for Fano to assume command of the troops and advance on Urbino. He was accompanied by Antonio del Monte, Valentino’s special commissioner for the city of Urbino, bearing letters of amnesty for the rebels, and delegated to take possession of the duchy in the name of his master.
His recent comrades having sworn to recover Urbino, Guidobaldo di Montefeltre gave himself up for lost. In vain some of his loyal subjects urged him to resist; at Valbona the women offered him their jewels to procure means to secure troops and supplies, but he decided to flee. Before doing so he had the strongholds of Pergola and Cagli razed. Early in December Paolo Orsini entered the domain of the Montefeltre and, halting a few miles from Urbino, sent a messenger to ask for an interview with Guidobaldo, who was suffering from an attack of the gout and had to be borne on a litter to the place of meeting. December 7th he took leave of such of his subjects as had remained faithful, and two days later Paolo Orsini entered Urbino and assumed the office of Governor of the domain of the Montefeltre, although the four strongest castles in the territory, San Leo, Maggiolo, Montecuccolo, and San Marino were still held by Vitelli, who, notwithstanding the fact that he had signed the agreement with Caesar, still seemed to be hesitating as to his course.
December 10th Valentino departed for Forli and from there he went to Cesena, where he made preparations to go to Rome by way of Ancona.
216 It had been decided to make war on Sinigaglia, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere having failed to convince the Pope and the King that he had not aided Guidobaldo di Montefeltre in the last rebellion. The Cardinal exerted himself to save his nephew’s estates but failed.
The day before Caesar left Cesena for Pesaro a terrible sight met the eyes of the peasants as they entered the town in the early morning bringing supplies. Thrown in the public square was a bleeding and headless corpse clothed in a rich costume; near by, impaled on a pike, was the head, which the inhabitants of the capital of Romagna immediately recognised as that of their Governor, Don Remiro de Lorca. One of Caesar’s political maxims was: leniency for small offenders, severity for great ones. Numerous charges of malfeasance in office—among others that of having sold for his own profit grain which Valentino had imported—had been made against the Governor and he had been tried “to satisfy justice and our honour, and that of those he had injured—and as a salutary example for all public officials present and to come,” condemned, and executed.
Machiavelli, who saw the body exposed in the public square, observes: “It is not clearly known what was the cause of his death—unless it was simply the pleasure of the prince, who shows that he knows how to make and unmake men according to their deserts.” There were rumours, however, that Don Remiro had been plotting with Caesar’s enemies.
The 29th of the month, while in Fano, which had remained faithful to him, Valentino received217 a delegation from the citizens of Ancona, who had come to assure him of their loyalty. With them was a messenger from Vitelli, bringing news of the capture of Sinigaglia, after a feeble resistance, about the end of December, 1502.
Caesar’s commanders, to prove their good faith, had not only offered their services for his movement against Sinigaglia but several of them had gone there in person. Paolo Orsini and his son Fabio, Francesco Orsini, Duke of Gravina, and Oliverotto da Fermo were there, and Vitellozzo Vitelli and one of his nephews appeared on the 30th. The only ones absent were Giampaoli Baglioni, who, distrustful of Caesar, had sent him word from Perugia that he was ill; and Giulio Orsini, who was in Rome under the protection of the all-powerful head of the house, Cardinal Orsini.
How astute men, living in an age of unparalleled duplicity, when every man’s hand was against his neighbour, when treachery and assassination were regarded as fine arts, and poison and poignard perfectly proper tools in political machinations, could have rushed into such a trap is difficult to understand. Caesar’s character was known to all of them; he was more than a match for any one of them in cunning, intellect, astuteness, determination, and what is of still more importance, he had even less moral sense; he had frequently shown that mercy, compassion, pity, were no part of his nature, and these men, having betrayed him, conspired to destroy him, ruin him, rob him of the estates he regarded as his own, deliberately placed themselves in his power! It would not have been surprising if one or two had been deceived, but218 there were seven or eight; in fact, there was only one, Baglioni, who had not fallen into the trap.
