Isabella D'Este and Francesco Gonzaga: Power Sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court 1409448312, 9781409448310

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Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Women and Gender in the Early Modern World Series Editors: Allyson Poska, The University of Mary Washington, USA Abby Zanger The study of women and gender offers some of the most vital and innovative challenges to current scholarship on the early modern period. For more than a decade now, “Women and Gender in the Early Modern World” has served as a forum for presenting fresh ideas and original approaches to the field. Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary in scope, this Ashgate book series strives to reach beyond geographical limitations to explore the experiences of early modern women and the nature of gender in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. We welcome proposals for both single-author volumes and edited collections which expand and develop this continually evolving field of study. Titles in the series include Art, Gender and Religious Devotion in Grand Ducal Tuscany Alice Sanger Women, Art and Architectural Patronage in Renaissance Mantua Matrons, Mystics and Monasteries Sally Anne Hickson Caterina Sforza and the Art of Appearances Gender, Art and Culture in Early Modern Italy Joyce de Vries Women, Art, and Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580 Negotiating Power Katherine A. McIver Dominican Women and Renaissance Art The Convent of San Domenico of Pisa Ann Roberts The Medici Women Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence Natalie R. Tomas

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Power Sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court

Sarah D.P. Cockram University of Edinburgh, UK

First published 2013 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © Sarah D.P. Cockram 2013 Sarah D.P. Cockram has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Cockram, Sarah D. P. Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga: Power Sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court. – (Women and Gender in the Early Modern World) 1. Isabella d’Este, consort of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, 1474–1539. 2. Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, 1466–1519. 3. Mantua (Duchy) – Kings and rulers. 4. Mantua (Duchy) – Court and courtiers – History – 16th century. I. Title II. Series 945.2’8106’0922–dc23 The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Cockram, Sarah D. P. Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga: Power Sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court / by Sarah D.P. Cockram. pages cm. – (Women and Gender in the Early Modern World) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Isabella d’Este, consort of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, 1474–1539. 2. Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, 1466–1519. 3. Mantua (Duchy) – Kings and rulers – Biography. 4. Renaissance – Italy – Biography. 5. Nobility – Italy – Biography. 6. Power (Social sciences) – Italy – History. 7. Mantua (Duchy) – History. 8. Italy – History – 1492–1559. 9. Italy – Politics and government – 1268–1559. 10. Italy – History – 1492-1559 – Sources. I. Title. DG540.8.I7C62 2013 945’.281060922 – dc23 [B] 2012048380 ISBN 9781409448310 (hbk) ISBN 9781315589879 (ebk)

To Paul, Eve and Daniel

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Contents List of Illustrations  

ix

Notes on Usage  

xi

List of Abbreviations  

xiii

Acknowledgements  

xv

Photograph Credits  

xvii

Introduction  

1

1

Letters and Lies  

29

2

Power Sharing  

49

3

The Elimination of Threats to the Marchesa’s Authority  

87

4

Disgruntled Diplomats and Scissor Attacks: Divided Fronts in the Court Environment  

111

5

International Diplomacy: The Borgia Menace  

127

6

Overcoming Tension and Troubles  

159

Conclusion  

193

Appendix  

197

Bibliography  

223

Index  

247

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List of Illustrations

Illustrations 0.1 0.2 0.3 1.1 2.1 3.1 3.2 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3

The ceiling of the Sala delle Sigle. Mantua, Ducal Palace. Portrait of Isabella d’Este by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500. Paris, Louvre (Cabinet des Dessins). Terracotta bust of Francesco Gonzaga by Gian Cristoforo Romano, c. 1498. Mantua, Ducal Palace. Francesco Gonzaga to Benedetto Tosabezzi, Mantua, 5 August 1494. Plate with Isabellian imprese and Francesco Gonzaga’s crucible device by Nicola da Urbino, c. 1525. London, British Museum. Isabella d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, Mantua, 23 November 1500. Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 2 April 1508. The Brognolo Episode, An Isabellian Information Web. Francesco Gonzaga to Isabella d’Este, Asti, 18 July 1502. Isabella’s forgery: Francesco Gonzaga to Isabella d’Este, Asti, 18 July 1502. An example of Isabella’s secretary’s hand.

1 11 11 40 76 97 104 120 139 140 141

Maps 0.1 0.2

Italy c.1490 (with inset of the Po valley). Mantuan territory, with principal Gonzaga residences under Francesco II Gonzaga.

14 15

Genealogies 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

The Este. The Gonzaga. The Family of Alexander VI. The Lords of Urbino.

16 17 24 25

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Notes on Usage Unless otherwise stated all letters referenced are found in the Archivio Gonzaga of the Archivio di Stato, Mantua. Archival references are given to include sender and addressee, place of sending, date (day, month, year), and archival location (including recto/verso where relevant). Where multiple copies of letters exist (for instance, a sent copy and a chancery draft), for reasons of space only one reference is usually given. When quoting letters previously used by other authors, where all archival information has not originally been provided (as in the case of Luzio or Pizzagalli, who supply no archival locations, or with scholars who give no place of sending), I have checked in the archive in order to provide full references in this study. I do not attempt to list all locations in which documents have been published, for reasons of space, but try to provide a reference for all published documents cited. If no citation to secondary literature is given, a document is, to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing, unpublished. As this study is based on epistolary evidence, within restrictions of word limits, I have tried to give full quotations from letters so far unpublished. I have also included many quotations from letters published in whole or part by others, especially by Luzio. Many of these contributions are currently available only in obscure publications, and so a cross-reference alone would be unhelpful. I have checked all quotations against the originals in Mantua. I have given different readings in many cases; and have quoted more fully from some letters than has been published, which can alter the overall understanding of the letter. A selection of notable correspondence is provided in an Appendix. Deanna Shemek is working on a much-needed edition of Isabella’s letters. All transcriptions are my own, original spelling is retained but for ease of reading punctuation, accent marks, and capitalisation are modernised. All abbreviations are expanded except for honorifics. Lacunae are shown by (…), sections I omit are shown by […]. I have translated central passages in the text, and all translations from Italian are my own. Poetry is given in parallel text.

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List of Abbreviations b. c. f. fasc. L. n.n. r v

= = = = = = = =

busta carta folio fascicolo libro not numbered recto verso

Car.le D. Ex. V. Hon. Ill.mo M.a M.V. Mons.re M.tà Chr.ma R.ne Rev.mo Rev.tia S. Ser.mo S. M.tà Sp. S.r, S.re, Sig.re S. S. S. S.tà S. V. S.tà di N. S. V. A. V. Ex. V. Cel. V. M. V. S.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Cardinale Domine Excellentia Vostra Honorando/ Honorandissimo IllustrissimoM. = Messer Madonna, Madama Magnificentia Vostra Monsignore Maestà Christianissimap.to = prefato, predetto recommendatione Reverendissimo Reverentia Signore, Signoria Serenissimo Sua Maestà spectabilis Signore Sua Signoria Sua Santità Signoria Vostra Santità di Nostro Signore Vostra Altezza Vostra Excellentia Vostra Celsitudine Vostra Magnificentia Vostra Signoria

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

xiv

ASI ASL CM DBI GSLI JWCI RQ RS

= = = = = = = =

Archivio Storico Italiano Archivio Storico Lombardo Civiltà Mantovana Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Renaissance Quarterly Renaissance Studies

Acknowledgements This research was funded by an AHRC Doctoral Award and my final research trip to Mantua was kindly aided by a Society for Renaissance Studies Travel Fellowship. The School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh contributed toward publication expenses. In addition to thanking my funders, I owe a great debt of gratitude to the many people who helped make this work possible, and made it such an immense pleasure to research and write. Here I name only a few, and I apologise to those I omit. Naturally any errors in this work are all my own and no fault of these good people. Firstly, I thank the staff of the Italian department at Glasgow University. Professor Eileen Anne Millar instilled in me a love of all things Italian, and Éanna Ó Ceallacháin, Penny Morris, Domenico Zanrè, Arabella Infantino, and Georgina Nannetti assisted and inspired me in my undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Also at the University of Glasgow, I must make special mention of my doctoral supervisor Professor Christopher Black for his unfailing guidance and insights. I thank Elizabeth Black too for her hospitality. I am deeply indebted to the director and staff of the Archivio di Stato, Mantua, for their welcoming and professional assistance. I thank all those whose kindness and friendship made my time in Mantua so enjoyable, to name but a few: Giulia Irene Aiello, Diego Furgeri, Barbara Furlotti, Paul Hare, Franca Maestrini, and Laura Melli. I also thank Franco Moroni for arranging for me to visit Isabella’s rooms in the Castello and Margherita Ruocco for her help. I am very grateful to all those scholars who have aided and encouraged me – in Mantua; at conferences and workshops in the USA, Canada, and the UK; and by e-mail – exchanging ideas and unpublished papers. My appreciation goes to Francis Ames-Lewis, Molly Bourne, Judith Bryce, Catherine Fletcher, Carolyn James, Marie-Louise Leonard, Roberta Piccinelli, Denis Reidy, Jon Usher, Raffaele Tamalio, Valerie Taylor, and Evelyn Welch. I especially thank Deanna Shemek. I also thank my colleagues at the University of Edinburgh including Monica Azzolini, Tom Brown, Ewen Cameron, Viccy Coltman, Alan Day, Tom Devine, Chris Harding, Irene Mariani, Andrew Wells and particularly Stephen Bowd and Jill Burke. I must acknowledge the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, a place of contemplation and scholarly cooperation, and thank IASH staff and fellows, above all Susan Manning, Anthea Taylor, Bronach Kane and Alex Watson. My students over the years at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh have also been a joy, asking fruitful questions and making many perceptive comments on Isabella d’Este and her times.

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It has been a pleasure to work with the team at Ashgate and I thank Erika Gaffney and Kirsten Weissenberg, as well as the anonymous reader who gave such a positive and valuable report. Several studies have been published too late to be incorporated in this work, they include Francis Ames-Lewis, Isabella and Leonardo: The Artistic Relationship Between Isabella d’Este and Leonardo da Vinci (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012); Sally Hickson, Women, Art and Architectural Patronage in Renaissance Mantua: Matrons, Mystics and Monasteries (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012); and Carolyn James, ‘Marriage by Correspondence: Politics and Domesticity in the Letters of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga, 1490–1519’, Renaissance Quarterly, 65, 2 (2012), 321-352. Some of the material published in Chapter 5 of this book has appeared in print in Sarah Cockram, ‘Epistolary Masks: Self-presentation and Dissimulation in the Letters of Isabella d’Este’, Italian Studies, 64, 1 (2009), 20–37. I am grateful to Maney Publishing for their permission to use it here. Finally to my greatest debts, for their enthusiasm and belief my heartfelt thanks go to my parents; all those of the families Blanche, Cockram, and Charles; my wonderful friends; and, above all, Paul.

Photograph Credits Author: Figure 4.1, Genealogical Tables 0.3 and 0.4. Mantua, Archivio di Stato, concession no. 35/2012: Figures 3.1, 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3; concession no. 38/2012: Figures 1.1 and 3.2. Mantua, Palazzo Ducale, by concession of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali: Figure 0.1 and cover. © 2012 Photo Scala, Florence: Figure 0.2. © 2012. Photo Scala, Florence – courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali: Figure 0.3. © The Trustees of the British Museum: Figure 2.1. Map 0.1: Reproduced from Sir Adolphus William Ward, G.W. Prothero, Sir Stanley Mordaunt Leathes, and E.A. Benians, eds, The Cambridge Modern History Atlas, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1912), Map 4. Map 0.2: Reproduced from Molly Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga: The SoldierPrince as Patron (Rome: Bulzoni, 2008), p. 620, by permission of Bulzoni Editore S.r.l. Genealogical Tables 0.1 and 0.2: Reproduced from Julia Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, Volume 1 (London: John Murray, 1903), pp. 393–394.

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Introduction In the Castello di San Giorgio of the Ducal Palace in Mantua, near Mantegna’s famous Camera degli Sposi, is a room celebrating nuptial union. It is in the apartments given to Isabella d’Este (1474–1539) on her arrival in Mantua as marchesa, the fifteen-year-old bride of the city’s fourth marchese, Francesco Gonzaga (1466–1519). The ceiling of this room, known as the Sala delle Sigle, is still attractively emblazoned today with the intertwined initials F and IS of the couple’s names (Figure 0.1). This book examines the relationship proclaimed on that vaulted ceiling. It is a partnership long dismissed in the substantial volume of scholarship on Isabella d’Este, traditionally studied for her importance as a rare female patron of art, music, and literature, and cast as working in isolation from a culturally and politically inept husband. When I first visited Mantua’s Archivio Gonzaga as a doctoral student, I too intended to focus just on Isabella, and look at her self-presentation in pursuit of individual power. But I was immediately struck by the wealth of archival sources that contradict established scholarship concerning Isabella’s relationship with her husband. These provide compelling Figure 0.1 The ceiling of the Sala evidence of strategic teamwork between delle Sigle. Mantua, Ducal Palace. the couple. This study illuminates Isabella’s place as co-ruler of Mantua and shows power sharing in action, with shared human, material, and cultural resources; joint administration and exercise of authority and justice; and common diplomatic policy. Along the way, this work also sheds light on episodes of assassination, seduction, and intrigue, in diplomacy and in the court life that unfolded under such fine painted ceilings.

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

2

The Bias of Previous Studies The need for a work demonstrating the power sharing of the Mantuan marchesi derives from the historiographical bias of studies that stressed Isabella’s dominance, creating, as Molly Bourne puts it, ‘the unusual historical phenomenon of a female consort who has overshadowed her husband’.1 This partiality, seeing Francesco as a convenient foil in antithesis to his exceptional consort, was largely established by the seminal and tireless publications of the late nineteenth- and early twentiethcentury historians Alessandro Luzio and Rodolfo Renier.2 Throughout their works the marchese is contrasted negatively with his wife, for instance: his ‘arrogant vanity’ with her ‘natural goodness’; she with the acumen of a ‘Machiavelli in skirts’, he ‘just a laughing stock in the hands of his wife’; he an ‘oaf’, driven by an ‘impetuous and unbridled sensuality’, she in possession of ‘superiority of character and mind’.3 The unfortunately enduring stock line describes Francesco’s animal nature (occasionally credited with bravery), and his ugly, bestial appearance (often objectionably described disparagingly as African in type) in contrast to Isabella’s beauty.4

  Molly Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga: The Soldier-Prince as Patron (Rome, 2008), p. 272. 2   For Luzio and Renier’s works see Raffaele Tamalio, La memoria dei Gonzaga: Repertorio bibliografico gonzaghesco (1473–1999) (Florence, 1999). 3   ‘Vanità arrogante’, ‘naturale bontà’; ‘Machiavelli in gonnella’, ‘soltanto uno zimbello nelle mani della moglie’; ‘bestione’, ‘impetuosa e sfrenata sensualità’, ‘superiorità d’animo e di mente’. Luzio, ‘La reggenza d’Isabella d’Este durante la prigonia del marito (1509–1510)’, ASL, 14 (1910), 5–104, citing pp. 11, 26, 71, 86–7, and ‘Isabella d’Este e Francesco Gonzaga promessi sposi’, ASL, 9 (1908), pp. 34–69, p. 44. The latter work also makes manifest the author’s partiality in describing the betrothed Isabella and Francesco thus: ‘un abisso pareva […] separare, fisicamente e moralmente, que’ due esseri: lui, indomito e selvaggio, con quel viso fiero e sensuale d’Etiope; lei, patita, diafana, tutta grazia e soavità adorabile’, p. 42. 4   In her biography of Castiglione, Julia Cartwright describes Francesco as: ‘this rough, fiery soldier […] of too coarse a mould to appreciate the finer shades of Baldassare’s nature […] Francesco’s brutal temper and recklessness in the means which he used to attain his selfish ends, must often have jarred on Baldassare’s nobler and more elevated nature […] With the Marchioness Isabella it was altogether different’, Baldassare Castiglione, the Perfect Courtier: His life and Letters 1478–1529, 2 vols (London, 1908), I, p. 27. Robert de la Sizeranne’s description of Francesco’s physiognomy is so objectionable as to be unrepeatable, Celebrities of the Italian Renaissance in Florence and in the Louvre, trans. by Jeffery E. Jeffery (London, 1926), p. 155. He credited Isabella with beauty and superiority: ‘such as he was, Isabella d’Este loved him – and only him. But she also loved ideas, and of these, outside hunting and horses, her husband does not appear to have had many’, pp. 149, 156. Orville Prescott in his very enjoyable Princes of the Renaissance (London, 1969), says ‘the short, popeyed, snub-nosed Marquis had a reputation for courage’, p. 24. See also G. Benzoni, ‘Francesco II Gonzaga’, DBI, 49, pp. 771–83. 1

Introduction

3

Although scholars in direct contact with the archival materials have disagreed with this assessment, the view of the marchese as an unrefined soldier and breeder of horses and dogs still prevails.5 This tendency led Stephen Kolsky to call for ‘a full-scale re-evaluation of Francesco Gonzaga, particularly of his cultural patronage which many scholars, under Luzio’s influence, fail to recognise or refuse to believe […] could exist’.6 In the area of art patronage, Molly Bourne and Clifford M. Brown have tackled this prejudice, defined by the latter as ‘Luzio Syndrome’, and have made significant steps in beginning to redress the balance between the marchesi in the cultural sphere.7 This study adds to a renewed appreciation of Francesco and Isabella’s cultural teamwork by demonstrating their partnership in the political arena. Using compelling, often unpublished, evidence of shared statecraft, it attempts to 5   Pro-Isabella writers tend to amplify Francesco’s role as stooge, while anti-Isabella writers often portray him as hen-pecked. J. M. Fletcher, for instance, states: ‘irritated by her independence and her greed for culture, [Francesco] exaggerated his martial image and posed as a man of brawn and little brain’, ‘Isabella d’Este, Patron and Collector’, in Splendours of the Gonzaga, ed. by David Chambers and Jane Martineau (London, 1982), pp. 51–63, p. 51. Clifford M. Brown, however, depicts a very different Francesco from Luzio’s marchese, a man with ‘a remarkable sense of family, […] love of the visual arts, […and] sensitivity to his wife’s special concerns’, ‘A Ferrarese Lady and a Mantuan Marchesa: The Art and Antiquities Collections of Isabella d’Este Gonzaga (1474–1539)’, in Women and Art in Early Modern Europe: Patrons, Collectors, and Connoisseurs, ed. by Cynthia Lawrence (University Park, Pa., 1997), pp. 53–71, p. 55. Rita Castagna similarly concludes from examination of archival sources that Francesco was a likeable, family man: ‘uomo pieno di umanità, di natura affabile e gioviale, dotato di un’esuberanza che si sfogava volentieri nelle cacce, nei divertimenti, negli amori, unita a un sano senso dell’umorismo, da buon lombardo che ama le cose semplici della vita’, ‘Vita di corte e note di costume del periodo isabelliano in tempo di guerra’, in Guerre, stati e città. Mantova e l’Italia Padana dal secolo XIII al XIX, ed. by Carlo Marco Belfanti, Francesco Fantini D’Onofrio, and Daniela Ferrari (Mantua, 1988), pp. 295–313, p. 295. 6   Stephen Kolsky, Mario Equicola: The Real Courtier (Geneva, 1991), p. 133n. 7   Clifford M. Brown and Anna Maria Lorenzoni: ‘“Concludo che non vidi mai la più bella casa in Italia”: The Frescoed Decorations in Francesco II Gonzaga’s Suburban Villa in the Mantuan Countryside at Gonzaga (1491–1496), RQ, 49, 2 (1996), 268–302; and ‘The Palazzo di San Sebastiano (1506–1512) and the Art Patronage of Francesco II Gonzaga, Fourth Marquis of Mantua’, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 129 (1997), 131–80. Brown, ‘The “Camera del Mapamondo et del Caiero” in the Palazzo di San Sebastiano in Mantua’, The Journal of Jewish Art, 10 (1984), 32–46. Bourne: Francesco II Gonzaga; ‘Francesco II Gonzaga and Maps as Palace Decoration in Renaissance Mantua’, Imago Mundi, the International Journal for the History of Cartography, 51 (1999), 51–82; ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives as Patrons of Art: The Camerini of Isabella d’Este and Francesco II Gonzaga’, in Beyond Isabella, ed. by Sheryl E. Reiss and David G. Wilkins (Kirksville, 2001), 93–123; and ‘Francesco II Gonzaga, condottiero e committente d’arte’, in Mantegna a Mantova 1460–1506, ed. by Mauro Lucco (Milan, 2006), pp. 19–25.

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reassess the Luzian view of Francesco’s lack of intelligent political involvement, recognising his lasting collaborative contribution to the security of his state. This work does not, however, attempt to de-value Isabella. It shows her talents as stateswoman who often played a vital role in guiding Gonzaga policy, and gives the marchesa her full political authority, exercised in intelligent co-rule with her husband. In this way, Isabella is seen in a more complete light than studies of her cultural activities alone allow, the bias against Francesco’s political contribution is rebalanced, and a blueprint for the power sharing of ruling couples is provided, in what future research may reveal to be a far from rare scenario. Isabella was one of the foremost figures of her age, her rich correspondence is well preserved, and her activities are a great draw to scholars. It is significant, however, that, beyond Luzio and Renier, Isabella’s own political achievements have been largely ignored by those focused on her patronage of artists and writers. For instance, while Luzio saw Isabella chiefly as a political figure, his contemporary Julia Cartwright judged the marchesa’s contribution to have been primarily cultural.8 This work widens the boundaries of Isabellian studies to show her power sharing with Francesco, in a model which fits well with her cultural activities. Indeed, Isabella’s meticulous tactics of self-presentation through a range of cultural channels, including patronage and collecting of art, music, literature and fashion, were directed at projecting a reputation as both a virile authority and a virtuous consort.9 Isabella aimed to possess influence and fame without arousing opposition in an age antagonistic to unambiguously dominant women, even consorts. Thus, she deployed conscious self-fashioning and careful image management to direct her 8   Julia Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, 2 vols, (London, 1903, New York, 1905), p. viii (1903): ‘It is above all as a patron of art and letters that Isabella d’Este will be remembered’. Several recent works consider the biases in the historiography of Isabellian studies: Stephen Kolsky, ‘Images of Isabella d’Este’, Italian Studies, 39 (1984), 47–62; Rose Marie San Juan, ‘The Court Lady’s Dilemma: Isabella d’Este and Art Collecting in the Renaissance’, Oxford Art Journal, 14 (1991), 67–78; and Giovanni Agosti, ‘Ai fanatici della marchesa’, introduction to Alessandro Luzio and Rodolfo Renier, La coltura e le relazioni letterarie di Isabella d’Este Gonzaga, ed. by Simone Albonico (Milan, 2005), pp. vii–xxxvii. Carolyn James has recently considered Isabella’s political activities in ‘“Machiavelli in Skirts”. Isabella d’Este and Politics’, in Virtue, Liberty and Toleration: Political Ideas of European Women 1400–1800, ed. by Karen Green and Jacqueline Broad (Dordrecht, 2007), pp. 57–75. 9   An overview of the literature on her cultural activities is found in the extensive bibliography of Sylvia Ferino-Pagden, ed., ‘La Prima Donna del Mondo’: Isabella d’Este, Fürstin und Mäzenatin der Renaissance (Vienna, 1994). Useful recent studies include Clifford M. Brown, Per dare qualche splendore a la gloriosa cità di Mantua (Rome, 2002) and Isabella d’Este in the Ducal Palace in Mantua: An overview of her rooms in the Castello di San Giorgio and the Corte Vecchia (Rome, 2005); and Stephen Campbell, The Cabinet of Eros: Renaissance Mythological Painting and the Studiolo of Isabella d’Este (London, 2006).

Introduction

5

position within the restrictions placed on the Italian Renaissance noblewoman. The range of Isabella’s political, social, and cultural activities was extremely wide and her kinsman Niccolò da Correggio described her as ‘the first lady of the world’, ‘la prima donna del mondo’.10 To quote Deanna Shemek, ‘there is general agreement that Isabella d’Este embodied [the role of ruling consort] extraordinarily, exercising agency and inventiveness in ways that far surpassed other women’s practices at the time, even within her own class’.11 While research by Elisabeth Ward Swain and Louisa Parker Mattozzi, for instance, suggests the influence wielded by noblewomen close to Isabella, and future studies will certainly provide further evidence that the marchesa was not the only powerful consort, it is undeniable that she did indeed embody this role in an extraordinary way, famed in her own time.12 For the seigniorial families, the private and public were inextricably merged, and Isabella’s image projection was an activity with political aims, in pursuit of power. She was held in high authority, partly because she was a privileged consort in a position to manipulate her situation, and significantly because she decided to make use of her advantaged status to exploit the opportunities available to her to maximum advantage. She created a commanding position for herself and crossed boundaries in an intelligently manoeuvred manner. Her widespread cultural patronage, the decoration of apartments and her famous grotta and studiolo rooms, and her image making in visual and literary portraiture, through emblems (imprese), music, costume, and jewellery aimed to underline her political ability and fortify her co-rule with Francesco, in a well-orchestrated image campaign for dynasty as well as self. The marchesa’s self-fashioning in promoting her rarity, virility, and right to rule must not, therefore, be considered in isolation from her husband. This image construction enabled her to build a network of powerful friends, strengthened the   Niccolò da Correggio, quoted Luzio and Renier, La coltura, p. 129.   Deanna Shemek, ‘Isabella d’Este and the Properties of Persuasion’, in Women’s

10 11

Letters Across Europe, 1400–1700: Form and Persuasion, ed. by Ann Crabb and Jane Couchman (Aldershot, 2005), pp. 123–40, p. 126. 12   Swain considers Isabella’s mother and Francesco’s grandmother in ‘“My excellent and most singular lord”: marriage in a noble family of fifteenth-century Italy’, Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 16 (1986), 171–95. More recently Mattozzi has shown the political and diplomatic activities of Isabella’s daughter Leonora Gonzaga, her daughter-in-law Margherita Paleologa, and her nephew’s wife Renée of France, ‘The Feminine Art of Politics and Diplomacy: The Role of Duchesses in Early Modern Italy’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia, 2004). She concludes: ‘In contrast to historians’ traditional presentation of only a few exceptional duchesses being involved in court diplomacy and governance on rare occasions, duchesses and other female nobles were regularly involved in these arenas. They performed the most basic functions of court governance: the acquiring of information, all aspects of governing, diplomacy, and the distribution of patronage’, p. 211. She also shows evidence of various duchesses’ roles in government being treated differently by historians, some viewed kindly, others, such as Isabella, dismissed as overbearing, p. 176.

