Part 20

Vasari tells in his Life of Verrocchio of three waxen images of Lorenzo, the size of life, made by order of his friends and relations to commemorate his escape from the dagger of the assassin by Arsino, a celebrated worker in wax, with the help and after the designs of Verrocchio. “The skeleton inside was of wood, as has been said elsewhere, with a framework of split canes covered with waxed cloth in handsome folds, so well arranged that nothing better or more lifelike can be imagined. The heads, hands, and feet were made of thicker wax, hollow inside and copied from life, painted in oils, and ornamented with hair and other necessary things, so natural and so well made, that they seemed living men and not waxen images, as can be seen in any of these three. One of them is in the church of the nuns of Chiarito in Via S. Gallo in front of the miraculous crucifix. This figure is clothed in the very dress Lorenzo wore when, with his neck bandaged, he showed himself at the window of his house to the people, who had rushed there to see whether he was alive, as they hoped, or to avenge him if dead. The second figure of Lorenzo is clothed in the _lucco_, the ordinary dress of the Florentines, and is in the church of the Servites of the Annunziata above the smaller door, beside which is the table where candles are sold. The third was sent to S. Maria degl’ Angeli at Assisi and placed in front of the Madonna, where, as has been already said, Lorenzo de’ Medici caused the road which goes from S. Maria to the gate of Assisi and leads to S. Francesco to be laid down in bricks, and at the same time restored the fountains built by his grandfather Cosimo at the same place.”[213]

Louis XI., _King of France, to the_ Florentine Republic

Beloved and great Friends,--We have just heard of the great and inhuman outrage, opprobrium and injury, which not long ago has been committed against your Seigneury, against the persons of our most dear and beloved cousins Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici, their friends, relations, servants, and adherents, by those of the Pazzi Bank and their dependants; and of the death of our said cousin Giuliano de’ Medici, whereby we have been and are as much grieved as though it had happened to ourselves. Now as your honour and our own has been so gravely offended, and as the Medici are our relations and allies, and as we regard this outrage and the death of our cousin Giuliano as though it had happened to our own person, and therefore consider the Pazzi guilty of _læsæ Majestatis_, we cannot permit this deed to go unpunished; we desire with all our heart that adequate punishment should follow as an example to others. We have therefore decided to send to your Excellencies our well-beloved and faithful Councillor and Chamberlain, Messire d’Argenton,[214] Seneschal of our province of Poitou, who is one of the men in whom we have the utmost confidence, to inform you at length of our wishes; he will tell you more about this matter. We beg you to place the same trust in him and the same belief in his words as you would in ours, it is for this that we send him. I pray God, beloved and great friends, to keep and to guard you.--12th May 1478.[215]

Louis XI. _to_ Pope Sixtus IV.

_Copy of our Letter sent to the Pope_

Most Holy Father,--We have been fully informed that wantonly by the hands of Count Girolamo, of one of your nephews recently promoted to the dignity of the Cardinalate, of the Archbishop of Pisa, and of members of the Pazzi family and their adherents, an outrage, insult, and personal attack has been made on the person of our dear friend Lorenzo de’ Medici and on Giuliano his brother. That the said Giuliano and others, his friends, have been killed, murdered, and assassinated in a church in Florence, in which we have been. We are deeply grieved and still more astonished that such an outrage should have been committed against one of such a House as is that of the Medici; renowned in the whole world, and known as belonging to the Church and filling high offices, such as that of Cardinal and Archbishop, and in the precincts of a Church, a sacred place dedicated to God. Therefore, Holy Father, we are much displeased at so abominable a sin and outrage, which we regard as even more grave than if it had been done to our own person, or to the person of one nearly related to us, and we hold that your and our honour has been most deeply offended. On account of the special love we have always borne, and bear, to the said Lorenzo our cousin and to all of his House, and of the great friendship, cemented by loyalty, oaths, and alliance, which in past times existed, and exists at present, between our predecessors, ourselves, and the city of Florence, we most affectionately supplicate and pray Your Holiness that for love of us as well as for love of our Holy Mother Church, in order that others should not go unpunished, amends shall be made for this crime by punishing the delinquents, and all who have aided and participated, in such way that it may be an example for all men to remember, and that greater ills shall not arise. Otherwise, by virtue of the said alliance and confederation existing between us and the said Florentines, and on account of the love we bear to our said cousin, we have determined to declare against all those who are implicated and not to allow this thing to go unpunished. We pray the Blessed Son of God that Your Holiness may long be spared to rule our Holy Mother Church.[216]

