APPENDICES

365

Appendix I ABOUT WOMEN

Very little can be said of the women of the Borgian Era; for the simple reason that they as yet had not renounced and abjured the observation of the maxim of Euripides

“Women should stay at home and talk.”

For women, then, to cultivate an intellect was rare. The sacred offices of mother and wife, of comforter and helper, chiefly occupied them. Yet no stupid restrictions were invented to harass and embitter the exceptions to this rule, the freaks, the Sports of Nature, (in modern medical phraseology;) and thus the splenetic self-assertive abnormalities of the twentieth century were avoided. Women, who so willed, were absolutely free; they were admitted to the same intellectual training as men in the universities and colleges^[140]; professorial chairs rewarded talent male or female; and a learned lady was called Virago, in no sarcastic vein but in flattering admiration, the word being used in its scriptural sense. (Vulgate, Gen. ii. 23.)

Of these the most famous were Madonna Vittoria Colonna and Madonna Veronica Gambara. The first was the daughter of Don Fabrizio Colonna, Grand Constable of Naples, (who already has been mentioned as helping the Duchess Lucrezia Borgia’s consort to evade the snare of the Lord Julius P.P. II,) by his wife Madonna Agnesina di Montefeltro, daughter of Duke Federigo of Urbino. She was born in 1490; and married at nineteen in 1509 to Don Ferrando Francisco d’Avalos, who died in 1525. She consecrated the remaining twenty-two years of her life to her husband’s memory and to the duties of religion, residing, for the sake of her reputation, as a parlour-boarder in religious houses at Orvieto, Viterbo, Ischia, and Rome, where she kept a literary salon. Many celebrated men were her frequent visitors, among whom may be mentioned Cardinals Reginald Pole and Giacopo Sadoleto; the poets Marcantonio Flaminio and Pietro Carnesecchi; and Fra Bernardino Ochino the second general of the new religion called Cappuccini, who, after apostatizing to write his Twenty-one Dialogues advocating Polygamy as authorized by the example of the Patriarchs, was in turn expelled by the heresiarchs of Geneva. But by far the greatest of Madonna Vittoria Colonna’s admirers 366was the sculptor-painter-poet Messer Michelangelo Buonarroti, who respectfully inscribed to her many beautiful sonnets—sonnets which he hewed out of language, as also he hewed statues out of marble, and with the same aloof and rugged majesty. The following is given as a specimen, not only of the style of Messer Michelangelo Buonarroti, but also for the profession of faith contained in the latter half of the sestett—a human document which lends marvellous light to the more secret soul of this true artist and gigantic misanthrope.

“Per ritornar là donde venne fora “As one who will reseek her home of light,

“L’immortal forma al tuo carcer terreno “Thy form immortal to this prison-house

“Venne com’angel di pietà si pieno “Descended, like an angel piteous,

“Che sana ogn’intelleto, e’l mondo onora. “To heal all hearts and make the whole world bright.

“Questo sol m’arde, e questo m’innamora; “’Tis this that thralls my soul in love’s delight,

“Non pur di fora il tuo volto sereno: “Not thy clear face of beauty glorious;

“Ch’amor non già di cosa che vien meno “For he who harbours virtue still will choose

“Tien ferma speme, in cu’ virtù dimora. “To love what neither years nor death can blight.

“Ne altro avvien di cose altere e nuove “So fares it ever with things high and rare

“In cui si preme la natura; e’l cielo “Wrought in the sweat of nature; heaven above

“E ch’a lor parto largo s’apparecchia. “Showers on their birth the blessings of her prime:

“Ne Dio, suo grazia, mi se mostra altrove, “Nor hath God deigned to shew Himself elsewhere

“Piu che’n alcun leggiadro e mortal velo; “More clearly than inhuman forms sublime,

“E quel sol amo, perche’n quel si specchia. “Which, since they image Him, alone I love.”

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Translation by John Addington Symonds.

Madonna Vittoria Colonna herself was a poet, but her literary history is not included in the Borgian Era. It may be mentioned that her descendant and namesake the beautiful Princess Vittoria Colonna married into the patrician House of Sforza-Cesarina, so prominent in these pages, and is the mother of the present Duke Lorenzo.

