"... Sunday... news came ... of a rising of the people... against Pietro de' Medici and his troops. Their houses had been sacked and, it was said, everyone had been exiled. Don Pietro's brother, Cardinal de'Medici, escaped from the city, though not without considerable danger to his life, whilst all those in Florence associated with the Medici only avoided almost certain death by flight." [p. 91]Partisans against the Medici family had seized control. The phrase 'everyone had been exiled', meant those family members and partisans selected for capture and exile. Many of these had bounties or rewards offered and proclaimed officially by those newly placed to make such proclamations. The Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola had been elevated to prior of San Marco in Florence and personally had welcomed the king of French into the city as a 'Minister of God and Justice.'
Burchard, at his state of remove in Rome may have heard that Cardinal de'Medici had himself passed on to Bologna, and thus his story, and his inclusion here by name. But this also gives a window into Burchard's view of things. The news that Piero had gone on to Venice to ask for help would also necessarily arrive but Burchard doesn't mention that or the elevation of Savonarola. It was Cardinal de'Medici, as a cardinal, that the Church would be most immediately concerned about, as a servant and messenger of the Church, per se.
Those 'associated with' are mentioned by Burchard, as well, but are given such distinction by showing how distant they are. Their very fate comes into question with the uncertain phrase, 'almost certain death', which is not at all a sporting reference, and it seems, purposely horrific. He goes on.
"On Saturday, November 15th, Cardinal Peraudi obtained permission from His Holiness to go to the French king. [Having appealed]... day and night... to make the path to Rome smooth for his king, he therefore schemed for the pope to send him... on the pretext that he wanted to appease him and persuade him not to come to the city. Permission was duly granted and, on that same morning, he went out of his way to assure us, with lying and deceitful words, that his sole aim was to strengthen the power of the church and the peace and well being of the people. Then he left Rome to join the french king in Florence." [pp 91-2]This was French Augustinian Cardinal Raymond Peraudi who went on to make a great trade in selling pamphlets for the reform of the church. The book linked by Andrew Pettegree which mentions Peraudi is new (2014) from Yale University Press, and looks interesting. Burchard clearly didn't like him.
The following Monday, November 17 was the day that Burchard said French King Charles VIII first entered Florence.
"... in great honour and triumph, accompanied by a large body of cavalry and heavily armed infantry... there he settled various matters with the Florentines. On the church doors and in other public places was written up in golden letters the slogan, "Peace and the Restoration of Liberty'; meetings and detailed discussions began...." [p. 92]These discussions culminated in the cession of certain holdings - Pisa and the important harbor town, Leghorn - that would go to the French for the duration of the war. Still other previous holdings would go to allies of the French. Sarzana would go to Genoa, Pietrasanta would go to Lucca. In addition, Florence, according to Burchard, would give the king 130,000 ducats in the next year and 12,000 ducats each additional year for France, until the end of the war. These conditions were all read to the public after Mass was held, Thursday, November 20, in the great Duomo of Florence and the proper authorities then took the appropriate oaths.
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Johann Burchard: At The Court of the Borgia translated for english, with introduction by Geoffrey Parker, The Folio Society, Ltd, 1963
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