As the summer months passed the tone of the letters became more intense and the two exchanged verses, mentioned by Luzio but which have since disappeared. On 10 July, Francesco wrote that he was sick from being deprived of ‘the air of Ferrara which so suits me and of Your Ladyship’s conversation which brings me such pleasure’, excusing himself for not being able to write in his own hand or send the sonnets he had promised her.22 ‘I received your letter and understand that your tardiness in writing was due to your indisposition which grieves me,’ Lucrezia replied, ‘but there was no need to use such terms to me because I am certain of your feelings towards me, for which I will always be truly grateful. And I applaud Your Lordship for passing these tiresome times in pleasures and delightful pastimes as you describe to me. Of ours here, there is no need to describe them since Your Excellency well knows of what sort and quality they are. I am happy you should make fun of us if it gives you pleasure. I and the other ladies here think you are right, and thus Madonna Giovanna, Dona Angela [Borgia] and I myself kiss your hand . . .’23 Five days later she was making plans to see him again: Ercole, who had been gravely ill in June, had been on a pilgrimage to Florence in fulfilment of a vow he had made. He had invited Lucrezia to meet him at the frontiers of Modena, on his return, which seemed to Lucrezia to provide a convenient opportunity to meet Francesco.24 That she did indeed go to Modena is evident from a letter written from there on 25 July, but there is no mention of a meeting, only of thanking him for news of Alfonso who had written to her himself from Paris informing her that he would be returning to Ferrara on 12 August.
Francesco appears, however, to have made a tentative attempt to see her, according to a letter from Alfonso to Isabella of 3 October which reveals a little of the manoeuvres required. Isabella had written to him informing him that her husband desired to go to Comacchio, the villa in the Po delta used by the Este for hunting and particularly fishing. Apparently Francesco had said that he did not want to disturb Alfonso, who was in the midst of taking the water treatment (‘questa mia aqua da bagni’), probably mud from Abano, but Alfonso said it would be a great displeasure for him not to accompany Gonzaga there; he had only not replied earlier, he said, because he had been waiting to see if Lucrezia wanted to go or not:
Yesterday morning she departed with our uncle Sigismondo and a goodly company of ladies and gentlemen to go to Comacchio which, with the journey, will be about ten or twelve days. As soon as she returns I will let you know so that you can tell the Marchese what day he can leave there [?Mantua] and come to Ferrara because I intend at all costs to accompany him [to Comacchio]. And in these few days I will finish my water treatment and His Lordship will be content to wait these few days in order to have the greater enjoyment. And to have better lodging than he could at present there because the people I have mentioned are there. . . Please remind him that the fewer people he brings the more comfortable he will be . . . 25
Presumably Francesco had hoped to have Lucrezia to himself at Comacchio without her husband’s surveillance; if so, he (and probably also she) was disappointed.