Madonna Veronica Gambara, the friend and fellow-virago of Madonna Vittoria Colonna was the daughter of Count Gianfrancesco Gambara, and Madonna Alda Pia da Carpi. She was born in 1485, and educated by Messer Pietro Bembo (afterwards Cardinal); married in 1509 to Don Guilberto di Cor Reggio; and widowed nine years later. At her Palazzo Marsili at Bologna, on the occasion of the coronation of Caesar Carlos V in 1530, she received in princely state the scholars of the day, “Bembo, Molza, the witty Francesco Berni, the learned Vida, the stately Trissio, the noble-hearted Marcantonio Flaminio, Paolo Giovio and Francesco Guicciardini.” She lived till 1550, a good mother to her two sons, Ippolito and Girolamo, noble, learned, virtuous, and a poet and woman-of-letters of much distinction.

367

Appendix II CREATURE UNPROCLAIMED, OF THE LORD ALEXANDER P.P. VI

Query? Whether the Lord Pietro Ciero can be considered a cardinal of His creation?

“Vidi ego, ingint Andreas Victorellus, excriptum diploma fide publica firmatum, datum Romae sub annulo Piscatoris anno 1501 die xvii Aprilis in quo haec verba: Te in cardinalem approbamus, quod tamen sub silentio tenebis, donec tempus idoneum aderit.”

368

Appendix III PAPAL TRIBUTE

The following tribute was used to be paid yearly on the Vigil of St. Peter, xxviii June, in accordance with the rule of the Lord Boniface P.P. IX.

By the city of Forrara Two thousand scudi and a chalice

„ „ „ „ Benevento „ „ „ „ „ „

„ „ island „ Sardinia „ „ „ „ „ „

„ „ city „ Terracina A white horse

„ „ „ „ Gallese A stag

„ „ „ „ Porto A brace of pheasants

„ „ „ „ Monte Caprello A dog and a sparrow-hawk

„ „ „ „ Sant’Ippolito A brace of partridges

„ „ College of Apostolick Scribes A pyx and one hundred scudi

„ „ „ „ „ Notaries A silver chalice

„ „ Kingdom of Naples The “Chinea.” This was a valuable white horse or mule, richly caparisoned, carrying seven thousand ducati d’oro in a splendid coffer. The Prince Colonna, as Grand Constable of Naples, was the official in charge of the “Chinea.”

Monks and friars belonging to Abbeys which were Papal Peculiars, (—the Abbey of Westminster was a Papal, for five hundred years before it was a Royal, Peculiar,—) instead of paying tribute, pronounced the Holy Name of Jesus, when their names were called at this ceremonial.

369

Appendix IV SCHOLARSHIP IN THE BORGIAN ERA

One of the most amusing poses of the Borgian Era was the affectation of classical antiquity. This pose was engendered of the revival of learning upon human vanity. Scholars were the favourites of princes and of kings; and they modelled their mental deportment on that plane. The man who called himself Pomponius Laetus (for they Latinized or Hellenized even their names,) was a νόθος of the baronial House of Sanseverini, who revivified certain pagan cults and, with Cardinal Platino and others, solemnly and habitually practised them in secret Catacombs. Really, he was a learned man who owed his learning to his own wits and exertions, and not to the help or influence of his own kin; who, while he was a poor unknown pupil of Messer Lorenzo Valla, refused to acknowledge him. But, when at last he had won fame and was sought by the best society, the Sanseverini, being anxious to have at least the credit of an intellect, made him an overture of friendship, and offered to take him to their arms. His rejoinder is worth preservation as a specimen as well of the effect of megalomania, as of the successful imitation of a classic style. With delicious arrogance he wrote,

“Pomponius Laetus cognatis et propinquis suis salutem.

“Quod petitis fieri non potest.” Valete.

Writers of the Borgian Era curiously translated contemporary terms and titles into their classic phraseological equivalent. The Pope was Pontifex Maximus, and Princeps. The Emperor was Caesar Augustus, and sometimes Princeps. The Cardinals were Senators or Augurs, elders in charge of the lightning (“aliquis senior qui publica fulgura condit.”) Nuns were Vestal Virgins. Excommunication was Dirae. Carnival was the Lupercalia. The Padre Eterno became, by the pen of Bishop Vida of Alba in Piedmont, Superum Pater Nimbipotens and Regnator Olympi. The Santissimo Salvatore was known as Ἥρως; and the Santo Spirito as Ζέφυρος. Madonna was Ἥρα, Ἀφροδίτη, and Ἀθήνη παρθένος upon occasion. The saints were gods, δῖος ἢ δῖα, divus vel diva; St. Christopher was Herakles; St. Sebastian, or St. Michael Archangel, was Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων; St. Gabriel Archangel was Hermes; St. Raphael Archangel was Asklepios; St. George, St. Maurice, St. Theodore, were Perseus or Theseus according to the taste of the writer. This pose was affected in 370England as well as in Italy, as may be seen in the following verse from William Caxton’s Boke of Curtesye, A.D. 1477.