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

6

position of co-rule accorded her by Francesco, and, above all, favoured the cause of the Houses of Este and Gonzaga. Isabella did not aim to hold power in usurpation of her husband or, later, her heir. Rather, her authority worked to the marchese’s advantage, providing a stable presence during his frequent absences from the city on military campaign. Francesco often supported her activities and although Isabella was motivated also by Estense concerns, obviously not as important to Francesco, they shared an overwhelming dedication to the advancement of the Gonzaga. This work thus seeks to counter Kolsky’s assertion that: ‘For the most part of her life […] Isabella was excluded from Mantuan politics. Her husband felt threatened by Isabella’s refusal to enter into a working partnership with him which would have enabled them both to share power’.13 For share power they did. Dissimulation and the Politics of Renaissance Italy A recurring theme in this study is that of masking, as Isabella and Francesco fashioned cultural, social, and political identities for themselves, which were then publicly performed. The marchesi constructed and displayed image through patronage, words, and appearances. According to Stephen Greenblatt, with whom the term ‘self-fashioning’ is most associated, the Renaissance saw: ‘an increased self-consciousness about the fashioning of human identity as a manipulable, artful process’.14 The concept of self-presentation, and the stage management of one’s performance, is central to an understanding of the theatrical atmosphere of court society of the Italian Renaissance. The successful courtier or ruler worked to present the right face, a culturally defined social mask, and each individual was, intentionally or otherwise, permanently occupied with what Erving Goffman calls the ‘impression management’ of their identity.15 This awareness of the agency of the self and the imperative of self-fashioning at court are found, most famously, in the contemporary works of Machiavelli, in relation to the prince, and Castiglione, in relation to the courtier.16 Castiglione would state that successful projection of a chosen self, emphasising certain characteristics and downplaying others, must be conducted with the lightness of touch and art of apparent artlessness termed sprezzatura.17 But no   Kolsky, ‘Images’, p. 56.   Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning (Chicago, 1980), p. 2. 15   Erving Goffman, The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life (New York, 1959), 13 14

Ch. 6.

  Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe (written c.1513; first published 1532) and Baldassar Castiglione, Il Libro del Cortegiano (written 1513–18; published 1528). 17   Castiglione, I, 26. For Castiglione as an actor, see Sarah Cockram, ‘The actorauthor in Castiglione’s Cortegiano: “lo esser travestito porta seco una certa libertà e licenzia”’, in The Tradition of the Actor-Author in Italian Theatre, ed. by Donatella Fischer (Oxford: Legenda, forthcoming). 16

Introduction

7

matter how elegantly performed, self-fashioning, in its manipulation of reality, could involve outright trickery. In overturning the correlation of image with truth, of what is seen with what is, its very artfulness allows deception. The political stage, however, required such deceit and, before Machiavelli’s exhortations to the prince, Giovanni Pontano stated in his De Prudentia (1505) that dissimulation was a prudent activity when dictated by circumstance.18 Dissimulation was at the heart of the workings of the Renaissance court and numerous examples of deceit will be given in this study.19 This work questions the marchesi’s facades, from a hypothesis that they often acted as a masking partnership. Goffman defines a ‘performance team’ as ‘any set of individuals who cooperate in staging a single routine’.20 This idea can be applied to Isabella and Francesco, a team employing illusion to work towards common aims; negotiating difficult political terrain through simulation and dissimulation. Of course, for this research, issues are raised in trying to pinpoint when dissimulation is occurring. However, unlike the contemporary audience, this study has access to private correspondence revealing tactics of dissimulation in action. It can also look at correspondence from a range of individuals to glimpse behind a front presented. We find that on many occasions Isabella is shown working in tight masking teams with other members of her family and with intimates, and, above all, that she demonstrated an almost permanent masking partnership with her husband. Gender is an important consideration in the performance of this partnership. As consort, Isabella was cast as the junior partner in the couple’s team dynamic, and recognition of this role is played out in the couple’s letters and in Isabella’s performances of subordination and of female virtue, seen in her self-presentation through cultural productions. However, while carefully maintaining an unblemished reputation for virtue and feminine accomplishment, the marchesa encouraged praise of her virile, princely, qualities – validating her entry into maledominated cultural spheres, and politics. Francesco, as is to be expected, was, for the most part, a highly masculine prince, and his role as a prominent military captain, his cultural self-presentation, as well as his well-known mal francese, heightened the virility attributed to the marchese. Interestingly, however, like his wife, Francesco adopted more traditionally feminine qualities at times in his rule, in his open adoration of his children, and his frequent withdrawal from public life towards the end of his reign. The couple do not seem to have been afraid of 18   Jon R. Snyder, Dissimulation and the Culture of Secrecy in Early Modern Europe (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2009), p. 50. 19   For dissimulation and self-fashioning in early modern culture see Greenblatt; Snyder, especially Chapters 3 and 4; Perez Zagorin, Ways of Lying (London, 1990); and John Martin, ‘Inventing Sincerity, Refashioning Prudence: The Discovery of the Individual in Renaissance Europe’, The American Historical Review, 102 (1997), 1309–1342. 20   Goffman, The Presentation of the Self, p. 79, Ch. 2, gives principles of team performance.

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

8

strategic role reversal, making use of both male and female attributes, sharing and balancing these between them in interesting ways. This is seen, too, in Francesco’s apparent lack of forceful decision in some political alliances, activity that is often part of a conscious strategy marked out by the marchesi. The couple’s power sharing repeatedly has multiple faces being adopted in order to simultaneously show more than one allegiance. Isabella and Francesco recurrently pursued divergent policies, so that each could be seen as genuinely supporting one party, while having an excuse to turn to another. Projecting an image of support for different factions, the marchesi equivocated such that, upon seeing the outcome of events, between them they would be able to assert influence or be allied with the most politically profitable side. This strategy is a splitting of fronts, in both meanings of the word: dividing façades as well as arenas of battle. This occurred at all levels, from the international sphere to the domestic, and examples will be seen of varying degrees of conscious partnership: where the couple managed this ‘team masking’ together; where it is uncertain whether they explicitly cooperated in adopting this strategy; and where no consultation appears to have taken place. Once this pattern of behaviour is revealed, it is useful to investigate whether the team masking evident on certain occasions may be behind others. In this way, Francesco’s political contribution is reassessed. As Isabella was a consummate masker and diplomat, her husband is often considered the opposite. In addition to Luzio and Renier’s prejudice, there are several reasons for this negative appraisal. Francesco, on occasion, provoked mistrust through being on the wrong side in some policies of equivocation. Moreover, as the male ruler, he may have been more likely to be considered the guiding hand in policy and thus viewed as more of a threat than his wife. Furthermore, some contemporaries may have seen Isabella’s policies as relating more to social or family matters. Yet, Isabella and Francesco worked together as representatives of the Gonzaga. Although their personal relationship was occasionally rocky, they cooperated and strove for common dynastic goals. The marchesi made use of their respective strengths, calling to mind the qualities Machiavelli would infamously urge on Il Principe: As it is required that a prince be well versed in adopting the qualities of beasts, he should select from among these the fox and the lion, because the lion cannot defend himself from traps while the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. It is necessary therefore to be a fox to recognise traps and a lion to scare wolves.21

  Machiavelli, Ch. 18: ‘Sendo adunque, uno principe necessitato sapere bene usare la bestia, debbe di quelle pigliare la golpe e il lione; perché il lione non si difende da’ lacci, la golpe non si difende da’ lupi. Bisogna, adunque, essere golpe a conoscere e’ lacci, e lione a sbigottire e’ lupi’. 21

Introduction

9

Isabella occasionally adopted the persona of the lion, and Francesco was well placed to display martial force. The marchesa also certainly put to use the characteristics of a successful fox, working to manoeuvre the Mantuan state around traps; Francesco too was an able dissimulator. What would come to be considered the Machiavellian idea that the attainment and preservation of power are sufficient motivations for a ruler’s actions, what Mattingly describes as ‘the natural egotism of a political organisation with no higher end than its own self-perpetuation and aggrandisement’, fuelled a survival instinct and provided the marchesi with a prime motivation in masking. They were not unusual in this ‘shiftiness and inconstancy’.22 The politics of the Italian peninsula were marked by changing alliances, and the relative stability of a fragile balance of power between the five great states (the kingdom of Naples, the duchy of Milan, the Papal States, and the republics of Venice and Florence) was shattered by the French invasion of Italy in 1494. At the invitation of Lodovico Sforza of Milan, the Valois King Charles VIII crossed the Alps to enforce his Angevin claim to the kingdom of Naples. Charles dethroned the city’s Aragonese rulers and, on the way, helped Florentine republicans expel the Medici. The French retreated from Italy in 1495 after doing battle with an Italian alliance which included Venice and Charles’ former supporter Milan. However, a pattern had been set for foreign interference and control over Italian affairs. The interest the French invasion had provoked in King Ferdinand of Spain for the fate of his relatives in Naples, soon replaced by Spanish viceroys in Naples as well as Sicily, marked the beginning of a long period of Spanish/French conflict over domination of Italy. In 1499, in alliance with Pope Alexander VI, who sought to establish a princedom for his son Cesare Borgia in central Italy, the French returned to the peninsula. They were led by Charles’ successor Louis XII, who pressed his hereditary claim to the dukedom of Milan and overthrew the duplicitous Sforza. The powerful French presence in Milan loomed over the North of Italy, matched by the threat of a formidable Venice extending her territory on the terraferma. Venetian ambition prompted the formation of the League of Cambrai (including the pope, emperor, and kings of Spain and France) against her in 1509. This then developed into the Holy League, a Veneto-Papal alliance against the French, which oversaw the return of Sforza rule to Milan and the restoration of the Medici in 1512 as punishment against the pro-French Florentine Republic. Italy was again invaded by the French under Francis I, in alliance with Ferrara. However, Spanish and imperial dominance was asserted after the election of King Charles of Spain as Emperor Charles V in 1519, with victories against the French in 1521 and 1525, the infamous Sack of Rome by imperial troops in 1527, and the emperor’s coronation by the pope in Bologna in 1530. Nevertheless, for more than sixty years, from the French invasion until Habsburg hegemony was confirmed by   Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (Harmondsworth, 1965), pp. 85, 148.

22

10

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, Italy was the battleground of struggles for pre-eminence by mighty foreign powers. In this context, the Gonzaga state, like Isabella’s home town of Ferrara, was comparatively weak, not particularly large or rich, but strategically important. Luzio compared it to a terracotta vessel surrounded by vessels of iron although, as M. J. Rodriguez-Salgado has pointed out, this equation can mislead as to the efficacy of strategies the Gonzaga adopted to manipulate themselves into a position of power.23 Francesco’s role as a military commander, serving the major powers of the day, including Milan, Venice, Florence, France, the empire, and the papacy, projected an image of might at home and abroad as well as playing an important part in the forging and shifting of alliances. However, for Mantua’s rulers, practical emphasis needed to be laid primarily on diplomatic over military forms of defence. The marchesi’s diplomatic activities, formal and informal, worked to advance family members through high offices in the church and advantageous marriages; to cultivate powerful allies; and to encourage larger powers to see Mantua as a buffer state, repelling the rapaciousness of others. Intelligent, simulatory, and dissimulatory diplomacy, supported by skilful and loyal ambassadors, was vital to these objectives. In this system the perceived splendour of the state was essential and it was expedient to project a magnified image of Gonzaga power. Indispensable in all political situations, masking was particularly so for the state of Mantua. As this work demonstrates, the marchesi displayed teamwork in artifice and activity throughout their marriage, which began at a young age. Isabella and Francesco: Biography Isabella d’Este was born in Ferrara in May 1474, eldest child of Duke Ercole d’Este (1431–1505) and Duchess Eleonora of Aragon (1450–93), daughter of King Ferrante of Naples (Figure 0.2).24 She was favoured and well educated throughout 23   Alessandro Luzio, ed., L’Archivio Gonzaga di Mantova. La corrispondenza familiare, amministrativa e diplomatica, 2 (Verona, 1922), p. 225: ‘come il vaso di terracotta, costretto a viaggiare con vasi di ferro’. M. J. Rodriguez-Salgado, ‘Terracotta and Iron: Mantuan Politics (ca. 1450–ca. 1550)’, in La Corte di Mantova nell’età di Andrea Mantegna: 1450–1550, ed. by Cesare Mozzarelli, Robert Oresko, and Leandro Ventura (Rome, 1997), pp. 15–60. 24   Isabella has been the subject of a number of biographies. The best in Italian, influenced greatly by Luzio and Renier, is Daniela Pizzagalli, La signora del Rinascimento: vita e splendori di Isabella d’Este alla corte di Mantova (Milan, 2001). Others include Massimo Felisatti, Isabella d’Este (Milan, 1982) and Maria Bellonci’s biographical novel Rinascimento privato (Milan, 1985). In English, modern biographies are available by Marek, and Edith Patterson Meyer, First Lady of the Renaissance: A Biography of Isabella d’Este (Boston, 1970). However, the most useful remains Julia Cartwright’s two-volume work, Isabella d’Este, published in London in 1903. This is heavily based on works by Luzio and Renier. These are mostly uncited by Cartwright, hence the publication by the

Introduction

11

Figure 0.2

Portrait of Isabella d’Este by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500. Paris, Louvre (Cabinet des Dessins).

Figure 0.3

Terracotta bust of Francesco Gonzaga by Gian Cristoforo Romano, c. 1498. Mantua, Ducal Palace.

12

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

her childhood and at the age of six was betrothed to Francesco Gonzaga, fourteenyear-old heir to the marquisate of Mantua (Figure 0.3).25 Her life could have been very different: had an envoy from Milan requesting her hand arrived in Ferrara a few days earlier, she would have been wife of Lodovico Sforza, a fate falling instead to her younger sister, Beatrice (1475–97).26 In addition to this sister she had an illegitimate half-sister Lucrezia (before 1473–c.1516), later to marry Annibale Bentivoglio of Bologna, and four brothers: Alfonso (1476–1534), heir to the duchy of Ferrara; Ferrante (1477–1540); Ippolito (1479–1520), destined to be a cardinal; Sigismondo (1480–1524); and the illegitimate Giulio (1478–1561), who along with Ferrante would launch an unsuccessful plot against Alfonso and Ippolito in 1505.27 The city awaiting Isabella, situated north west of Ferrara in the south of the pianura padana, was on the Mincio river ten miles from its confluence with the Po and was surrounded by lakes on all sides (see Maps 0.1 and 0.2). The Gonzaga state spread north to Lake Garda; westwards in the direction of Cremona and Milan; eastwards towards Padua and Venice; and southwards in the direction of Modena and Bologna. The territory’s principal industries were agriculture and the wool trade, aided by its position on a north-south trade route, albeit a secondary one, and by its valuable waterways, although these also brought problems of

authors of the response ‘Pirateria letteraria: dichiarazione-protesta contro i due volumi di Julia Cartwright Ady su Isabella d’Este’, Fanfulla della Domenica, 28 June 1903. Luzio stated of Cartwright: ‘di ricerche archivistiche personali non provò mai il bisogno, e trovò più gradito spremere com’ape il succo dell’altrui fatica e farsene arrogare il vanto’, L’Archivio Gonzaga, p. 29. 25   Francesco awaits a comprehensive biographer. Luzio discusses Isabella’s education in I precettori d’Isabella d’Este, appunti e documenti (Ancona, 1887) and the betrothal in ‘Promessi sposi’. For Isabella and Francesco’s relationship during their betrothal and beyond, see Carolyn James, ‘Friendship and Dynastic Marriage’, Literature and History, 17 (2008), 4–18, pp. 11–18, and ‘Marriage by Correspondence: Politics and Domesticity in the Letters of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga, 1490–1519’, Renaissance Quarterly, 65, 2 (2012), 321-352. The former also gives the example of the unhappy, uncooperative marriage of Ippolita Sforza and Alfonso of Calabria. For more on conjugal friendship see Amyrose McCue Gill, ‘Vera Amicizia: Conjugal Friendship in the Italian Renaissance’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2008). 26   The marchesa’s relationship with her sister and Milan are explored in: Julia Cartwright, Beatrice d’Este: A Study of the Renaissance (London, 1912); Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e la corte sforzesca’, ASL, 15 (1901), 145–76, and Luzio and Renier, Delle relazioni di Isabella d’Este Gonzaga con Lodovico e Beatrice Sforza (Milan, 1890). 27   Ferrante and Beatrice spent much of their childhood at the Neapolitan court. For the young princes and princesses, see Luigi-Alberto Gandini, Isabella, Beatrice e Alfonso d’Este infanti. Documenti inediti del secolo XV (Modena, 1896). Luzio examines Giulio and Ferrante’s plot in ‘Isabella d’Este nelle tragedie della sua casa (1505–1506)’, Atti e Memorie della R. Accademia Virgiliana di Mantova, 5 (1913), 55–122.

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malaria and flooding. The city had a population of around 21,000 citizens.28 Mantua, under the feudal overlordship of the emperor, had been under Gonzaga rule since the Bonacolsi lords of the city were expelled by Luigi Gonzaga in 1328. The magnificence of the Gonzaga was displayed in their buildings, from the city’s palace complex to the churches of San Sebastiano and Sant’Andrea designed by Leon Battista Alberti under the employ of Francesco’s grandfather Lodovico II (d. 1478). Isabella arrived in Mantua as a bride in February 1490, immediately taking on the position as marchesa, Francesco having succeeded his father in 1484, and his mother having died in 1479. She was welcomed with apartments, near Mantegna’s frescoed Camera, in the fortified Castello area of the Gonzaga palace, which would have had a familiar feel for the princess, having been designed by Bartolino da Novara, the same architect responsible for the castle in Ferrara. The Ferrarese princess fitted in well with her new family, which, like her own family, had a relatively stable, unbroken lineage (see Genealogies 0.1 and 0.2). Fondness for Francesco and his family had been encouraged in Isabella since her childhood betrothal, and she established warm relationships with her husband’s siblings. 29 Francesco had two brothers, the future cardinal Sigismondo (1469–1525), and Giovanni (1474–1525), who would marry Laura Bentivoglio in 1494 and often served Francesco as envoy to the imperial court.30 The marchese was attached to his brothers and his three sisters: Chiara (1464–1505), wife of Gilbert de Montpensier of Bourbon; Elisabetta (1471–1526), wife of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro of Urbino; and the ill-fated Maddalena (1472–90), wife of Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro. Isabella would remain close to her siblings-in-law throughout her life, with a particularly affectionate friendship with Elisabetta.31 Isabella and Francesco’s marriage reaffirmed a positive relationship between the Este and Gonzaga after Mantuan backing of an attempted coup by Ercole d’Este’s nephew Niccolò in 1476.32 The marriage was also to some extent hypogamous, the 28   Iain Fenlon, Music and Patronage in Sixteenth Century Mantua, 2 vols (Cambridge, 1980), I, pp. 10–11. 29   For instance, Isabella got up to mischief as a child with Francesco’s brother Giovanni, hiding under a staircase to cook eggs in a bed warmer. James, ‘Friendship’, pp. 11–12. 30   Sigismondo’s political and cultural activities have recently been the focus of scholarship by Clifford M. Brown, ‘Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga (1469–1525), An Overlooked Name in the Annals of Collectors of Antiquities’, Xenia, 21 (1991), 47–58; David S. Chambers, ‘The enigmatic eminence of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga’, RS, 16 (2002) 330–54; and Guido Rebecchini, ‘Some aspects of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga’s collections’, JWCI, 66 (2003), 289–96. 31   Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, Isabella d’Este ed Elisabetta Gonzaga nelle relazioni famigliari e nelle vicende politiche (Rome, 1893). 32   Niccolò was the son of Ercole’s elder half-brother Leonello d’Este and Margherita Gonzaga.

14

Map 0.1

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Italy c.1490 (with inset of the Po valley).

Introduction

Map 0.2

15

Mantuan territory, with principal Gonzaga residences under Francesco II Gonzaga.

Este dukes having higher status than the Gonzaga marquises within the league of second-tier Italian powers, and Isabella having royal blood through her maternal lineage. As Werner Gundersheimer puts it, Isabella ‘thus came to her marriage as a kind of “natural symbol” of reconciliation and acceptance […] able from the beginning to deal with her new family from a position of strength’.33 The bride went to her marital family as a representative of her natal line, with excellent connections, and Isabella continued in that bilinear role, influencing policy, as a proud member of both families.34 However, as a progenitrix of the Gonzaga and co-ruler of Mantua, she prioritised her marital house.

  Werner L. Gundersheimer, ‘Women, Learning and Power: Eleonora of Aragon and the Court of Ferrara’, in Patricia H. Labalme, ed., Beyond their Sex: Learned Women of the European Past (New York, 1980), pp. 43–65, p. 56. 34   Katherine McIver describes the bilinear model as including ‘what the wife and her family contributed to the marriage and passed on to their children as opposed to the traditional patrilinear model that emphasises the father’s lineage and its transmission to the children’. ‘Matrons as Patrons: Power and Influence in the Courts of Northern Italy’, Artibus et Historiae, 43 (2001), 120–45, pp. 75–8. See also McIver’s ‘Two Emilian Noblewomen and Patronage Networks in the Cinquecento’, in Reiss and Wilkins, pp. 158–76. 33

Genealogical Table 0.1

The Este.

Genealogical Table 0.2

The Gonzaga.

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

18

Isabella learned what was expected of the consort from her mother, who, in addition to patronage of the arts, had a prominent, highly involved role in administration and government.35 Also like her mother, Isabella preserved ‘a power base of her own’, with her own finances and court.36 Eleonora showed deference to Ercole, who respected her abilities and gave her responsibility and authority, sharing with her diplomatic information.37 The model of an active consort was present too in the Gonzaga family, in Francesco’s grandmother Barbara of Brandenburg. Involved with pious works and concerned with administration, law and order, and diplomacy, she was described by Pius II as ‘a lady of high spirit and great ability and well acquainted with the art of ruling’.38 Isabella and Francesco’s partnership adopted many elements in common with these marriages. The marchesa was entrusted with information and authority, central in the marchese’s absence, and her rival for the position at her husband’s right hand, Gonzaga official Francesco Secco, was soon eliminated (see Chapter 3).39 The marchesa shared a position of co-rule with her husband, supported by the marchese’s brothers Giovanni and Sigismondo, and a study of Isabella and Francesco’s power sharing with his brothers would be a useful addition to the scholarly literature. The diarchy of Francesco and ­­Isabella allowed the marchese to leave Mantua without concern. When her husband was at home, Isabella also travelled widely given the chance. She often visited Ferrara, and in the absence of a duchess officially represented the Este women at state functions.40 She used vows

  For Eleonora see Luciano Chiappini, ‘Eleonora d’Aragona. Prima duchessa di Ferrara’, Atti e memorie della deputazione provinciale ferrarese di storia patria, 16 (1956), pp. 5–125; Gundersheimer, ‘Women, Learning and Power’; and Jane Fair Bestor, ‘Kinship and Marriage in the Politics of an Italian Ruling House: The Este of Ferrara in the Reign of Ercole I (1471–1505)’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, 1992), pp. 226–34. Two treatises about the art of government, by Antonio Cornazzano and Diomede Carafa, were dedicated to Eleonora. Mattozzi, p. 128. 36   Gundersheimer, ‘Women, Learning and Power’, p. 46, San Juan, p. 70, and Thomas Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 98–9, 506–7. For Isabella’s finances, see Shemek, ‘Properties’, pp. 116–17. 37   Bestor, pp. 226–34. 38   Enea Silvio Piccolomini, The Commentaries of Pius II, book II, trans. by Florence Alden Gragg and ed. by Leona C. Gabel (Northampton, Mass., 1939–40), p. 186. For Barbara and Lodovico’s power sharing, see Swain. 39   In addition to Eleonora of Aragon and Barbara of Brandenburg, other consorts who would act as regent or governor in their husbands’ absence included Battista Sforza, wife of Federico da Montefeltro of Urbino, and the duchess of Florence Eleonora de Toledo, wife of Cosimo I, as well as Isabella’s daughter Leonora, duchess of Urbino. Mattozzi, pp. 151–2. 40   Isabella officially welcomed to Ferrara the brides of her brother Alfonso in 1502 and her nephew Ercole in 1528. 35

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to visit holy sites as opportunities to travel, and visited other courts to advance herself and Gonzaga and Este interests.41 The marchesi made use of the differences between ruler and consort to good effect. They exercised patronage of artists, writers, and musicians, such as Mantegna, Costa, Leonardo, Francia, Pontano, Ariosto, Tebaldeo, Cara, and Tromboncino. The couple concentrated for the most part on different, complementary cultural activities (see Chapter 2), giving Mantua a reputation for culture that earned admiration and respect. They projected magnificence that underlined their wealth and authority: Isabella through her art collection and fashion, for instance; Francesco through the finest hunting animals, the staging of theatrical performances, and grand spectacles.42 They also exploited gender differences in government and diplomacy. As Jane Fair Bestor states in relation to Isabella’s parents, the man ‘represented the public, formal dimension of rulership, his consort the informal dimension […] influential because it was not handicapped by the need to maintain appearances or to represent official policy […] Eleonora could represent Ercole or could distance herself from him as a woman and a member of another house’.43 This potential for double faces was well utilised by Francesco and Isabella, an abiding theme in their political partnership being the apparent adoption of opposing policies in order to cover all eventualities. From the very beginning of their marriage Francesco and Isabella engaged in a diplomatic balancing act. From March 1489 the marchese had a contract, condotta, as a mercenary commander, condottiere, with the Venetians. A major maritime 41   Her representation of Gonzaga and Este political agendas while travelling is an area remaining to be fully explored, although several publications focus on the marchesa’s travels, including: Carolyn James, ‘The travels of Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua’, Studies in Travel Writing, 13 (2009), 99–109; Giuliano Capilupi, ‘Il primo soggiorno d’Isabella d’Este sul lago di Garda (1490)’, CM, 1, 4 (1966), 14–21; B. Feliciangeli, Isabella d’Este Gonzaga Marchesa di Mantova a Camerino e a Piòraco (Ascoli Piceno, 1912); A. Pedrazzoli, ‘La marchesa Isabella d’Este Gonzaga a diporto sul lago di Garda colla sua corte’, ASL, 4 (1890), 866–78; Luzio and Renier, ‘Gara di viaggi fra due celebri dame del Rinascimento’, extract from Intermezzo, 7–8 (1890), 1–16; Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este ne’ primordi del papato di Leone X e il suo viaggio a Roma nel 1514–1515’, ASL, 6 (1906), 99–180, 454–89, and his Isabella d’Este e il Sacco di Roma (Milan, 1908); Renier, Isabella d’Este-Gonzaga (Rome, 1888), pp. 23–6; Oler Grandi, ‘“Noi andamo tra caldo del cielo et di amore: l’uno il corpo, l’altro lo animo affanna et inquieta”. In viaggio con Mario Equicola e con le dame di Isabella d’Este’, CM, 121 (2005), 64–79; and Enrico Nestore Legnazzi and Pietro Ferrato, Del viaggio fatto dalla Marchesa Isabella d’Este Gonzaga a Cavriana ed al lago di Garda nel 1535. Lettere descrittive di Marco Antonio Bendidio (Mantua, 1878). Mattozzi explores the important political role of consorts when hosting guests and when travelling, pp. 105–10. 42   Castiglione praised Francesco’s munificence and display as making him appear ‘più presto re d’Italia che signor d’una città’, IV, 36. 43   Bestor, p. 229–30.