It is tempting to speculate that Alfonso had written to defer Francesco Gonzaga’s journey to Comacchio in order that he should not see Lucrezia there. Certainly it would appear so from a letter Lucrezia wrote to Francesco on 28 October after she returned to Ferrara: ‘Not having been able personally to see Your Excellency and speak to you on your journey to Comacchio as I greatly desired. . .’, she was sending her ‘major-domo’ to him with the request she would have made him. The object of this request was a strange one: the release to Lucrezia ‘in absolute freedom’ of a certain Antonio da Bologna, a formerly trusted courtier of both Francesco and Isabella, who had been condemned by Gonzaga for abusing his position by ordering expensive clothes for himself while pretending that they were for the Marquis and his family. Gonzaga had apparently bluntly refused Lucrezia’s request: she then wrote him, in her own hand, a passionate and imperious demand that he should do as she asked. Quite why she should have been so attached to Antonio da Bologna is a mystery; that he was a young man of charm and allure is, however, clear from other references. Gonzaga must eventually have released him because not long afterwards he secretly married (becoming her second husband) Giovanna d’Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi, the protagonist of Webster’s drama, and was murdered in 1513 by a Gonzaga connection, probably on the orders of her brother, Cardinal Luigi d’Aragona, a cousin and intimate of the Este. 26
Alfonso had in fact arrived in Ferrara on 8 August, earlier than expected, the reason for his hasty return being the severe illness of Ercole; there were rumours of rivalries among the Este brothers over the succession and mutual suspicions which were to erupt in violence over the next two years. Sanudo had reported on 7 June: ‘From Ferrara the news comes that the Duke is ill; Don Alfonso is in France and is going to England, so that a messenger has been sent after him for him to return, because his father is in great danger; and if at his death he should not be found in Ferrara, the second brother, Don Ferrando [Ferrante], who is loved by the people, could be made Lord.’27 Ferrante had returned from Rome, his head turned by the welcome given him there by the Pope, his godfather, whose favourable treatment of him had enraged his brother, Ippolito. This may well have given him ideas that he might have been invested with the Dukedom by the Pope in Alfonso’s absence. Bernardino Zambotti also recorded that Alfonso hurried back, ‘thinking that he was in danger of not succeeding to the lordship of Ferrara, if his father died in his absence’.28 Speculation as to the succession was rife in Rome and in Venice, as the Venetian envoy in Rome, Giustinian, reported to the Doge on 29 June: ‘It was said that there were letters from Ferrara that the Lord Duke had had a return of his malady and was in great danger of his life. As to what will happen in the event of his death, various judgements are passed, and all conclude that there must be great dissensions among his sons, and that the absence of Don Alfonso will be greatly to his disadvantage, since the Cardinal, who is popular with the people, is in Ferrara . . .’29
Lucrezia had clearly been relying on Francesco to help her if Ercole died while Alfonso was away and had obtained his promise to do so, as a letter to Francesco from Marcantonio Gatto makes clear. Gatto was one of the private messengers employed that year by Lucrezia and Francesco to convey letters and confidences too risky to be committed to paper. On 6 June, precisely at the time Ercole first fell ill, Gatto wrote to Francesco reminding him of the promise he had given to Lucrezia to go to Revere, within easy reach of Ferrara, should she have urgent need of him: ‘Everyone has offered the Lady their support should the Duke die and to dedicate their souls and their lives to her service – and above all the Cardinal [Ippolito] . . . although most people do not trust him,’ he wrote. ‘Many other things I will keep to tell you personally that I do not dare to write confirming that all this city will be in favour of the Lady, when they intend however to cry “Turco!” in the piazza. . . Believe Gattino, [little cat] My Lord, that you alone can do more in this city than all the house of Este together. . .’30 The story behind this last letter reflects the feverish atmosphere in Ferrara as Ercole’s reign was clearly coming to its close. Gatto was a very minor player who was in reality no more than a messenger. It does, however, demonstrate Lucrezia’s fears as to what might happen to her if Ercole, her principal protector, died while Alfonso was abroad, with Cesare out of the game and the Borgias’ greatest enemy on the papal throne.
Lucrezia’s last letter of that year, written on 17 December, was carried by hand to Mantua by Gatto. In it she asked Francesco to trust him as he would herself (the conventional formula for confidential messages) and ‘hold him as the most faithful servant which he is’, asking him to give effect to his promise that he would take him (Gatto) into his service. It was written when Ercole was on his deathbed; the content of her message via Gatto can never be known but clearly related to the latest situation and its possible dangers. Gatto was a fool who had got into deep water; Lucrezia, compassionate and apprec
iative of loyal servants, thought it better that he should stay out of Ferrara under Gonzaga’s protection. Ippolito for one would not have hesitated to eliminate him had he got wind of the gist of Gatto’s letter to Gonzaga.