Lorenzo de’ Medici _to_ Tommaso Soderini _at Milan_[217]

I wrote to you on the 8th. Since then I have received yours of the 6th, to which I now reply. I thought it best to send the last by a special courier, because I have heard that the troops of the King [of Naples] and of the Pope intend making a serious attack, so I think it will be necessary to gather a larger force here than we had asked for, as when the enemy comes he will probably come in force. By yours and Orfeo’s letters we understand that 1000 men have been engaged and are ready for our service. If this is correct I think it will suffice if one half crosses our frontier, the rest being held in readiness for what I mentioned in my last, the assault of Imola. It must be remembered that in defending ourselves we are defending those Illustrious Lords [of Milan], and if we gain anything for ourselves it will be most unexpected, for these Venetian ambassadors declare that if peace is not made with the Turk we can hope for but small aid from them. In ten or twelve days we shall have 450 men under arms. If there is a chance of engaging any condottieri it would be an excellent thing. I think I am sure of Signor Costanzo and do not believe he will fail me. Those Illustrious Lords have written to their ambassador here that they will only subscribe 8000 ducats towards the pay of the Romagna troop. It seems to me they do wrong to state a given sum, as this might put off the Venetians, if they say they will subscribe one third for this troop it can afterwards be settled between ourselves that we should pay whatever sum is needful beyond the 8000 ducats. Those Illustrious Lords also seem not to wish to engage Signor Costanzo, as I heard yesterday. But the negotiation is so far advanced that not only would it be most unjust to him, but also my motive in hindering him from serving with the enemy must be considered. If he only guards and defends his own territory it seems to me it would be a great advantage to us. In short these gentlemen must be prepared to disburse the above-mentioned sum and the troops must be ready to move as I have said. Above all there must be no delay, as our adversaries are hastening their preparations; if they see that we are strong and able to resist they may change their minds. From the Venetians I do not think we shall get other help than those few men on this side of the Po and their contribution towards the pay of the Romagna troop, which they appear to give willingly.

Letters from Rome show that although the Pope knows that Cardinal Riario has been set at liberty, he shows no disposition to raise the excommunication or the interdict.[218] This is a bad sign and makes one believe that he will do all in his power to injure us. We shall see what will happen and are determined to defend ourselves as well as we can.

Girolamo left to-day. He came by way of Pontremoli; I reminded him of your business and he promised me to do all he could. If you pass through Ferrara I need not tell you what to say to the Duke to keep him in the same friendly mood towards us he now displays. I say no more because I know these ambassadors are writing at length.--June 10, 1478.[219]

Lorenzo de’ Medici _to_ Giovanni Lanfredini, _Florentine Ambassador at Venice_

I received yours of the 6th this morning and should have waited for another letter from you with the answer of the Signoria [of Venice], but from various sources I have heard that the forces of the King and the Pope are marching to attack us, and so I write at once in order that you may hasten any aid we can get from Venice. Our ambassador there will I think send our opinion _in scriptis_ to the Signoria, who will have to consult with him. We have need of more men than those who are on this side of the Po. If the Signoria approve of our plan of attacking Imola in case war is declared against us, we should prefer that the above-mentioned men should be employed there. If they do not approve, then it is imperative that the men be sent with all haste to guard our territory, and we will give orders that they are to be allowed to cross our frontier. We are most anxious about this, not on account of the number of men, but in order to prove to our adversaries that we are united, for they count much on our disunion. Try therefore to settle this one way or the other and reply quickly, for the affair is _in fieri_, and at any moment some impediment might arise. The Signoria of Venice intimated that they did not believe the Pope and the King intend to advance; now I conceive they understand it is true. We have set the Cardinal at liberty, but the Pope has shown no sign of taking off the excommunications or the interdicts; on the contrary he maintains them and encourages troops to attack us. So this is no time for loitering. It would be most harmful to us if their ambassador left here before his successor was appointed. We wish this also to be seen to at once. I will have a copy of the deliberations of the last council sent to you in order that you may press these matters with all the tact demanded by the customs there and by the questions themselves.