20

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

power, the Serenissima relied on high-profile, hired condottieri such as Francesco to provide military security on the terraferma, offering good remuneration in return for loyalty and troops. Isabella, on the other hand, was linked with Venice’s enemies, Milan and Ferrara. Reflecting this pull in two directions, and double dealing arising in consequence, Francesco declined an invitation to the 1491 marriage in Milan of Beatrice d’Este and Lodovico Sforza, known as il Moro, but to avoid offending Sforza turned up incognito; Isabella, expected to attend, was able to represent the Gonzaga in splendour. As the relationship continued to cool between Milan and Francesco, to the approval of the Serenissima, Isabella consolidated a valuable bond and information exchange with the devious Moro, de facto duke, situated at the heart of an information capital.44 She visited Milan on several occasions, also fostering relationships with influential Milanese courtiers, and maintained her connections there after the death of her sister Beatrice in 1497. Isabella had a further link to Milan, too, in the marriage of her brother Alfonso to Anna Sforza, niece of il Moro and sister of the titular duke, Giangaleazzo Maria Sforza, who had been sidelined by his uncle. In 1494, attempting to protect the position he held at the expense of Giangaleazzo and his Neapolitan wife Isabella of Aragon, Lodovico Sforza invited Charles VIII to lead a French army into Italy to take Naples from the Aragonese. However, il Moro soon saw the threat posed by the French invaders and joined Venice in an anti-French league. The league armies, under Francesco Gonzaga’s captaincy, met the French at Fornovo on the river Taro near Parma in July 1495. Both sides claimed victory: the French able to continue their retreat and suffering fewer casualties; the Italians in possession of the French booty. This battle was to prove the high point of Francesco’s military career. It provided excellent propagandistic opportunities for the marchese, who was able, in the words of Molly Bourne, to turn ‘ambiguity into opportunity’ through celebratory works of literature and art.45 Mantegna’s Madonna della Vittoria was commissioned to be the altarpiece in a specially built 44   The ambassador Jacopo Trotti evocatively described Lodovico Sforza to Ercole d’Este as: ‘astuto, ficto, simulato et dopio in superlativo’, Milan, 13 July 1486, Archivio di Stato, Modena, Carteggio Ambasciatori - Milano b. 4. Quoted Paul M. Dover, ‘Letters, Notes and Whispers: Diplomacy, Ambassadors and Information in the Italian Renaissance Princely State (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Yale University, 2002), p. 193. 45   Molly Bourne, ‘Mantegna’s Madonna della Vittoria and the Rewriting of Gonzaga History’, in The Patron’s Payoff: Conspicuous Commissions in Italian Renaissance Art, ed. by Jonathan K. Nelson and Richard J. Zeckhauser, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), pp. 167–83, p. 169. See also Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, Ch. 2; Luzio and Renier, ‘Francesco Gonzaga alla battaglia di Fornovo’ (Florence, 1890), 1–44; and Galeazzo Nosari, who refutes the legend that Francesco had three horses killed from under him during the battle in ‘Una leggenda metropolitana: Francesco II a Fornovo’, CM, 30 (1995), 91–5. The battle’s propagandistic value is explored by David S. Chambers, ‘Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, “Liberator of Italy”, in The French Descent into Renaissance Italy 1494–95: Antecedents and Effects, ed. by David Abulafia (Aldershot, 1995), pp. 217–29.

Introduction

21

commemorative church.46 In the wake of Fornovo Francesco was able to enjoy a reputation as the liberator of Italy, simultaneously fostering friendship with France through his sister Chiara and attempts to curry favour with the king.47 In 1496 he was awarded the prestigious Golden Rose by Pope Alexander VI but in June 1497 Francesco was unceremoniously fired by the Venetians on suspicion of treachery, leading him to adopt a crucible device with the biblical motto ‘Probasti me Domine et cognovisti’. In seeking to secure a new, honourable condotta, the marchesi adopted their characteristic double faces. Francesco and Giovanni Gonzaga showed an inclination toward Venice, while Isabella made overtures to Milan, until the fall of the Sforza in 1499.48 In that year Francesco entered French service. It should be noted that to this point, after nearly ten years of marriage, although Francesco had several natural and illegitimate offspring, Isabella had still not provided her husband with a male heir.49 The successful consort had an obligation to secure dynastic continuity. From the fourteenth century the Gonzaga had been free of succession problems, and Isabella felt pressure to ensure the continuation of this happy situation. In December 1493, the marchesa had been frustrated to give birth to a daughter, Leonora (d. 1550), named after Isabella’s mother who had died in October.50 The marchesa’s disappointment was compounded by the birth of a second daughter in July 1496, although this girl, named Margherita,

46   Ugo Bazzotti, ‘La Chiesa di Santa Maria della Vittoria e la pala di Andrea Mantegna’, in A Casa di Andrea Mantegna. Cultura artistica a Mantova nel Quattrocento, ed. by Rodolfo Signorini (Milan, 2006), pp. 200–19. 47   Francesco visited the king in Vercelli and they presented each other with fine horses. The marchese also tried to retrieve certain religious objects Charles VIII had lost during the battle in order to return them to him. Anthony B. Cashman, ‘Public Life in Renaissance Mantua: Ritual and Power in the Age of the Gonzaga, 1444–1540’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Duke University, 1999), p. 200. 48   Marek, p. 74, Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, I (1903), p. 145. 49   Scholars have varying amounts of information about Francesco’s natural children. His natural daughter Margherita (1487–1537) was raised in Urbino by Elisabetta Gonzaga, and suffered a problem-stricken, ultimately broken, engagement to Alberto III Pio of Carpi. Anna Maria Lorenzoni, ‘La vita e le vicende matrimoniali di Margherita Gonzaga, figlia naturale del marchese Francesco II’, CM, 63–64 (1977), 173–219 and Stefano Minarelli, ‘Storia di un amore, storia di un ritratto. Margherita Gonzaga e la ‘Dama col liocorno’ di Rafaello’, CM, 121 (2006), 126–39. Francesco’s natural daughter Teodora (born c. 1493–95) was promised to the courtier Enea Furlano and taken away with him when he murdered his rival Antonio Maria Regazzi in 1505 (see Ch. 3). A natural son, Orfeo, was born in June 1494, a natural daughter Maddalena died in June 1504, and the marriage of an unnamed daughter, perhaps Antonia, is mentioned in a letter of 1502. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 50n. 50   Isabella told her father she would not use the cradle he had sent for her first baby, as it was too good for a daughter, Mantua, 2 January 1494, b. 2991, L. 4, f. 11v.

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

22

would die at only three months.51 Francesco rejoiced in the birth of his daughters. He was, after all, the younger brother of a sister and from a family that seems to have doted on its girls. Furthermore he could rest assured that Isabella could keep trying to produce a boy, and should she eventually die in the attempt, he could remarry. Isabella was in a stressful position. Although she was the first-born in a family later to contain plentiful sons, she could not be secure until the succession had been guaranteed. Seeing her younger sister provide il Moro with two sons in a row in 1493 and 1495, with no way of knowing that she would indeed provide a son at all, it is no wonder she may have felt inadequate. In 1500 the marchesa finally gave birth to the much-longed-for heir, Federico (d. 1540). He was followed the next year by Ippolita (1501–70) and then by another sister, Livia, who would die in childhood (1503–08). In 1505 the succession was ensured with the birth of a second son, Ercole (d. 1565) and again in 1507 with a third, Ferrante (d. 1557). Their final child, Livia Osanna, was born in 1508 (d. 1569). This youngest daughter, along with her sister Ippolita, would take the veil. The marchesa’s child-bearing followed very similar patterns to her mother’s experience: like Isabella, Eleonora took on her husband’s illegitimate daughter on her marriage and saw other illegitimate children arrive; she also gave birth to daughters before providing an heir.52 Francesco and Isabella’s letters paint a picture of intimate family life, of the sort that both seem to have experienced in their childhoods, and they competed goodnaturedly over Federico’s affections in particular. In 1501 Isabella told Francesco: ‘if Your Excellency is loving to our little boy, I am very loving indeed’.53 In April 1503 Francesco wrote to Isabella in Ferrara that he was enjoying Leonora and Federico’s company at his country villa in Gonzaga. He reported that the threeyear-old Federico took pleasure in the open spaces and seeing his father’s horses. Francesco merrily boasted: ‘he has not actually forgotten about Your Ladyship, but he does not love you as much as he loves us’, before reassuring ‘but where he falls short, we will make up the difference’.54 They could indulge in this sparring because they were secure, both within their marriage and in their son’s affections. A few days later Francesco wrote to amuse Isabella with the news that his efforts to impress Federico had had unwanted results: ‘before we used to try hard to ensure that he was happy to be in our company, now we have to use every art to

  Isabella wrote to Beatrice d’Este that she was ashamed to have had another girl, Mantua, 14 July 1496, b. 2992, L. 7, f. 71r. 52   Eleonora treated Ercole d’Este’s natural daughter Lucrezia as her own when she arrived in Ferrara in 1473, and Ercole would father the illegitimate Giulio in 1481. 53   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 22 November 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.3, c. r 401 : ‘Se la Ex. V. è tenera del nostro puttone io sono tenerissima’. 54   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 26 April 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. V.1, c. 211r: ‘Lui non si ha già dementicata la S. V. ma non la ama già a nostro paragone ma in quel che lui mancha suplemo noi’. 51

Introduction

23

ever go anywhere without him’.55 The couple’s letters underlined their common love, and objectives of advancement, for their children. Unfortunately space is not available in this study to examine their shared parenting at length, but it too, showing agreement as well as disagreement mostly overcome, provides further evidence of teamwork.56 The turn of the sixteenth century saw the rise of Cesare Borgia. The French invasion of Italy, particularly with Louis XII’s seizure of Milan in 1499, encouraged greater consolidation of the Papal States and Alexander VI carved out a state for his son Cesare in the Romagna and the Marches, deposing the signori who ruled those areas as papal vicars. In this campaign Cesare seized Urbino from the Montefeltro in June 1502. In response to the growing Borgia threat, Francesco and Isabella worked together to protect their state (see Chapter 5). Negotiations took place between the Gonzaga and the Borgia to betroth the infant Federico to Cesare’s daughter, and in February 1502 the marchesi were linked further with the family upon the marriage of Cesare’s sister Lucrezia to Isabella’s brother Alfonso d’Este (see Genealogy 0.3). The Este had been particularly vulnerable to Borgia expansionist aspirations, as not only were they geographically closer to the Papal States but Ferrara was a papal fief. Borgia fortunes waned with Pope Alexander VI’s death in 1503, and in the same year the tiara was bestowed upon Giuliano della Rovere, who took the name Julius II. He would prove as fearsome as his predecessor, ousting the Bentivoglio from Bologna in 1506 and aggressively attempting to remove the Este as papal vicars of Ferrara. However, he also raised Sigismondo Gonzaga to the rank of cardinal and was allied to the Gonzaga through the betrothal of his nephew Francesco Maria, duke of Urbino, to Leonora (see Genealogy 0.4).57 In these years, as Isabella’s rooms in the Ducal Palace became famed for the artworks she commissioned and collected, Francesco constructed and decorated the city-palace of San Sebastiano at Mantua’s southern edge by the Te island, where a stable of the famous Gonzaga horses and a palazzina were located.58 Palazzo San Sebastiano became another site for state functions, conveniently   Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 2 May 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. V.1, c. 213r: ‘prima solevimo esser studiosi in operar ch’el stesse voluntieri ove stavimo noi, hora usamo ogni arte per andar ale volte in qualche loco senza lui’. 56   For further examples of the couple’s correspondence about Federico, see Rita Castagna, ‘El puton del pa’, Quadrante Padano, 5, 2 (1984), 33–4, and Deanna Shemek, ‘«Ci Ci» and «Pa Pa»: Script, Mimicry, and Mediation in Isabella d’Este’s Letters’, Rinascimento: Rivista dell’Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento, 43 (2005), pp. 75–91. For Lodovico Gonzaga and Barbara of Brandenburg’s shared parenting, see Swain, pp. 186­­­–9. 57   Mattozzi’s dissertation considers Leonora’s political role. 58   See Ugo Bazzotti, ‘“Un luogo e certe stalle”. Sull’isola del Te prima di Giulio Romano’, CM, 122 (2006), 144–61, and Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘The Palazzo di San Sebastiano’. 55

Genealogical Table 0.3

The Family of Alexander VI.

Introduction

Genealogical Table 0.4

25

The Lords of Urbino.

situated by a city gate. The palace, like his country villas, provided a place for Francesco to retreat with his court, leaving Isabella in charge at the Ducal Palace at the other side of the city. In December 1508 the emperor and Louis XII signed the League of Cambrai in alliance against Venice and in August 1509, fighting for the League, Francesco was taken prisoner by the Venetians. As Chapter 6 demonstrates, Isabella used all the diplomatic resources at her disposal to work for his liberation, and it was hoped that Leonora’s marriage to Francesco Maria della Rovere would incite the pope to aid Francesco’s cause. To secure her husband’s liberty Isabella had to send the ten-year-old Federico to Rome as a hostage, although he would quickly become a papal favourite. The marchese was released after eleven months in captivity to take up arms for his former captors and the pope. Both marchesi saw politics as a labyrinth to be negotiated and difficult years followed, with Julius II’s antagonism toward Ferrara and the continued threat of the Valois and Habsburgs to the peninsular powers.59 Furthermore, Francesco began to   Besides labyrinths in the grounds, Francesco had a ceiling in his palace of San Sebastiano decorated with a labyrinth device and the motto ‘forse che sì, forse che no’, later moved to its current site in the Ducal Palace. Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘The Palazzo di San Sebastiano’, p. 134. Isabella wrote to her diplomat Jacopo d’Atri during Francesco’s captivity, with pressures coming from all sides, to recommend her to the king and queen 59

26

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

suffer badly from syphilis, and could not lead his troops on campaign.60 In August 1512 a congress was held in Mantua to consolidate the Holy League against France, and the Sforza were reinstated in Milan under Isabella’s nephew Massimiliano. In September the pope conferred the abbey of Fellonica on the young Ercole Gonzaga, with the promise that a great ecclesiastical career awaited the Gonzaga’s second son, stating that if Isabella complained that he sought to destroy her brothers, she would at least take pleasure in his decision to advance her sons.61 Isabella was nevertheless relieved at the death of Julius II and the election of Giovanni de’ Medici as Leo X in 1513. At the close of the following year she embarked on a trip to the papal court and on to Naples. The relationship between Isabella and the ailing Francesco was difficult in these years. The marchesa later claimed to have prolonged her absence from Mantua in order to escape marginalisation at the hands of Francesco’s favourites, such as his secretary Tolomeo Spagnoli. However, as shown in Chapter 6, evidence can be found that there continued to be a fruitful political partnership between the marchesi. In 1516 Leo X proved to be yet another troublesome pope when Urbino was taken from the Montefeltro for his nephew Lorenzo de’ Medici, forcing the outcast duke and duchesses Elisabetta and Leonora to take refuge in Mantua. Federico spent the years 1515–17 with Francis I, and his younger brother Ferrante entered the emperor’s service when he turned sixteen.62 Although the marchesi had begun their political careers by having to balance neighbouring powers such as Milan of France: ‘supplicandoli ad volerni haver compassione, soccorerni et cavarni di questo labirinto’, Mantua, 12 June 1510, b. 2192, n.n. 60   Luzio and Renier found Francesco’s illness repellent and asked: ‘Che pensava di tutto ciò la gentile marchesa? Quali sentimenti si agitavano nel suo nobile cuore durante questa lunga e schifosa malattia del marito?’, ‘Contributo alla storia del malfrancese ne’ costumi e nella letteratura italiana del sec. XVI’, GSLI, 5 (1885), 408–32, p. 416. For contemporary responses to syphilis, see Raimonda Ottaviani et al, ‘Medicina e sesso dal Basso Medioevo al Rinascimento’, in ‘El più soave et dolce et dilectevole et gratioso bochone’. Amore e sesso al tempo dei Gonzaga, ed. by Costantino Cipolla and Giancarlo Malacarne (Milan, 2006), pp. 139–83; and Jon Arrizabalanga, John Henderson, and Roger French, The Great Pox: The French Disease in Renaissance Europe (London, 1997). 61   Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 128. Paul V. Murphy examines Ercole’s career in: ‘A Worldly Reform: Honor and Pastoral Practice in the Career of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga (1505–63)’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 31 (2000), 399–418, and Ruling Peacefully: Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga and Patrician Reform in Sixteenth-Century Italy (Washington, DC, 2007). 62   See Raffaele Tamalio, Federico Gonzaga alla corte di Francesco I di Francia nel carteggio privato con Mantova (1515–1517) (Paris, 1994) and Ferrante Gonzaga alla Corte Spagnola di Carlo V (Mantua, 1991). Ercole d’Este similarly hedged his bets at the battle of Fornovo by having sons on opposing sides, Alfonso the Italian and Ferrante the French. For Federico’s attempts to project a bella figura in France, and his participation in tournaments there see Anthony B. Cashman, ‘Performance Anxiety: Federico Gonzaga at the Court of Francis I and the Uncertainty of Ritual Action’ Sixteenth Century Journal, 33 (2002),

Introduction

27

and Venice, they were forced later to juggle diplomatic relations with the emerging nation states of France and Spain. In March 1519 Francesco died. He left Federico as his heir with Isabella as regent, to be aided by his brothers Sigismondo and Giovanni. Isabella lobbied for the advancement of her sons in this period, even though Federico’s love for his mistress Isabella Boschetta would encourage his mother to leave Mantua for a time. As before in 1514–15, when Isabella felt pressured to step aside, she travelled, thus remaining at the centre of a retinue, building alliances and advancing her family’s agendas. Again, she went to the diplomatic hub of the papal court, and stayed in Rome for two years from 1525–27.63 She witnessed the devastating Sack of Rome by imperial troops in May 1527, and Ferrante’s position as an imperial commander helped her escape the broken city. However, before leaving she obtained a red hat for her second son Ercole from Pope Clement VII. Cardinal Ercole was later papal legate to the Council of Trent. In 1530 Federico was awarded the title of duke by the emperor Charles V and the following year, after much ado, married Margherita Paleologa, who would bring the territory of Monferrato to the Gonzaga.64 Federico’s mother remained a significant diplomatic figure in Mantuan politics, however, and also governed her possession of Solarolo in the Romagna.65 Isabella was able to witness the birth of Federico’s sons Francesco and Guglielmo before her death in 1539. She was buried by her husband’s side.66 333–52, and ‘Public Life’, pp. 87–112. Yassana C. Croizat discusses Francis I’s esteem for Isabella in, ‘“Living Dolls”: François Ier Dresses His Women’, RQ, 60 (2007), 94–130. 63   It was common practice for ambitious aristocratic mothers to work for their sons’ interests. For instance, Alfonsina Orsini de’ Medici pushed for her son Lorenzo to be named Captain General of the papal armies and duke of Urbino. Natalie Tomas, ‘Alfonsina Orsini de’ Medici and the “problem” of a female ruler in early sixteenth-century Florence’, RS, 14 (2000), 70–90. 64   Federico initially took Margherita’s older sister Maria, then eight, as his bride in 1517. However, he later delayed her arrival in Mantua as he was enraptured by his mistress, Isabella Boschetta. As French influence diminished in Italy, his bride, from a French-allied family, became less of an asset. The suggestion was made that the emperor’s aunt Giulia of Aragon would be a more prestigious wife, pleasing to Boschetta as she was too old to bear children, allowing Federico’s illegitimate children to inherit Mantua. Clement VII agreed to annul Federico and Maria’s marriage. Then Maria’s brother, marchese of Monferrato, was killed in a riding accident, leaving only an old uncle between Maria and inheritance of a state. Federico changed his mind again, but Maria died of a sudden illness, at which Federico turned his attention to her younger sister. Giulia of Aragon married the elderly Paleologa uncle. Mattozzi, pp. 21–8. 65   For Isabella’s central place in the Mantuan information system, see Mattozzi, pp. 82–5. The marchesa bought the territory of Solarolo in 1529 and expended much energy in its administration. Deanna Shemek addressed this topic in a recent paper: ‘A Court of Her Own: Isabella d’Este at Solarolo’. 66   Giancarlo Malacarne, I Gonzaga di Mantova. Una stirpe per una capitale europea, 5 vols (Modena, 2004–2008), 3, p. 177.

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Isabella and Francesco successfully negotiated some of the most troubled years in Italian Renaissance politics, through shared implementation of policies of security and advancement. They sought advantageous condotte and alliances, arranging for their family useful marriage matches and important offices in the church, increasing the positions from which to push Gonzaga interests. They were flexible, adapting to changing political circumstances, and carefully gathered information on developments in order to direct strategy. The following chapter considers the epistolary practices of the marchesi and their information networks. Chapter 2 goes on to further examine the marchesi’s collaboration and corule, refuting the prevalent separation of the couple’s activities and demonstrating the use of shared resources. The following chapters concentrate on domestic and international issues in more depth, providing detailed evidence of teamwork in action. The marchesi’s response to difficult times and conflict is discussed, as is their characteristic division of fronts, planned or otherwise, by which they projected distinct faces in order to placate opposing parties and ensure beneficial outcomes. This is shown in Chapters 3 and 4, which analyse the influence of outsiders on the couple’s relationship. These chapters consider threats from powerful courtiers, and the way in which Isabella and Francesco moved to pacify individuals angered by their spouse, with each showing support for those the other had offended. Chapter 5 illustrates the same phenomenon on an international scale, as the marchesi worked together to combat the threat of the Borgia. In Chapter 6 the confrontation of the later years of their marriage is explored, demonstrating continued power sharing despite periods of strain. Evidence comes occasionally from works of art and literature, artefacts of the couple’s determined image-creation, but is very much based on archival material, and reading the industrious, still valuable, publications of Luzio and Renier with new eyes by going back to the original sources. In the process letters discussed by those historians may take on invigorated or new meaning, and many significant unpublished letters have been discovered.

Chapter 1

Letters and Lies Epistolary Practices in the Information Sharing of the Marchesi This study of Isabella and Francesco’s power sharing is, to a very great extent, based on evidence found in the couple’s letters, and this section gives a brief overview of the marchesa’s epistolary practices in writing to her husband, with a selection of pertinent examples taken from their correspondence. The marchesi’s extensive, largely unpublished, correspondence is now preserved in the Archivio Gonzaga in the Mantuan State Archive. The Archive provides enlightening material on the culture, society, and diplomacy of the period, giving insight into all areas of Gonzaga activity.1 It supplies abundant evidence of the marchesi’s teamwork in the three thousand or so letters sent between the couple.2 Francesco and Isabella’s correspondence shows some similar patterns to the practices of Barbara of Brandenburg and Lodovico Gonzaga as described by Elisabeth Ward Swain, exchanging: ‘letters which portray a marriage in which the wife honoured the husband’s primacy, and yet shared his authority and his concerns to the satisfaction of both’.3 However, within Francesco and Isabella’s shared strategies of dynastic advancement, a complex relationship emerges. Documents of State Isabella’s surviving correspondence in the Mantuan archive numbers over 16,000 letters written and 9,000 letters received.4 Her letters project Isabella’s 1   The archive contains over 100,000 collections of letters (files, registers, and bound items); more than 6,000 parchments; 14,000 drawings and maps; and a library of over 14,000 titles. See Pietro Torelli, ed., L’Archivio Gonzaga di Mantova, 1 (Ostiglia, 1920), and Luzio, ed., L’Archivio Gonzaga. Isabella Lazzarini discusses the Gonzaga chancery in ‘“Peculiaris magistrates”: la cancelleria gonzaghesca nel Quattrocento (1407–1478)’, Ricerche Storiche, 24 (1994), 337–50. 2   James, ‘Friendship’, p. 12. 3   Swain, p. 195. 4   The Mantuan archive has recently counted the copialettere series for Isabella d’Este. This consists of 53 volumes, with a total of around 5,352 pages which record 15,884 letters. In addition to this figure are the further letters, so far uncounted, that can be found elsewhere, in other copybooks or as originals that exist without a copy. I thank Deanna Shemek and Daniela Ferrari for providing me with the latest information by email.