The only explanation is that the conspirators were utterly panic-stricken; they found their coalition was gradually being weakened by Valentino—in fact, that he was “eating the artichoke leaf by leaf” as he said—and that they were doomed; they perhaps thought that by surrendering and again entering his employ there would be at least a chance of being forgiven; with many men this would have been the case, but they had failed to grasp what was perhaps Caesar’s chief characteristic, his utter implacability, which, in conjunction with his extraordinary powers of dissimulation, made him the most dangerous of the Italian despots. All the members of his own family, not excepting his father, the Pope, feared him. He possessed all the characteristics of all the other Italian condottieri but in a more highly developed form. Caesar immediately saw that the hour for vengeance had arrived—all the rebels were together.
The conspirators informed the Duke that the territory had surrendered to them, but that the stronghold still held out because, as the warder said, he would relinquish it only to the Duke in person.
The 30th of December Caesar sent them word from Fano that he would be in Sinigaglia the next day with the artillery to reduce the castle in case it still refused to yield.
December 31st the army left Fano with Don Michele and two hundred lances in the van, followed by Caesar with the men-at-arms. When they reached the bridge crossing the Misa just before219 Sinigaglia, Don Michele halted the light horse to allow the infantry to pass and enter the town.
Oliverotto da Fermo had remained in the city, but Paolo and Francesco Orsini and Vitellozzo Vitelli, who had taken possession of some of the neighbouring castles, came to meet Caesar, who received them graciously, shook hands with them in the “French fashion” and kissed them. According to Machiavelli, seeing that Oliverotto was not with them, Caesar made a sign to Michele to go and find him, which he did and told him to come with him to Caesar.
Valentino entered Sinigaglia on horseback, riding between Vitellozzo Vitelli and Francesco Orsini, and on arriving at the palace the four prepared to take leave of him, but he asked them to go in with him to confer—or perhaps to have luncheon. This they did, but no sooner had they passed the portals than they were seized by Valentino’s guard. The accounts differ in some unimportant details but the above is the generally accepted one.
That evening when Machiavelli reached Sinigaglia he found the streets filled with soldiers and the place in a tumult. As he was about to enter the palace he saw the Duke come forth, armed from head to foot, mounted on his charger. Caesar called the Ambassador to him and told him of the arrest of the Orsini and Vitelli. The Florentine secretary was dazzled by this masterpiece of treachery which he described as il bellissimo inganno—“the most beautiful piece of deception.”
When news of the capture reached the troops of Vitelli and Orsini they at once realised their danger, and rallying about Fabio Orsini and Vitelli’s220 nephew, withdrew from the town. Encountering no further opposition, Caesar’s men overran the place, robbing, plundering, violating, until he himself issued from the palace with a guard and hanged a number of the rioters in the public square.
Caesar decided to take Orsini to Rome, while Oliverotto and Vitelli were condemned to death after a semblance of a trial, the Duke apparently desiring to give his action an appearance of right. The order was given for them to be executed the same night. It is related that the youthful and proud Oliverotto tried to stab himself to avoid the shame of death at the hands of the executioner. As to Vitelli—“in his last hour he showed himself unworthy of his past life, for he begged to be allowed to plead with the Pope for forgiveness—and Oliverotto turned his back on him.” At the tenth hour of the night they were strangled.
Immediately after the execution Caesar wrote all his friends among the Italian princes telling them what he had done; his officers had conspired to destroy him, and although he had forgiven them they had met at Sinigaglia expressly for the purpose of again entering into a compact to secure his overthrow; having learned of this, he himself had gone to that place with his troops and seized the traitors, who had been duly tried and condemned. The letter to Venice concludes with the remark, “I am certain your Serenità will be pleased.” To the Romagnols he wrote: “All the world ought to be pleased, and especially Italy, seeing that by their death the country is relieved of a dangerous pest,” and he urges them to “thank God for putting an end to the calamities the country suffered221 owing to these misguided ones,” who, it may be observed, had until recently been among his most capable commanders.