“Loke also/ upon Dan John Lydgate

“My maister whylome/ monke at berye

“Worthy to be renomede/ as poete laureate

“I praye to gode in bliss his soul be mercy

“Syngynge Rex Splendens that heuenly kyrye

“Among the Muses Nine celestyalle

“Before the hyest Iubyter of alle.”

The scholarship of the Renascence of learning, however, was not all empty foolishness, not all the merest pose. The extravagances of the Yellow School of the day were inevitable; and, though their unreality soon palls and cloys, they afford ephemeral amusement. But the new learning did much to improve taste; and, in the hand of men of goodwill, was of vast benefit to the purity of letters. The following verses are quoted as additional examples of the style of noted scholars of the Borgian Era.

Angeli Politiani, Monodia in Laurentium Medicem.

(Intonata per Arrighum Isae.)

Quis dabit capiti meo

aquam? Quis oculis meis

fontem lacrymarum dabit?

Ut nocte fleam;

ut luce fleam,

sie turtur viduus solet,

sie cygnus moriens solet,

sie luscinia, conqueri.

Neu miser, miser,

O dolor, dolor.

Laurus impetu fulminis,

illa, illa, iacet subito,

laurus omnium celebris

musarum choris,

nympharum choris,

sub cuius patula coma,

et Phœbi lyra blandius,

et vox dulcius insonat.

Nunc muta omnia,

nunc surda omnia.

Quis dabit capiti meo

aquam? Quis oculis meis

fontem lacrymarum dabit?

ut nocte fleam,

ut luce fleam;

sie turtur viduus solet

sie cygnus moriens solet,

sie luscinia, conqueri.

Neu miser, miser,

O dolor, dolor.

Andreae Nangerii (Navagero) Hymnus in Gabrielem Archangelum.

Iam caeli reserat fores

aurato e thalamo exiens

Mater Memnonis, et diem

laeto provocat ore.

Nos te maxime Maximi

minister, canimus, Patris:

quo nullus, qui hominum genus

tam praesens iuvet, usquam est.

Tu nostras celer ad preces,

aures protinus an Deum has

defers: nec tenues sinis

evanescere in auras.

Tu dum fers nova nuncia

virgini Ætherio Patri

dilectae, quibus indicas

Magni vota Tonantis;

nobis fers nova nuncia:

queis a faucibus impii

erepti hostis, in aurea

caeli templi vocamur.

Adsis, o bone: et in dies

semper nos propius iuva

nec patrocinio tuo

unquam mitte tueri.

Angeli Politiani, Hymnus in Divam Virginem.

O Virgo prudentissima,

quam caelo missus Gabriel,

supremus Regis nuntius,

plenam testatur gratia.

Cuius devota humilitas

gemmis ornata fulgidis

fidentis conscientiae

Amore Deum rapuit.

371Te sponsam Factor omnium,

te matrem Dei Filius,

te vocat habitaculum

Suum Beatus Spiritus.

Per te de tetro carcere

antiqui patres exeunt:

per te nobis astriferæ

panduntur aulae limina.

Tu stellis comam cingeris,

tu lunam premis pedibus,

te sole amictam candido

chori stupent angelici.

Tu Stella Maris diceris,

quae nobis inter scopulos

inter obscuros turbines

portum salutis indicas.

Audi Virgo Puerpara,

et Sola Mater Integra,

audi precantes, quaesumus,

tuos Maria servulos.

Repelle mentis tenebras,

disrumpe cordis glaciem,

nos sub tuum praesidium

confugientes protege.

Da nobis in proposito

sancto perseverantiam,

ne noster adversarius

in te sperantes superet:

Sed et cunctis fidelibus,

qui tuum templum visitant,

benigna Mater dexteram

da caelestis auxilii. Amen.

