‘The love, faith and trust she [Lucrezia] has in Your Lordship is of such an order that she has more hope in Your Lordship than in any other person in the world, and with all her heart she begs you not to abandon her in these times . . . [she] said to me: “Lorenzo, if it were not for the hope that I have in the Lord Marchese that in my every need he will aid and protect me, I would die of grief . . .”’
– Lorenzo Strozzi to Francesco Gonzaga, nominally leader of the papal forces against Ferrara, expressing Lucrezia’s real feelings at a time of extreme danger and stress, 21 August 1510
Over the next three years Lucrezia was de facto ruler of Ferrara, as her city and state faced the threat of the Italian wars in general and the hostile ambitions of Pope Julius II in particular. With Alfonso almost continuously away fighting and with enemies on every side, she showed the administrative abilities and awareness of military affairs which her Borgia upbringing had taught her. She was also the head of a court and the mother of the heir with responsibility for his education and safety. As an added complication, for much of the time Alfonso and Francesco Gonzaga were fighting on opposing sides with Gonzaga heading the Pope’s campaign against Ferrara; it took all Lucrezia’s skills to keep him secretly on side.
On 10 December 1508 the treaty known as the League of Cambrai was signed. As with most such treaties, the public agreements were like the tip of the iceberg of proliferating understandings with numerous powers, including both Alfonso d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga. Ostensibly Cambrai was a treaty of peace between Louis XII of France and the Emperor, or ‘Emperor Elect’, Maximilian, impoverished and impotent but still the feudal lord of many Italian cities. This agreement established Milan as a hereditary fief of the French King and was ostensibly directed towards a crusade against the Turks, often mooted but never executed. In reality it was directed against the overweening power of Venice on the Italian mainland. The power vacuum created by the crumbling of Cesare’s dukedom of the Romagna had been filled by Venice, arrogant, opportunist and full of an unwarranted belief in its irreversible good fortune.
Haughty and greedy, the Venetians had offended everyone, bringing together an unprecedented coalition of major and minor powers against them. A second and secret treaty, to which the Pope and the King of Spain might be parties if they chose, was drawn up, binding the contracting powers to oblige Venice to restore all the cities of the Romagna to the Pope; the Apulian coast to the King of Spain; Roveredo, Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Treviso and Friuli to the emperor; Brescia, Bergamo, Crema, Cremona, Ghiara d’Adda and all the former fiefs of Milan to the King of France. The King of Hungary, should he join, was to get back all his former possessions in Dalmatia and Croatia, the Duke of Savoy to recover Cyprus while Ferrara and Mantua would be rewarded with all the lands taken from them by the Venetians. In essence it represented the dismemberment of the Venetian empire on the Italian mainland.
Alfonso had attempted to make an approach to Venice and been rebuffed, lashed by the tail of the Lion of St Mark for his temerity in scouting their dominions without permission. He had placated the Pope by acting against the attempt by the Bentivoglio to regain Bologna and he had renewed the family policy of close relations with France. On 20 April 1509 – to the disgust of Francesco Gonzaga – he was appointed Gonfalonier of the Church by the Pope,Venice was placed under interdict and the war began. On 14 May in the decisive battle of Agnadello the huge Venetian army of 50,000 mercenaries was defeated by French and papal troops. Although perhaps not fully realized in Venice at the time, it was the end of Venice’s pretensions to power in Italy. Machiavelli condemned the Venetians for ‘arrogance in prosperity and cowardice in adversity’. ‘They imagined,’ he wrote:
that they owed their prosperity to qualities which, in fact, they did not possess, and were so puffed up that they treated the King of France as a son, underrated the power of the Church, thought the whole of Italy too small a field for their ambition, and aimed at creating a worldwide empire like that of Rome. Then when fortune turned her back on them, and they were beaten by the French . . . they not only lost the greater part of their territory by the defection of their people, but, of their own accord, out of sheer cowardice and faint-heartedness, they gave back most of their conquests to the Pope and the King of Spain . . .1
War was the making of Alfonso: he showed courage, tenacity and political agility in the defence of his state, ably assisted by Ippolito, the warrior cardinal. Firstly, he removed the hated symbol of Venetian domination, the visdomino, a thorn in Ferrara’s side since the last Venetian war. He politely withdrew his ambassador from Venice, upon which the Venetians confiscated his palace. More importantly for the economy of Ferrara, he recovered lands the Venetians had seized from Ferrara, including Este, from which his family had taken its name, and he restored the salt pans at Comacchio, abandoned since the Venetian prohibition of the making of salt there, and increased the tolls on goods passing through the Ferrarese from Bologna and the Romagna. The Venetians, enraged at his presumption, sent a fleet against him up the Po in December that year which Alfonso humiliatingly defeated. Alfonso’s strength and defiance rested on his close alliance with Louis (not, however, the most dependable of allies), which Julius greatly resented. Increasingly the Pope’s anger, xenophobia and aggression focused on the Duke of Ferrara.
The fortunes of war had not favoured Francesco Gonzaga and on 9 August 1509 the Venetians captured and imprisoned their former Captain General. While Lucrezia was distraught, the Este could not have cared less, particularly Isabella who felt free to give rein to her talent for government and political intrigue, untrammelled by the presence of her increasingly hostile husband and his clique. The Pope later alleged that Alfonso and Ippolito had schemed to keep him captive. According to Gonzaga’s later testimony, only Lucrezia (whose letters to him of this period have all disappeared) wrote to him and was concerned about his fate while he was in his Venetian prison.
In the absence of their husbands, Lucrezia and Isabella exchanged war news. Little Ercole was very ill at the beginning of June and his doctor, Francesco Castello, was extremely concerned for him, while his anxious father sent twice daily for news. Lucrezia was pregnant again and indulging in another round of redecoration and reconstruction, this time of the set of rooms which had formerly been occupied by Isabella.