I wrote thus far yesterday evening. Afterwards we of the _Pratica_ met, and it was decided not to send our opinions _in scriptis_, but to await the reply to those we have sent. More particularly as our opinion is as follows. On all sides we perceive signs of incertitude and hesitation in spite of our solicitations to grant us what they can. If this was cleared up we might hope. If the Venetians will only make a demonstration in our favour, with small cost to themselves they would do us a great service, because, as I have already said, our adversaries believe we are not unanimous in our desire to defend ourselves, and this makes them more enterprising. We thought at least that we should receive help which cost little, as for example in the affair of submission [to the Pope], particularly as these ecclesiastical censures still continue, and so that the Signoria must either incur the same interdict if they help us, or break faith with us, which however would be absolved by the Bull of the interdict. As I said before, discover what we can hope for from there, in order that I may not be again deceived. Present these questions skilfully so as not to cause any friction; rather leave a part unsaid, for our great object is to maintain the union of our League in appearance and in reality.

I am writing to our envoy [Tommaso Soderini], who I do not think can have arrived. If he has, lay everything before him.--June 10, 1478.[220]

Lorenzo de’ Medici _to_ Louis XI., _King of France_

Most Serene King and especially my Lord,--The letter Your Majesty has deigned to write about our unhappy case, replete with great love and paternal benevolence, shows me how keenly you felt our misfortune, and how kindly disposed you are towards me. Should I even attempt to return adequate thanks to Your Majesty I should deserve to be called utterly unfit to understand so great a benefit, because words so full of love and benevolence coming from Your Majesty to a humble servant cannot be repaid by any act or word. I can therefore only beg Your Majesty specially to accept my heartfelt declaration of loyalty as a token and a pledge of my gratitude, trusting that God will repay to Your Majesty the rest of my debt. As to Your Majesty’s wise counsels to bear this calamity with fortitude, you may rest assured that I do not so much deplore what has happened to myself as the grave affront to the Christian name; because where I hoped, in such bitter trouble, to receive help, I found instead the fountain-head and instigator of all ill. For he, in the presence of many, dared to confess spontaneously that this crime was caused by him, and promulgated against me, my children, successors, intimates, and well-wishers, an iniquitous sentence of excommunication. Not satisfied with that, he is arming against this Republic, has instigated King Ferdinand against us, and has urged the King’s eldest son to march against us with a formidable army in order with violence and arms to destroy him he could not succeed in utterly ruining by deceit and fraud. For I well know, and God is my witness, that I have committed no crime against the Pope, save that I am alive, and having been protected by the grace of Almighty God have not allowed myself to be murdered. This is my sin, for this alone have I been excommunicated and massacred. But I believe that God, scrutiniser of hearts and most just Judge, who knows my innocence, will not permit this and will defend me, whom He saved from those sacrilegious hands in front of His Body, from such unjust calumny. On our side we have Canon Law, on our side laws natural and political, on our side truth and innocence, on our side God and men. He has violated all these at once, and now desires to annihilate us. I write these things to Your Majesty as to a compassionate father, and from you, on account of your goodness, piety, and greatness of soul, I have no doubt I shall receive much help, favour, and military aid, if required. For we cannot believe that any good man can tolerate that he, who wilfully precipitates himself into such an abyss of crime, should drag with him the Christian name. May Your Majesty keep well, to whom I humbly commend myself--Florence, June 19, 1478.[221]

Lorenzo de’ Medici _to_ Sforza de’ Bettini

Sforzie de Bettinis,--I wrote to you this morning. Later I received yours of the 28th, with news of the arrival of the Duke of Calabria and the others at Todi. We wrote at once to all our troops, save to those who are already there, to unite and join those of the Duchess [of Milan] with all speed, part are in the Pisan territory, the others are on the march; to Giovanni Conti [one of the Milanese generals], telling him to advance into the territory of Bologna; to the Venetian contingent to come into that of Faenza. All the others are to march on Todi. We have asked for two hundred additional men-at-arms from Milan besides those that are in readiness, and said that these two hundred are to be placed at once in our pay. With this letter is sent the number of men and the names of the places where they are, so that you can direct them wherever you think best. We have thus done all we can for the moment. You must try and obtain more certain information whether what you have written is true or not. If not, you ought not to lack means to discover the dealings and intentions of the enemy. I think that among them are several who would willingly do us a service. If you can contrive to interview the Cavaliere I think you might learn something. Make every effort, for I cannot believe that you are unable to defend so just a cause.