372

Appendix V BORGIA DOCUMENTS

The British Museum possesses the following Original Letters by

Alessandro Borgia, Bishop of Nocera, Prince-Archbishop of Fermo viiii Nov. 1717–25

„ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ Apr. 1727

Niccolo Borgia, Bishop of Cava, xiii Jan. 1752

„ „ „ „ „ xviii Jul. „

Don Gasparo de Borja y Velasco, Cardinal-Archbishop of Seville and Toledo

„ „ „ „ „ Letter to the Duke of Ossuna 1620

„ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „

concerning his embassy in Rome „

„ „ „ „ xx Dec. 1625

Don Juan de Borja, Conde de Ficalho, n.d. Portug. Signed.

Don Carlos de Borja, Cardinal-Patriarch of the Indies. xi Oct. 1711

to viiii Sept. 1724

Stefano Borgia, Cardinal of San Clemente ii June 1801

„ „ „ xvii Jan. 1802

„ „ „ to L. Melini, Rome, xviii Aug. 1770

„ „ „ „ A. da Morona, Padua, xviiii June 1798

„ „ „ „ G. Andrei, Padua, i Sept. 1798

Cesare, detto Borgia. 1. As Cardinal.

To the Catholick King and Queen Don Hernando and Dona Isabella of Spain, on sending a friar with a present, dated 1497, signed C Car^al de Valencia.

Very rare.

2. As Duke.

Holograph to Ricardo Cervini, from Cartoceto, dated i Feb. 1500. Eight lines of beautiful precise arrogant and masterly writing, signed Cesar Borgia de Francia dux valentin, with seal.

The Bodleian Library at Oxford has

Indulgences conceeded to the college at Windsor (the chapter of St. George?) by the Lord Alexander P.P. VI. Ashmolean MSS. Gasparo de Borgia, Cardãl, Protestatio in consistorio 1632 nomine Regis Hisp.

Stefano Borgia, Cardãl. Four Latin Letters to C. G. Woide, 1783–7.

373

Appendix VI THE BORGIA AS MEN OF LETTERS

Alessandro Borgia. Bishop of Nocera. Prince-Archbishop of Fermo.

Bonedicti xiii Romani Pontificis ... vita commentario

excerpta etc. Romae. 1741. 4º

Della Cristiana educazione de’ figliuoli. Omelie. Fermo. 1760. 8º

Indulto sopra il Precetto di astenersi dalle opere servili in

alcune Feste. 1752. 4º

Istoria della chiesa e città di Velletri descritta in quattro libri.

Stampatoria Vescovale. Nocera. 1723. 4º

(he also wrote a life of St. Gerald in 1698. Stefano Borgia in De Cruce Veliterna. 222.)

Antonio Borgia. Editor of

Poesie de’ Sig. Alunni e convitori del ... Vescovile Seminario ... di Frascati, dedicate all’Altezza Reale ... del Cardinale Duca d’York, etc.

Romae. 1772. 4º

Alexander Borgia. Teacher of Languages

Case of the Free Italian Church. 1877

Napoleon III. Italy on the eve of Freedom. 1860.

Novena of Meditations on Abuses of the Church of Rome. 1854.

Bartolomeo Borgia.

La sua vita. Milano. 1888. 8º

(He was a shoemaker of Fara Novarese, born 1818, died 1887; was converted to protestantism, and became connected with il Rev. MacDougall and il Dottore Stewart as Colportore della Societa Biblica Scozzese; made himself an evangelical nuisance, collided with the Established Church of the country, wherefore he and his family suffered persecution at the hands of ignorant papists. The book is illustrated by an awful photograph of this Borgia with a bible and a billycock-hat, preaching over a satchel, on a painted background.)

Constantinus Borgia. Son of Don Clemente Borgia, and grandson of Cavaliere Giampaolo Borgia of Velletri: prelate in Rome: died 1878.

De Cathedra Romana Sancti Petri Principis Apostolorum Oratio, etc.

Romae. 1845. 4º

374Damiano Borgia.

Free Christian Church in Italy. Rome. 1880

History of the Gospel in Fara Novarese; an episode of reform

in the nineteenth century. Florence. 1879.

Social Ruin, causes and remedies. 1894.

Fabrizio Borgia. Canon of Velletri. Bishop of Ferentino inter Hernicos, and brother of the Prince-Archbishop Alessandro Borgia of Fermo.

An Account of the Translation of St. Gerald. 1714.

Gasparo de Borja, Cardinal.

Ossuniano coniuratio quâ D. P. Gyron Ossunae Dux regnum Neapolitanum ... sibi desponderat, etc.: una cum relatione stratagematis quo Illustriss. Card̃lis Borgia ... in eam Provinciam sibi aditum ... fecerit. 1623. 4º

Girolamo Borgia, detto Seniore. Jurisconsult, Bishop of Massa Labrese, 1544 (Massa Sorrentana?)