Throughout May, Lucrezia wrote frequently to Alfonso on military matters, sending him the latest news and asking his opinion on various matters. These were dangerous times of frequent troop movements; on one day alone she wrote to him three times, once to report that a force of some 1,500 troops was nearing Ferrara and had sent to ask her for free passage, allegedly to go and fight for the King of France; secondly, to report on the capture of Venetian infantry by the podestà of Porto, and the last asking his advice as to whether she should restore their arms to a body of troops to whom she had given free passage on the grounds that they disarmed. On May 31 she had letters from the podestà of Codigoro reporting on the presence of armed Venetian ships which they had followed for eight miles. They wanted artillery from Alfonso but Lucrezia advised that they should think only of their own defence and not begin skirmishes which could result in the Venetians reinforcing their fleet in greater numbers. Later that day, the news came to Ferrara of victory for Alfonso, who had recovered his former possession of the Polesine di Rovigo from Venice; Lucrezia wrote an enthusiastic letter of congratulations. The ambassadors of France and the Empire had arrived in Ferrara; she had arranged an honourable reception for them and had given them audience. Would Alfonso please let her know whether he would come to Ferrara to meet them or whether they should go to him because they were most anxious to talk to him. On 1 June she acknowledged Alfonso’s letter saying the ambassadors should go to meet him at La Abbatia where he was about to besiege two towers; in wifely fashion she was sending ‘a little tapestry and silver to entertain them’. On 4 June she had received news from the Governor of Ravenna, brother of Julius’s legate at Bologna, complaining that the men of Codigoro had attacked his men and taken their goods. She had immediately written to order their restitution and had also tactfully smoothed things over in a letter to the Governor, assuring him of Alfonso’s displeasure at such acts and that he intended to live on good terms with all his neighbours and especially the Pope’s officers.
On 10 June, to the sound of gunfire and trumpets, Alfonso returned triumphant; mass was sung in the piazza, watched by the couple from their separate windows. Little Ercole had recovered and was seen by di Prosperi playing in his mother’s room where Lucrezia was resting despite the turmoil in other parts of the apartment. That month a fire in the Palazzo del Corte destroyed the Sala dei Paladini and several other rooms with their curtains and hangings (pavaglioni). Alfonso was away again in July: the Venetians, intent on recovering the lands they had disgorged after Agnadello, retook Padua and then Este which, Lucrezia wrote to him, ‘grieves me to my heart’. She had received appeals for help from the podestà of Lendinara and had sent telling him not to fear; she had also sent out reinforcements to various fortresses. She was by now accustomed to dealing with such matters and, she said, she would continue to do so until he returned to Ferrara ‘which I hope can be soon: [meanwhile] in every occurrence I shall not for my part fail in every diligence and vigilance for the good and conservation of your affairs’.2
At the end of July, di Prosperi reported that Lucrezia had engaged a wet nurse and must be approaching the end of her term. He was premature: it was a difficult pregnancy, and early in August she was still heavily pregnant and felt pains. Angela Borgia arrived to keep her company. A few weeks later, on 18 August, desperate to get out of her apartments and possibly to pray for Gonzaga, news of whose capture by the Venetians she had received the previous day, she went to Corpus Domini in a carriage which almost precipitated the birth at the convent. She returned to Isabella’s former rooms to await her delivery where, finally, on 25 August she gave birth to another son, named Ippolito in honour of his uncle, the cardinal; ‘he is white and well-formed and resembles his father’, di Prosperi reported.
That autumn Venice increased the pressure on Ferrara, and both the Este brothers were constantly in the field. At the end of November a Venetian force overwhelmed the Bastion of Lendinara; di Prosperi’s dispatches took on a note of foreboding, almost a sense of siege. The Venetians were attempting to build a bridge over the Po and there was a skirmish when the Ferrarese tried to prevent them. ‘I fear for our situation if the French and the Emperor do not divert the war from this direction,’ he wrote, asking Isabella to persuade them to help her brothers. The fear in Ferrara was such that, on Alfonso’s advice, Lucrezia had cancelled her intended journey to Modena to greet Elisabetta, now the widowed Duchess of Urbino, and her niece and daughter-in-law, Leonora Gonzaga, married to the present Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria della Rovere, in case her departure would be misinterpreted as flight. ‘The Duke’s decision is most prudent,’ approved di Prosperi, ‘because of the terror I have seen here.’ Ariosto was sent to Rome to ask for help and encountered such a furious welcome from Julius at Ostia that he fled, fearing to be thrown into the sea. At Ferrara, Lucrezia continued with her normal administration. On her orders the Guardaroba handed over a string of huge pearls which had belonged to the Duchess Eleonora and several fine pieces of her own jewellery to be pawned to raise money. Much of her silver had already gone the same way.3
The Venetians crossed the river by a bridge of boats, seized Comacchio and flooded through the Polesine di San Giorgio towards Ferrara. Ferrarese lives were lost, including that of the Este ally Count Lodovico Pico della Mirandola, decapitated by a cannonball, a misfortune which greatly shocked the Italians, as yet unused to artillery casualties. A large Venetian fleet lay in readiness at Polesella and a message was sent by them to Ippolito promising a good fight if he was willing, a challenge he accepted. The Venetian ships floated high on the Po, swollen by recent rains, presenting, Ippolito recognized, an easy target for the Ferrarese artillery. At dawn on 22 December he made a surprise attack, bombarding and sinking many of the ships; others were captured and only two of the galleys escaped. The Venetians were massacred by the Ferrarese as soon as they reached land and thirteen of their galleys taken back in triumph to Ferrara. On 27 December, Alfonso and Ippolito made a formal triumphal entry into Ferrara on board the biggest of their prizes, armed and with the standards of the Duke and of the Gonfalonier proudly raised, the Venetian flags pointing downwards. Trumpets, small clarinets, tabors, kettle drums played, and gunshots resounded on land and water as they landed at San Paolo where Lucrezia waited to greet them with fifty carriages of ladies. The procession with Alfonso, wearing an armoured breastplate and a tunic of rich, curled brocade, riding on a courser alongside Ippolito – for once in his cardinal’s robes – on a mule on his right hand, proceeded triumphantly and noisily to the cathedral where the Te Deum was sung and prayers offered to the Virgin and the two patron saints of Ferrara, San Maurelio and San Giorgio. To complete the triumph of the Este family, their holy ancestor, the blessed Beatrice da Este, was heard over several days beating on the walls of her tomb in Santo Antonio, presumably in celebration of the great victory.
