The Pope's Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice Della Rovere by Caroline P. Murphy Read Free Book Online

8
    Felice’s Departure
    For Giuliano della Rovere, of all the cardinals to be elected successor to Innocent VIII, there could have been no worse a choice than Rodrigo Borgia. For some time there had been friction between Giuliano and Rodrigo, himself the nephew of a former pope, Calixtus III. Rodrigo had endorsed Innocent VIII in conclave and raised support for him but felt the Pope had given him little reward for his efforts. He and Giuliano had quarrelled at Innocent’s deathbed, when Giuliano had defended the Pope’s right to distribute papal money to members of his own family, an act Rodrigo had protested against. Given that, as pope, Rodrigo would take benefiting his own family to an entirely new level, there is certain irony to be derived from such objection. Before the conclave began, Rodrigo embarked on a breathtakingly comprehensive plan of bribery to purchase the cardinals’ votes. He promised Cardinal Sforza the office of vice chancellor, to the Roman cardinals Orsini, Colonna and Savelli, he offered fortified towns or abbeys with large holdings in the Roman campagna . Rodrigo even included della Rovere relatives in his scheme, promising benefices to Raffaele Riario and a Benedictine abbey in Turin to a cousin from Savoy, Domenico della Rovere. But he knew he could not buy Giuliano della Rovere’s vote, nor that of Girolamo Basso della Rovere, who were united against Rodrigo by their own particular sense of family. However, their alliance was insufficient to withstand the overwhelming wave of Rodrigo’s supporters, all eager to collect their rewards to supplement their already lavish lifestyles. Infessura noted sarcastically, ‘As soon as [Alexander] became pope, he dispersed his property to the paupers.’ 1 Giuliano was not alone in his reservations about Alexander.
    The Borgia Pope planned to play on a much larger political stage than his predecessors had done. Like Sixtus, he made his family’s advancement a primary goal but Alexander had much greater ambitions, aiming to secure not just cardinals’ hats but dukedoms for his sons. And as a Spaniard, it was Spanish interests he promoted. Consequently, he made other European rulers, such as the Duke of Milan and the King of France, very uneasy. Seeking a cardinal who might stand with them against Alexander, a Milanese envoy wrote to his lord, ‘If Cardinal Giuliano can be got to ally himself with France, a tremendous weapon will have been forged against the Pope.’ 2 Giuliano was willing to turn himself into such a weapon. The position he had held when Innocent was pope had given him the opportunity to wield political influence and indulge in statesmanship in a way he had never experienced during his uncle’s reign. He had no desire to return to a life where he existed only on the periphery of power. But such a decision was not without consequence. To take a public stance in Rome, with the intent of overthrowing the incumbent pope, posed a threat to his very life. Alexander’s ambition outstripped that of his predecessors, and so did his ferocity; he would not hesitate to have Giuliano assassinated. On 24 April 1494 , Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere set sail, under cover of darkness, from the port of Rome at Ostia, a bishopric he had once held. He stopped briefly in his home territory of Genoa and Savona, and from there he made his way to France. He would not see Rome again for almost a decade. His principal mission now was to advise Charles VIII, King of France, on the best ways to attack Alexander in Italy. 3 However, it was not simply a matter of Rome now being too dangerous for Giuliano. Felice, too, was at risk. Many parents valued their children for what they might bring to the family in later life, in the form of a spouse or a position of influence. But for those in a politically volatile state, children could be a weak point, a means by which a parent could be controlled. Giuliano understood very well the potential of this kind of threat.