Note *218 — Chapter XXXI

The best contemporary account of Djem is that of Guglielmo Caoursin, Obsidimis Rhodii Urbis Descriptio (Ulm, 1496). Cf. Burchard (ed. Thuasne), I., p. 528. The amount seems to have been 45,000 ducats. See especially Heidenheimer, Korrespondenz Bajazet II.'s mit Alexander VI., in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, vol. V., p. 511 et seq. As usual, Creighton's account, op. cit., vol. IV., is most excellent, written with the pen of a statesman. Heidenheimer maintains the authenticity of the letters, and Creighton agrees with him. "If the letters were forged, the forgery was the work of Giovanni della Rovere," but there is no good ground for questioning their genuineness.