Unfortunately for the Este, the blessed Beatrice’s knockings only served to usher in the most dangerous year Alfonso and Lucrezia would yet experience. Julius II had reverted to the policy of Alexander VI and intended to re-establish the authority of the papacy over the States of the Church, which included Ferrara. With the cry of ‘Out with the barbarians’ he signalled his intention to expel the French from Italy which, considering that, as cardinal, he had been among the first to invite them in, could be considered a bit rich. He saw Venice as the only Italian power fit to provide a counterbalance against the French, and early in the new year of 1510 came to a secret peace with the Republic. He was furious with Alfonso for his friendship with France: as he told the Venetian envoy, ‘It is God’s will that the Duke of Ferrara should be punished and Italy freed from the hands of the French.’4 The Cardinal d’Aragona warned Alfonso that an attack on Ferrara was to be the first stage of a campaign against the French by Julius in alliance with Venice and Ferdinand of Spain. ‘The Pope wants to be lord and master of the world’s game,’ the Venetian envoy Domenico Trevisan warned the Signory on 1 April 1510.
In July 1510 Julius’s campaign against Ferrara began. It was to be spearheaded in somewhat lackadaisical fashion by Gonzaga, released that month (thanks, it was rumoured, to the intervention of the Sultan with whom he traded in horses), and appointed by Julius Gonfalonier of the Church in place of Alfonso d’Este. Gonzaga’s ten-year-old son Federico was sent to Rome to be kept by the Pope as hostage for his father’s good behaviour. On 26 July, Lucrezia sent Bernardino di Prosperi to Francesco with an emotional letter in her own hand congratulating him on his ‘most desired liberation’ and thanking him for the message he had sent to her via Padre Francesco. It was also a plea for help: ‘I pray the Lord God preserve Your Lordship for many years and that he will place his holy hand in these tribulations of ours and yours for which truly I have no less at heart than my own. And I pray Your Lordship with all my heart that in every matter which may help this state you will be pleased to do as I trust in you . . .’5
The war was to last until Julius’s death in January 1513, only to be taken up again by his successor Leo X, the former Cardinal de’Medici. During these years Lucrezia, Alfonso and their family endured conditions of extreme danger, worse than any they had ever known. As the papal troops moved northwards through Ferrarese territory in the summer of 1510, on 9 August the Pope delivered the crushing blow of an interdict: Alfonso was excommunicated and deprived of the Duchy of Ferrara. Sanudo reported:
Today in consistory was read out the Bull depriving the Duke of Ferrara of all he has of the Holy Church, that is Ferrara, Comacchio and those things he has in Romagna, and Reggio which the house of Este was invested with by Pope Pius II; and similarly the Duke is excommunicated and anyone who gave him help or favour will be equally deprived. It is a most long Bull and tomorrow will be published in Bologna and printed. And there is a report that . . . France will abandon the Duke of Ferrara, and will not lend him any help, saying they do not wish to mix in the affairs of Ferrara, this being immediately in all things subject to the Holy See.6
On 19 August, the diarist noted the message from the Venetian envoy at Rome that Venice was to support the Pope in his enterprises against Ferrara and Genoa, and send a fleet to the Po with the announcement that anyone who wished to should go to damage the Duke of Ferrara.7
In this desperate situation, Lucrezia appealed to Francesco for help. On 12 August she sent Lorenzo Strozzi to him with private messages on her behalf. On 22 August she besought Francesco to order his officials to accept for safe keeping the herds and possessions at Hostia of her people of Mellara endangered by the taking of the Polesine di Rovigo by the Venetians and the recent interdict placed on Ferrara by the Pope. ‘I would not know how nor would I be able to deny them any of their just petition, particularly of this kind in this case,’ she wrote. ‘I pray Your Lordship for love of me to signify to your officials that they should accept the livestock and possessions of my subjects for their security . . .’8
In mid August Sanudo reported that Alfonso had sent forty artillery pieces to Parma and that Lucrezia had asked Venice for a safe conduct for herself, her children and her possessions to go there, but that Venice did not want to grant it to her without licence from the Pope.9 On 21 August there was panic in Ferrara; Sanudo wrote that Lucrezia had her carriages ready to leave with her children for Milan but that the citizens rose up saying that if she left they would also flee the city, so she stayed. That very day, alone in charge at Ferrara since Alfonso was away in camp and Ippolito also, Lucrezia, despite Sanudo’s report of panic, kept her head, informing Alfonso of all she was doing to help, including sending a spy to Venice to find out whether the Venetians were arming forces and, if so, of what kind. She also reminded him, among his many other preoccupations, ‘of that affair of the Marchese [Gonzaga] about which you spoke to me before you left’. It can hardly be a coincidence that that same day she had Strozzi write a letter to Gonzaga conveying her feelings towards him: ‘. . . the love, faith and trust she has in Your Lordship is of such an order that she has more hope in Your Lordship than in any other person in the world, and with all her heart she begs you not to abandon her in these times, and to demonstrate effectively the fraternal love that Your Lordship bears her.’ And as if that were not enough, Strozzi added a verbatim report of what she had told him: ‘The Duchess said to me: “Lorenzo, if it were not for the hope that I have in the Lord Marchese that in my every need he will aid and protect me, I would die of grief. . .”’10 There was a certain practicality behind these effusions: beyond the military and diplomatic capabilities of her husband and brother-in-law, maintaining her hold on Francesco’s affections was the most effective form of insurance for Ferrara, which Gonzaga, as Julius’s commander, was now pledged to attack. As we have seen, there was mutual dislike between the Este men and Gonzaga, a feeling which, as far as Francesco was concerned, now extended to his own wife. In view of the discussion about Francesco which Lucrezia says she had with Alfonso before he left, it seems likely that they agreed that she should act as a conduit between them —as to just how friendly, however, Alfonso was no doubt left in ignorance.
