Pope Alexander VI Sends Rudolf of Anhalt to Petition Emperor Maximilian I: November 24, 1494

It was a week or ten days after the French King Charles VIII entered Florence that he departed with his train south for Rome. With Piero de Medici appealing to far off Venice for aid, friar Savonarola was elevated to a central deciding position in the center of Florence. This major turn in that city would have far reaching effects that would extend beyond the city, across the region for decades.

The forces of Ferdinand coming from Naples were wheeling around Italy but plainly failing in most places that they turned up. The various papal lands, numerous castles and other holdings found themselves as well, in many cases, increasingly closer to capitulation to the French. Pope Alexander VI remained in Rome but found himself in increasingly desperate straits. As Piero de Medici had gone to Venice to seek help and advice, the pope decided to ask for help from the Emperor in the German lands.

News arrived in Rome from Florence of the changes in the north, and that the French were again on the move. Johann Burchard, the pope's Master of Ceremonies gives us these details of the scene.

"When he learnt what had been happening, the pope, on Monday, November 24th, summoned to his presence His Magnificence Don Rudolf, the Prince of Anhalt, Count of Ascona and Lord of Berberg, to whom (through me as interpreter) he complained about the insolence shown to the Holy Roman Church by the King of France. His Holiness protested that the king was seeking not only to create a kingdom for himself from the cities and lands of Italy that rightfully belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, but also to usurp the title and authority of that Empire. This the pope would never submit to, even if a naked sword were held to his throat, and he therefore asked that His Highness Maximilian, the King of the Romans, as the only Advocate of the Holy Roman Church, should be informed of these things, and should be exhorted most earnestly to succour the Holy Roman Church, the Holy Roman Empire, and the whole of Italy with the aid essential for their honour and good. This commission the Prince of Anhalt humbly undertook to carry out." [p. 93]

Rudolf of Anhalt was a most distinguished noble in German lands, and a co-Prince with his brothers of the state of Anhalt, north of Liepzig, east of Berlin. Acting as Imperial ambassador to the pope, he had served both Maximilian and his predecessor Frederick III. But petitions for any ambassador of this magnitude - from pope to emperor - had their own complex set of histories. The Guelph or Ghibelline conflicts between those cities and powers - the supporting of either papal or imperial factions, respectively, and there were several, but mostly in Italy, but also elsewhere - had faded in large part. But these histories were part of the never ending conversation, about power and control and who could use it. These set of controversies often had been at the center of conflicts up and down the peninsula for centuries. But under direction and strict oath to the pope, Prince Don Rudolf, in his role as dutiful servant and sacred knight for his Emperor went speeding north, with his entourage and protection and servants, to find him.

__________________________________________________

Johann Burchard: At The Court of the Borgia translated for english, with introduction by Geoffrey Parker, The Folio Society, Ltd, 1963

"Peace and the Restoration of Liberty": French King Charles VIII Enters Florence: November 17, 1494

News of the revolt in Florence arrived in Rome by November 9, 1494, acccording to Johann Burchard, Master of Ceremonies for then Pope Alexander VI.  This servant of the pope thought this situation in Florence was severe enough to give a few details mixed with a pointed comment about 'those associated with' the outgoing Medici clan.

"... 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.

______________________________________________
Johann Burchard: At The Court of the Borgia translated for english, with introduction by Geoffrey Parker, The Folio Society, Ltd, 1963

Pope Alexander VI Sends Cardinal Ascanio to Florence: November 3, 1494

Johann Burchard tells us pope Alexander VI held a consistory which all the cardinals except one attended. It lasted about two hours when it was decided Cardinal Ascanio Sforza should go to Florence and meet and settle things with the French King Charles who was soon to arrive there. Then the pope dined with this cardinal in the Vatican and afterward, Cardinal Giovanni Borgia saw him off as far as the Tiber by San Paolo in Rome. Cardinal Ascanio then boarded a ship that took him downstream to Ostia and then onwards to Florence.