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Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

authority as a consort and ruler, and reveal her networking, and manipulation of the epistolary form.5 Letters functioned as ambassadors for their sender, their tone fundamentally determined by the identity of the addressee and the reason behind the communication, and Isabella’s letters show a fascinating variety of concerns, rhetorical structures, and registers. They were frequently written with an awareness of an audience beyond the addressed recipient in mind, whether letters likely to be circulated at court, those deliberately written to be artfully shown to another, or those at risk of interception by hostile forces. As a governing co-ruler, Isabella wrote on the marchese’s behalf, and at times wrote in Francesco’s name.6 Unusually for a consort, like her husband’s, the marchesa’s letters were assiduously catalogued by the chancery, a great number transcribed by secretaries into copybooks, copialettere.7 They were thus recognised Figures are also given by Deanna Shemek in ‘In Continuous Expectation: Isabella d’Este’s Epistolary Desire’, in Dennis Looney and Deanna Shemek, eds, Phaethon’s Children: The Este Court and its Culture in Early Modern Ferrara (Tempe, Arizona, 2005), p. 277. Anna Maria Lorenzoni provides an overview of the archival material, ‘Contributo allo studio delle fonti isabelliane dell’Archivio di Stato di Mantova’, Accademia Virgiliana di Mantova, Atti e Memorie, 47 (1979), 97–135. Also Giuliano Capilupi, ‘Isabella d’Este e il suo epistolario’, CM, 1, 3 (1966), 9–14. Isabella’s letters are quoted throughout Luzio and Renier’s extensive works, and Cartwright translates several of these into English. 5   The subject of court correspondence has developed significantly since the publication of Luzio and Cartwright’s work, although much remains to be explored. Deanna Shemek provides great insights into Isabella’s rhetorical techniques, and Professor Shemek is currently preparing an edition of Isabella’s letters for the series ‘The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe’ (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies). Shemek: ‘In Continuous Expectation’; ‘«Ci Ci»’; and ‘Properties’. For examination of Isabella’s epistolary dissimulation, and reference to a selection of useful publications on epistolary practices, see Shemek, ‘Mendacious Missives: Isabella d’Este’s Epistolary Theater’, in Writing Relations: American Scholars in Italian Archives, ed. by Deanna Shemek and Michael Wyatt (Florence, 2008), pp. 71–86, and Sarah Cockram, ‘Epistolary masks: Selfpresentation and Dissimulation in the Letters of Isabella d’Este’, Italian Studies, 64, 1 (2009), 20–37. 6   For instance, Francesco to the doge and to Giorgio Brognolo about territorial matters, Ascoli (Puglia), 18 May 1496, b. 2992, L. 7, ff. 16v–17v. These letters, ostensibly from Francesco in the field, are written ex parte domini and located in Isabella’s copybook. 7   Often the copybooks contain one example version of a letter written to multiple individuals, with appropriate alterations (mutatis mutandis). While the copialettere do contain many letters of a highly confidential nature, some of Isabella’s most scheming letters are not reproduced there, but are often accompanied by a reference copy on a loose sheet, e.g. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 20 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, cc. 155r–156r, copy 157r–158r. Other letters are included in the copialettere without their confidential postscripts, e.g. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 1 August 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 166r–v, postscript 167r (copy b. 2993, L. 14, cc. 3v–4v, same except missing postscript). Furthermore, some relatively innocuous letters are not duplicated in the copialettere. Thus, although copying letters into the copybooks may have been the norm, there were deviations from

Letters and Lies

31

as important state documents, to be reviewed on the unfolding of diplomatic events. An example of Isabella going back to her copybooks to check facts is seen in 1496. Francesco accused her of not telling him of his uncle Gianfrancesco’s death, to which Isabella replied: In a postscript Your Excellency tells me that I did not inform you of the death of the late illustrious Lord Gianfrancesco, at which, as well as remembering writing to you of it and seeing the letters, as is my habit, I had this checked in the register and I find that I wrote to you of this at length in letters of 15, 28, and 29 of last month and 5 of this month, and sent the last ones by way of Venice.8

The majority of the marchesa’s correspondence was dictated to her secretary Benedetto Capilupi,9 although, as shown above, she reviewed the missives before they were sent, and the involvement of secretaries in the letter-writing process raises issues of authorship and agency in Isabella’s letters.10 In addressing this matter, Deanna Shemek has concluded from the lack of evidence of revision between dictated drafts, archived copies, and sent copies in the marchesa’s surviving correspondence that, ‘secretaries and scribes did not routinely polish or revise letters written by competent and forceful patrons’.11 Thus Isabella’s voice may be equally heard in the mass of dictated letters, in the lesser number with an autograph signature,12 and in those rare examples written entirely in autograph. The physical act of writing with one’s own hands was considered highly significant, showing care, intimacy, and the expenditure of this practice. Letters of Isabella’s are also found in Francesco’s copybooks. For instance, L. 136 of Francesco’s copialettere b. 2904 is one of Isabella’s first copybooks. Similarly many of Isabella’s letters of 1502–03 and the regency of 1509–10 are in b. 2911, L. 176, and bb. 2916–17, L. 206, and LL. 209–11. Likewise there are letters of Francesco’s in Isabella’s copybooks, eg. bb. 2995–2996. 8   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 29 September 1496, b. 2992, L. 8, f. 25r–v: ‘Per uno postscripta la Ex. V. me scrive ch’io non gli ho significato de la morte del q. Illu. S. Zohanfrancisco per il che ultra ch’io me recordi haverli facto scrivere, et havere veduto le littere secundo el mio consueto, ho anche facto vedere el registro et ritrovo che di questo caso gli ho diffusamente scripto per littere de 15, 28, et 29 del passato, et cinque de questo, et mandate le ultime per la via de Venetia’. 9   Benedetto Capilupi (1461–1518), also occasionally called Capolupo or Codelupo, was from a Mantuan noble family. He passed from Francesco’s service to Isabella’s after her marriage and was her main secretary up until his final years. Capilupi was in the trust of both marchesi and was rewarded by Francesco with land in the area of Suzzara. See T. Ascari, ‘Capilupi, Benedetto’, DBI, 18, pp. 528–30. 10   Judith Bryce has recently highlighted similar questions in Ippolita Sforza’s correspondence with Lorenzo de’ Medici, by the secretarial hand of Giovanni Pontano, ‘Between friends?’, p. 350. 11   Shemek, ‘«Ci Ci»’, p. 79. 12   See, for example, Figure 3.1.

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time.13 Autograph letters were often not sealed with large, official marchional crests but with small cameo seals, underlining their personal nature.14 Seals, whether unofficial or marchional, were vital to the security of letters which frequently traversed many dangers before reaching their recipients’ hands. On rare occasions unsealed letters were sent, or seals were superfluous, the sender aware that the contents had no confidentiality, as when Isabella sent letters to her husband during his imprisonment in Venice.15 The importance of the apparatus of seals and the presence of secretaries in the system of correspondence is indicated by Isabella’s assertion to her husband of October 1517 that she had been unable write to him, having ‘neither chancellor nor seal’.16 In this case the couple had communicated through an intermediary coming and going, Isabella’s trusted secretary Benedetto Capilupi. The use of intermediaries was common. If the marchesi knew they would soon be together, important information was deferred until it could be communicated face-to-

13   Isabella’s appeal to Federico from Rome not to write too often and ‘affaticarti in scrivere’ shows writing was considered an exertion, 4 February 1515, b. 2121, f. II.1, c. 108r. In July 1495 Isabella apologised to Lodovico Sforza that her letter was not autograph: ‘per questo excessivo caldo che non me lassa reposare’, Mantua, 6 July 1495, b. 2992, L. 5, f. 53v. She apologised to Francesco for not writing by her hand: ‘ma havendome hozi lavata la testa sono stata tanto a sugarla ch’el dì è passato’, Mantua, 25 January 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVI, c. 156r, postscript c. 157. An autograph letter in illegible handwriting could provoke irritation rather than closeness. Isabella and Francesco joked about the difficulty in deciphering a letter in the atrocious hand of the marchesa of Cotrone (the modern Crotone). Isabella to Francesco, Ferrara, 3 May 1499, b. 2113, fasc. II.1, c. 146r. Quoted by Anna Maria Lorenzoni in an illuminating article, ‘Tra francesi e spagnoli. Le fortunose vicende di Eleonora Orsini del Balzo, marchesa di Crotone, attraverso carteggi inediti dell’Archivio Gonzaga’, in Per Mantova una vita: Studi in memoria di Rita Castagna, ed. by Anna Maria Lorenzoni and Roberto Navarrini (Mantua, 1991), pp. 113–44, p. 129. Thankfully for the contemporary reader and the modern researcher both Isabella and Francesco have legible hands. 14   Isabella to Francesco, autograph, sealed with little cameo, Mantua, 26 April 1507, b. 2117, fasc. II, c. 86. For Francesco’s use of an erotic seal on autograph to letters his secretary Tolomeo Spagnoli, see Molly Bourne, ‘Mail humour and male sociability: sexual innuendo in the epistolary domain of Francesco II Gonzaga’, in Sara F. Matthews-Grieco, ed., Erotic Cultures of Renaissance Italy (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010), pp. 199–221, p. 205. 15   Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 44. During the same period, the marchesa sent an open letter to Elisabetta Gonzaga via Lodovico Brognolo. It was a joke letter addressed to the poet and wit Bernardo Accolti, known as l’Unico Aretino, sent to the duchess to enjoy before she sealed it and gave it to the unknowing Accolti. In this case Isabella played on the inevitable circulation of letters at court. Isabella to Lodovico Brognolo, Mantua, 3 April 1510, b. 2996, L. 28, f. 2r. Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 263. For another epistolary trick played on Accolti in 1506, see Shemek, ‘Mendacious Missives’, pp. 81–84. 16   Isabella to Francesco, Ferrara, 3 October 1517, b. 2123, f. II, c. 140r: ‘per non havere meco cancellere né sigillo’.

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face.17 When this was not possible, the most sensitive information was either communicated through a reliable intermediary, the recipient being asked to hear the bearer as direct representative of the sender, or was committed to paper with the highest security measures, seen below.18 The sending of trusted envoys was not practical on a common basis or with everyday diplomatic news, and letters delivered by courier constituted a pivotal part of Isabella and Francesco’s teamwork when they were apart, whether both in Mantuan territory at different locations, or when one or other was further afield.19 They informed each other of developments in their different locations. They also recognised that, having individual information networks as well as common, for teamwork it was essential to keep each other abreast of news received from correspondents. This was a sign of respect, and acknowledgment that the analysis of political intelligence and the resultant decisions were shared. In appreciation of the combining of information, and the necessity that if one were absent they were kept informed of Mantuan issues, the marchesi frequently thanked each other for details received.20 They could also be assured both of the well being of their spouse and family and of their shared affairs.21 17   In 1508 Isabella reported: ‘Heri gionse un maestro de stalla de la Chr.ma Regina de Franza […] li ragionamenti soi a bocha dimane farrò intendere a V.Cel.’, Mantua, 4 October 1508, b. 2117, fasc. V.2, c. 221r. Another example is discussed in Ch. 2, Isabella writing in 1494 that she would tell Francesco in person of confidential matters referred to her by Girolamo Tuttavilla. 18   For example, the jester Mattello was send to Isabella by Francesco in November 1493 with ‘cose ardue, secrete, e importante’ to refer. Although these may have been joke messages, the standard request was made: ‘V.S. gli dia tanta fede quanta daresti alla persona nostra propria’. Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 1 November 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. IX.2, c. 401r. See Ch. 2 and Appendix Document 5. 19   A courier who did not deliver valuable news quickly enough could be punished harshly. Francesco to Isabella, Giarola, 3 July 1495, b. 2110bis, c. 456r: ‘Vogliate ordinare che sia messo impresone Joanfrancesco Cavallaro, et de lì non sia cavato senza altra nostra comissione, et questo per essere stato spazato de qua […] cum lettere ad voi directive, continente la bona nova de la scaramuza facta contra li nemici, cum impositione che la matina sequente a bona hora dovesse essere da voi, essendo stato expedito de qua a tal hora, che facilmente gli possea venire. Havendo inteso che hieri alle xiij hore ancora non era comparso, sì che ne pare ch’el meriti ne sia facto demonstratione, aciò che un’altra volta sia più advertente, et per exempio anche de li altri che non sono obidenti’. 20   Isabella to Francesco: ‘la Ex.V non mi haveria potuto fare magiore piacere che rendermi tanto minutamente conto d’ogni sua actione’, Mantua, 8 October 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.2, cc. 388r–389r. B. 2110 provides several examples of Francesco thanking Isabella for the sharing of news, ‘la participatione’, and vice versa. For example, Francesco to Isabella, Casalleggiano, 30 August 1495, b. 2110bis, c. 397r, Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 23 September, b. 2110, c. 138r. 21   In 1503 Isabella assured Francesco of her ‘ben stare, insieme cum il nostro puttone et filiole’, although they were worried about him in the field, adding ‘tanto vivo secura,

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There was habitually a sense of the vicarious sharing of experiences in these regular, comprehensive and, often colourful, reports. For instance, Isabella wrote to Francesco of his description of Louis XII’s triumphal entry into Milan: ‘it seems as though I have seen it’.22 In 1517 she thanked Francesco for letters she had received recounting Federico’s welcome in Venice, which she had read and reread, as they allowed her to see in her mind’s eye the honours received by their son.23 The marchese had enabled Isabella to see such images by including with his letters copies of letters by Federico and his secretary Stazio Gadio. The marchesi routinely forwarded letters received from third parties as a means of information sharing. This is seen in various forms. The original letter was sometimes simply forwarded on.24 Otherwise a copy could be sent. For instance, in 1500 Francesco sent Isabella a copy of a letter received with news of the re-entry of the Sforza into Milan. He had sent the original to Isabella’s father in Ferrara, an act of alliance and openness, as a copy could always be in some way doctored.25 It was not only letters addressed to the marchesi that were copied for quanto lego littere sue’. She then relayed to her husband political intelligence received, Mantua, 28 October 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.2, cc. 401r–402r. The following month she thanked Francesco for detailed information from camp, and urged him to be well, as they all were, although she was still in bed after giving birth, Mantua, 20 November, c. 420r–v. 22   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 October 1499, b. 2993, L. 10, ff. 61v–62r: ‘parmi haverla veduta’. Similarly, on the same day she wrote to Giovanni Gonzaga of his account of the event: ‘La S.V. non ha veramente manchato in alchuna parte de la consueta diligentia sua, né de la promessa ne haveva facto, perché per le littere sue de iiij et vj instantis restamo tanto minutamente informate de ogni occurrentia de quella corte, et maxime de la intrata de la X.ma M.tà in Milano, che ne sapiamo più che se gli fussimo state presente, benché seressimo contente haverla veduta et intenderne mancho’, f. 62r–v. 23   Isabella to Francesco, reply to his letters of 25 and 29 May and copies of letters by Federico and Stazio Gadio, Ponte Bonvicino, 9 June 1517, b. 2123, f. II, c. 123r–v: ‘De quanto piacere me sia stato ad legerle, et relegerle più volte lasso che V.Ex. lo consideri: […] Ne ringratio con tutto il core quella havendomi fatto vedere li honori, et demonstrationi inextimabile usate per la Ser.ma Sig.ria et li gentilissimi modi servati per Federico’. For Federico’s trip, see Cashman, ‘Public Life’, pp. 185–6. 24   Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 1 November 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.3, c. 95r: ‘Qui alligate mandamo ala S.V. le littere havute da Venetia e da Milano, remettendoli quella che li scrive Donato di Preti’. Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 8 January 1500, b. 2114, fasc. I.1, c. 3r: ‘Communicamo cum la S.V. le alligate recevute de Franza, Milano, Ferrara, Viadana, et Caneto’. Isabella returned the letters from Mantua the same day, fasc. II.1, 88r. The prompt return of letters was crucial for reference and the construction of a reply. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 23 November 1500, fasc. II.2, c. 171r: ‘havendo visto & lecto le littere Alemane le remando a V.Ex. aciò che occurrendoli revederle non ne patisca disconzio’. 25   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 4 February 1500, b. 2114, fasc. I.1, c. 14r (copy of Ascanio Sforza to Francesco, Milan, 3 February attached with wax, c. 15r): ‘Mandamo ala S.V. copia di una littera portatane per Peregrino dal R.mo Monsi.re Ascanio, qual è dentro da Milano, aciò che la sia participe de questa alegreza. La littera propria havemo mandata a Ferrara’. No evidence of Isabella and Francesco misleading each other through doctored

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their reference. It will be seen in this study that Isabella’s secretary Capilupi also copied other people’s correspondence, letters shown or intercepted.26 In addition to originals and copies, the marchesi sent each other summaries of correspondence received. Although this required the exclusion of certain information, it was easier for the recipient to read. In 1497, for instance, Isabella sent Francesco an original letter from Lodovico Sforza along with summaries of letters intercepted.27 In 1500 Francesco sent Isabella summaries of news from Rome on several occasions, ‘so that you may, with less strain, understand as we do what is new’.28 To a great extent the couple gave each other access to their correspondence. On many occasions they also opened letters addressed to the other.29 When this occurred accidentally, or without prior permission, they apologised, and were routinely told that they should treat each other’s letters as their own.30 While it purported copies is found. Francesco Senatore describes the use of such diplomatic masking strategies by the Milanese in ‘Falsi e « lettere reformate » nella diplomazia sforzesca’, Bollettino dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo e Archivio Muratorio, 99/1 (1993), 221–78. 26   For instance, see Chapters 4 and 5 for Camillo Costabili to Antonio Costabili (Mantua, 26 November, 1505, b. 2192, n.n.) and Lodovico Brognolo to Floramonte Brognolo (Milan, 16 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n.). These appear to be copies in Capilupi’s hand. Capilupi also seems to have copied a letter addressed to him from Lodovico Brognolo (Milan, 11 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n.), see Ch. 4. Le Minute della Cancelleria Mantovana in the Archivio Gonzaga of this period, bb. 2190–2193, besides drafts of Gonzaga letters, contain many copies of intercepted letters or letters shown by others to be copied. 27   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 10 March 1497, b. 2992, L. 8, f. 58r: ‘aciò che la veda quanto gli è, benche poco gli sia de momento. Pregola che lecte le haverà me le voglia remettere per potergli fare la resposta’. 28   Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 14 January 1500, b. 2114, fasc. I.1, c. 5r: ‘aciò che come havemo facto noi cum sua minor fatica intenda quel che c’è di novo’. He sent summaries from Rome again in March, Gonzaga, 6 and 18 March 1500, c. 20r (summary 21r–v) and c. 29r (summary 30r–v). B. 2115bis contains summaries from Rome after the death of Alexander VI, eg. Francesco to Isabella, Porto, 20 August 1503, fasc. V.1, c. 227r (summary cc. 232r –233r): ‘aciò che la veda quel che ne havemo per littere da Roma, insieme cum alcunaltre nove, gli mandamo il qui alligato summario, facto solo per amor suo’. 29   Mattozzi describes Leonora Gonzaga’s ‘clearinghouse’ role in opening and evaluating her husband’s correspondence, pp. 73–5. 30   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 13 February 1493, b.2108bis, fasc.X, c.446r: ‘Hebbi etiam la littera de la V.S. cum quella di quello preceptor ferrarese che la scrivi mandarmi la quale essa dire havere aperta in errore. Non era necessario che meco la facesse excusatione alcuna, che la scia ben che la pò aprire tute le littere mie e vederle, e cossì la prego se digni farlo’. In 1499 Francesco excused himself for opening a letter to Isabella from the marchesa of Crotone, not understanding the addressee by the illegible writing, Sermide, 2 May 1499, b.2113, fasc. I.1, c. 19r: ‘Sapemo che la S.V. ni haverà per excusati, perché non è stato altro che uno libero errore’. Isabella replied from Ferrara: ‘ho recevuto la littera de Vostra Ex. inseme cum quella de la Marchesa de Cotrono. Non bisognava che

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was natural that issues of state dictated that Isabella should open Francesco’s correspondence while he was away on military business and she governed Mantua, the marchese was also happy that she open his letters before forwarding them when he was at his villas in Mantuan territory. In July 1498 at Revere he was irritated that she had sent him on, unopened, a letter from Capilupi in Milan.31 In 1501, Isabella confidently opened a letter for Francesco, in Gonzaga, in order that she could act on it if necessary.32 As well as the exchange of correspondence, when Francesco was away from Mantua, in the absence of access to resources, he sent Isabella letters requiring translation.33 In 1499 he sent her a bundle of letters from Goito including two in French, which he was unable to understand, and asked if she could have them translated.34 In 1501 Francesco asked Isabella from Sacchetta to have a German letter translated.35 When information arrived in Mantua in a foreign language la ne facesse scusa alcuna, perché havendo libertà sopra de la persona mia, tanto più l’ha de aprire le littere mie. Ma credo bene como anche scrive la S.V. che se la non havesse havuto lo interprete non l’haveria saputa legere, perché io anchora che habia qualche pratica de la littera sua duro fatica ad intenderla’, Ferrara, 3 May 1499, fasc.II.1, c.146r. Lorenzoni, ‘Tra francesi e spagnoli’, p. 129. 31   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 17 July 1498, b.2112, c.290r. ‘Adesso ho ricevuto la qui alligata da Benedicto Codelupo directiva ala S.V., alaquale senza indugia mi è parso mandarla’. Francesco to Isabella, Revere, 17 July, c.211r: ‘maravigliamo et dogliamo de quella, che non l’habi (aper)ta et lecta, et che usi terminj inconvenientj et salvatichi cum noi, essendo tutte le cose commune fra noj. Remandamogli dicta littera, et pregamo V.S. ad servare per l’avernire quilli modi che recirca il grado et coniunctione nostra et l’amore nostro indisolubile, per il beneficio commune et anche per contento nostro’. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 18 July, c. 291r: ‘Non già perché non sapia la Ex.tia V. esser contenta che usi cum lei libertà, ma solum per deferirli il debito honore li mandai la littera di Benedicto serrata, aciò che la S.V. a cui la si driciava fusse la prima che la apresse. A me basta haverla veduta hora et ringratio quella che mi l’ha mandata, qui inclusa ge la rimetto’. 32   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 March 1501, b.2114bis, fasc.VIII.1, c.327r: ‘Essendomi hogi presentata la alligata littera directiva a la S.V., ho preso secureza di aprirla, cum animo s’el c’è fosse stato cosa alcuna a che fosse bisognata provisione a me possibile, de fargliela senza dare disturbo ala Ex.V. Ma non vi essendo altro, gliela mando cussì aperta afine che la la veda’. 33   For an example of a letter to be translated from Greek, see Francesco to Isabella, Revere, 16 October 1494, b.2906, L. 153, c.23 v. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 31. 34   Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 7 August 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.2, c. 38r. Isabella replied: ‘ho recevuto inseme cum la littera de la S.V. tutte quelle che la me ha mandato: de Franza, Venetia, & Ferrara, quale ho lecte & qui alligate le remando. Ringraciandola summamente che se sij dignata mandarmele. Non sapendo la Sig.ra de Cotrono ben legere le littere francese, benché a bocha non ne perdi parola, le ho facto explanare a Mons. de Paglias, como me scrive la S.V. & qui alligate serranno inseme cum lo exemplo’, Mantua, 7 August, fasc. II.2, c. 171r. 35   Francesco to Isabella, forwarding a letter in German for translation: ‘perché non havemo qua alcuno apto a ciò’, Sacchetta, 8 August 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VII.1, c. 272r.

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the marchesa had it translated before forwarding it.36 The receipt of letters in foreign languages was clearly an issue at court, requiring the intercession of a trusted translator. Security Measures Security was a crucial consideration in the marchesi’s epistolary practices. In 1496 Isabella requested from Ferrara lockable post-carrying bags, bolgette, similar to those her father’s couriers used.37 Despite these precautions, however, letters sometimes arrived opened and intercepted. For instance in 1503 Isabella reported to Francesco that his letters had been diverted to Milan, where they had been opened and read by the Gran Maestro, Charles d’Amboise.38 The greatest possible measures were to be taken to ensure that sensitive information, particularly that travelling longer distances outside Mantuan territory, did not find its way into the wrong hands. To guard against interception and non-delivery letters could be sent twice.39 Codes provided an evident but effective epistolary mask, and after Francesco’s Reply, sending original letter and translation, Mantua, 8 August, fasc. VIII.2, c. 359r. 36   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 29 August 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.1, c. 132r: ‘Venuto questa mattina Biasio cavallaro da Milano cum littere del Marchese de Cotrono & M. Benedicto Tosabezo, io le ho aperte, et facto tradure in italiano la copia de la tregua che mandano a fine che la Ex.V. habi manco fatica ad legerla’. Mantua, 22 October, fasc. II.2, c. 156r: ‘Mando ala Ex.V. qui aligate le littere che ha portate Alexandro di Franza, insieme cum la loro tradutione ala italiana’. Mantua, 14 November 1515, b. 2121, f. II.2, c. 130r, after the arrival of an envoy from the French queen: ‘ho voluto darni aviso a V.S. et mandarli la littera propria de la Regina cum la traductione, existimando che la non saperia legerla como io anchora non so’. 37   Isabella to Bernardino de’ Prosperi, Mantua, 11 March 1496, b. 2992, L. 6, f. 49v: ‘Voressimo che ne facesti fare quatro bolzette cum le chiavature & due chiave tutte conforme da cavallari de le poste como sono quelle del S. nostro patre, ma in forma che tenessino dui boni mazi de littere et che de fora havessino anche da potere tenere altre littere, perché qua non havemo maestri che le sapiano fare, & quanto più presto poteti farcele havere, perché le voressimo usare per li spazi che se farrà cum lo Ill.mo S. nostro consorte, potereti farne finire subito due & mandarcele et poi el resto un’altra volta, ma più presto si poterà’. 38   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 1 October 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.2, cc. 384r–385r, postscript c. 383. Francesco expected this might happen, writing to Isabella of his letters to her: ‘forsi li vengono tarde, o stanno in periculo de andare in sinistro’, Isola degli Orsini, 17 September, fasc. V.2, cc. 250r–251r. See also Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 1 November 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.3, c. 95r: ‘gli ne mandamo tre altre [littere] de Frati di S.to Dominico, venute aperte come sono […] non è da maravigliarsi se a questi tempi de suspecto sono aperte’. 39   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 5 May 1496, b. 2111, c. 242r–243v (copy cc. 264r–248bisr): ‘Io non scrivo de mia mane perché vedendo che quasi tutte le littere sono

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letters were intercepted by the French in 1503 Isabella suggested they write in cipher.40 Little further evidence can be found of the marchesi using ciphers between themselves, but much exists of their use with other correspondents.41 For example in 1495 Isabella told the Gonzaga envoy in Venice, Giorgio Brognolo, that she had received his coded letter. This had been burnt for extra security, a practice counselled often in surviving drafts, and clearly ignored in those sent copies remaining.42 Evidence of the public nature of much court correspondence is provided by a postscript which Isabella requested Francesco burn, seen in context in Chapter 5. The marchese had written to her in the main body of a letter about confidential correspondence she should expect from the courtier il Milanese. She stated in the main body of her reply that she had not received this letter, but in a postscript admitted she had the letter, asking that in future such confidential matters be reserved for postscripts. In this way correspondence could be shown to courtiers intercepte non voria che le mie littere fussino lecte da altri che da V. Ex. Questa littera serrà duplicata aciò che andandone una in sinistro l’altra capiti bene’. 40   It appears that the suggestion was not taken up immediately, and Isabella reminded Francesco. Mantua, 29 October 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.2, c. 403r, copy c. 404: ‘Se havesse havuto una ziffera haveria scripto più charo. V. Ex. la può fare formare se la non è formata et mandarmi lo exemplo, como gli scrissi quando furono aperte le littere sue da Francesi’. For Isabella’s use of code and ciphers, and images of relevant Gonzaga letters, see Cockram, ‘Epistolary Masks’, pp. 25–28. 41   Isabella was involved with dispatches in code throughout her political career. In 1498 she wrote to Francesco: ‘è gionto qua Antonio Dente cavallaro cum l’incluse lettere da Milano, le quale ho aperte, et facto cavare quelle parole che sono in zifra, et le mando ala V.S. subito’, Mantua, 12 October 1498, b. 2112, c. 314r. Naturally, during periods of regency she was the direct recipient of more coded missives. Isabella used the same codes as the marchese with shared correspondents, eg. Francesco Malatesta to Isabella, Florence, 1 and 9 November 1502, b. 1104, cc. 359r–361r, cc. 374r –376r. Isabella frequently used code when writing to her brothers, particularly during the sensitive period of Julius II’s hostilities against Ferrara (see Ch. 6). Isabella to Alfonso d’Este, Mantua, 6 December 1509, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘ vi scrivemo in ziphra per che la littera non andasse in man d’altri’ and to Ippolito d’Este, Mantua, 5 July 1510, b. 2996, L. 28, f. 9v: ‘la via [...] è mal secura [...] però conforto V. S. scrivendo cosa che importi farli scrivere in ziffara’. Codes in Gonzaga letters can be known through reference to the master copies of ciphers used by and to various individuals, found in bb. 423–5. Vincent Ilardi describes these codebooks, with keys to ciphers used between 1395 and 1702, as containing ‘some of the earliest keys to codes used by any Italian state’, ‘Fifteenth-Century Diplomatic Documents in Western European Archives and Libraries (1450–1494)’, Studies in the Renaissance, 9 (1962), 64–112, p. 100. Although a document may have been deciphered upon receipt in Mantua, the scholar often benefits from checking the text again, as secretarial errors can lead to imperfect deciphering, see Francesco Senatore, Uno mundo de carta’: Forme e strutture della diplomazia sforzesca (Naples, 1998). 42   Isabella to Giorgio Brognolo, Mantua, 19 August 1495, b. 2992, L. 5, f. 78v: ‘Quella ch’era in ziffra haveo brusato’.