The twenty-first of August seems to have been a key day. Quite apart from the two letters she wrote to Alfonso and the one to Gonzaga, she wrote a third enclosing a letter containing important news which she had received from one Abraham Thus, a Jewish contact in Parma. The Este were known as protectors of the Jews. During the fifteenth century the Jewish population of Ferrara had developed rapidly: they were allowed autonomy as a community and permitted to live wherever they wished in the city – although in practice they mostly lived together in certain streets in an area known as ‘La Zuecca’. They were neither ‘ghettoized’ nor walled off from the Christian inhabitants. Their activities were not confined to money-lending: they were active as retailers, manufacturers and tradesmen. They were exempt from the extra taxes demanded by the papal legates but in 1505, confirming their privileges, Alfonso had declared that they should share the – by now—heavy burden of tax borne by the rest of the community. The Jewish population had rapidly expanded after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal under Ferdinand and Isabella: on 20 November 1492 the fugitive Sephardim received their passports from Ercole and on 1 February 1493 an agreement was made by which they shared all the privileges of the established community: they were permitted to follow any trade, farm taxes, act as apothecaries and practise medicine among Christians. By the end of the century there were some five thousand Jews in Ferrara and the community by now included the sophisticated new arrivals with their international contacts in the silk and wool industries and in imports such as pearls from India. The Spanish and Portuguese Jews in particular brought with them their superior artisan skills in gold and silverwork and embroidery. Jews both professing and converted were welcomed at court; as we have seen, one of Lucrezia’s damsels, La Violante, was Jewish, and Alfonso frequently played cards with a Jewish friend. The Este protected the Jews against the Church and secured their loyalty. Lucrezia herself wrote to Gonzaga on one occasion to obtain justice for the heirs of ‘the former Habraham jew of Bresello’ whose goods David the moneylender in Brescello was threatening to sell: ‘We have answered that we will inform ourself of the details of this and what commission exists: and we will not permit that any injustice be done to these heirs . . .’11 In return the Jewish community gave the Este their loyalty, particularly when Ferrara was threatened by the Pope as Lucrezia’s letter from Abraham Thus demonstrated.
On arrival at Parma, Thus wrote, ‘At this hour I arrived here in Parma when I found that Modena was taken and it seemed to me that I could not send a letter by the Captain of Reggio, nor come myself which was my intention, but Messer Alfonso Ariosto finding himself here on the point of departure, it now seemed to me [best] to send a most satisfactory formal letter which I have obtained from the Gran Maestro [Jacques de Chabannes, seigneur de Lapalisse].’ The Gran Maestro had told him personally that the affairs of the Bentivoglio were at present on hold pending a decision by the King of France which was expected imminently, and that he would do anything he could in the interest of the King of France and Lucrezia. However, he had not been able to provide troops for Modena for Signor Galeazzo (da Sanseverino, Master of the King’s Horse) because he had to go towards Savoy to prevent the passage of the Pope’s Swiss mercenaries. But he had also told Thus that if the Duke of Ferrara was in need of money he would see to it that the treasurer of the King of France would lend him it against pledges. He had heard the day before from Signor Galeazzo that the Duke had already sent to the Gran Maestro to this effect. ‘This loss [of Modena] grieves me to my soul,’ Thus wrote. ‘However I pray Your Ladyship to bear this with your usual spirit because thus it will cause you less anxiety and thus God will provide: the Gran Maestro recognizes of what great moment is the State of Your Ladyship to the affairs of the King of France, and openly said to me that His Majesty would not fail [you] and that having heard of this case [of the need for money] he would make greater efforts to do that which was asked of him, recognizing [your] extreme need.’
He had spoken to Signor Galeazzo in Parma who would do everything he could for the service of the Duke and Duchess of Ferrara.
And speaking together of Your Ladyship’s predicament we touched on the question of your Ladyship’s sons, and to get them out of Ferrara should anything occur. I told him that perhaps Your Ladyship was minded when it was necessary to send them that they should go to him rather than any other living being. He answered that if Your Ladyship did this it would give him the greatest pleasure in the world. I thought to advise Your Ladyship of this in any case. I will not come to Your Ladyship as I had decided, for fear that these letters might fall into the hands of the enemy. And I will stay here three or four days to see what is happening. If Your Ladyship needs anything of me, know that I am most ready in every place, at any time, and in every [twist of] fortune. Signor Galeazzo is making every effort that Reggio should not be lost . . . he is waiting only on the answer of the Gran Maestro . . . He has pledged his treasure and friends to any need of Your Ladyship as soon as he is advised of it by you . . . M. de la Palisse is ill in Milan and recommends himself to Your Ladyship.12
In a letter of 22 August, Lucrezia wrote to Alfonso about Gonzaga again, concerned that the utmost pressure should be exerted on him to keep him from attacking the Este: ‘Your Lordship writes that I must remind him about the affair of the Marchese [Gonzaga] which I spoke to you about. I tell you that it is to write to the Gran Maestro that he should write formally to the Marchese, even if it should come to pretexts and threats, that he should not attempt anything to damage Your Lordship nor molest you in any way.’ She had received Alfonso’s instructions about their son Ercole and was pleased with them, as the child was still a little indisposed. She meant to wait till he was cured and then choose twenty – five people to accompany him, headed, as Alfonso suggested, by a person of distinction at court. She would prefer M. Hercule da Camerino but he must choose as he thought most suitable. She retailed news of Count Guido Rangoni (whose family had intrigued with the papal legate to hand over Modena). ‘It seems I should remind Your Lordship that it would be a good idea to remove the Capitano here of Castel Tealto as a precaution and if you do so give him some other position and I will provide someone to watch him closely.’ Also she reminded him that he could send some infantry who had come from La Abbatia (where Rangoni now was) to Ferrara where they were doing nothing to Argenta.