Incendium ad Avernum Lacum horribile pridie Kal. Octobr.

MDXXXVIII nocte intempestata exortum. Neapoli. 1538.

Epithalamion. 1606. 12º

Juris Civilis, lib. XX. Bulifon. Naples. 1689 (1678?) fol.

Giuseppe di Lorenzo Borgia.

In morte del Cav. G. di Lorenzo Borgia ... avenuta il dì XXX Novembre MDCCCLXXXII. (Parole, etc.)

Noto. 1882. 8º

Niccolo Borgia.

Il concetto della civiltà greca e sua funzione nella storia.

Dissertatione su tema obbligato, etc. Napoli. 1881. 8º

Paulus Borgia.

De Rabie Canina dissertatio inauguralis, etc. Patavii. 1830. 8º

Rosario Borgia.

Poesie in idioma Calabrese. Napoli. 1839. 8º

These innocent little verses valuably preserve the dialect of what was once a Greek colony. The author was a priest of the Oratory of San Filippo Neri; and wrote sonnets

For a seminarist-friend,

To the same on becoming prefect of the seminary-kitchen,

On the Triumph of Christ,

On San Fortunato Martire,

On San Filippo Neri,

On the occasion of the death of his father, Don Francescantonio Borgia, Patrician of Mileto (a city of the commune of Mileto in Calabria, containing 3000 inhabitants,) etc., etc., etc.

Stefano Borgia, Cardinal.

Kalendarium Venetum saec. xj. ex Cod. Membranaceo Bibliotheca S.

Salvatoris Bononiae, a S.B. nunc primum in lucem editum. (Anecdota Literaria etc. II.) 1773. 8º

Fragmentum Copticum ex Actis S. Coluthi ... quod nunc primum in lucem profert S.B. (Anec. Lit. IIII.) 1773. 8º

375De miraculis Sancti Coluthi et reliquis actorum Sancti Panesnice martyrum ... Praeit dissertatio S. Card. B. de cultu S. Coluthi. 1793. 4º

Pii II oratio de bello Tureis inferendo, eruta ... et illustrata a S.B. 1774. 8º

Breve istoria del dominio temporale della Sede Apostolica nelle duc Sicilie. S.B. 1788–9. 4º

Difesa del dominio temporale della Sede Apostolica nelle due Sicilie. 1791. 4º

Breve istoria dell’antica città di Tadino nell’Umbria ed esatta relazione della ultime ricerche fatte sulle sue ruine. Romae 1751. 8º

De Cruce Vaticana en dono Justini Augusti in Parasceve maioris hebdomadae publicae venerationi exhiberi solita commentarius; cui accedit ritus salutationis Crucis in Ecclesia Autiochena Syrorum servatus nunc primum Syriaee et Latine editus adnotation ibusque inlustratus auctore S.B. Romae. 1779 fol.

De cruce Veliterna commentarius. Romae. 1780. 4º

Dissertatione filologica sopra un antica gemma intagliata (Caloghiera A. Nuova raccolta d’Opuscoli III.) 1775. 12º

Marmorea monumenta Beatissimo.... Pio VI. Pont. Opt. Mar ... a Veliternis ... in palatio senatorio dedicata S. Borgia ... typis evulgari curavit. Velletri. 1775. 4º

Memorie Istoriche della Pontificia Città di Benevento dal secolo VIII al secolo XVIII, etc. Tom. I. II. III. Roma. 1763–9. 4º

Monumento di Giovanni XVI. illustrato per S.B. Roma. 1750. 8º

Vaticana Confessio Beati Petri Principis Apostolorum, chronologicis tam veterum quam recentiorum scriptorum testimoniis inlustrata. Romae. 1776. 4º

“Improbe facit qui

“in aliquo libro

“ingeniosus est.”

Martiae.

Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.

London & Edinburgh

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

Page Changed from Changed to

111 Pontificum, sub anno. Gregorovius, Geschichts de Stadt VII. 340. Matarazzo Pontificum, sub anno. Gregorovius, Geschichts der Stadt VII. 340. Matarazzo

193 following is suggested at an explanation following is suggested as an explanation

226 בוווד‎––‏צמובה‎‎ בוווו‎––‏צמרכד‎

Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.

Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last chapter.