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and ambassadors, seemingly with nothing to hide, while a postscript (not attached with wax and thus not marking the letter) could be kept private and destroyed if expedient.43 Much masking was required to keep the marchesi’s machinations private when necessary; often apart, the success of their teamwork depended on successful exploitation of the epistolary form.44 Francesco had the apparatus of a wellorganised chancery at his disposal, and Isabella also made use of this system. Furthermore, in addition to the security measures outlined above, the marchesa’s extensive correspondence could serve as a further screen, with the expectation that certain female letters regarded more private matters than political. An example of this is seen in 1494 when Francesco wrote to Benedetto Tosabezzi asking that he work behind the scenes at the imperial court to arrange that a daughter could be named Gonzaga heir in the absence of legitimate sons.45 This idea had been suggested to Francesco by Lodovico Sforza, through Isabella’s secretary Benedetto Capilupi, and was to remain a secret until approved. Thus the letter to Tosabezzi was written by Isabella’s secretary and sealed with her seal so that it could appear to be less official correspondence (Figure 1.1).46 Lodovico Sforza’s wife Beatrice d’Este would also write to the Milanese ambassador on the same manner, but in autograph. The somewhat less publicly scrutinised nature of the consort’s letters had benefits of confidentiality in the receiving as well as the sending, as Swain points out in relation to Lodovico Gonzaga and Barbara of Brandenburg.47 Also, in the case of Isabella’s parents, ‘diplomats and other officials communicated information they did not feel free to tell the lord directly, including sometimes criticisms of his policies, through his wife’.48 This behaviour is seen in the case of Isabella and Francesco in Chapter 4. The consort’s correspondence was thus a useful political vehicle, both as a channel to the prince and a mask for key diplomatic activity. Isabella’s letters will be seen to function in both of these ways, but the marchesa also expanded the correspondence  

43

Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 1 August 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 166r–v, postscript 167r. For more on the use of postscripts, see Cockram, ‘Epistolary Masks’, p. 27. 44   For Isabella and Francesco’s teamwork in the use of dissimulatory letters, see Cockram, ‘Epistolary Masks’ and Shemek, ‘Mendacious Missives’, pp. 76–80. 45   More research is needed to determine the fate of this attempt to obtain inheritance rights for Gonzaga females. Benedetto Tosabezzi (c. 1450–1524) was admitted to the College of Doctors and Lawyers in 1494, and served as Gonzaga ambassador in Venice and at the imperial court (Brown, Per dare, p. 83). The Tosabezzi are an intriguing family, a study of whom would provide valuable information on Renaissance nobility, court dynamics and the mechanisms of diplomacy. See also Chapter 4. 46   Francesco to Benedetto Tosabezzi, Mantua, 5 August 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 390r. Appendix Document 6. 47   Swain, pp. 182–3. 48   Bestor, pp. 229–30.

40

Figure 1.1

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Francesco Gonzaga to Benedetto Tosabezzi, Mantua, 5 August 1494. ASMn, AG, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 390r–v.

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of the court lady beyond its usual boundaries, in the creation of a vast information network, beneficial to her image construction and also to the teamwork of the marchesi. This information system is explored in the following section. Epistolary Networks Isabella complained to Francesco of Mantua’s somewhat out-of-the-way geographical location, and her correspondence formed the basis of many of her undertakings, giving her a voice at other centres.49 As Deanna Shemek puts it, her activity was based on ‘an ideology of the letter […] an understanding of politics and history predicated on action within an epistolary arena’.50 In addition to correspondence with her husband, the marchesa carefully fostered a vast web of family and friends, Italian and international nobility, servants and clients.51 Many of these individuals were also in contact with Francesco, sometimes providing the marchesi with different types of information; others were more Isabella’s correspondents. These links provided her with intelligence as well as a means of manipulating her environment. They were thus of great import to Isabella in her pursuit of social, cultural, and political authority, and also played a vital role in her collaborative activities with her husband. The dynasties of the peninsula were interconnected and contact with her natal and marital kin and their courtiers allowed Isabella to be ostensibly involved in domestic, family newsgathering while collecting reports from strategic locations, including Rome, France, and the imperial court, as well as Bologna, Ferrara, and Urbino.52 As Sally Hickson has shown, Isabella used female networks to   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 1 October 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.2, cc. 384r–385r,

49

postscript c. 383r: ‘Dolme […] che Mantua sij fondata in questo loco tanto fora di strata che non se intenda novella alcuna’. Quoted by Carolyn James, ‘An Insatiable Appetite for News: Isabella d’Este and a Bolognese Correspondent’, in F.W. Kent and Charles Zika, eds, Rituals, Images, and Words: Varieties of Cultural Expression in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Turnhout, 2005), pp. 375–388, p. 381. 50   Shemek, ‘In Continuous Expectation’, p. 294. 51   Evelyn Welch discusses consorts’ use of networks in ‘Women as patrons and clients in the courts of Quattrocento Italy’, in Women in Italian Renaissance Culture and Society, ed. by Letizia Panizza (Oxford, 2000), 18–34, pp. 22–9. For the use of information networks by Margherita Paleologa, Leonora Gonzaga, and Renée of France, see Mattozzi, Ch. 3. 52   Churchmen in the family could provide information from Rome, as could Elisabetta, Leonora, and Federico Gonzaga while at the court of Julius II. Federico also travelled to France, and Francesco’s sister Chiara was there after she married Gilbert de Montpensier. Giovanni Gonzaga spent much time at the imperial court, and was married to Laura Bentivoglio of Bologna. Another Bolognese connection was Isabella’s half-sister Lucrezia d’Este, wife of Annibale Bentivoglio. The duchesses Elisabetta and Leonora provided news from Urbino.

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great cultural advantage.53 She made political use of her female friends and relations. Isabella’s closest friends included her sister-in-law Elisabetta Gonzaga and Margherita Cantelmo, wife of the Neapolitan exile Sigismondo Cantelmo.54 Isabella also built networks through her donzelle, a charming female entourage ornamenting her court. While maintaining her own virtuous reputation, Isabella could use the sensual charms of these ladies-in-waiting to manipulate men (as seen in Chapter 6). The donzelle provided a valuable means of gaining information and favour, not only from admirers, but also from family members grateful to have their relative in such proximity to the marchesa, and from those selected as their husbands.55 Female intervention in political matters could be considered different from that of men, more family based, emotionally motivated, or justifiable on behalf of other women, as proven by Federico’s letter to Isabella of 1517 in which he explained that the king of France had suggested they use the queen to intercede with the pope on behalf of their dispossessed Montefeltro kinswomen as this would be acceptable where his intervention was not.56 Isabella utilised female networks to   Sally Hickson, ‘Female Patronage and the Language of Art in the Circle of Isabella d’Este in Mantua (c. 1470–1560)’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, 2003). 54   For Margherita Cantelmo see Carolyn James and F. W. Kent, ‘Margherita Cantelmo and Agostino Strozzi: Friendship’s Gifts and a Portrait Medal by Costanzo da Ferrara’, I Tatti Studies, 12 (2009), 85–115, Shemek, ‘Properties’, and Hickson, ‘Female Patronage’, Ch. 2. Jennifer Cavalli has conducted doctoral research into Isabella and Margherita’s contacts with religious women, ‘Between the Convent and the Court: Isabella d’Este and Female Community in the Renaissance’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, 2011). 55   Isabella’s donzelle were raised at court in her service. They would be arranged advantageous marriages, with the marchesa and the girl’s family usually contributing to the dowry. Married ex-donzelle maintained their loyalty to their former mistress, and their husbands were bound to the ruling house. Isabella’s retinue also included older married or widowed female companions. This aspect of Isabella’s court merits full research. Although Isabella’s reputation was spotless, in line with her times, she participated in bawdy entertainment. For a short overview of her sexual relations with Francesco, her enjoyment of rude songs with Matthäus Lang (Cardinal Gurk), and the perception of the donzelle as ‘una specie di prostitute a comando’, see Cipolla and Malacarne, eds, pp. 34–7. For erotica in Isabella’s letters see Bourne, ‘Mail humour’, pp. 211–214. 56   Federico to Isabella, Paris, 13 March 1517, b. 2123, f. III, c. 196r: ‘Quella sappi ch’el Re mi rispose non ne poter parlar perché N. S. l’ha troppo in suspetto di queste cose, et me remise a M.ma dicendomi ch’el convien melio a lei per esser donna procurar il beneficio de le donne et questi casi pietosi et di compassione trattare […] Havemo adunche […] fatto l’officio con M.ma qual ritrovamo benissimo disposta’. An earlier example of a Gonzaga wife using less formal female networks for political business is Barbara of Brandenburg’s efforts to reconcile Lodovico Gonzaga with Francesco Sforza through his consort Bianca Maria Visconti. Swain, p. 181. 53

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push political agendas of all kinds.57 She also favoured the Este cause through female networks.58 Her male relations were useful and loyal contacts too. For instance, in 1495 as the combatants who would meet at Fornovo readied themselves for battle, Isabella’s brother Ferrante wrote from the French king’s entourage with information.59 Francesco’s youngest brother Giovanni was a valuable correspondent. Representing Gonzaga interests abroad, he went to Naples during the French invasion, served Louis XII in 1499, and spent prolonged periods at the imperial court from 1500 to 1512. In addition to these relationships, Isabella fostered important contacts beyond the family, and Goffman’s concept of team can be applied to her network, bound to her by kinship, friendship, patronage, clientage, alliance, mutual esteem, or self-interest. Isabella was ‘one of the few women who emerge at this time as facilitators and dispensers of political and social patronage’.60 Isabella’s reputation as an authoritative woman and influential patron is demonstrated by those who sought her protection in the political arena. In August 1511 Bernardo Accolti, l’Unico Aretino, enlisted Isabella’s help in his campaign to boost the status of his brother, made a cardinal earlier that year, in order that he might take the papal tiara. The poet sought Isabella’s influence on the cardinals of Este and Aragon, the marchese, and the duke of Ferrara, as ‘not only the most glorious but the most powerful woman there ever was in your house’.61 57   In 1496 Isabella asked her sister Beatrice’s help. During a visit of the marchesa to Milan, Lodovico Sforza had given his grace at her request to the Mantuan Morari family, defending themselves against a case brought by the Amati. Isabella asked Beatrice to remind her husband of this: ‘m’è parso per meglio obtenere l’intento mio pregare la S.V. Ill.ma che la voglia operare che questa gratia sia confirmata, prestando tutto el favore & auctorità sua ali Morarij presso alo Ill.mo S. vostro consorte’. She wrote to the Ferrarese ambassador and the Barone Bonvesino, asking that they encourage Beatrice on this matter, Mantua, 12 March 1496, b. 2992, L. 6, f. 53r. 58   Although Ferrara was not officially allied with Mantua at this time, the marchesa asked the empress in 1510 to support the duke of Ferrara in his conflict with the pope and Venetians, and instructed Stazio Gadio in 1512 to thank the pope’s daughter Felice della Rovere for her intervention in favour of Ferrara, asking that she continue ‘sì appresso la S.tà de N. S. como in ogni altro loco dove si extende l’auctorità sua, quale sapemo essere grande’, Mantua, 24 August 1510, b. 2996, L. 28, f. 31r–v and 3 September 1512, b. 2119bis, fasc. X.2, c. 466r. 59   Isabella to Ferrante d’Este, thanking him for three letters with news of French movements, congratulating him on his position of great favour with the king, and telling him with pride that Francesco was in camp near Parma at the head of the Venetian troops, Mantua, 26 June 1495, b. 2992, L. 5, f. 46v. 60   San Juan, p. 75. 61   Bernardo Accolti to Isabella, autograph, Rome, 14 August 1511, Autografi, b.8, fasc.2, c.15: ‘non solo la più gloriosa ma la più potente donna che may fussi in casa vostra’. Partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p.267. Appendix Document 35.

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Through such correspondents Isabella was able to satisfy her desire to collect, so obvious in the cultural sphere, and to accumulate information which would enable her to have control over her environment. In the same way that, a generation earlier, Francesco Sforza, duke of Milan, professed his aim to be ‘lord of news’, ‘signore delle novelle’,62 Isabella had mechanisms in place by which she may justifiably be considered to have been a ‘signora delle novelle’. She made optimum use of the Gonzaga diplomats, in direct contact with the marchesa as well as her husband, and thus benefitted from the development of diplomatic systems in Quattrocento Italy.63 She enlisted the services of official and unofficial envoys in a variety of capacities and encouraged them to send detailed dispatches, containing information about social, cultural, and political developments.64 For instance, Isabella was meticulous in her collection of information regarding official ceremonies at other courts.65 The marchesa also encouraged in her network a strong Ferrarese contingent, loyal to their former princess.66 In addition to   Senatore, ‘Uno mundo de carta’, p. 254.   Michael Mallett explains these developments thus: ‘A dramatic improvement in the

62 63

quality and flow of information was one of the principal characteristics of Italian statecraft in the second half of the fifteenth century. The resident ambassadors, more informal spies and informers, and the development of patron-client relationships in which one of the main obligations on the client was to keep his patron informed, all contributed to this’, ‘Diplomacy and War in Later Fifteenth-Century Italy’, in Art and Politics in Renaissance Italy: British Academy Lectures, ed. by George Holmes (Oxford, 1993), pp. 137–58, p. 144. For studies of Renaissance diplomacy see: Mattingly; Dover, ‘Letters, Notes and Whispers’; Romolo Quazza, La diplomazia gonzaghesca (Milan, 1941); Vincent Ilardi, Studies in Italian Renaissance Diplomatic History (London, 1986); Riccardo Fubini, Italia Quattrocentesca. Politica e diplomazia nell’età di Lorenzo il Magnifico (Milan, 1994); and Daniela Frigo, ed., Politics and Diplomacy in Early Modern Italy (Cambridge, 2000). 64   The duties of the diplomat were varied, as Mattozzi puts it: ‘He could be required to negotiate, petition, arbitrate, inform, supply goods and services, and serve as a commercial agent’, p. 95. For correspondence with Gonzaga diplomats Giorgio Brognolo and Jacopo d’Atri, see Clifford M. Brown and Anna Maria Lorenzoni, ‘Isabella d’Este e Giorgio Brognolo nell’anno 1496’, Atti e Memorie della Accademia Virgiliana di Mantova, 41 (1973), 97–122; Giuseppe Coniglio, ‘La politica di Francesco Gonzaga nell’opera di un immigrato meridionale: Iacobo Probo d’Atri’, ASL, 88 (1961), 131–67; Luzio, Le Nozze di Margherita di Navarra: Lettera di Jacopo Probo d’Atri ad Isabella d’Este (Bergamo, undated); and, for a letter from d’Atri describing to Isabella the Castle of Gaillon, Roberto Weiss, ‘The Castle of Gaillon in 1509–10’, JWCI, 16 (1953), 1–12. See Brown, Per dare, for cultural services by various diplomats including the Brognolo family and Gian Lucido Cattaneo. 65   Cashman, ‘Public Life’, pp. 261–3. 66   In 1492, she encouraged Bernardino de’ Prosperi to continue to send her detailed reports: ‘né pretermettere alcuna cossa, grande o pichola che sia, perché se bene existimati che altri ne scrivano, non restaremo però d’alcuno tanto satisfacte quanto da vui’, Mantua, 10 January 1492, b. 2991, L. 1, f. 81r. For Prosperi’s reports see Deanna Shemek, ‘Circular Definitions: Configuring Gender in Italian Renaissance Festival’, RQ, 48 (1995), 1–40,

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Gonzaga and Este diplomats and agents, Isabella made use of members of the cultural community, as seen in the case of Accolti above. As a visible and articulate presence in this community, and sophisticated in her exploitation of this inclusion to political ends, the marchesa took advantage of a court society with little separation of individual and state concerns and fostered friendships with cultured men in useful and powerful positions. Isabella cultivated an extensive, dedicated network of leading humanist friends such as Gian Giorgio Trissino, Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, Lodovico da Canossa, Pietro Bembo, Bernardo Bibbiena, Francesco Chiericati, Antonio de Beatis, Sabba da Castiglione and many other influential foreign diplomats, noblemen, soldiers, and churchmen.67 This study demonstrates that such links, strengthened and extended through correspondence, similar interests and the support of art and letters, provided invaluable diplomatic and political connections. Isabella had well-placed eyes and ears, obtaining her objectives by persuasion and gentle pressure.68 Her networks allowed her to counteract perilous situations, pp. 28–9. For further contacts in Ferrara, see Sally Hickson, ‘“To see ourselves as others see us”: Giovanni Francesco Zaninello of Ferrara and the portrait of Isabella d’Este by Francesco Francia’, Renaissance Studies, 23 (2009), 288–310. 67   For Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti’s correspondence from Bologna see Arienti, The Letters of Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti (1481–1510), ed. by Carolyn James (Florence, 2002); Carolyn James, Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti. A Literary Career (Florence, 1996), and ‘An Insatiable Appetite for News’; and S. Bernard Chandler, ‘A Renaissance News Correspondent’, Italica, 29, 3 (1952), 158–63. For Chiericati’s description to Isabella of his visit to Ireland see Katherine Walsh and Elena Taddei, ‘In Finibus Mundi: Francesco Chiericati berichtet Isabella d’Este Gonzaga über seine Reise zum Purgatorium Sancti Patricii’, Innsbrucker Historische Studien, 23/24 (2004), pp. 127–72. For Bibbiena see Bernardo Dovizi, Epistolario di Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena, 2 vols, ed. by Giuseppe Lorenzo Moncallero (Florence, 1955–65). Vittorio Cian considers Isabella’s relationship with Bembo in ‘Pietro Bembo e Isabella d’Este Gonzaga’, GSLI, 9 (1887), 81–136. For other correspondents see Santa Cortesi, Fra Sabba da Castiglione, Isabella d’Este e altri: Voci di un carteggio, 1505–1542 (Faenza, 2004); Clifford M. Brown and Sally Hickson, ‘Sabba da Castiglione ed Isabella d’Este Gonzaga. Fra Rodi e Mantova’, in Sabba da Castiglione 1480–1554. Dalle corti rinascimentali alla Commenda di Faenza, ed. by Anna Rosa Gentilini (Florence, 2004), pp. 281–96; and David S. Chambers, ‘Isabella d’Este and the Travel Diary of Antonio de Beatis’, JWCI, 64 (2001), 296–308. For an overview of Isabella’s cultural links see Roberta Iotti, ‘Phenice Unica, Virtuosa e Pia. La Corrispondenza Culturale di Isabella’, in Isabella d’Este: La primadonna del Rinascimento, ed. by Daniele Bini (Modena, 2001), pp. 166–83 and Luzio and Renier’s rich examination of the topic in La coltura. 68   Before Lucrezia Borgia’s marriage to Isabella’s brother Alfonso, the marchesa had her correspondent Il Prete act as spy, providing her with detailed information (see Ch.2). Among the numerous instances of Isabella subtly using networks to expand her prestigious antiquities collection is a letter to Taddeo de’ Lardis, her brother Cardinal Ippolito’s secretary. Rather than bother the cardinal, potentially irritating him by reminding him of his promise to send her antiques acquired in his name from his Roman connections, she

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for instance in the retrieval of compromising documents, such as the pledge signed by Federico that as Captain General of the papal troops he would not hesitate to take up arms against his feudal lord, the emperor, if required by the pope. Incriminating evidence of this promise was obtained by Baldassare Castiglione from the secretary Pietro Ardinghello.69 Isabella also exploited the gift economy, sending items of value to those she wished to impress. It should be remembered too, as Judith Bryce points out, that the letter itself functioned as a gift, ‘a material token of friendship and esteem’.70 Furthermore, the marchesa could use news as a precious gift, leaving recipients indebted. Connections and information were needed to hold a position of power, and although information was shared between the marchesi and, as seen in Chapter 2, they shared many of the same correspondents, the marchesa also required intelligence received independently from Francesco. In this way she could: possess a wider picture, which she could then share with her husband if appropriate; obtain information to her precise, personal instructions; understand events of more concern to her than to Francesco, for instance Ferrarese matters; and combat the marginalisation caused by troublesome outsiders in their partnership (see Chapter 3). For instance, Isabella supplemented information given by Francesco during his absence on campaign in the summer of 1495 with that provided by members of his retinue. She exhorted Jacopo d’Atri to continue sending detailed missives and thanked Gian Carlo Scalona and Phebo Gonzaga for sending prompt news of Francesco’s appointment as Captain General of the Venetian forces.71 The following year she thanked Scalona again, for information about Francesco’s visit to Rome, with the praise ‘we are better informed than we could have hoped to

asked the secretary, the very person on hand as letters to Rome were written, to remind the cardinal of the agreement, Mantua, 8 March 1498, b. 2992, L.9, f.33v. Brown, Per dare, p. 133. Brown provides many more examples of such behaviour. 69   Luzio, Il Sacco di Roma, p. 27. 70   Bryce, ‘Between friends?’, p. 350. For gifts to important figures see Isabella to Gian Lucido Cattaneo, sending ten pieces of cheese and a thousand carp, the two biggest cheeses and half the fish to be given to the pope, the rest to be divided between three cardinals (Ascanio Sforza, Antoniotto Pallavicino, and Antonio Trivulzio), Mantua, 28 February 1504, b. 2993, L. 15, f. 95v. Also Isabella to Taddeo Albano and Jacopo d’Atri, obtaining and asking advice on presents for the king and queen of France, including white parrots for the queen’s study, Mantua, 31 May 1505, b. 2994, L.18, f.4r and undated (31 May or 1 June), ff. 5v–6r. 71   Isabella to Jacopo d’Atri, Mantua, 5 July 1495, b. 2992, L. 5, f. 52r. Isabella to Gian Carlo Scalona and Phebo Gonzaga, 27 July, f.61v. On the basis of this information she sent an autograph letter of congratulation to Francesco, 26 July, b. 2110, c. 98r: ‘per littere de Febus e de Zoan Carlo ho inteso che la S.V. è facto capitanio zenerale de la S. de Venetia […] e anchora che non habia la novella da la S.V. pur io lo credo’.

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be’.72 A wealth of information allowed Isabella to collect data, attempt to grasp its significance, and then embark on a prudent course of action. The value of her intelligence and support network cannot be overstressed. To quote Carolyn James, it ‘gave Isabella significant tactical advantage and allowed her to create an image of herself as an astute political strategist. She indubitably contributed to the stability and even survival of the Mantuan state in a time which saw the demise of many of the small princely regimes of early modern Italy’.73 The next part of this study considers Isabella’s work beside her husband in playing such a key role in the continued existence and successes of the Gonzaga state.

 

72

Isabella to Gian Carlo Scalona, Mantua, 11 April 1496, b. 2992, L. 6, f. 81r–v: ‘del copioso & ordinato scrivere vostro ve commediamo grandamente [...] Siamo meglio informate che non haveressimo saputo desyderare’. She also thanked Francesco himself, 12 April, ff. 84r–85v and Antonio de la Mirandola, 20 April, ff. 94v–95r. 73   James, ‘An Insatiable Appetite for News’, p. 376.

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Chapter 2

Power Sharing In his chivalric masterpiece Orlando Furioso, the poet Ludovico Ariosto depicts the complementary activities of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga. In Canto 13, 56–74, the sorceress Melissa tells Bradamante of her female descendants in the house of Este and describes Isabella and her husband: [In Mantua] an honoured and splendid contest, She will have with her most worthy consort, Over which of the two more prizes and loves the virtues, And which opens the gates more widely to welcome courtesy. If one will tell how by the Taro and in the Kingdom of Naples, He delivered Italy from the French; The other will reply: ‘because she lived chaste, Penelope was no less than Ulysses’.*

Dove onorato o splendido certame Avrà col suo dignissimo consorte, Chi di lor più le virtù prezzi et ame, E chi meglio apra a cortesia le porte. S’un narrerà ch’al Taro e nel Reame Fu a liberar da’Galli Italia forte; L’altra dirà: ‘Sol perché caste visse, Penelope non fu minor d’Ulisse.

*  Ariosto, Ludovico, Orlando Furioso, Canto 13, 60.

Ariosto has Isabella and Francesco engage in a contest of patronage of the worthy, and although the marchese’s martial victories are replaced with his wife’s feminine moral triumph, nevertheless their courtly match is one of individuals of the highest status, equal but different. Isabella and Francesco’s harmonising qualities bring just fame to Mantua. Through individual action spurred by affectionate competition, one a celebrated soldier, the other a virtuous consort, they together create a stable and refined court environment. The poet presented this image to please the Este and the Gonzaga, and the marchesi also represented themselves in this manner. This chapter provides evidence of th­e couple’s collaboration and co-rule, along with their presentation of union. It reveals a pattern of complementarity and pooled resources, beginning with demonstration of the sharing of information and decisions. This is a facet of the sharing of the ultimate resource, authority, as considered in the second section of this chapter with the administration of justice. The chapter closes by showing their sharing of human and material assets.

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‘Farrà in questo caso el iudicio suo, et se dignarà comunicarlo meco.’ ‘Do in this case according to your judgement and communicate it with me’: Sharing Information and Decision-making. As Chapter 1 demonstrated, at the heart of the marchesi’s policy of cooperation and joint decision-making was the sharing of information. This ranged from recounting local hearsay, to passing on exciting tales of exploration, to describing religious experiences, to comprehensive communication of all types of personal and political news. An example of a strange rumour is found in 1492 when Isabella related to Francesco the gossip that a certain Jew had offered to pay two brothers ten ducats if they provided a cup of breastmilk and then in the Jew’s presence poured it into the head of a man recently hanged in Revere. One of the brothers had substituted horse’s milk in the mysterious ritual, and when asked by the Jew what he saw, had found himself surrounded by horses, at which the Jew had supposedly realised he had been tricked. After this, apparently many horses had died in the area, and it was believed that women would have been struck down had the milk not been substituted. Isabella was incredulous, but had written to the vicario of Revere to cut down the hanged man, upon which cuts were found on his head. The marchesa forwarded the vicario’s letter to Francesco and promised to keep him updated.1 In 1509 she told her husband about twin spinsters in Mantua who had both died on their fifty-fifth birthday and been buried together.2 From a visit to Ferrara in 1499 Francesco told Isabella that he had seen a stigmatic nun, possibly Suor Lucia da Narni. He also forwarded copies of letters received by Ercole d’Este from Portugal about exploration in the New World, which he was sure would please Isabella: ‘being new and enjoyable things to hear we wanted to send you copies so that you can share the pleasure we have had, and although they seem incredible things you can be assured that they are actually true’.3 The marchesa declared that she wished she had seen the nun and thanked her husband for writing at length and sending this news.4 1   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 June 1492, b. 2991, L. 2, f. 25r. Appendix Document 2. 2   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 May 1509, b. 2118bis, f. II.1, cc. 175r–176r: ‘una per hydropesia, l’altra per morso d’uno gatto che gli promossi il spasemo, son mancate di la presente vitta’. 3   Francesco to Isabella, Ferrara, 16 November 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.3, cc. 102r–103r: ‘havemone racommandati e voi e noi a le oratione sue […] ha promisso pregare per tutti doi, che ni pare havere guadagnato assai […] il Si.re vostro patre ha havuto per diverse vie due copie de littere de alcuni portughesi che sono navigati in lochi incogniti, et ove non fu mai alcuno a memoria de homo vivo. Per essere cose nove e delectevole da udire havemo voluto mandarvine le copie, aciò che participiati del piacere che havemo participato noi, e ben che parino cose fabulose sappia certo la S.V. che sono pur vere’. 4   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 18 November 1499, b. 2113, fasc. II.3, c. 214r–v: ‘del suo copioso scrivere la ringracio summamente, et cossì de li exempli de le littere de Portugallo’.