By the next day, Ercole’s state of health had deteriorated and Lucrezia thought he should not be subjected to the strain of travelling anywhere. She wanted Alfonso’s opinion as to whether the young Ippolito should leave because it would be better that one of them were elsewhere before the ways were blocked. On the 24th she received good news from Alfonso, that help had arrived in the territories of Parma and Reggio. She had had his letter read out to the leading gentlemen of the city, which had greatly encouraged them, and had seen to it that the news was spread throughout the city. She acknowledged his information about enemy forces commanded by Gonzaga without comment. There was a report that some two hundred men had come from Bologna to attack the Torre del Fundo and burn the houses in San Martina, and that Masino del Forno had been ordered to put out spies. The next day Alfonso returned to Ferrara – ‘because his eldest son is dying’, Sanudo reported optimistically but incorrectly. Ercole made a complete recovery. It is worth noting that in not one of her letters written on the dates when Sanudo reported Lucrezia as being about to leave is there any mention of her planning to do so, only that her sons should escape while they still could, to avoid being taken hostage.
The Este were not about to be chased from their lands by the Pope as easily as the Baglioni from Perugia and the Bentivoglio from Bologna. Alfonso and Ippolito were strong and determined, expert in the arts of warfare and the use of artillery, while at Mantua Isabella, ‘Machiavelli in skirts’ as Luzio dubbed her, schemed and charmed to preserve her brothers’ state. Unlike the Pope’s previous victims, the Este family was popular in Ferrara, and when Ippolito called a meeting of the leading Ferrarese, they swore to defend the dynasty to the end. From the papal point of view, his Captain General Gonzaga was of dubious loyalty; he could hardly be expected wholeheartedly to push for the destruction of his brother-in-law’s, or rather his sister-in-law’s, state.
Julius II, who appears sincerely to have detested Alfonso, made every effort to stir up trouble between the brothers-in-law. He intimated that the Este had tried to keep Francesco as prisoner of the Venetians for as long as they could and that he had the evidence for it, showing ‘villainous deeds’(cose nephande) relating to the process he had instituted against Masino del Forno who had fallen into his hands. The Pope had been delighted to hear of del Forno’s capture by the Venetians, who handed him over in Bologna. Reacting very much as he had to the arrest of Cesare’s Michelotto, Julius, Sanudo reported, ‘wanted him because he is the confidant and minister of the betrayals and assassinations of the Cardinal [of] Ferrara’.13 As the Archdeacon of Gabbioneta wrote to Gonzaga on 26 September 1510, the Pope wished to communicate to him things of capital importance but had expressly forbidden him under pain of excommunication to commit them to paper: ‘then he said to me: I want to tell the Lord Marchese what those brothers-in-law of his wanted to do to him . . .’14
As a counterweight to Isabella, the Pope had cunningly instituted Francesco’s scurrilous friend and procurer, Isabella’s hated enemy, Lodovico ‘Vigo’ di Camposampiero, as his liaison officer with Gonzaga. He had presided over the attempted building of a bridge of boats across the Po at the frontier fortress of Sermide in Mantuan territory, and been frustrated by Alfonso’s destruction of the bridge and confiscation of the boats which he took to Ferrara, to Francesco’s rage. On 10 September, Lucrezia wrote, from her newly-founded convent of San Bernardino, an extraordinary, even piteous appeal to Isabella to intervene in yet another quarrel between Gonzaga and Alfonso, addressing her as ‘My Most Illustrious Madam and as my Mother’:
Your Excellency understands well enough in what great perils and difficulties is the State of your lord brothers, and particularly that which has come between the Lord Marchese and the Duke our consort, concerning those ships which were taken in Mantuan territory: and although it was not done to injure His Lordship, we have heard that His Excellency is very aggrieved by it. For this, with every instance and confidence I pray Your Excellency to be a good intermediary between Your Illustrious consort and mine, and that you hold as recommended to you the State of your lord brothers and together with them myself and my children . . .
She signed herself ‘Your Most Beloved Daughter, Duchess of Ferrara’. Normally, she addressed Isabella as ‘Illustrious lady my honoured sister-in law and sister’ and signed herself ‘Sister and sister-in-law, Lucretia, Duchess of Ferrara’.15 That same month writing to thank Isabella for her present of twenty cedri and eighty pomeranzi (oranges) she found it necessary to add a postscript asking Isabella to intercede with Francesco to restrain some people who were intent on injuring the Duke’s interests, and hoping that he would ‘proceed wisely’.
Over the autumn and winter of 1510 the danger to Ferrara increased as the Pope himself came north to Bologna with the intention of gingering up his reluctant general, Gonzaga, who complained, as usual, of ill health as an excuse for inaction. In November he reported that he was being treated with mercury for his syphilis, an excuse with which the Pope, another sufferer, could sympathize. Caught between the support of the French (with whom he was in frequent contact) for Alfonso and the Pope’s furious intent to take Ferrara, Gonzaga was indeed in an unenviable position.At Ferrara Alfonso, now backed by the French, was feverishly strengthening its fortifications – both men and women were reported to be working on a bastion in the lower part of the city which necessitated the demolition of several houses. Julius was ‘beside himself because he believed he was soon going to have Ferrara,’ Sanudo wrote. ‘He threatens to sack Ferrara and lay it waste since it won’t surrender and he would sooner see Ferrara ruined than it should fall into the hands of the French.’16 Julius sent an envoy to Alfonso to demand the keys of the city. Alfonso, who was supervising the new fortifications in the Borgo di Sotto, took the envoy to see a gun called ‘Devilchaser’ (Caza Diavoli) and told him, ‘These are the keys I would like to give the Pope.’
For Lucrezia and Alfonso the situation deteriorated through the winter: the papal troops, under Julius’s nephew, Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino since Guidobaldo’s death in 1508, had taken Modena.The Pope was ensconced in Bologna, although, fortunately for them, ill with a tertian fever and piles. In a bargain with Ferdinand of Spain in exchange for the Bull of Investiture for the Kingdom of Naples, however, he had negotiated for three hundred Spanish men-at-arms under the command of Fabrizio Colonna for the campaign against Ferrara. The French under Chaumont, who had advanced with the intention of reinstalling the Bentivoglio in Bologna, had retreated under the influence of indecision and bad weather. Sassuolo, Angela Borgia’s town, fell in mid November, followed in mid December by Concordia, belonging to another Este ally, the Pico della Mirandola.