This Cardinal Ascanio Sforza had been acting all summer as a diplomat between the French court and the papacy. As the son of Francesco he was brother to Ludovico, now the actual duke of Milan. Known to be acting reliably to work the advantage of his family and his brother, the pope still needed his counsel to get a sense of French intentions. There was still no word from Venice, from the Spanish king, or Emperor Maximillian. The French had landed at Ostia and taken control of it. Ascanio for his part had spent most of the year going to and fro discussing the various options with the central players. Undoubtedly after discussions with Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, Cardinal Ascanio had spread talk of establishing a General Council for reform of the Church and perhaps of ousting the Borgia pope.

When at last, in October, the French forces turned south in Tuscany and headed for Florence, Ascanio returned to Rome. Burchard's translator and annotator Geoffery Parker tells us that Ascanio in November, was able to offer ways for the pope to avoid the French coming to Rome. Then he returned to Florence with word from the pope. As papal master of ceremonies this is all Burchard tells us. Further events would manifest additional responses. [pp 90-1]

As the clouds seemed to gather all year in Rome, matters had grown dark for some time in Florence. The halcyonic glory days of Lorenzo Magnifico were over. In place of their devotions to him and his family, the passions of the people fell into factions and the minds of many were taking darker turns. Girolamo Savonarola, Dominican friar at San Marco, preaching the end of times, echoed the fears of too many that a terrible tyrant would be sent across the Alps to punish Florence. At times a foreign Cyrus, and at times the angel of reform, for years a great scourge, he proclaimed, was coming soon to lay low the once proud Florence. Now, the French were on the road and the only hope in stemming the prophesied destruction was in pleading for a greater reformation in the larger, thoroughly corrupted Church.

The theme of reforming the Church was a centuries old set of problems. The Council of Basel which ended in Lausanne in 1448 had succeeded in unifying the papacy but not reforming the Church. The notion of a Council reforming the papcy or the Church might itself be acceptable, but the direction that such reform might take was far from certain or agreed on. There were weighty issues of the relations between the orders, and issues involving jurisdiction for servants of the Church in the lands of the Holy Roman Emperor. There were many sovereignties demanding exceptions, and dispensations, as there were many who saw such activitities as scandalous. But reform was certainly not just a recent or merely local concern. It was far worse than that for Savonarola and his followers in wealthy Florence.

In Florence, there were the anti de Medici factions, those more favorable to them, and those still dedicated partisans.  But after the loss of Lorenzo it seemed the spirit of  the city had either left it, or was left shuttered behind closed doors for security. Christopher Hibbert quotes an unnnamed envoy from Mantua who described the people there as fasting three days a week, the women and girls all entered into convents, and only men, boys and old women seen on the streets [p. 152]. This was, in part, response to the preachings of Savonarola who equated the coming French armies with the approaching sword of God, descending to snatch the unwary.

When word had reached Florence of the 'settlement' that Piero d'Medici had come to with the French King, the streets filled up with protesters. Piero had expected upon returning to reassure the people, that he had saved the city from invasion. Armed with stones, embittered about the accumulation of wealth and power, they would hear none of it. Piero was able to sneak into the city, gather up his closest family members, and the next day, retire well away from the city of his birth, that his family had tried to benevolently lead. Other family members and partisans tried to remove as much of the de Medici treasure as possible, but in the mobs that engulfed the family palazzo, in the following days, much was lost. The Signoria elected to assign bounties for the capture of members of the de Medici clan. After a few more days, it was friar Savonarola who was selected to go and try to plead with the French King on behalf of the city.

________________________________________________
Johann Burchard: At The Court of the Borgia translated for english, with introduction by Geoffrey Parker, The Folio Society, Ltd, 1963

Hibbert, Christopher: Florence: The biography of a city; Penguin Books, London, renewed 2004