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For rulers the possession of information of all kinds was essential, and the personal was inherently political. For instance, when Isabella notified her husband in 1500 that she had hurt herself while sitting down in a carretta, she gave news of her welfare that could have personal but also political and dynastic ramifications, and she kept him minutely informed of her progress to health.5 The sharing of information enabled the marchesi to work together from a basis of common intelligence and command of a situation. Chapter 1 indicated the couple’s systematic exchange of letters. They wrote frequently and in detail from the beginning of their marriage, Isabella following the conventions of deference to her husband required of a consort. In October 1491 she declared herself: ‘most obedient and desirous to obey you in every case’, in reply to instructions to send an official to Viadana as commissario. Her letter details the provisions made and reaction to unexpected difficulties as the man Francesco suggested was ill and had to be replaced by a candidate of Isabella’s choosing, although she made clear that the choice had been made with counsel. The appointment of a new commissario thus became a flexible, joint venture. The original pronouncement was made by Francesco, further decisions were taken by Isabella, and the final outcome put in place.6 A stream of information was obviously as vital for foreign as for domestic policy. As earlier demonstrated, Isabella received reports from her information network, which she habitually communicated to Francesco for shared decisionmaking. However, sometimes the couple’s interests diverged, and Isabella concerned herself with Estense priorities. Then the process was less straightforward and Isabella might receive communications, unshared, for her own purposes, while her husband collected intelligence of his own. For instance, during Alfonso d’Este’s war with Julius II, Isabella supported her brother’s cause while Francesco simultaneously spied on the Ferrarese (see Chapter 6). Even then, the final chapter of this book shows that despite juggling sympathies for Ferrara and for an antiFerrarese papal alliance, cooperation between the marchesi remained the norm. The pattern from first to last was principally one of teamwork in domestic and, potentially more problematic, foreign affairs. In April 1493 Isabella forwarded her 5   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 14 November 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.2, c. 163r: ‘volendo sedere dentro da la carretta, credendo fermarme sul cosino, tochai el ferro che tene el coperto et amachai la carne, in modo che facendomi dolia, m’è stato forza stare hozi in lecto’. Mantua, 16 November, c. 166r: ‘Sento pur anchora doglia nel loco che me amachai, benché se vadi sminuendo. El male, como per altre mie scripto a V.S., non è de periculo, né da farne caso alcuno, ma per essere in loco sinistro fa che non posso andare.’ Mantua, 20 November, c. 168r: ‘ogni dì continuo in megliore termine’. Francesco likewise kept Isabella informed of the progress of his bouts of illness, and the marchesi were usually kept up-to-date with issues of family health not only by the individual involved but also by their doctors. 6   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 4 October 1491, b. 2107, fasc. II, c. 119r: ‘obsequentissima e desiderosa de ubedirla in omne caso’.

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husband information received from her mother on Lodovico Sforza’s planned visit to Ferrara, of importance as il Moro had expressed an intention to pass through Mantua on the way, a troublesome prospect for the marchese in Venetian, antiMilanese, employ: Her excellent Ladyship has written to me that the illustrious lord Lodovico has decided to come to Ferrara this May and has already sent on the list of his retinue, which she has forwarded to me. I send a copy to Your Excellency […] However, for my part I do not believe any of it […] Now Your Lordship should have provisions made to honour him in our house, because when I was in Milan he told me that he wanted to travel this way. Your Lordship as is prudent will do in this case according to your judgement and communicate it with me, as I have done with my thoughts. Nevertheless, I might be mistaken. I recommend myself to Your Lordship’s good graces along with the illustrious lady duchess of Urbino, our shared sister, who agrees with my opinion.7

This example clearly shows female information networks and the importance of female evaluation of political intelligence. Isabella expressed distrust of the information her mother had received from Sforza and forwarded on, and emphasised that Elisabetta Gonzaga shared her suspicions. Nevertheless, she suggested they ready themselves for a possible Sforza visit, awaiting Francesco’s opinion to provide the complement to her own. Lodovico Sforza’s movements also caused the marchesi concern the following year, as he expressed his intention to visit Mantua in March 1494. In January Francesco made clear to his employers that he was unhappy with il Moro’s plan, which incurred expense and suspicion, and told his wife ‘because such a visit as this is contrary to all our interests in every way, we will see to it that we make provision to stop them coming’.8 Francesco and Isabella worked together to call off the visit, and at the beginning of March the marchesa stalled communications

 

7

Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 April 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 461r: ‘La Ex. de Madama me scrive che lo Ill.mo S. Lodovico ha pur deliberato de venire questo magio a Ferrara & che già li ha mandato la lista de la committiva, quale me ha driciata. Io ne mando mo’ la copia a la Ex.V. […]. Ma per la parte mia non ne credo niente […] Resta mo’ che la S.V. facia fare provisione per honorarlo a casa nostra, perché quando era a Milano me disse ch’el voleva fare questa via. La Ex.V. como prudente farrà in questo caso el iudicio suo, et se dignarà comunicarlo meco, come ho facto io del credere mio. Tuttavia poteria anche restare inganata. Raccommandome in bona gratia de V.Ex. inseme cum la Ill.ma M.a Duchessa de Urbino nostra commune sorella, quale concurre col parere mio’. 8   Francesco to Antonio Salimbene, Gonzaga agent in Venice. Goito, 27 January 1494, b. 2191, n.n. Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 29 January, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 338r: ‘perché questa tale venuta è contra nostro proposito da ogni canto, vederimo pur fare provisione che non habiano ad venire’.

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from Milan to give them more time.9 Sforza’s visit did not happen, and on the day he was supposed to arrive, 10 March, Isabella left for Loreto to fulfil a vow. The same year offers further excellent examples of teamwork and information sharing. In January 1494 Isabella communicated to Francesco in Goito details about the French army. She had sought a report from the soldier and nobleman Girolamo Tuttavilla, in Mantua on his way from Milan to Rome.10 She also mentioned confidential matters regarding Tuttavilla’s movements, which were better deferred, to be discussed with Francesco in person: He told me the cause of his departure, which does not seem appropriate to me to write in a letter. If Your Excellency does not know what it is, I will tell you when you are here. I asked him if he believed that the expedition of the French will lead to the war which people are talking about. He replied that he firmly believes this will happen and that they will turn to Genoa for money and preparations.11

The flow of information between Goito and Mantua was intense. A few days later Isabella thanked Francesco for secret intelligence from Milan, which she promised to keep concealed, and she agreed with his interpretation of events.12 9   She informed her husband on 1 March that a cavallaro had arrived from Milan with a letter for Francesco: ‘dice ch’el se rasona che ali dece de questo [Sforza] parte per venire a Mantua. Parendone male a proposito nostro, sì per la spesa como per altri magiori respecti, ne ho preso grande dispiacere, et per dare tempo a V.Ex. de pensare la resposta facio intertenere per domane questo cavallaro, qual voleva venire a Venetia, cum dire che anchora non sapeva certo quando partesse da Ferrara’. The following day she had to release the cavallaro and expressed her confidence in Francesco: ‘facendo instantia questo cavallaro de Milano de venire a la Ex.V. l’ho licentiato cum dirli havere pur hozi aviso de la deliberatione sua per andare a Venetia. Quanto più penso sopra la venuta del Ill. mo S. Duca tanto più me pare fora d’ogni bisogno & proposito nostro. Tuttavia la Ex.V. como prudentissima ne farrà la megliore resolutione che gli parerà’. Mantua, 1 and 2 March 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVI, c. 176r, c. 178r. 10   Girolamo Tuttavilla (died c. 1495) was the son of the French Cardinal Guillaume d’Estouteville. He was signore of Nemi, Genzano and Frascati, and was created count of Sarno by Ferrante II of Naples in 1495 after fighting the French. 11   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 25 January 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVI, c. 156v, postscript c. 157: ‘Disseme la causa de la partite sua, la quale non mi pare da commettere in littera. Se la V. Ex. non la scia, quando serrà qua io gli la dirrò. Gli dimandai anche s’el credeva che la expedicione de Francesi dovesse andare inanti per la guerra de che se parla. Resposeme tenere per fermo che l’habia a sequire & che a Genua habiano a fare capo per dar denari & preparare le cose necessarie’. 12   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 30 January 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVI, c. 160v: ‘Ringratio V. Ex. de la participatione ha facto cum me de le cose de Milano & concorro seco in opinione […] tenerassi dal canto mio secretissimo el scrivere suo’. She thanked him for sharing information and agreed with his opinion in another letter from Mantua, 13 March 1497, b. 2992, L. 8, f. 61r: ‘Ho visto la littera de V. Ex. insieme cum quella del

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A letter of October 1494 from Isabella to Francesco in Marmirolo shows the means of co-rule adopted when both marchesi were in Mantuan territory. It suggests the faith shown in Isabella’s political ability by others, and her wish to emphasise to Francesco that she did not covet his position as the focus for diplomatic activity while he was at home. Isabella described the arrival at court of an envoy from Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici: with a letter addressed to Your Excellency, and saying that he had commission from the aforementioned Lorenzo that if Your Lordship was not here in Mantua he should give the letter to me to open, which did not seem at all right to me to do. I judged it better to send the man on to Your Excellency with the letter, along with someone to guide him to where you are, as it appeared that he did not really know how to get to Marmirolo.13

In declining to accept the letter and sending the envoy on, carefully accompanied, Isabella displayed acceptance of her role as junior partner, and deference to her husband. However, the situation would have been different had Francesco been out of Mantuan territory, and Isabella in charge of government. Sending the letter unopened not far from Mantua risked losing little in terms of information and status, since Francesco would be expected to reveal its contents to her, as probably happened. Had she genuinely been denied such information, she would have been placed in an unacceptably weak position. Isabella and Francesco routinely worked together to deny others access to information, as in the security measures discussed in Chapter 1. News was sometimes concealed for familial as well as diplomatic reasons. In 1496 Isabella informed the marchese that she had opened letters addressed to him, as normal, as he was in Venice, and had heard of the death of Francesco’s brother-in-law Gilbert de Montpensier. Isabella suggested they must hide news of this bereavement from the unsuspecting widow Chiara Gonzaga, who was in Mantua.14 Two weeks later Isabella reported to Elisabetta Gonzaga that the information had been withheld Guivizano che me ha mandato. La ringratio summamente, et non accadendomegli fare altra resposta se non che, como saviamente dice V.Ex. de le cose de Franza, che se ne parla pur diversemente, a me anche pare il simile’. 13   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 28 October 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVII, c. 272r: ‘cum una littera directiva ad V. Ex.tia dicendo che havea commissione dal p.to Lorenzo quando non retrovasse qui ad Mantua la S.V. de darmila ad me che la apresse, el che non mi è parso fare per cosa alcuna. Ma meglio ho iudicato driciarlo cum essa littera ala Ex.tia V. et insieme uno ch’el guidi ad quella, parendo che lui se diffidasse de sapere venire ad Marmirolo’. 14   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 19 November 1496, b. 2111, c. 332r: ‘trovato la parte de la morte del S. Conte de Monpensero nostro cognato sono rimasta tutta atristata, ma non ho voluto farne signo alcuno, né parlarne cum persona aciò non andasse ad orechie ala Illu. M.a Chiara. Cossì serrà ben facto che la Ex.V. facia ogni provisione perché la non lo sapia, che andaria a grandissimo periculo de crepare de dolore’.

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until the marchese returned and could personally break the news to his sister gradually, with Chiara first being told by a doctor that her husband was seriously ill, then having the support of Isabella and many other comforters when Gilbert’s death was confirmed.15 The careful giving or withholding of information was difficult in the crowded, public court arena, as when in October 1493 the court could not conceal her mother’s death from the pregnant Isabella. The court had attempted to keep the news from the marchesa, perhaps until her absent husband could break it to her, but the information seeped through from Milan.16 In the possession or withholding of information were the keys to power. Alfonso d’Este’s marriage to Lucrezia Borgia in 1502 was a highly-charged political event, of great significance for Isabella, and thus not surprisingly it generated a considerable exchange of information. From the outset, Isabella shared news from Ferrara of the matrimonial project with Francesco. On 7 August 1501 Isabella wrote that she had received details from Alfonso, and the following day, on request, provided Alfonso’s letter to Francesco, ‘so that you can see what I have’.17 In November 1501 official wedding invitations were issued, and Francesco and Isabella, advised by Ercole d’Este, engaged in a delicate diplomatic balancing act. They seem to have believed that there may have been a heightened threat to Mantua from Cesare Borgia, making it inadvisable for the marchese to leave his city. Ercole may also have been concerned about volatile behaviour from Francesco. However, Isabella’s role as hostess provided opportunities, and in her high-profile appearance centre-stage combined with her husband’s non-appearance at the festivities, the couple covered all angles. A letter of 14 November from Ercole to his daughter informs her of wedding plans and requests her presence.18   Isabella to Elisabetta Gonzaga, Mantua, 3 December 1496, b. 2992, L. 8, f. 37r–v: ‘Io

15

lo inteso de parechi dì inanti di lei, ma per ritrovarse lo Ill.mo S. mio a Venetia differessimo ad intimargelo fin al ritorno de sua Ex.a, laquale deliberò poi tornata che la fue, ch’el se dovesse dirgelo, aciò che se potessi fare provisione ale cose sue. M.ro Luca medico prima li notifico che l’era agravato forte, poi cum bon modo el S.re gli affirmò la morte. Per ordine cussì dato io cum la Ill.ma M.a Caterina nostra zia, sore Osana, frate Hieronimo Heremita [Girolamo Redini] et Mons.re R.mo gli sopragiungessimo condolendone et confortandola al meglio potessimo. Quali fussino li gridi et lamenti soi lassolo pensare a V.S.’. 16   Benedetto Capilupi to Francesco, Mantua, 15 October 1493, b. 2443, c. 259r–v. Appendix Document 4. For Isabella’s reaction to the death of her sister three and a half years later, see Floriano Dolfo to Isabella, Bologna, 10 January 1497, b. 1144, c. 76r. Appendix Document 9. 17   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 7 August 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.2, c. 356r: ‘dal Sig.re Don Alphonso mio fratello ho havuto lo apunctamento et condictione del parentato cum M.a Lucretia’. Francesco to Isabella, asking her to send on Alfonso’s letter so he could be informed, Sacchetta, 8 August, fasc. VII.1, c. 272r. Reply, sending letter, Mantua, 8 August, fasc. VIII.2, c. 358r, postscript c. 357r: ‘aciò che la vedi quello ch’io ho, pregola che lecta che l’habia me la remandi’. 18   Ercole d’Este to Isabella, Ferrara, 14 November 1501, Autografi, b. 1, c. 46: ‘Havemo deliberato de fare partire de qui il primo die de decembris proximo futuro la

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He stresses that he expects Francesco to be content with this, and suggests that, given their concerns, it would be better if the marchese were absent. Significantly Ercole did not write to Francesco directly, but preferred that Isabella mediate this information.19 On 16 November Isabella informed her husband, provided him with her father’s letter, and, rather than explicitly propose that they follow Ercole’s advice, asked for his stance on their policy of reply.20 Francesco consented to this team dynamic, telling Isabella he was happy for her to accept the invitation: which we would also have accepted, as our due and appropriate duty, but, as the aforementioned lord duke most prudently reminds us, the conditions of the present times for now forbid us from this desired effect. Thus Your Ladyship can now reply at your pleasure both for yourself and for our part.21

On 17 November Isabella replied to Ercole, in a letter perhaps intended for public consumption, that she would be at the festivities, while her husband would attend depending on commitments.22 Although Francesco was not to be present at the wedding, nevertheless Isabella consulted him about her preparations and later kept him minutely informed of the celebrations.23 comitiva quale mandamo a Roma per levare et condure in qua la Ill. M.a Lucretia nostra nora, a la gionta de la quale se farano le noce. Deche ni è parso darvene adviso, si perché vi sia noto il tuto si etiam per invitarvi, si come è conveniente, a dicte noce, perché essendo voi nostra figliola come seti debita cosa è che gli interveniati, et cussì vi exhortamo ad venirli. Et rendemose certi che lo Ill S. Marchese vostro consorte et nostro fratello dilectissimo serà contentissimo de la venuta vostra qua, come quello che sempre è desideroso fare cosa che ne piacia. Et se bene non seressemo mancho desiderosi che etiam gli intervenesse Sua Sig.ria, non dimeno per ogni condigno rispecto ni pare meglio che Sua Sig.ria non venga. Attente le condictione de li tempi presenti come anche credemo che Sua S.ria per la prudentia sua multo bene consideri [et] cognosca il tuto. Et cussì la S. Vostra gie lo poterà fare intendere.’ 19   See Maria Bellonci, Lucrezia Borgia, trans. by Bernard and Barbara Wall (London, 2000), pp. 209–10. Bellonci suggests Ercole’s request that Isabella pass on the information demonstrates that he had ‘more confidence in his daughter’s understanding than in his sonin-law’s’. 20   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua 16 November 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.3, c. 394r: ‘Mando alla Ex.V. qui alligata la littera che me scrive lo Ill.mo S. mio patre circa lo invito de le noze. La se dignarà notificarmi quello che gli haverò a respondere cossì per la parte che tocha alla S.V. como ad me.’ 21   Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 16 November 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VII.2, c. 296r: ‘nel che haveressimo anchora nuy facto el debito et conveniente officio ma, como prudentissimamente ricorda el p.to Sig.re Duca, le condictione de li tempi presenti per hora ne prohibiscono da questo desiderato effecto. Si che la S.V. potra mo’ respondere al suo piacere et per Ley et per la parte che tocca a nuy’. 22   Isabella to Ercole d’Este, Mantua, 17 November, b. 2993, L. 13, f. 8v. 23   For instance, Isabella provided Francesco with a list of her retinue for the trip to Ferrara: ‘aciò che la possi corregere, et acrescere o sminuire como gli parerà’, Mantua, 21

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The nuptials caused information networks to be fully utilised: Isabella sought undercover intelligence on the bride in order to avoid being upstaged; the political ramifications of the match were explored; and the marchesi attempted to gain Gonzaga advancement from the union, particularly the raising of Sigismondo from protonotary to cardinal.24 With this aim in mind, for instance, Isabella wrote to Borso da Correggio at length urging him to persuade Cardinal Ippolito, Alfonso, and Ercole d’Este to pursue the promotion with the pope. She asked Borso to encourage Alfonso to write: a persuasive letter to his lady consort undersigned by his own hand, to indicate that this petition comes from his heart and not to satisfy others. He could use the argument of the warm and deep love that he has for us, asking her that before she leaves she asks His Holiness to make this promotion for her.25

Isabella continued by underlining the benefits in bringing this about which Alfonso could outline to Lucrezia, and in the process reminded Borso of the munificence of the Gonzaga, should he also play his part. Despite the marchesi’s great pains, Sigismondo would not be made cardinal until 1505. However, their efforts to gain

December 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.3, c. 410r. 24   Isabella had her agent il Prete spy on the bride. He assured her: ‘io seguirò la Excelente Madona Lucretia como fa il corpo l’ombra, e siate certa che io vi saperò dire quanta stampa formi il [...] suo pede in terra e dove li ochi non poterano atingere io andarò col naso’. Ferrara, 12 October 1501, b. 1237, fasc. XXIII, n.n. Quoted Luzio, Isabella d’Este e i Borgia (Milan, 1915), p. 71. Also il Prete to Isabella, Rome, 2 January 1502 Autografi, b. 4, cc. 140r–141r. Ferdinand Gregorovius, Lucrezia Borgia (Rome, 2004), pp. 277–8. Employing information networks, Isabella wrote to Francesco that she had received a highly confidential letter from a secret Ferrarese correspondent: ‘ho havuto da Ferrara da uno nostro amico et persona de credito alcuni avisi, quali m’è parso comunicare cum la S.V. per lo incluso exemplo. Non nomino lo auctore perché lui non se ne cura, ma quando la Ex.V. serrà qua io ge lo declararò cum gionta de alcun’altro particularij che non sono da scrivere’. Included is a copy of a letter written to her from Ferrara on 29 November, containing news on the pope and Valentino from Venice, Florence, and the Romagna. The correspondent told Isabella he had spoken in depth with her father, who would also push for Sigismondo’s promotion. Mantua, 1 December 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.3, c. 403r, exemplum c. 404r–v. 25   Isabella to Borso da Correggio, Mantua 7 December 1501, b. 2993, L. 13, ff. 13v–14r: ‘una littera efficace sottoscripta de mane propria a M.a suo consorte, de modo che la indicasse che questa peticione procedesse dal core suo, et non per satisfare altri. Ben poteria pigliare argumento da lo cordiale et intenso amore ch’el ce porta, pregandola che nanti la partita sua volesse supplicare la S.tà de N. S.re che la gli facesse gratia de questa promotione’.

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from the Este/Borgia alliance seem to have been successful, arguably increasing Mantuan security.26 The couple’s information sharing continued to the marchese’s death, despite his infirmity and the increasing negative influence of his secretary Tolomeo Spagnoli. On 27 May 1518, for instance, Francesco wrote Isabella two letters from Marmirolo. In the first he forwarded some letters from France, including one describing tournaments that was ‘beautiful to read’, ‘bel da legere’, and in the second instructed her that she could pass on to her brother one of the letters.27 ‘Essendo commune et unico omne nostro concepto et volere’ ‘Being common and one, all our thoughts and wishes’: Sharing Authority and Justice There is a good deal of evidence that Isabella possessed the authority of co-ruler of Mantua, and dispensed justice in this capacity not only when Francesco was away from Mantuan territory but also when he was at one of his country villas.28 Here, with limited space, are presented some examples to show Francesco’s endorsement of this sharing of authority and justice.29 Effective, reassuring joint administration of justice could only be achieved through open channels of communication and the trust of the marchese in his representative. While Francesco was in the province, he communicated orders to Isabella in the city, and provided her with required information. In January 1500, he sent letters from Gonzaga with the explicit instruction that Isabella read them and proceed in his stead.30 The marchesa’s understanding of her role is seen in her statement from the end of the same year that she had opened a letter addressed to Francesco, ‘to see if it contained anything that I could act on in your absence’.31

26   Francesco and Isabella’s teamwork in thwarting Cesare Borgia is considered in Chapter 5. 27   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 27 May 1518, b. 2123bis, f. IV, c. 267r and c. r 268 : ‘Visto el desiderio cha V.S. di mandare la littera di Statio venuta hora di Francia allo Ill.mo Sig.r Duca […] di la bona voglia semo contenti che lo la mandi, ordinando lei che la si rehabbia’. 28   For evidence of arbitration, intercession, and administration by the duchesses Margherita Paleologa and Leonora Gonzaga, see Mattozzi, Ch. 5 and Ch. 6. 29   Useful reference points for the justice system are David Chambers and Trevor Dean, Clean Hands and Rough Justice: An Investigating Magistrate in Renaissance Italy (Ann Arbor, 1997) and Dean, Crime and Justice in Late Medieval Italy (Cambridge, 2007). 30   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 23 January 1500, b. 2114, fasc. I.1, c. 11r: ‘La S.V. le può legere e cominciare a far fare la capa nostra’. 31   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 4 December 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.2, c. 176r: ‘per vedere se la conteneva cosa alla quale io potessi provedere in absentia sua’.

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While the marchese was out of the city he wanted Isabella there to represent him, and if he planned to make a trip while Isabella was also away he sent for her, for instance recalling her from a visit to Ferrara in 1495.32 In this instance, when she delayed her return he seemingly did not mind; but on later occasions he was clearly irritated by prevarication (see Chapter 6). If his brothers were also to be away from Mantua he considered it yet more imperative that she be present. For instance, in 1492 he called her back from a trip to Milan and Genoa as he was going with Sigismondo to Porto Cesenatico for some days of recreation, and Giovanni was going to Rome to visit the new pope, Alexander VI: ‘therefore all three brothers will be gone at the same time, so it is much more vital that you seek to return home […] because your presence in Mantua is very necessary.’33 While away from the Mantovano, or often just from Mantua itself, Francesco made his wife responsible for the maintenance of law and order. In March 1491 he commanded Isabella from Marmirolo to investigate the murder of a little girl in Mantua.34 The following year Isabella informed Francesco that Andrea da Como had cut Francisco dal Bove’s throat as he lay in bed. Her husband instructed her to use ‘every shrewd investigation’,‘ogni sutile indagatione’, to have the criminal apprehended.35 In 1500 Isabella took measures to ensure that the murderer of a servant of the count of Caiazzo would be arrested when he left the sanctuary of the Duomo.36 In 1501 the marchesa was praised by her husband, in Goito, for the steps taken to find the murderer of a servant of Count Ludovico Bergamino.37 As David Chambers and Trevor Dean put it, it is clear that ‘Isabella felt concern over criminal matters. She might occasionally urge a degree of leniency […] but she approved of ruthless detection and law enforcement’.38 Although her letters generally highlighted her deferential compliance, Isabella would delay carrying out Francesco’s instructions if she had doubts. On 1 November 1501 she was instructed from Marmirolo to release a suspected forger, Biasino Crivello, and his household (although, typical of Francesco’s love of the  

32

Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 11 May 1495, b. 2110, c. 188r: ‘Ad noi pareria tempo che ve ne dovesti tornare a casa, et maxime andando noi ad Milano, che qua non resta alcuno che habia cura de le cose nostre’. Reply, autograph, Ferrara, 12 May, c. 27r. 33   Francesco to Isabella, Revere, 30 September 1492, b. 2108, fasc. 1.2, c. 99r: ‘unde venimo tutti tre fratelli ad un tempo trovarsi absenti, perhò tanto più è necessario che voi sollicitati el ritorno vostro a casa [...] perché la presentia vostra ad Mantua è molto necessaria’. 34   For the fuller context see Ch. 4 below, examining Francesco Secco’s downfall. 35   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 18 November 1492, b. 2108, fasc. 1.2, c. 90r. 36   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 4 August 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.1, c. 121r. 37   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 23 November 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.3, c. 402r. Reply, Goito, 24 November, fasc. VII.2, c. 302r, hearing of the murder of the count’s staffiero, ‘ne havemo preheso molestia assai, et commendamo summamente la S.V. del ordine per ley dato ch’el se usi diligente investigatione per havere ne le mane il malfactore’. 38   Chambers and Dean, p. 237.