Worst of all was the news that the ferocious old pope had recovered his health and his energy. Despite the fierce cold and with snow on the ground he had himself carried on a litter to the siege of Mirandola, where Lodovico Pico’s widow, Francesca, held out. As Francesco Guicciardini wrote, men marvelled that ‘the supreme pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth, old and ill . . . should have come in person to a war waged by him against Christians, encamped by an unimportant town where, subjecting himself like the captain of an army to fatigue and dangers, he retained nothing of the pope about him but the robes and the name’. Julius, convinced that he was being cheated by his commanders, including his nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere, who spent his time gaming with Fabrizio Colonna, roundly cursed his men in language so fruity that the Venetian envoy could not bring himself to repeat the exact words, even to his brother. On 19 January the Countess Francesca surrendered Mirandola to the Pope, but probably due to the deliberate dilatoriness of the papal commanders, nothing further was attempted against Ferrara for the moment. Ferrara by then was bristling with French troops, to such an extent that di Prosperi wrote that the Ferrarese were heartily sick of ‘these French’ and wished they would take themselves off somewhere else. Alfonso, however, was glad of their support and rode out with his artillery in late February to take La Bastia, an important fortification on the Po, where he obtained a significant victory. Alfonso was now regarded as a hero: di Prosperi proudly told Isabella how those present at La Bastia had said the victory was ‘all his and that he was a man of such spirit and great prowess such as had never been seen the like’.
The Pope’s explosions of rage against Ferrara – he told di Camposampiero: ‘I want Ferrara and I will die like a dog rather than give up’ – had alarmed Francesco, who feared for Lucrezia’s safety. On 21 February he had written to the Archdeacon of Gabbioneta asking him to intercede with the Pope for the greatest clemency for Lucrezia, and for himself the assurance that she would be safe ‘because the loving and faithful terms which only she used towards me in the time when I was in prison in Venice and so many connections that we had places an obligation on me now to show her my gratitude, and if the providence of His Holiness does not help us I do not know what will become of this poor woman who alone demonstrated such compassion for me’.17
Meanwhile, in Ferrara Lucrezia showed no signs of fear: although the normal carnival celebrations were suspended, she gave private parties for the French captains all through March. Led by the gallant Gaston de Foix, they greatly appreciated the oasis of gaiety and civilization which she created for them amid the devastation of war beyond the walls. The famous Chevalier Bayard, praising her linguistic gifts, left a record of the impression she made on him and his fellow Frenchmen: ‘The good Duchess received the French before all the others with every mark of favour. She is a pearl in this world. She daily gave the most wonderful festivals and banquets in the Italian fashion. I venture to say that neither in her time nor for many years before this has there been such a glorious princess, for she is beautiful and good, gentle and amiable to everyone, and nothing is more certain than this, that, although her husband is a skilful and brave prince, the above-named lady, by her graciousness, has been of great service to him.’18
Lucrezia continued to play the gracious hostess to the French through the spring. Di Prosperi became more and more disapproving as he considered the times unsuited to dancing, given the devastation of the countryside. The chief goldsmith in Ferrara, he told Isabella, could not complete her order because he had too much to do for the Duchess. Lucrezia and Alfonso, however, knew only too well how important it was to keep the French happy and, if possible, in Ferrara. Among the constant excursions and alarums, however, things were not going well for the Pope. On 22 May news reached Ferrara that the Bentivoglio had returned to Bologna with the accord of the citizens; shortly afterwards the papal legate, Cardinal Alidosi, friend and protégé of Julius, was stabbed to death by Francesco Maria della Rovere. There were great celebrations at court: Alfonso gave a supper in the garden for the gentlemen of Ferrara while Lucrezia was visited and made much of by the nobility and ladies of the city. The Bolognese pulled down Michelangelo’s bronze statue of Julius which had adorned the cathedral and donated it to Alfonso: he kept the head for his collection and melted down the body for a cannon which he named ‘La Giulia’. The Ferrarese rejoiced in the streets and Lucrezia gave more parties in honour of de Foix and the French captains. Visiting her, di Prosperi found her ‘very richly dressed and more magnificent than I have seen her for a long time’.
That same April, Francesco Gonzaga told Lorenzo Strozzi that he was eager that Lucrezia should come to Mantua as ‘a relief from her present worries and travails and take some pleasure with him’, assuring her that he was ‘urgently hastening the completion of some new rooms in our palace of S. Sebastiano which we have established for her lodging’.19
In truth Lucrezia seems to have been worn out by all the festivities; on 16 June, di Prosperi reported that she had been ill and was convalescing. Four days later she decided to go to her convent of San Bernardino which she seems to have treated as if it were a health farm: ‘she will stay there until she is purged and has taken the waters and dieted’. She would be there some time, he said. On the same day, Lucrezia wrote a note to Francesco in her own hand, her writing blotched and untidy: ‘Finding myself weak from my sickness I will not write at length and also because truly it would be impossible to find words to express how yet again I feel myself obliged to Your Lordship for the favour he deigns to do me; with this letter I kiss your hand an infinity of times, leaving the rest to padre Fra Anselmo and the bearer of this, begging Your Lordship that if you know of anything in which I can serve you you will deign to command me.’ Laura Bentivoglio Gonzaga, wife of Francesco’s brother Giovanni, visited her there after she had purged herself and was about to take the waters. She found her on a bed dressed in light black silk with tight sleeves gathered at the wrist, a large turban-cap on her head covering her ears. They chatted about fashion, Lucrezia questioning Laura closely about the latest things in Mantua, asking her to send her some caps like the one she was wearing and wanting to copy her head ornament.20 On 3 July, Lucrezia was still in San Bernardino: Alfonso visited her there but, because it was an enclosed convent, he was barred from entering and could only talk to her ‘through the wheel’.