Less than ten days earlier, on 8 December, Giustinian had reported Lucrezia as taking an important political initiative to protect herself and Alfonso in the event of Ercole’s death:
Letters from Ferrara announce that Duke Ercole is gravely ill, in imminent danger of death. On this occasion the Cardinal Regino told the Venetian orator that Donna Lucrezia, consort of Lord Alfonso, was his ‘comare’ [literally meaning co-godparent, which in those days implied a closer relationship than it does now], and in all her affairs bows [‘fa capo’] to your most Reverend Signory and that she serves you willingly, since she is a virtuous lady and well loved by him: with some other words spoken with considerable reserve and prudence, by which he tacitly wished to insinuate that, in case of the death of the aforesaid duke, she and her husband would be recommended to Your Serenity; saying, however, that she would not do otherwise, for her goodness and justice; . . . saying that it was almost common opinion among those who do not judge well of the affairs of Your Excellency from not understanding this, that she on the death of the Duke will be making some change in that state.31
Since the death of Alexander VI and the accession of Julius II, Ferrara was again a state suspended between the expansionist ambitions of the papacy on the one hand and Venice on the other. Julius II had made it clear in his dealings with Ercole that he was no friend to Ferrara and its ruling family; his favouring of Ferrante, which had led Ippolito to leave Rome in a rage, indicated that he might well cause trouble by using Ferrante as an instrument in any succession quarrels. Alfonso had chosen to placate Venice, the power on his borders, rather than the probably implacable papacy. In September he had made a journey to Venice with the specific aim of obtaining the support of the Signory. Now, as the crisis of Ercole’s death approached, he was supported by Lucrezia who well knew how to exploit her still-powerful connections. As Christmas of 1504 approached, Alfonso was beginning to throw off his ‘Prince Hal’ image while Lucrezia looked forward to attaining the supreme position she had always wanted, as undisputed Duchess of Ferrara. For the first time, they were a true partnership and, once again, Lucrezia was pregnant.
11. Duchess of Ferrara
‘Do not trust anyone. . . And take care not to be seen writing because I know you are watched very closely. . .’
– Pietro Bembo to Lucrezia shortly after her accession as Duchess, 10 February 1505
On Saturday 25 January 1505, Ercole died after days of fever and shivering fits. Di Prosperi wrote to Isabella that on the Friday evening he had had what appeared to have been a stroke, brought on, it was thought, by the administration that morning of auro potabile (water mixed with gold). From the hour that his state had worsened, Alfonso and Giulio had never left his side and in the morning he died peacefully, surrounded by his sons and brother. Of the expected turbulence between the Este brothers, which was to make the following year a dangerous one for the family, there was no sign. Di Prosperi wrote of the death of Ercole and the accession of Alfonso: ‘For the one I condole with Your Ladyship and for the other I congratulate you all the more having seen everything come to pass in union, peace and love. . .’
On hearing of Ercole’s death, the Giudice dei Savi, Trotti, ordered the palace bell to be rung, and the people and the members of the Council (Savi) summoned to his office. He had ready the golden staff of office and the sword of justice for Alfonso’s investiture. Having announced the death of Ercole and the elevation of the new Duke, his eldest son, they proceeded to the Camera de la Stufa Grande in Alfonso’s apartments. There Alfonso, seated in an armchair and wearing a mantle of white damask lined with fur, a white cap and a collar of gold and jewels, was ceremonially invested with the office and insignia of Duke. After a speech by the Guidice dei Savi he was presented with the bacheta (baton), the symbol of his sovereignty, and the sword for the defence and maintenance of the State, whereupon he made a speech of response promising to be a good lord to all his subjects in love and justice, followed by the cry ‘Alfonso, Alfonso, Duca, Duca!’ Afterwards, mounted on a great courser, he rode through the streets to the sound of trumpets, shouts, the ringing of bells, and schioppi (bursts of gunfire), through a violent blizzard of snow, with Ippolito on his right hand and the Venetian visdomino on his left, followed by Giulio and Ferrante. He dismounted at the cathedral where the Giudice and the Savi swore fealty.