I understand that the Lord Giovanfrancesco has given orders that the troops he is to send are to be paid, which will be so much more money. I am astonished that the Lord Virginio [Orsini, Clarice’s brother] should give them an escort after replying as he did to that trumpeter, however I do not think, as I said this morning, that we need despair. I have no more to add save that you must send us frequent news, and as true news as you can, and use every means to discover as much as possible of the movements and intentions of our adversaries. If this arrival of the Duke of Calabria is true it will probably alter the plans about which we wrote this morning, and we think it will be necessary to concentrate our forces as you suggested. Farewell--June 25, 1478.[222]

Messer Ceccho, _from Milan, to_ Lorenzo de’ Medici

_Magnifice tanquam Pater honorande_,--To yours of the 28th of last month in reply to mine of the 22nd, I will only refer by thanking Your Magnificence for accepting my letter in good part.

As to the Lord of Forli it would seem to me wise to make every effort to draw him to our side for the honour, advantage, and reputation of our League; the said Lord is clever, and I think, as Your Magnificence says, he will attempt to get as much money as he can from the Pope, and then _cum sua justificatione_ withdraw: I have lived for many years with these lords of Romagna and know their nature, but one cannot count on this, and we must do all we can to get him on our side.

Monsignore de Chiaromonte (Clermont), ambassador of the King of France,[223] has been here, my Illustrious Masters showed him great honour, and this morning he left: the Illustrious Madonna and we counsellors spoke to him with much openness, and gave him to understand that in favour of that Republic and of Yourself my Illustrious Masters will give all the aid this State can _usque ad vitam_, and we spoke thus as freely as possible, in order that he might understand that this State was _unum velle et unum nolle_ with yours. He seemed to me a worthy man, and one to be cultivated; this I advise you to do, and to send to meet him without delay at Bologna, and do what my Masters have written to their ambassador there and this quickly, so that you may be in time.

It seems to me useless to enlarge on other things, only I beg Your Magnificence to take heed of your person and to be of good cheer, because I think there is every indication that things are going well, and that the Republic, our League, and Your Magnificence, will gain in reputation; on this side we shall leave nothing undone.

I beg Your Magnificence not to allow the letters my Illustrious Masters have written, or mine about affairs with the King of France, go into any other hands, but to deliver them there to Monsignore d’Argenton,[224] with the circumspection and prudence that I know Your Magnificence possesses, and thus we shall arrive at obtaining, between my Masters and H.M. the King of France, the essence of what is contained in those letters, which will redound to your honour, reputation, and advantage, because our League being strong and united, and helped by the friendship and reputation of France, things cannot but go well.

Yesterday morning I obtained possession of some letters from France written by one Lancilotto of Macedonia to King Ferrante. We find that King Ferrante has at present four of his people at the French court, this same Lancilotto, Zohan Copula of Salerno, Tommaso Tarquino, who resides there, and a Messer Antonio de Alexandro, only just arrived by the route of Catalonia with instructions and mandates of divers intrigues and plots. I have informed Hieronimo Morelli, ambassador of their excellencies the Signoria [of Florence] of all, so that he may write to Your Magnificence, and I am sure he will have done so. I do not enlarge on this point, because I am sure you will understand and form a better judgment than I can. I entreat of you to keep my letters in your own custody and in that of no other man, for I would on no account that our ambassadors or others should see them for certain reasons, which are legitimate, to avoid rancour, envy, and calumny, &c.--Milan, July 3, 1478.[225]

Lorenzo de’ Medici _to_ Messer Giovanni di Bentivoglio _at Milan_

_Magnifice vir_,--By your letter of the 1st I see what the Lord of Forlì has answered. I cannot understand how this difficulty has arisen, and it is unreasonable. His stipend at present is 8000 ducats, so he ought to be satisfied with 20,000. Perhaps he does not wish to serve and tries to throw the blame on us. If this is so I do not see what his object is in behaving thus. We will not give more than 20,000 ducats with the title of governor of the camp, and the protection of our League. I have sent again to offer him this, as I had a hint that he would accept. If he does it will be well, if not I shall cut short the negotiation, and we will not mention the matter again.

I understand from letters from the Illustrious Lords of Milan that they encourage Your Magnificence to take steps to obtain the recall of the Legate. This seems to me perfectly justifiable, our League being no longer in any way bound to obey the Pope. His presence can only be harmful and a cause of suspicion. As I am writing I must say that I heartily approve the advice of those Illustrious Princes and think Your Magnificence would do well to get rid of the Legate for your own good and for your reputation, and in order not to appear reluctant in following the advice of those Illustrious Lords and the wishes of our Illustrious League. You will gain in credit and security. I commend myself, &c.--July 4, 1478.[226]