Lucrezia’s health did not improve for all the treatments she subjected herself to in San Bernardino.The Queen of France had expressed a great desire to see her, having heard so much about her from the French captains, and there was a definite plan for her to leave for the French court. Bernardino di Prosperi reported on 5 July that the Queen had sent an envoy to invite Lucrezia with her eldest son to visit her at Grenoble. Ippolito was already at the French court and well received by the King and Queen who had, however, taken exception to the beards which he and his entourage had grown in fulfilment of a vow, and made them shave. On 20 July the journey was still on: Francesco had sent Lucrezia the gift of a mule and cob for which she thanked him in a handwritten note that day, adding the proviso that if she did not go, she would send them back to him. On the 29th in another emotional handwritten letter she told him that Alfonso had decided against her going ‘because of this indisposition of mine’ and that she was sending the animals back to him via Count Melina, who would give him personal messages from her. Lucrezia’s illness had proved difficult to shake off – on 12 August she was back in San Bernardino ‘incognita’, as di Prosperi described it. It may have been that she had again been pregnant, since he uses the verb spazar, which can be used to describe miscarriage – Sister Laura had told him, he said, ‘how she would“spazar” that thing’ if she continued.
Early in September Lucrezia departed for Reggio with a cavalcade of thirty horse, leaving her children behind in Ferrara. Later she sent for them but Alfonso, possibly for fear of their being captured, wanted them to remain in Ferrara, even though he himself was spending most of the time in Ostellato. From Reggio, Lucrezia continued to send Gonzaga affectionate messages. She had hoped, she told him in November, to visit him on her way back to Ferrara, but nothing came of it. Both she and Ippolito were back in Ferrara by the end of November.
The war dragged on, prosecuted with unfailing energy by the indomitable old pope who now put together another League, this time with Ferdinand of Spain, Venice and the distant participation of Henry VIII, King of England, for the recovery of Bologna and all other lands of the Church occupied by others (i.e. Alfonso and the French). Spanish troops from Naples arrived under Ramón Cardona. La Bastia was lost again and only the presence of Alfonso with his troops and French lances in Ferrara prevented the Spaniards from advancing on Ferrara. Alfonso came and went with his troops and on 12 January brought the French captains back for a festivity given by Lucrezia. Two days later he was back before La Bastia which he succeeded in retaking and in the process nearly lost his life, being struck on the forehead by the ricochetting of a large piece of stone. Lucrezia’s doctor, Lodovico Bonaccioli, and another were sent to him and found him in remarkably good spirits although he had bled from the nose and mouth. He returned secretly to Ferrara in order not to alarm the people and lodged in Lucrezia’s rooms in the Castello where a medical conference was being held. It was discovered that no damage had been done to the bone beneath the wound, despite his having been struck with great force by the corner of a piece of masonry. Alfonso was lucky: in the bloody taking of the fortress 180 Spaniards and eighty Italians were killed, including three unfortunate Ferrarese prisoners. He was forced merely to wear a bandage round his head for several days and, in order not to embarrass their lord, obsequious courtiers followed suit.
The French returned to Ferrara from time to time throughout February and March for rest and recreation: this included jousting, duelling, feasting and then dancing in Lucrezia’s rooms. For many of them it would be their last dance. On 11 April 1512, Easter Day, one of the bloodiest battles of the Italian wars took place outside the walls of Ravenna. It was a crushing defeat for the papal and Spanish forces in which Alfonso’s artillery deployment was the determining factor. Ten thousand men were estimated to have been killed, among them the flower of the French army, notably the brilliant young Gaston de Foix, and Cesare’s old companion-in-arms,Yves d’Alègre, and his twenty-eight-year-old son. Among the prisoners captured were Fabrizio Colonna and the papal legate, Cardinal Medici, the future Pope Leo X, whom Alfonso took back with him to Ferrara.
There he made a triumphal entry; the populace streamed out to greet him, on horseback and on foot, the children with bunches of flowers in their hands. The noise of tabors, bells and gunfire was such, di Prosperi exclaimed, that ‘it seemed as if the city would fall down’. Riding into the piazza he dismounted at the cathedral to give thanks to St George, then rode to the Castello where Lucrezia was waiting for him on the Revelino. With him came the wounded and the dead, a piteous sight.21 While the body of de Foix was borne back to France via Bologna, the wounded continued to arrive in the city over the following days. Among the prisoners was Fabrizio Colonna, under guard. It was reported from Ravenna, which had been given over to be sacked, that only Alfonso’s prompt action in hanging a number of Gascons saved the women who had taken refuge in the churches, and the nuns in the convents, from rape.
In Ferrara the chief Italian prisoners were treated as guests: Fabrizio Colonna was permitted to go wherever he wished, accompanied only by el Modenese del Forno, captain of the light horse, and Messer Rainaldo Ariosto. The Cardinal de’Medici was taken hawking in the Barco. It was rumoured that he had been heard to say he thanked God for three things: first, for having done his duty and not taken flight like the Viceroy (Cardona) and the other Spaniards; second, for being alive; and third, for having fallen into the hands of the Duke of Ferrara, who had welcomed him and treated him not as a prisoner but like a father. Within less than two years, however, the future Leo X would forget his debt of gratitude to the Duke of Ferrara.