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prestigious Gonzaga stables, he commanded that a horse that had been seized be retained).39 On the same day the marchesa replied to her husband that, as incriminating items had been found in Biasino’s house, before freeing him: To be on the safe side, the matter being of such importance, it seemed best to wait for another letter from you or, if you prefer, it would be a good idea to send here Tolomeo [Spagnoli] or Stefano da la Pigna or someone else who knows your mind, and with whom I can speak freely of my thoughts in this case. Nevertheless do as you will, and we will obey immediately.40

Although she had gone against express orders, Francesco praised Isabella: ‘Your Ladyship has done exactly as we would have wanted in not executing the instructions in our letter about freeing Biasino’. The marchesa was told to keep him in custody and the following day Francesco would send Stefano and Tolomeo to consult with her. 41 In January 1494, from Goito, Francesco gave Isabella full power to follow her judgement in settling a dispute between Beltramino Cusadri and Gian Giacomo dell’Orologio.42 Following her astute policy of consultation, and requesting Francesco’s opinion, the marchesa suggested putting the case before the podestà: ‘that seems to me honest, and no one can then complain’.43 Thus she could assume the authority for resolution of the matter while ensuring that it be handled correctly and provoke no grievance against her. Besides resolving quarrels, Isabella was given responsibility for nominating officials. In February of   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 1 November 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VII.2, c. 293 : ‘il cavallo mandato ala stalla nostra volemo che resti in essa’. 40   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, dated 1 November 1501 (misdated 1 October), b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.2, c. 382r: ‘per giocare dal canto securo, essendo de la importantia che l’è, m’è parso expectare un’altra littera da quella, ma quando gli piacesse mandarmi qua Ptolomeo o Stephano da la Pigna o altro che fusse ben informato de la mente sua, et col quale io potesse liberamente parlare de quanto me occorre in questo caso, seria molto in proposito. Nondimeno lei dispona como la vole, ch’io subito obedirò’. Also Mantua, 1 November, c. 391r. 41   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo and Goito, 1 and 2 November 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VII.2, c. 293r and c. 294r: ‘La S.V. ha proprio facto quel che desyderavimo, in non exequire la littera nostra circa la liberatione de Biasino, per la nova inventione facta in casa sua de le stampe, et monete’. 42   Beltramino Cusadri, or Cusatri, of Crema (c.1425–1500) was a prominent judicial magistrate of the Gonzaga. He fell from grace in 1484 and later entered Este employment. For this dispute, see Chambers and Dean, pp. 254–6. Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 29 January 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 336r: ‘voi vederite farli quella opportuna provisione che ve parerà convenirse, remettendola in voj liberamente che ne faciate il volere et parere vostro’. 43   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 30 January 1494, fasc. XVI, c. 161v: ‘a me pare che la sia honesta & che alcuno non se possi dolere’. 39

r

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the same year, Francesco instructed Isabella from Revere to select an individual to come to agreement with one of Ercole d’Este’s men over assets in Viadana and Brescello. She proposed Anselmo de’ Folenghi, former podestà of Viadana, and stressed once again that the decision was taken with guidance, from the Consilio.44 Although Isabella seems to have been well respected in exercising her authority, in July 1495 this was tested by an official, Antonio Donato. She told Francesco that Donato had delayed acting on her decision, taken due to a shortage of cash, to pay twenty hungry soldiers with a sack of grain each. Donato had thus gone against the marchese’s wishes ‘that he and the other officials and subjects obey me’. In punishment Isabella had taken the grain from Donato’s own store rather than Gonzaga supplies, a move of which Francesco approved, telling her: ‘the demonstration made against Antonio Donato for his disobedience against you was well done, and we praise and commend you for it, because our wish is that you are obeyed and venerated by everyone without exception, as is appropriate, and just as we are’.45 However, once Donato had apologised, Isabella replaced his losses and asked that Francesco forgive his misdemeanour.46 In this way she asserted her authority without giving the official cause for lasting resentment. In March 1497 an exhausted Francesco retired to Marmirolo to rest his body and mind. He thus asked that Isabella take on those supplications addressed to him:47

  Francesco to Isabella, Revere, 20 February 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 342r: ‘voi

44

ordinareti che se faci quanto ve parerà sij expediente’. Reply, Mantua, 20 and 21 February, fasc. XVI, c. 171r and c. 172r: ‘Cum participacione del Consilio ho electo M. Anselmo di Folenghi […] & secundo m’è stato referito ha grande cognitione & pratica de quelle confine & iurisdictione nostre, […] habia ad ritrovarse sul loco de la differentia de Viadana & Brixello cum quello che ha electo lo Ill.mo S. mio patre’. 45   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 15 July 1495, b. 2110, c. 83r. Appendix Document 7. Reply, Vespolanum, 18 July, c. 479r: ‘La demonstratione facta contra Antonio Donato per la inobedientia sua verso voj è stata bene facta, et ve ne laudamo & commendamo, peroche la mente nostra è che da tutti indifferentemente siate obedita et venerata, como conviene et como la persona nostra propria’. 46   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 20 July 1495, b. 2110, c. 106r: ‘essendosi esso Antonio Donato recognosciuto del manchamento suo, et havendomi dimandato perdono, gli ho facilmente remesso ogni iniuria. Cossì prego la Ex.tia V. che anchora lei per amore mio gli vogli perdonare […] et aciò che Antonio Donato non stia nel danno, ho ordinato ch’el se retogli el frumento’. Francesco to Isabella, Casalleggiano, 23 July, b. 2110bis, c. 472r: ‘Havemo havuto piacere che Antonio Donato se sij reconosciuto dil suo errore et che la S.V. gli habij perdonato’. 47   Cecilia Nubola gives the following definition of the term ‘supplications’ in this context: ‘letters (or documentation) which single citizens, or organized and recognized groups, sent to the state authorities requesting grace, favours, privileges, or calling attention to injustices and abuses’. Nubola, ‘Supplications between Politics and Justice: The Northern and Central Italian States in the Early Modern Age’, in Petitions in Social History, ed. by Lex Heerma van Voss (Cambridge, 2002), pp. 35–56, p. 35.

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Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga Because the pile of supplications […] gets ever bigger every day, it will please us that Your Ladyship take responsibility for dealing with them and signing them all […] being common and one, all our thoughts and wishes.48

The marchese was thus able to attend to his wellbeing, certain that these important matters of state were capably administered. Further illustrations of the cooperative shouldering of authority can be found in the same year. In September Francesco upbraided his wife for writing to him in Gonzaga to ask that he agree to Ercole d’Este’s request for free passage of 250 brente of wine across Mantuan territory: It strikes us that you have behaved with little faith in this case, because you should have done it without asking us, having the authority to do this and greater things. And we would have been very grateful, and always will be, if you would show yourself to be what you are and take care of our affairs as you rightfully should.49

This shows Isabella’s care in assuming power, periodically desiring reaffirmation of her authority, particularly as in this instance an Este was involved and she may have wished to obtain explicit licence so as to avoid accusations of partiality. The following month the marchese would state again: ‘we want you to have (…) greater authority […] we are pleased that you take care of our affairs, knowing that nobody in the world could do so with more love or better than you’.50 On 7 December Francesco wrote twice to his wife from Goito, demonstrating faith in her political abilities. Firstly he sent on a letter from Venice with instructions that she open and read all incoming letters before sending them on to him, and secondly he called for a valued opinion on a letter received: ‘please let us know your thoughts, for we are prudent and do not take them lightly’.51 48   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 17 March 1497, b. 2112, c. 4r. Appendix Document 10. 49   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 29 September 1497, b. 2112, c. 34r: ‘dicemo che ne pare che in questo caso ve siate deportata molto poco confidentemente, peroche vui dovevate farlo senza dirne altro, havendo voi auctorita de potere fare questo et maiore cosa. Et ad noi seria stato grat.mo, & serà sempre, che demonstrate essere quella che sete, et che pigliate quella cura de le cose nostre che meritamente devete pigliare’. 50   Francesco to Isabella, Felonica, 13 October 1497, b. 2112, c. 40r: ‘volemo che l’habia (...) magiore auctorità, siché V.S. non ne resti cum dubio (...) noi havemo piacere che essa piglij cura de la cose nostre: (sa)pendo che persona dil mondo né le potria fare cum più amore, né meglio de lej’. In reply to Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 12 October, b. 2191, n.n. 51   Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 7 December 1497, b. 2112, c. 51r: ‘quando accade venire lettere da Venetia o altrove quella le vglia [sic] aprire et legere, et poi mandarle ad nuj’, and c. 52r: ‘havendo recevuta la inclusa dal M.co M. (...) da Gonzagha de la continentia che V.S. vederà […] la pregamo gli piacia farne intendere il suo parere (...) per essere prudente, noi non ne facimo picolo caso’.

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In April 1499 Francesco put Isabella in charge of resolving a dispute over sheep with the signori of Correggio. Isabella consulted officials, including the maestro de le intrate and sindaco, and presented Francesco with a full summary of the facts before concluding that no offence was intended. Although in possession of full authority, Isabella placed the issue back in Francesco’s hands and deferred to his superiority: ‘although Your Lordship has freely entrusted this case to me, nevertheless I have decided not to proceed with it, preferring that you understand precisely how matters lie and finish it off according to your most wise judgement and opinion’.52 This recurring deference in Isabella’s letters emphasised her appreciation of the authority placed in her, and encouraged that she be given more. Indeed, Francesco’s reply demonstrates that her rhetoric of gratitude promoted one of recognition: We had entrusted you with the matter of the sheep belonging to the signori of Correggio so that you could act freely following your judgement and wishes. Now that you have investigated it and communicated your findings with us in your letter, we can only praise you greatly and be most satisfied with you […] Your Ladyship must do as you please in this case and in all others, and we will always approve of your every action, knowing you from experience to be intelligent, prudent, and wise.53

As was to be expected, the marchesa presided not only over issues of public justice and concern, including agricultural affairs and territorial disputes, but also matters within the palace. For instance, on two occasions in 1501 Isabella was in charge of imposing regulations at court, both resurrected from older pronouncements. In July she ordered that no one should bring prostitutes into their rooms at court on pain of beheading.54 In December she acted immediately 52   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 10 April 1499, b. 2113, fasc. II.1, c. 143r. ‘et quantunche la S.V. me remitta liberamente questa causa, non dimeno non mi è parso expedirla, havendo voluto che quella minutamente intenda come iace la cosa et ch’ella la termini secundo il sapientissimo iudicio e parere suo’. 53   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 11 April 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.1, c. 17r: ‘Havevimo remessa la cosa de le pecore de li Sig.ri da Coregia ala S.V. aciò che liberamente la facesse quel che era il parer e voler suo. Hor che l’habia voluto intenderla et communicarla cum noi per la littera sua, non possemo se non summamente laudarla e restare di lei satisfactissimi […] La S.V. et in questo caso et in ogni altro faccia quel che li piace, che sempre approbaremo ogni sua actione, cognoscendola per experientia de ingegno prudente e savia’. 54   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 31 July 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.1, c. 345r: ‘Ho commesso alli sescalchi che de camera in camera facino intendere che da mo’ in anti non ardisca veruno condure femine de mala vita alle stantie loro in corte, sotto pena de la testa secundo li ordini antiqui de questa ill.ma casa, liquali per publico exemplo V. Ex. fa prudentemente ad renovare’. For measures taken against prostitution by the marchesi, particularly Isabella, see Cashman, ‘Public Life’, pp. 163–4, and Silvia Lolli, ‘Le gride, le bolle e gli editti sulla prostituzione’, in Cipolla and Malacarne, eds, pp. 211–27.

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on Francesco’s command to restore and enforce a ‘praiseworthy and fine order’, ‘ordine molto laudabile e bono’, that forbade the carrying of arms in the Castello, ensuring that ‘everyone who enters there leaves their weapons at the door […], and appointing individuals to be in charge of this’.55 Isabella’s authority included the protection of trade, and in 1493 she reacted swiftly to erroneous news of a plague infestation in Mantua, perhaps spread by merchants wishing to affect the price of wool, as the report was blocking trade with Parma, Cremona, Brescia, and Verona. She countered this economic disruption, dangerous to the Gonzaga and their subjects, by sending express messengers to reassure the commissari and rectori of those cities, and kept Francesco informed of her actions.56 The highly publicity-aware marchesa was also frequently in charge of directing public celebrations, marked with bells, shots, and bonfires. These manifestations of joy were used to draw public attention to political events such as alliances, accessions of popes and princes and, most significantly, to Francesco’s victories when he was away from Mantua, thus reminding his subjects of his triumph and power. In April 1493 Isabella ordered celebrations of the alliance of Venice and Milan, on Francesco’s orders from Gonzaga, and in July 1495 there were three days of displays throughout the Mantovano to celebrate the marchese’s promotion to Captain General of the Venetian troops.57 Such festivities were a most public means of broadcasting propaganda and allegiances, and Isabella felt it prudent to ask her husband’s permission to order celebrations of her brother’s promotion to cardinal in 1493, a request Francesco happily granted.58 Special masses were also ordered to commemorate and venerate significant events. In 1501 for instance, on Francesco’s orders Isabella commanded that a mass be held in remembrance of those who fell at Fornovo, thus reminding the city of the marchese’s greatest hour.59  

55

Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 19 December 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VII.2, c. 307r: ‘qualunche che li intrarà deponi le arme ala porta […] exceptuando quelli de le famiglie nostre proprie, et deputandosi persone proprie che de cio habiano cura’. Reply, having carried out her instructions, Mantua, 20 December, fasc. VIII.3, c. 409r. 56   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 13 April 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 464r. Appendix Document 3. Also Isabella’s summary to Francesco of the messengers’ receptions in these cities, Mantua, 16 April, c. 465r. For Francesco’s praise of her actions, see Gonzaga, 15 April, fasc. IX.1, c. 340r. 57   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 25 April 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. IX.1, c. 341r and reply, Mantua, 26 April, fasc. X, c. 468r: ‘subito ho commesso che sia facto fallodio, tracte bombarde & sonate le campane in signo de alegreza’. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 29 July 1495, b. 2110, c. 91r–v and grida to officials, b. 2907, L. 154, f. 23r. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 71. 58   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 22 September 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 481r . 59   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 July 1501, b. 2993, L. 12, ff. 64v–65r. Carlo D’Arco, ‘Notizie di Isabella Estense, moglie a Francesco Gonzaga’, ASI, appendix II (1845), 204–326, doc. 28, p. 248.

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As a prominent, powerful consort, the marchesa was often asked to petition Francesco for an increase or restoration of favour, or for leniency. On 18 January 1493, moved by the mother of a man hanged that morning, she asked her husband to allow the family to take the body down to bury it.60 In 1494, Isabella was asked by ‘some men of good family’, ‘alcuni homini da bene’, to appeal for one of Sigismondo Gonzaga’s servants named Baptista, who had attacked a boy who called him a cuckold.61 In June 1494, after a petition from the family, she requested that the marchese free Francisco da Castelbarco procuratore, imprisoned for defending certain pheasant thieves.62 In the same month, Isabella wrote to her husband in Gonzaga of a thwarted plan for a prison breakout, and later, on being petitioned by his wife, appealed that Francisco Zaffardo, one of the foiled criminals, not be punished with the rope hoist as he was old and only in prison for debts. She took the step of ordering that he not receive the punishment before she had an answer from the marchese, who replied that she had acted correctly and he could not have turned down her request: ‘even if we would have done so to others, we could not have denied you’.63 Such petitions put before the marchesa allowed her to display magnanimity to the people, and in bowing to her plea, the marchese could show concord and respect for his wife as well as his own generosity to his subjects, while maintaining his command as the dispenser of justice. It seems that in most cases Isabella asked Francesco for clemency directly and with a degree of confidence. However, a fascinating letter from 1498 shows that the situation was not uncomplicated and although the marchesa’s will was generally done, she could not always assume it would be. On this occasion, Isabella is again seen moderating punishment in anticipation of agreement from her husband, but here took a circuitous route to obtain a pardon. She employed all her rhetorical skills, presenting to Fra Girolamo Redini a detailed portrait of the circumstances leading her to appeal on behalf of a man condemned to have both hands cut off for the crime of stealing pheasants:64 60   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 18 January 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 438r. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 11 June 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVII, c. 228r. 61   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 16 December 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVII, c. 289r: ‘essendo da lui provocato per haverli dicto “becho”’. 62   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 11 June 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVII, c. 228r. 63   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 4, 5, 6 June 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVII, c. 219r, c. 221r, c. 224r. Reply, Gonzaga, 10 June, fasc. XVIII, c. 323r: ‘quando non l’havessimo voluta fare ad altri, ad voi non l’haverissimo mai denegata’. 64   Fra Girolamo Redini (c. 1459–1524) was a Gonzaga agent and Augustinian hermit priest. He was friar of the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria from 1498–9 and played an important role in the church’s conception in celebration of Francesco’s victory at Fornovo. Between c. 1496–1508 he was an envoy to Rome and Venice. He later moved to the lagoon city and edited and translated religious works. Dana E. Katz, ‘Painting and the Politics of Persecution: Representing the Jew in Fifteenth-Century Mantua’, Art History, 23, 4, (2000), 475–495, and Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, pp. 74–77, 85–86.

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This morning on our way to the sermon we saw the standards of the justice being put out, and asking the cause were told that it was because two hands were to be cut off one of the men who took the pheasants; one hand was to be cut off the other man; and the third man was to have three jerks on the rope hoist. This made us feel such compassion for the man who was to have both hands cut off that we could not concentrate on the sermon, or on anything else, thinking only about this. Coming back, seeing everything ready, we were so shaken that arriving at home with the table already set for lunch, we had no appetite. It was not possible to get rid of this feeling and the compassion that came with it for the man, with no one in the world having spoken to us in his favour, and we could not shake it, even though we knew he well deserved his punishment. Finally, to ease our distress we decided to presume to order that for this morning the man who was supposed to have two removed would only have one hand cut off, not with the aim of giving him the grace of our authority but to be able to ask for this favour of the other hand from our illustrious lord consort, because if His Excellency does not want to grant this then the other hand can be removed on Saturday. Thus we would like you to make His Lordship aware of this without delay and pray that for love of us he will grant the grace of this hand and forgive us if we have used presumption, because certainly our nature and character have made us act like this. If, though, you think that he will be very annoyed by this and is unlikely to oblige us, do not mention it at all, and inform us straight away by this messenger, and we will have the other hand cut off so quickly that His Excellency will never hear of it. Thus we await an immediate reply.65

The marchesa emphasised that she could not help but intervene but had not presumed to diminish the thief’s punishment by her own favour and authority, only while awaiting her husband’s permission. Perhaps Isabella’s timidity was due to having interfered with a sentence at the last moment and she feared being seen as undermining her husband’s authority, or perhaps she felt that Francesco would continue to see the punishment as entirely appropriate, and resent meddling with a sentence already passed. Documents have yet to come to light providing conclusive evidence of the outcome of this plea; however, a decree by Francesco from 6 March against Michele Aldroandi, Peregrino Batalia, and Franco Carlina gives these thieves names, the first being sentenced to the removal of both hands.66 The index of  

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Isabella to Girolamo Redini, Mantua, 8 March 1498, b. 2992, L. 9, ff. 36v–37r. Appendix Document 11. 66   6 March 1498, decreti, L. 30, f. 137r: ‘Deconsensu nostro. Man.to etc est que Mag. cus dnus potas. Mantue cum tota eius curia Die Mercurij Iovis prox. de mane per M.rio Justicie absindi. Faciat ambas manus Michaeli de Aldroantis que per annos decem deliquit in occidendis & capiendis paribus quadrigentis fasanorum in territorio p.ti Ill. dni nostri, &

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decrees in the Archivio Gonzaga has Michele Aldroandi listed for the decree above but no other, suggesting that no further decree was made in his name in 1498.67 This may lead to the conclusion that either the sentence was changed and no decree issued or that one hand was cut off on 8 March and then upon reply the other was quickly removed. Although the result cannot be ascertained through these sources, Isabella’s letter is certainly persuasive. ‘Havendo vui libertà in ciò che havemo al mondo’ ‘Having free use of all we have in the world’: Sharing People, Possessions, and Spaces The above letter to Girolamo Redini, and the marchesa’s choice to use him as an intermediary, shows his position of trust and familiarity with both Francesco and Isabella. Redini saw the marchesa as a positive influence, and told Francesco so in a forthright manner in April 1498: I pray you attend to governing yourself well and advise yourself with those who love you […] With your illustrious lady consort you can be sure not to err, nor with those she promises you can trust. You can be sure that Her Ladyship knows all of us and knows everyone’s loyalties and feelings. I also beseech Your illustrious Lordship to keep her good company and keep her content, as I know you do, because in truth as well as being useful to your body and soul, it does you great honour and pleases all of Italy, and those who persuade you otherwise are traitors and outright rogues.68 alteram manum Peregrino Batalie que etiam per annum continuum deliquit in occidendis & capien. fasanis ut supra nec non dari faciat Francisco de Carlino in publico ictus tres funis: eo quia una. cum predictis deliquentibus scienter repertus fuit, que est contra ordines & proclamata p.ti Ill. d. nostri aliquibus in contrarium non obstantibus, quibus obstantibus, & obstare valentibus p.tus Ill. d. noster ex certa sui scientia ac animo deliberato derogat & derogatum esse vult & intendit etiam si talia forent de quibus hic mentio spetialis fieri oporteret & hec omnia exequantur omni appellatione reiecta. Diomedes Tridapalus p.ti Ill dni Marchionis secret.s visa signatura suprascripta de consensu nostro sub.sit die vi Martij 1498. 67   Indice dei decreti, b. 4. 68   Girolamo Redini to Francesco, Rome, 27 April 1498, b. 852, cc. 437r–439r: ‘Quella prego si sapia ben governare e consiliarsi cum chi l’ama […] Cum la S. de la Ill.ma M. vostra Consorte siati certo di non poter errare, né cum quelli di quali lei vi assicura potervi fidare. Sapiati che Sua S. ce conosce tutti e scia a qual canto & passion ciaschaun penda. Prego etiam V. Ill.ma S. che gli facia bona compagnia & tengala contenta, como scio che fate, perché in verità ultra ch’el vi sia utile al corpo e a l’anima, questo vi è grandissimo onore e fati apiacere a tuta Italia, e chi altro vi persuade sono traditorj e ribaldi expressi’. A week earlier Redini exhorted Francesco: ‘meteti subito ordine a le cose vostre, non tardati a limitar le spese inutile che vi sono a vergogna e danno […] le zente d’arme tenitile racolti et acarezati li cavali lezeri, li provisionati et fantarie. Lasati per amor de Dio le bestie et atendeti a le cose honorevole.

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This suggests: an excellent ability to read courtiers’ natures on Isabella’s part; that certain individuals around Francesco tried to sow discord between the marchese and his wife; and that Francesco did not always banish these malefactors from his presence. This interference of outsiders in the team dynamic will be explored in the next chapter, with consideration of figures such as Tolomeo Spagnoli and Vigo di Camposampiero. However, despite the existence of subversive influences on Francesco, the marchesi displayed strong teamwork, and the vast majority of courtiers acted for the advancement of both. While this work seeks to counter the misconception of Francesco as foil to Isabella’s acumen, it should be noted that Redini was not the only person faithful to Francesco to see the marchesa as a beneficial influence and vital support for her husband, in the political as well as the domestic arena. Indicative of genuine political and connubial partnership, those individuals most linked with one spouse were often found in intimate communication with the other. For instance, Francesco’s friend in libidinous correspondence, the Bolognese jurist Floriano Dolfo also wrote to the marchesa, although in a somewhat different tone.69 He spoke to her candidly about her husband’s faults, as one in a position of favour from the marchese. After Federico’s birth in 1500, Dolfo wrote to Isabella lecturing her in Stoic principles, and against disproportionate celebration of the event. He expressed the hope that the birth would encourage Francesco to improve his behaviour, abstaining from his ‘many inordinate appetites’ to provide a good example to his heir.70 Dolfo also defended Isabella to her husband. In 1495 he told Francesco that nature and fortune had blessed him with ‘favour and sublimity above all other Italian lords’. Dolfo praised Isabella’s qualities as a consort and her discretion in overlooking ill treatment from her husband (for example, the humiliation she

Voi sieti el primo homo de Italia se voi voleti, adesso è el tempo vostro […] El mi creppa el core vedendo tanta bontà che in voi si trova sia circumvenuta da tanta malignità de tristi et ingratissimi’. Rome, 20 April, cc. 430r–431r. Imperfectly transcribed Luzio, I Borgia, pp. 37–8. Also cited James, ‘Friendship’, p. 14. 69   P. Stoppelli, ‘Dolfi, Floriano’, DBI, 40, pp. 449–51, and Minutelli, ed. For Dolfo’s correspondence with both Isabella and Francesco on the subject of Leonora’s birth, see Molly Bourne ‘Mail humour and male sociability: sexual innuendo in the epistolary domain of Francesco II Gonzaga’, in Erotic Cultures of Renaissance Italy, ed. by Sara F. MatthewsGrieco (Aldershot, 2010), pp. 199–221, pp. 210–11. For Dolfo’s exhortation of strength from Isabella after the death of her sister Beatrice and differentiation of the marchesa from the emotional female rank and file, see Floriano Dolfo to Isabella, Bologna, 10 January 1497, b. 1144, c. 76r. Appendix Document 9. 70   Floriano Dolfo to Isabella, Bologna, 20 May 1500, b. 1145, n.n.: ‘abstenere la soa prompta voluntate da molti inordinate appetiti’. Minutelli, ed., pp. 173–5, Stephen Campbell, p. 85.

