Rome was furious at this immigration; but Borja made overtures of friendship to Colonna, and treated the Romans to a display of Spanish arrogance. As for the strenuous Lord Calixtus P.P. III, He announced His defiance of public opinion by installing Don Pedro Luis de Lançol y Borja in the Prefecture of the City, an act which involved the surrender into Borja hands of the Mola of Hadrian, or Castle of Santangelo, the impregnable fortress on Tiber which dominates Rome. Don Pedro Luis was looked upon by Orsini as a mortal foe, on account of his displacing Don Giovantonio Orsini in this Prefecture. Thus the inimical relations of Borja with Orsini very naturally qualified them for an alliance with Colonna, in a simple age when a man’s friends were his friend’s friends, and his enemies his friend’s enemies; and Colonna was the most powerful house in Rome. A nursery ditty of the period will show in what esteem Colonna was held: “Che possa avere cinque figli maschi, “E tutti quanti di Casa Colonna, “Uno Papa, l’altro cardinale, “Ed uno arcivescovo di Colonia, “Ed uno possa aver tanta possanza “Da levar la corona al re di Franza “E l’altro possa aver tanto valore “Da levar la corona all’ imperatore. So, for a brief space, the Eternal City became absolutely an appanage of the House of Borja. Catalans pervaded the streets, engaged in robbery and murder. The intimidated Conservators (equivalent to a modern municipal council) servilely thanked the Pope for the appointment of His nephew, and even suggested that Don Pedro Luis should be made King of Rome. * * * * * On the twenty-seventh of June 1458 died King Don de Alonso Aragona, The Magnanimous, of Naples, the Two Sicilies, and Jerusalem. The Lord Calixtus P.P. III at once refused to acknowledge His quondam pupil, the Bastard Ferrando, as successor; and impetuously threatened to plunge Italy into war, by declaring on His Own account a claim to the Regno as a fief of the Holy See.