Some days later, Maria Giorgi, ambassador extraordinary of Venice, made
his arrival. He was commissioned not only to arrange the business on
hand with the pope, but also to convey to Alexander and Caesar the title
of Venetian nobles, and to inform them that their names were inscribed
in the Golden Book—a favour that both of them had long coveted, less for
the empty honour’s sake than for the new influence that this title might
confer. Then the pope went on to bestow the twelve cardinals’ hats that
had been sold. The new princes of the Church were Don Diego de Mendoza,
archbishop of Seville; Jacques, archbishop of Oristagny, the Pope’s
vicar-general; Thomas, archbishop of Strigania; Piero, archbishop of
Reggio, governor of Rome; Francesco Borgia , archbishop of Cosenza,
treasurer-general; Gian, archbishop of Salerno, vice-chamberlain; Luigi
Borgia , archbishop of Valencia, secretary to His Holiness, and brother
of the Gian Borgia whom Caesar had poisoned; Antonio, bishop of Coma;
Gian Battista Ferraro, bishop of Modem; Amedee d’Albret, son of the King
of Navarre, brother-in-law of the Duke of Valentinois; and Marco
Cornaro, a Venetian noble, in whose person His Holiness rendered back to
the most serene republic the favour he had just received.
Then, as there was nothing further to detain the Duke of Valentinois at
Rome, he only waited to effect a loan from a rich banker named Agostino
Chigi, brother of the Lorenzo Chigi who had perished on the day when the
pope had been nearly killed by the fall of a chimney, and departed for
the Romagna, accompanied by Vitellozzo Vitelli, Gian Paolo Baglione, and
Jacopo di Santa Croce, at that time his friends, but later on his
victims.
His first enterprise was against Pesaro: this was the polite attention
of a brother-in-law, and Gian Sforza very well knew what would be its
consequences; for instead of attempting to defend his possessions by
taking up arms, or to venture on negotiations, unwilling moreover to
expose the fair lands he had ruled so long to the vengeance of an
irritated foe, he begged his subjects, to preserve their former
affection towards himself, in the hope of better days to come; and he
fled into Dalmatia. Malatesta, lord of Rimini, followed his example;
thus the Duke of Valentinois entered both these towns without striking a
single blow. Caesar left a sufficient garrison behind him, and marched
on to Faenza.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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