Many of the princes congratulated Caesar, and Isabella d’Este sent him a present of some masks, and in her letter referred to the “favourable progress you are making.”
During the night of January 2, 1503, news was brought the Pope of the capture of Sinigaglia, and the next morning he sent a messenger to Cardinal Orsini to inform him that he desired his presence.
According to the Master of Ceremonies, when the cardinal and his suite reached the apostolic palace their horses and mules were led away to the Pope’s stables, and when Orsini entered the Chamber of the Papagalli he found himself surrounded by armed men and—says Burchard—was frightened.
The Prothonotary Orsini, Bernardino d’Alviano, brother of the condottiere Bartolomeo, Santa Croce, a supporter of the Orsini, and Rinaldo Orsini, Archbishop of Florence, were arrested at the same time. Santa Croce, however, having promised that he would appear when wanted and given bonds, was set at liberty, but Cardinal Orsini was thrown into prison in the Castle of St. Angelo, and the Governor of Rome took possession of his palace and personal property.
January 3rd the Holy Father informed the Signory of Florence of what had taken place at Sinigaglia and in Rome, and the following day he told Giustinian that Caesar’s commanders and Remiro de Lorca, Governor of Romagna, had conspired to destroy him, and that this was the reason Remiro had been executed at Cesena.
222 A few days later nearly the entire Sacred College went to the Pope to ask him to release their colleague Cardinal Orsini, but the Holy Father insisted that he had been the very heart and soul of the conspiracy and refused to accede to their wishes; he also justified Caesar’s action and showed that he regarded the terrible vengeance he had wrecked on his condottieri as a brilliant stroke of genius.
Giustinian gives particulars of the plundering of Cardinal Orsini’s palace. “Everything, even to the straw, was carried away and taken to the Vatican. A vast quantity of silver vessels was found there—estimated to be worth more than 10,000 ducats—the most beautiful tapestries and other household furniture—of money it is not known how much, but it is said to have been less than had been at first supposed. The cardinal’s mother was dragged from the house with only what she had on her back, and a few of her maids. The cardinal was taken to S. Angelo and every one has given him up for dead.”
In his dispatch of January 5, 1503, the ambassador says that Pope Alexander held a convocation the evening before and explained to the cardinals why he had imprisoned Cardinal Orsini, and he also informed them that everything he had heard regarding the prelate’s treachery toward himself and Caesar had been confirmed since his imprisonment; that all this and more, too, was true. The cardinals begged for mercy for their colleague, to which his Holiness replied that he would be governed by a sense of justice in whatever he did with respect to Orsini; that223 he would see that he was not wronged, and was treated with perfect justice; then he assured them of his love and of his appreciation of their recommendation—and his words confirmed all in their belief that he intended to have Orsini put to death.
The same day the Pope’s son Giuffre and Jacopo Santa Croce, probably as the cardinal’s representative for form’s sake, with an adequate force rode to Mount Rotundo, and in the name of his Holiness took possession of it and of all the other property of the Orsini, including the abbey of Farfa.
The day after the murder of Vitelli and Oliverotto Caesar set out for Perugia and Siena, having with him his prisoners Paolo and Francesco Orsini. Before he left Sinigaglia Andrea Doria had surrendered the citadel to him on receiving Caesar’s permission to retire whithersoever he wished.
On the way Valentino took possession of Vitelli’s capital, Città di Castello, which had been abandoned by the inhabitants. Then he set out for Perugia, where the Duke of Urbino and the Prince of Camerino, Vitelli’s nephew, had found refuge under the protection of Giampaolo Baglioni, who had announced his intention of resisting. Caesar had, however, no sooner reached Gualdo—January 5th—than the Duke of Urbino fled to Pitigliano, and Baglioni, abandoning his wife and children, who fell into the hands of Caesar’s men, made his escape, and joined Pand............