Lucrezia, through all her troubles and indeed dangers, had finally succeeded to the secure position of Duchess of Ferrara. While Alfonso was being greeted as Duke by his people, Lucrezia, splendidly dressed in a camorra of crimson velvet and a gown of white tabi with long golden fringes and a jewelled headdress, received recognition as their Duchess by the leading gentlewomen of Ferrara. She had watched the acclamation of Alfonso and his progress through the piazza from the windows before going down to meet him. It was a triumphant moment for both of them when they met, both ‘with happy faces’ as di Prosperi described it. Bowing, Lucrezia made as if to kiss his hand but Alfonso raised, embraced and kissed her, and hand in hand they went to show themselves to the people; then she returned to her apartments while Alfonso remained to receive the plaudits of the populace, before going up to join Lucrezia with whom he dined, together with their court favourite, the jester, il Barone, ‘in great joy’.
Ercole’s funeral took place two days later, when his body was carried through the streets bearing the Order of the Garter given him by the King of England to his burial place in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. ‘It is not too much to say,’ Gardner, the historian of Ercole’s court, wrote, ‘that of all the Italian sovereigns in the epoch of the Borgia, Ercole d’Este is the one sympathetic, almost the only not ignoble figure.’ Although, for all his piety, he could be time-serving, devious and untrustworthy, Ercole was undoubtedly the maker of modern Ferrara, almost doubling the city in size, with an entire new quarter to the north, magnificent ramparts and broad new streets lined with palaces, rebuilt churches and convents. He had employed artists of distinction, such as Cosimo Tura, Ercole de’Roberti, and, as his principal architect, Biagio Rossetti. The work was completed by the time of his death; the ‘city of silence’ of today – its works of art, magnificently decorated palaces and colourfully emblazoned buildings a pale shadow of Ercole’s Ferrara, half obliterated by earthquakes and the exile of the Este family – is still largely his creation. At the time of Ercole’s death, the Este court was the most cultured in Italy, the centre of theatre and music. His household included one of the largest companies of musicians and singers in Italy and he had even begun a purpose-built theatre, the building of which was discontinued by Alfonso. Ercole’s children did not inherit his extreme piety, and the mantle of protector of religion in the city was to fall upon Lucrezia. Indeed, the principal loser by Ercole’s death was Sister Lucia whose downfall was immediate. Already unpopular with her fellow nuns for the ducal favour she had enjoyed, she was accused of artificially renewing the wounds of the stigmata and deprived of all authority and precedence within the convent. Then aged only twenty-nine, she was kept a virtual prisoner by the other nuns until her death forty years later.
To all intents and purposes Alfonso had been in charge of Ferrara since his return, while the dying Ercole consoled himself with music, a choir of boy singers and the performance of a keyboard player. As the new Duke, Alfonso immediately showed skill and good grace in dealing with both his family and his subjects, ensuring that his brothers had enough money to live in style in the palaces with which their father had provided them. More importantly he addressed the economic situation of Ferrara, impoverished first by the war against Venice and then by Ercole’s great passion – the building of the new city, all of which had to be paid for by increased taxation. Ercole’s last years had been a saga of maladministration. To raise money he had resorted to the
sale of offices and to commuting punishment to payment of fines, to such an extent that Sanudo talked of extortion and gross profiteering, while even the faithful di Prosperi wrote of ‘enormities worthy of being deemed corruption’. Alfonso abolished many of his father’s taxes and abandoned the system of the sale of offices. Despite spending his mornings hawking and hunting with his brothers, he directed most of his attention to the reform of the state: ‘The Lord thinks of nothing else but how to satisfy his subjects to the best of his ability,’ di Prosperi recorded.1 He sacked several officials and abolished various tax exemptions granted by his father. He sent to Venice to buy grain to avert the famine that was threatening, and made a state visit there in May, accompanied by Ferrante and Giulio, where he was received with signal honour by the Doge. From the beginning he had shown respect for Lucrezia’s administrative abilities by instituting on 31 January the ‘Examine’ for private petitions under her charge, assisted by Niccolò Bendideo, who was to become her secretary, and Hieronymo Magnanimo. She carried out her office, according to di Prosperi, with ‘intelligence and good grace’.
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