The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi by Jacqueline Park Read Free Book Online Page B

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    Tonight i copied two letters that made me wish you had been a fly on the wall of Madama’s sala . Then the thought occurred, why not make copies for you, in my immaculate hand? Why not put aside, even search out, documents in which you will hear these people speak in their own voices as I do?
    Tomorrow I will purchase a fine wooden box with two locks in which to keep my purloined documents, singular ones winnowed out of the vast number that pass through my hands, which I trust will amuse, entertain, even edify you. Thus begins Danilo’s Archive, a scribe’s gift to the son she loves more than her own life.
TO ISABELLA, DOWAGER MARCHESANA OF MANTOVA AT ROMA
Honored and Most Illustrious Mother:
I send you this by a courier with orders not to stop riding until he reaches Roma. A dependable witness advises that Georg Frundsberg, the Emperor’s German feudatory, has gathered together an army of thirteen thousand landsknechts from Swabia, Bavaria, Franconia, and the Tyrol. He proposes to duplicate Hannibal’s feat by crossing the Alps of Savoia into Italy. He rides with a golden garotte swinging from his saddle which he swears he will use to strangle the Pope with his own hands. But before he can accomplish that he must pass through our territory.
To be blunt, Madama, these damn Germans threaten to bring the Emperor’s war to our doorstep. If they succeed in crossing the Alps, they will surely pass through the Mantovana on their way to join with Bourbon’s forces at Milano. I ask you, respected mother, what am I to reply to this Frundsberg when he asks for safe passage through my lands?
Only last week the Holy Father wrote to remind me that, as gonfaloniere in his army, I am bound to serve in his League if needed. Does his Holiness not understand that I cannot go to war against the Emperor who is my liege lord? Can you perhaps explain it to him?
I blame the whole mess on that German priest, Luther. It is he who fired up the Germans and set the Emperor against the Pope and left me in the middle. How will I persuade them to leave us in peace, mother? Do you have a plan? I await your words of wisdom.
Your most respectful and admiring son,
Federico Gonzaga.
Encoded in cipher at Mantova. October 21, 1526.
TO MARCHESE FEDERICO GONZAGA AT MANTOVA
Most Illustrious Marchese and Loved Son:
You must know out of your own wisdom that if Count Frundsberg does prove himself a second Hannibal and manages to present himself at your doorstep, you have no choice but to grant him safe passage through the Mantovan territory. If you do not, he will march across you anyway. But, by giving the permission freely you will be in a position to extract guarantees of safety for our towns and our people.
If he calls on you for men and arms, promise whatever satisfies him — troops, barges, cannons, anything. But make sure these are delayed in their delivery, indefinitely. It may help to send ahead to his camp small tokens of your friendship, but in untraceable form. Those you choose to bear your gifts must swear to die rather than reveal the source. Above all, do not allow yourself to be recruited. In a similar predicament your father availed himself of the assistance of a trusted physician and the blood of a pig. Need I say more?
Remember this. Stay above the fray no matter what means you must resort to. Strict neutrality is the rock on which the safety of our state rests. Stand firm on that rock.
Your mother, whose love for you is the first thing in her life,
(signed) Isabella d’Este da Gonzaga,
Roma, October 28, 1526.
Written in the hand of her secretary, Grazia dei Rossi.

4
    “I n these times, so trying to the soul, everyone needs to divert himself occasionally, do you not agree, Grazia?”
    Madonna Isabella’s question does not require an answer. Whenever she feels the chill breath of danger, she plans a party. It is second nature to her. It is also in her nature to explain away these occasions as acts of charity.
    “This city is in the