Lucrezia had continued to correspond with Francesco Gonzaga despite their being officially on opposing sides in this war. Strozzi seems to have faded from the picture as intermediary, to be replaced by Count Melina, with whom she had sent a handwritten note in January, ‘to remind Your Lordship that you have in me a most obedient sister, desirous of your good and happiness as much as if it were her own health: may it please God to liberate us from these difficulties so that you can visit here presently as I desire beyond anything to see Your Lordship’.22 A few weeks later she wrote again in her own hand via Count Melina, thanking Francesco for the letter he had written her despite his illness: ‘May it please God to give you the grace to recover your health soon and be as well as I do desire.’ Since Melina, now obviously in their confidence, was the bearer of her letter, she would say no more but leave it to him to deliver her messages. In March she asked him to help Angela Borgia by sending her letters on to the French ambassador at the imperial court and, if not, to recommend ‘this business of Sassuolo’ to the Cardinal-Bishop of Gurk (Matthaus Lang, the Emperor’s favourite minister). She returned to the charge on behalf of her beloved Angela in May, asking him to forward letters from Cardinal Sanseverino to the Emperor and to Gurk, in favour of the ‘business of Sassuolo’, with one she herself had written to Casola, the Mantuan envoy at the imperial court: ‘Because these letters are important, I pray Your Excellency that you will for love of me once more take up the task of seeing that they safely reach Casola . . .’ There were the usual requests for favours from him, for the liberation of prisoners, for the cause of one of her singers, ‘Nicolo cantor’, for the capture of certain prisoners requested by the Capitano of Reggio, etc. For favours on Alfonso’s side, di Prosperi would address himself to Isabella ‘for fear of causing trouble between the signor Marchese and the Lord Duke . . .’
The battle of Ravenna saved Ferrara, but only for the time being. It had been a pyrrhic victory for the French, who were demoralized by the loss of some of their principal commanders, notably the brilliant de Foix. They were forced to return to defend their country against the King of Spain, who attacked through Navarre, and the King of England in Guyenne. The time had come for Alfonso, if he could, to make peace with the Pope and save his state. But in Rome Julius II flew into a rage at the very mention of Alfonso’s name. He had been deeply offended since he had heard of the fate of his statue in Bologna. Francesco Gonzaga attempted to divert his attention from Ferrara by writing to di Camposampiero to persuade the Pope that he could consider Ferrara as already his and his primary objective should be to chase the French out of Italy.23
Under persuasion from the Gonzaga and their emissaries, including the young hostage, their twelve-year-old son, Federico, of whom Julius was extremely fond, the Pope agreed to send a safe conduct, dated 11 June, for Alfonso to go to Rome and make his submission. His safety was also guaranteed by his former prisoner, Fabrizio Colonna, who was to accompany him to Rome, and by the Spanish ambassador. Julius was so delighted to hear from Francesco Gonzaga that Alfonso would be coming to Rome that he leapt out of bed shoeless and, wearing only his shirt, capered triumphantly round his rooms, crying ‘Julius’ and ‘the Church’ and singing out loud. Alfonso arrived in Rome on 4 July with a small company; Julius sent Federico Gonzaga out to greet him and he entered the city supported by the principal Roman aristocracy represented by Fabrizio Colonna and Giangiordano Orsini. The Pope had offered him lodging in the Vatican, but the wary Alfonso preferred to stay in Cardinal d’Aragona’s Palazzo San Clemente. On 9 July, Alfonso’s formal absolution took place in the Vatican where the Pope had prepared what Isabella’s friend and admirer, the humanist writer Mario Equicola, who accompanied him, described to Isabella as ‘a sumptuous collation with all kinds of fruits . . . stunning confections [probably sugar statues], many various wines and fine music performed on viols’. In consistory, Alfonso kissed the Pope’s foot and was embraced by him but mutual suspicion remained, fomented by Alfonso’s enemies at court, Alberto Pio da Carpi, now imperial envoy, and Alfonso’s treacherous cousin, Niccolὸ di Rinaldo d’Este (executed three years later at Ferrara for plotting against Alfonso), dripping poison in the Pope’s ears. The Pope wanted Alfonso to release his brothers, particularly Ferrante who had recently smuggled a letter to him pleading for his help, and he wanted Ferrara. These conditions were completely unacceptable to Alfonso and, fearing a trap, he fled Rome on 19 July with Fabrizio Colonna, the pair forcing their way through the Porta San Giovanni and riding to Colonna’s stronghold at Marino.
Lucrezia and Ippolito received letters, presumably containing the bad news, from Fabrizio Colonna on 21 July, although it was not generally divulged until early August. It would be three months before Alfonso, guarded by the Colonna, reached Ferrara after a tortuous journey northwards, dodging spies on the lookout for him. The Pope remained obsessed by Ferrara, and at a second meeting in Mantua of the ‘Most Holy League’ three decisions were taken – for the restoration of the Medici to Florence whence they had been expelled by the French; the restoration of Ludovico Sforza’s son, Massimiliano, to Milan; and the conquest of Ferrara. While Francesco Gonzaga, pleading illness once again, withdrew from the discussions, Isabella played hostess, avid for information which might have a bearing on Ferrara and fruitlessly trying to divert the participants’ attention elsewhere. The conference ended on 16 August and on the 17th she warned Ippolito that, although the participants could not agree as to who should be the first target for conquest, the much-feared Swiss mercenaries of the Pope were on the move towards Ferrara. Lucrezia, who had been ill for much of the summer, in the absence of Alfonso issued orders for the defence of the city. Artillery was taken out of the Castello and transferred to the bastions and ramparts. On 12 August she had received advice from Alfonso, as she wrote to Isabella, that at all costs the Este heir, Ercole, should be sent to safety to prevent his falling into the Pope’s hands as a hostage for his father: ‘I will be brief because the bearer of this letter will let you know in full what the decision of my lord and myself is concerning our son whom it is unnecessary to recommend to you. Only I beg you that in everything you can concerning this you will do as I have faith you will, for which I will be perpetually obliged to you . . .’ To curry favour with the Marchioness, she congratulated Isabella on the ‘fine court’ she was holding for the meetings at Mantua.24 On the same day she wrote an anguished letter to Francesco, passing on Alfonso’s instructions by messenger and pleading with him not to fail Alfonso and herself and to help save Alfonso from the Pope. By the end of the month, she was writing to him of their ‘extreme need’ of men-at-arms. Even the Pope, having intercepted a similar letter from her, felt sorry for her and spoke ‘very kindly and compassionately’ of her.25 Nonetheless, she had changed her mind about keeping Ercole with her. It was just as well.