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would later receive in the public parading of Francesco’s mistress Teodora at a tournament in Brescia in 1497).71 The marchese was blessed with: a beautiful, prudent, and noble companion, daughter of the good Duke Ercole and by her maternal blood from the most excellent house of Aragon, joined in marriage and the conjugal knot with Your Lordship not like other husbands and wives who live with affronts, complaints, jealousies, worry, and anger […] All discreet and decent, mother of concord, she always modestly bears your appetites […] and she pretends neither to see nor hear the things you do that are injurious or hateful to her.72

As was to be expected between the ruling couple, the marchesi made shared use of many courtiers and officials, and Isabella and Francesco seem to demonstrate particularly close collaboration. This section now examines their sharing of human assets before considering the sharing of material assets and spaces. From the early years of their marriage, the marchese made clear that his wife need not follow conventional rules, always asking to use his servants, indeed he stressed that this was unnecessary and would annoy him. In April 1493 he wrote: Although we are utterly astounded that you ask us, we grant you the use of our horseman Francisco during your visit to Ferrara. Having free use of all we have in the world, you can use our servants as you please […] Next time, do not ask us that way, or we will be upset with you, as it is in your power to do anything you please, just as we would. So command whatever you want and we will be pleased.73 71   Sanudo, I, 766: ‘Vi fu a queste feste el marchexe di Mantoa stravestito, e la sua favorita in publico con assa’ foze [assai fogge], domina Thodora’. 72   Floriano Dolfo to Francesco, Bologna, 16 December 1495, b. 1143, n.n.: ‘favore et sublimitade, quanto a niuno altro Signore Italico [...ha] una formosa, prudente et nobile compagna […] figliola dil bon Duca Hercule et per sangue materno de la gentilissima casa di Aragona, coniuncta in matrimonio et nodo coniugale insieme cum V.S., non como sogliono li altri mariti et moglie sempre vivere cum onte, brontolii, gielosie, coruci et ire […] tuta discreta et costumata, madre di la concordia, sempre seconda modestamente li vostri appetiti […] et le cose per voi facte a lei ingiuriose overo odiose finge di non videre né audire’. Minutelli, ed., pp. 63–9. 73   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 28 April 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. IX.1, c. 346r: ‘Se maravigliamo pur troppo che vui ne richiediati vi accommodiamo de Francisco nostro cavalchatore, in questa andata vostra a Ferrara, perché havendo vui libertà in ciò che havemo al mondo, poteti disponere de li servitori nostri como vi piace […] un’altra volta non usati questi termini cum nui, che si turbaressimo cum vui, essendo in vostro arbitrio fare tuto quello che vi piace, non meno che nui istessi. Siché commandati pur como voleti, che di continuo lo laudaremo’. This is in reply to Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 27 April, fasc. X, c. 469r: ‘Doppo che la Ex.V. è rimasto contenta ch’io vadi a Ferrara la prego voglia etiam accommodarme, quando non sia cum suo disconzo, de Francisco cavalcatore, perché facendo pensere de menare li mei cavalli turchi, non voria che andassino per altre mane’. I

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Isabella replied in her defence: I have seen how lovingly and kindly Your Excellency has responded to my request to take Francisco the horseman with me to Ferrara, saying that you are astounded that I do not use the liberty you have granted me over all your servants without exception. I do not want to thank you for this because, having always known you to be of this disposition, this is not new to me, neither in such a union of spirit and person is it appropriate to offer such thanks. If I asked your permission for Francisco the horseman it was not because I did not recognise the great liberty that Your Excellency has granted me but only because, as he is continually riding your horses, it did not seem right to me to take him away from his work without Your illustrious Lordship’s knowledge.74

As discussed in Chapter 1, Gonzaga diplomats frequently reported to both marchesi and messengers often carried communication on behalf of both spouses.75 An excellent illustration is Benedetto Capilupi. The courtier closest to Isabella in his role as secretary, while remaining firmly the marchesa’s man, performed as the servant of both marchesi. As discussed in Chapter 1, in August 1494 Francesco, presumably in accordance with Isabella, had Capilupi write a letter to Benedetto Tosabezzi, asking that he help bring about at the imperial court that girls could inherit the Gonzaga state in the absence of male heirs.76 Francesco told Tosabezzi that Lodovico Sforza had advised through Capilupi that this should be done. The letter was written by the marchesa’s secretary and sealed with her seal, in order that considered the sharing of personnel related to the keeping and training of animals in a paper presented in 2007 entitled: ‘“Volemo ch’el maschio habbi nome Metus, la femina Spes”: Animals at the court of Isabella d’Este’. 74   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 29 April 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 470r: ‘Ho visto quanto amorevolmente & humanamente me responde la Ex.V. circa la richiesta che gli ho facta de Francisco cavalcatore per l’andata mia de Ferrara, dicendo che la se maraveglia ch’io non usi de la libertà me ha datto sopra tutti li servitori suoi senza rispecto alcuno. Per questo non voglio ringratiarla, perché havendola sempre cognosuta de simile dispositione non ho punto cosa nova, né in tanta unione de animo & persona sono conveniente relatione de gratie. Se io gli ho dimandato licentia per Francisco cavalcatore, non è stato perche non recognosca la libertà grande che me ha datto V.Ex. per gratia sua ma solum perché havendo lui continuamente a cavalcare cavalli de la persona di quella non mi pareva honesto removerlo da la impresa zenza saputa de V. Ill.ma S.’. 75   Evidence of shared diplomats is amply provided by the dispatches of Mantua’s most important ambassadors, including Giorgio Brognolo, Jacopo d’Atri, and Donato de’ Pretis. An example of the sharing of messengers is found in Francesco’s assertion to Isabella that he was happy for her to send Jacopo Suardo to Beatrice d’Este with congratulations on the birth of her son, and indeed he instructed that the messenger also carry this out on Francesco’s behalf. Marmirolo, 10 November 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 369r. 76   Further research is required to ascertain the outcome of Tosabezzi’s mission. See also Ch.1.

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it not appear an official marchional document and its contents be kept in utmost secrecy until approved by the emperor. It is interesting to note that Francesco told Tosabezzi that Lodovico Sforza would adopt the same epistolary masking technique when writing to his ambassador at the imperial court: his wife Beatrice d’Este sending an autograph letter on this subject to the orator, although in the Milanese case there was not even to be a secretary included in the subterfuge, as in Mantua.77 Francesco not only trusted Capilupi with the most sensitive information, but also sent him on diplomatic missions on his behalf, often to Milan. The above letter indicates that while there Capilupi would be given confidential messages to pass on to both marchesi. Francesco clearly valued the secretary’s diplomatic skills and in June 1494 wrote to Isabella from Gonzaga: Having thought of sending your secretary Benedetto Capilupi to Milan, we would appreciate and wish that you send him to us, to arrive here before tomorrow morning, and before we dispatch him we will send him back to Your Ladyship so you can know everything.78

It is significant that Francesco used a courtier so associated with his wife as an envoy to the Milanese court, where Isabella was highly regarded and Francesco less so, and that Capilupi would fully brief Isabella on his mission before departure. The marchese sent Capilupi to Milan again in 1495 and 1497. In 1495 he sent him to Beatrice d’Este to discuss some matters in his name and in 1497 dispatched him to il Moro, who suspected the marchese of duplicity.79 In communication with both Beatrice and Lodovico the marchese referred to Capilupi as ‘my secretary’, ‘mio secretario’, underlining the conformity between himself and Isabella and their sharing of people.80 Francesco would not have sent Capilupi on such important 77   Francesco to Benedetto Tosabezzi, Mantua, 5 August 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 390r. Appendix Document 6. Figure 1.1. The letter is sealed with Isabella’s seal, written in Capilupi’s hand, and with Francesco’s autograph signature at the top of the page. 78   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 22 June 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 330r: ‘Havendo nui facto pensere de mandare a Millano Benedecto Capilupo secretario de la V.S. haremo a caro et ne piacerà che la ce lo drici qui, ch’el se li trovi damatina et prima ch’el se parti lo rimetterimo a la V.S. per che la intenda il tuto’. This demonstrates the speed of communication within the state from areas such as Gonzaga to Mantua, with Capilupi expected to receive the message and arrive by the following morning. 79   Francesco to Beatrice d’Este, Novara, 7 September 1495, b. 2961, f. 97v: ‘Ritornando ad Mantua Benedicto Codelupo mio secretario gli ho comisso ch’el vengha alla Ex. V. et gli refferisca alcune cose in nome mio prego la Ill.ma S.V. non gli voglia prestare mancho fede che la faria se io in persona gli parlasse’. Francesco to Lodovico Sforza, Mantua, 21 November 1497, b. 2191, n.n. (sent letter autograph): ‘per purgare la innocentia mia m’è parso mandare ala S.V. el S. Zoanne mio fratello & Benedicto Codelupo’. 80   Francesco to Lodovico Sforza, Gonzaga, 20 July 1497, b. 2191, n.n. It goes without saying that the marchesa also commonly referred to Capilupi in the same terms,

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and sensitive diplomatic missions had he not had faith that the aims of his wife were in concordance with his own. Just as Francesco’s secretaries often informed Isabella of news, so Capilupi frequently told the marchese of his wife’s actions and thoughts. Capilupi scrutinised Isabella’s pregnancy anxieties in 1493, and wrote to Francesco of Ercole’s baptism in 1506.81 The secretary also told Francesco of Isabella’s excellent performance with Venetian ambassadors in Ferrara at the 1502 wedding festivities: Isabella represented her husband; spoke like a seasoned orator; and set forth Francesco’s excellent service towards the Republic.82 Capilupi added postscripts of his own to Isabella’s letters to Francesco.83 As frequently demonstrated in this work, Capilupi was often an intermediary to the marchesa, and Francesco used him as a mouthpiece in unpleasant communications to his wife. In March 1513 Francesco urged Isabella to return to Mantua from Milan to counter certain street gossip that Capilupi, being most informed and present at the writing of the letter, would tell her about.84 Capilupi was firmly linked to Isabella but was in the employ and confidence of both marchesi. He occasionally feared that his proximity to Isabella, as she went against common policy, might jeopardise his standing with the marchese. In 1512 Capilupi wrote to Francesco’s secretary Tolomeo Spagnoli from Ferrara, where Isabella was discussing her brother’s feud with Julius II. Capilupi informed Spagnoli of developments and on 22 November wrote of his frustration that Isabella refused to return home, asking for example, using the same words in a letter to her father from Mantua, 13 September, b. 2191, n.n. 81   Capilupi to Francesco, Ferrara, undated July 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 429r: ‘Como intenderà la Ex.V. per la lettera de la Ill.ma M.a mia, Sua Sig.a sta benissimo. Scrisseli l’altro dì che l’havea dicto a Madamma che fin a Mantua havea sentito, & che doppo meglio interrogata disse non havere più de quella volta sentito, per ilche non se iudicava fusse stata la creatura. Ogni dì sono andato investigando se doppo ha confessato altro per renderne conto a la S.V. Queste donne dicono che loro credino che la senta, ma che per vergogna non lo voglia dire. Non passarà molti dì che la non lo poterà celare, perché a hore se vede ingrossare. M.a Beatrice […] me ha dicto volere venire hozi a corte, & che cum bon modo la examinarà subtilmente & de quanto cavarà ne darrà aviso a V.Ex.’. Isabella to Francesco, Sacchetta, 12 June 1506, b. 2116, fasc. XI.1, c. 219r–v: ‘Del andata mia a S.to Benedicto dove ho facto baptizare il puttino non scriverò altramenti remmettendomi a quanto diffusamente B. Codelupo dice haverli scripto’. 82   Benedetto Capilupi to Francesco, Ferrara, 9 February 1502, b. 1238, cc. 343r–344r. Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 115–16. Appendix Document 20. 83   Isabella to Francesco, Sacchetta, 8 May 1506, b. 2116, fasc. XI.1, c. 209r–v, postscript c. 210. The postscript is from Capilupi, reporting on Francesco’s horses at Sermide, and offering him resources from nearby land the marchese had given to the secretary. This gift is indicative of Francesco’s favour, as is the gift of land in the Suzzara area that he gave Capilupi in 1498. See Isabella to vicario of Suzzara, Mantua, 28 July 1498, b. 2992, L. 9, f. 78r. 84   Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 11 March 1513, b. 2120, fasc. I, c. 36r. Appendix Document 38. See also Ch. 6.

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that Spagnoli excuse him to Francesco, ‘should the lord show anger against others than his wife’.85 Besides sharing secretaries and correspondents, the marchesi associated with the same religious figures, notably the mystic and stigmatic Beata Osanna Andreasi.86 Isabella asked Osanna to pray for Francesco when he was ill and away from home, acted as the intermediary for letters, and comforted her husband with assurances of Osanna’s intercession.87 After Osanna’s death in 1505 Francesco commissioned works on her life, while Isabella oversaw the construction of her tomb, designed by Gian Cristoforo Romano. As Molly Bourne puts it when discussing these projects, ‘Francesco and Isabella were both working toward the same goal: the glorification of Osanna Andreasi, and in so doing, toward the glorification of themselves and of their state’.88 The couple shared ambitions for Osanna’s beatification and canonisation. Isabella wrote to Francesco from Rome in 1514 that she had requested from Leo X that Osanna be officially commemorated, thus raising the profile of a popular, local holywoman intimately connected to the Gonzaga. Isabella received a positive response from the pope and Osanna was beatified in 1515, although she would never be declared a saint.89 In the same letter of 1514 in which Isabella told her husband of her efforts towards Osanna’s beatification, she also reported that she had pursued a bishopric for the Prior of S. Francesco, Fra Serafino d’Ostuni, as reward for his help in

  Benedetto Capilupi to Tolomeo Spagnoli, Ferrara, 22 November 1512, b. 1244, c. 51 : ‘quando el signore monstrasse collera cum altri cha cum sua mogliere’. Quoted Luzio and Renier, La coltura, p. 80. 86   Molly Bourne, ‘Osanna Andreasi tra casa, chiesa e corte: rapporti con i principi Gonzaga’, in Osanna Andreasi da Mantova 1449–1505 tertii praedicatorum ordinis diva, ed. by Gabriella Zarri and Rosanna Golinelli Berto (Mantua, 2006), pp. 31–37. Cashman, ‘Public Life’, pp. 217–27. Cashman considers Gonzaga attempts to dominate religious devotion in Mantua in Ch. 5. 87   For examples from 1503, see Francesco to Isabella, Parma and Viadana, 19 and 21 July 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. V.1, c. 224r and c. 225r; and from camp near Anagnia, 2 October, fasc. V.3, c. 272r, postscript c. 271r. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 20 July, fasc. VI.1, c. 352r and cc. 353r–354r, and 7, 17, and 24 November, fasc. VI.2, cc. 410r–411r, c. 418r–v, and c. 424 r–v. Another instance of Isabella comforting Francesco with religious devotion while on the battlefield is her sending of an Agnus Dei with a gold crucifix containing a piece of the True Cross in the run up to the battle of Fornovo for her husband to wear in protection. 88   Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 270. Bourne discusses Osanna’s tomb and biographies in Ch. 8. See also Rodolfo Signorini and Rosanna Golinelli Berto, eds, Osanna Andreasi da Mantova 1449–1505. La santità nel quotidiano (Mantua, 2005), and Renata Casarin, ed., Osanna Andreasi da Mantova 1449–1505. L’immagine di una mistica del Rinascimento (Mantua, 2005). 89   Isabella to Francesco, Rome, 30 December 1514, b. 2121, f. II.2, c. 147r–v. 85

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improving Francesco’s health.90 This Fra Serafino should not be confused with the buffoon of the same name, also sponsored by both marchesi.91 As well as this latter Serafino, the couple shared patronage of other precious court entertainers, such as the fools Mattello, Galasso, and Fritella.92 On 1 November 1493, Francesco wrote jokingly to Isabella from Marmirolo: We send you a lovely big fruit which you will enjoy out of love for us. And having it to send to you we looked for an appropriate envoy, before finally appeared before us that famous and respected man Matello, the perfect ambassador to send gifts and foodstuffs, as he is greedy, a gorger, and a glutton and, as he knows well how to use and put together words, we have ordered him to refer to you some complex, secret, and important matters. So we ask Your Ladyship to give him faith as though he were us in person, and because he is a devoted and good servant, as Your Ladyship has been able to see from his strenuous works and admirable effects on many occasions. Once you have received this gift and heard his embassy please send him back here in the way you feel quickest and best.93

This ludic mask letter indicates the intimacy between the couple, and the convention of sending gifts and envoys is overturned by the dispatch of the joke ambassador in the marchese’s name, with or without genuinely important secrets to pass on. Although asked to redispatch the jester with haste, it seems that Isabella felt confident in keeping him with her in Mantua until 19 November, when she sent the shared comic back to her husband, having ‘enjoyed enough of his tomfoolery’, and asked that the marchese send her favourite buffoon Galasso.94 Isabella also used Mattello to provide amusement for her husband. On 12 March 1496, she

  Fra Serafino treated Francesco’s syphilis. Adalberto Pazzini, ‘La medicina alla corte dei Gonzaga a Mantova’, in Mantova e i Gonzaga nella civiltà del Rinascimento, ed. by l’Accademia Virgiliana (Milan, 1977), pp. 291–354, p. 317. 91   Vittorio Cian, ‘Fra Serafino, buffone’, ASL, 8 (1891), 406–14, p. 408n. 92   Luzio and Renier, ‘Buffoni, nani e schiavi dei Gonzaga ai tempi d’Isabella d’Este,’ Nuova Antologia, 118 (1891), 618–650; 119 (1891), 112–146. 93   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 1 November 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. IX.2, c. 401r. Appendix Document 5. In 1499 Isabella informed Francesco that Mattello was on his deathbed, and lamented, ‘me dolerà assai per perdersi el primo matto del mondo’. After his death, she asked Francesco to decide on the esteemed jester’s burial place and ordered an epitaph from Tebaldeo. Mantua, 25 and 26 May 1499, b. 2113, fasc. II.1, c. 156r and c. 158r. For Mattello’s death see Luzio, ‘La morte d’un buffone’, extract from Strenna dei Rachitici (Genoa, 1891), pp. 1–19. 94   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 19 November 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 496r: ‘goduto assai le [sue] pazie’. Luzio and Renier, ‘Buffoni’, p. 636. Similarly, in 1500 Francesco requested Isabella send him the fool Fritella, Gonzaga, 7 March 1500, b. 2114, fasc. I.1, c. 23r. 90

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told Gaspare di Sanseverino that she had had Mattello dictate humorous letters to Francesco, away on military business.95 The couple made joint use of musicians, humanists, poets, and artists, including Marchetto Cara, Pontano, Tebaldeo, Mantegna, and Lorenzo Costa.96 They shared patronage of individuals and access to cultural productions made for the other. For example, Francesco wrote to Isabella in Milan in January 1495 that he was sending a copy of a song he had particularly enjoyed for her pleasure: ‘We send to Your Ladyship the attached strambotto, which we like very much [...] We are sure that you will like it as much as we do’.97 In this way, Isabella and Francesco divided both possessions and instruments of image. The art Isabella patronised and collected, from the cycle of mythological paintings for her studiolo to the portrait medal displayed in her grotta, as well as her carefully designed personal emblems, underlined her right and ability to co-rule with Francesco. In addition to this, the couple had common iconography, with Isabella adopting Gonzaga devices as well as her own. She used tiles with Gonzaga motifs on the floor of her first studiolo, and initially decorated the room with a frieze of arms and devices, with equine references to the famous stables. 98 Later in her life, a plate from Isabella’s maiolica service made in her widowhood by Nicola da Urbino featured her imprese and Este and Gonzaga arms, as well as Francesco’s crucible impresa (Figure 2.1).99 Devices explicitly proclaimed the couple’s unity. In the Sala delle Sigle in Isabella’s apartments in the Castello, as described earlier, a device of the letters 95   Isabella to Gaspare di Sanseverino, Mantua, 12 March 1496, b. 2992, L. 6, f. 52r. Quoted Luzio and Renier, ‘Buffoni’, p. 632. The marchesa may have occasionally allowed Mattello to go too far in letters to others. Capilupi wrote to Jacopo d’Atri in 1492 distancing himself and Tolomeo Spagnoli from this entertainment, saying the comic letter about d’Atri’s love life that a drunken Mattello had dictated for Isabella’s amusement after dinner was not composed in his presence, as he was not with Isabella at mealtimes. Luzio and Renier, ‘Buffoni’, p. 633. 96   For shared patronage of Cara, see Prizer, ‘Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia’, pp. 15–7. In 1499 Jacopo d’Atri wrote separately to Isabella and Francesco from Naples suggesting that Pontano would like to celebrate both marchesi, Naples, 17 March 1499, b. 2191, n.n. In addition to planning to exalt Isabella through his involvement with her project to erect a statue of Virgil, Pontano dedicated his De hortis Hesperidum sive de cultu citriorum to Francesco. 97   Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 24 January 1495, b. 2110, c. 157r: ‘Mandamo alla S.V. qui allegato il strambotto che ad noi tanto piace, cum el canto notato, quale havemo facto fare ultimamente. Persuadendoce ve debbe parimente piacere como ad noi’. 98   Bourne, ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives’, p. 96, Chambers and Martineau, cat. 127, p. 173. 99   Timothy Wilson, Ceramic Art of the Italian Renaissance (London, 1987), cat. 51. For Isabella’s maiolica see also Lisa Boutin, ‘Displaying Identity in the Mantuan Court: The Maiolica of Isabella d’Este, Federico II Gonzaga, and Margherita Paleologa’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2011).

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Figure 2.1

Plate with Isabellian imprese and Francesco Gonzaga’s crucible device, by Nicola da Urbino, c. 1525. London, British Museum.

of their names is still found (Figure 0.1). Another impresa, a flaming ‘A’, perhaps representing Amore, signifying their loving union, survives on the ceiling of the eponymous Camerino delle Fiamme in Isabella’s Castello rooms, where it is paired with Francesco’s crucible device, and in the later Corte Vecchia apartments.100 It can also be seen in Francesco’s townhouse palace of San Sebastiano, along with Isabella’s candelabrum impresa.101 Such devices and the joint patronage of court artists promoted something akin to a modern brand image across the city. The marchesi also made conjugal cross-references when commissioning art and when decorating their individual spaces. The fresco commissioned by the marchese for the façade of the church of San Sebastiano, opposite his palace of the same name, showed Francesco and Isabella with the Madonna and Child and Saints Sebastiano and Fabian, in a composition influenced by Mantegna’s Madonna   Malacarne, ‘Il segno’, p. 193.   For the candelabrum device see Malacarne, ‘Il Palazzo’.

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della Vittoria.102 Francesco’s San Sebastiano palace contained a Lorenzo Costa painting of Isabella surrounded by musicians, reminiscent of Costa’s Coronation of a Woman Poet for the marchesa’s studiolo.103 Molly Bourne suggests that Francesco may have shown approval of his wife’s commission by commissioning a version for himself, which would demonstrate ‘a perfectly logical patronage pattern between ruler and consort’.104 Similarly, Costa’s Francesco II Gonzaga Guided by Hercules and Triumph of Francesco II Gonzaga, also in the Camera del Costa of Palazzo San Sebastiano, may have corresponded to Mantegna’s Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue in Isabella’s studiolo.105 According to Clifford Brown, Francesco’s Camera del Costa ‘served to highlight Isabella’s cultural accomplishments as well as the civic and military virtues of the marquis’.106 Similarly, speaking of the camera, Lisa Regan states that Isabella symbolised ‘the home city, the court, the quieter pursuits of learning that are offered by Francesco’s maintenance of the peace’, ‘by-products’, and that ‘her entire carefully constructed representational system is alluded to in a single image as a pleasant result of Francesco’s political authority’. She also asserts that ‘this sense of Isabella as a guardian of erudition was seen as a pair to her husband’s governorship of the political realm’, with the quoted studiolo iconography relating to ‘themes that adorned rather than constituted political authority’.107 While Francesco’s iconography was certainly more overtly political than Isabella’s, this did not exclude projecting his own erudition; just as Isabella’s presentation of herself through the images in her studiolo, and representation in Francesco’s rooms, did not impede the effective projection of her authority as co-ruler. While Isabella included depictions of martial females in her camerini, diverse joint displays of the magnificence of prince and consort more appropriately attributed overt portrayals of military force to Francesco. Isabella’s appearance in the iconography of her husband’s rooms did not render her a by-product any more than Francesco’s possible appearance in her rooms would belittle him. The marchese may appear in Isabella’s studiolo as Mars in Mantegna’s Parnassus and, in another example of shared iconography, he commissioned a painting similar to the Parnassus from Matteo di Bologna, depicting himself with nine muses and Apollo.108 This common association with

  Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 79 and p. 186.   Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de’più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori scritte da

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Giorgio Vasari pittore aretino, ed. by Gaetano Milanesi, 9 vols (Florence, 1906), III, p. 134. 104   Bourne, ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives’, p. 109. 105   Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘The Palazzo di San Sebastiano’, p. 144. 106   Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘The Palazzo di San Sebastiano’, p. 144. 107   Regan, ‘Creating the Court Lady’, pp. 120, 122. 108   Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘“Concludo”’, p. 271.

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images of the muses, executed in the same period, binds the couple and is, in Brown’s words, ‘highly suggestive’.109 Thus, as well as sharing communal areas, the couple were involved with each other’s individual spaces. Francesco used Isabella’s little, intimate rooms as a venue for certain politically sensitive events, such as the meeting with Camillo Costabili detailed in Chapter 3, and a summit of the marchesa with his uncle Bishop-Elect Lodovico Gonzaga in 1498.110 Francesco was aware of Isabella’s interests and commissions, writing of her trip to Rome that he was certain she would enjoy it: ‘We are pleased that Her Ladyship has found a feast fitting to her intellect in contemplating those antiquities, something that has always given her great pleasure’, negating the assertion that he reacted to ‘his wife’s obsession with indifference’.111 Isabella also took an interest in Francesco’s projects, and there existed between them a degree of amicable rivalry. In 1491, she reported to her husband that she had had a discussion with Pellegrino Prisciani on a host of Latin and Greek authorities, ‘which in my opinion went beyond Your Excellency’s’. This had allowed Isabella to begin to understand architecture, ‘so that when Your Lordship speaks to me about your buildings, I will understand better’.112 While it was generally the marchese who commissioned architectural projects, there was some commonality, as shown by Isabella’s desire to be able to converse with her husband on a topic he was passionate about, and by her plan in 1511 to have a ‘casino bizzarro’ built at Porto, designed by the Ferrarese court architect Biagio Rossetti.113 109   Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘“Concludo”’, p. 288. The muses were also portrayed in Gian Cristoforo Romano’s entrance portal in Isabella’s rooms, see Rodolfo Signorini, ‘“Una porta gemmea”: Il portale della Grotta di Isabella d’Este in Corte Vecchia’, in Lorenzoni and Navarrini, eds, pp. 26–51. 110   Isabella met Lodovico in the grotta in August 1498 to attempt to reconcile him with his nephew. Hickson, ‘Bishop-Elect Ludovico Gonzaga’, p. 94. 111   Francesco to Alessandro Gabbioneta, Mantua, 3 November 1514, b. 2921, L. 234, ff. 87r–89v: ‘piaceni che Sua Signoria habbi ritrovato pasto conveniente al’ingegno suo in contemplare quelle antiquità, cosa di che sempre la s’è delettata molto’. Quoted Kolsky, Mario Equicola, p. 148. Brown, ‘Public Interests’, p. 41. Brown has more recently reassessed Francesco’s attitude: ‘he was keenly aware of [Isabella’s] needs and even took a certain pride in her accomplishments’, ‘A Ferrarese Lady’, p. 55. 112   Isabella to Francesco, Porto, 13 September 1491, b. 2991, L. 1, f. 40r–v: ‘M. Pelegrino [Prisciani] me ha facto uno longo exordio el quale al iuditio mio ha superato quello de la Ex.V. perché ad essa allegoe solum Plinio ma ad me ha allegato Tholomeo, Vitruvio, Homero, Horatio et molti altri auctori greci et latini, di quali ho inteso de l’uno quanto de l’altro. Una cosa me haverà ben giovato, che havendo veduto et examinato quelli designi ho principiato ad imparare architectura per forma che quando S.V. me parlarà di suoi hedifficij la intenderò meglio’. Luzio and Renier, La coltura, p. 143. This letter is also mentioned in James, ‘Friendship’, p. 13. 113   Fletcher, ‘Isabella d’Este’, p. 51; Clifford M. Brown and Anna Maria Lorenzoni, ‘“Al suo amenissimo palazzo di Porto”. Biagio Rossetti and Isabella d’Este’, Atti e Memorie dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana, 58 (1990), 33–53; and Belluzzi, pp. 111–14.

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Molly Bourne has noted the overlap in the marchesi’s decoration of their camerini, and that ‘the dynamic between husband and wife can provide a fruitful and innovative approach to patronage’.114 Isabella closely watched the progress of Francesco’s San Sebastiano palace. She wrote on 24 September 1506: ‘I have been to see the new lodgings at San Sebastiano which are beautiful and the paintings are coming along admirably’, and soon after: In these days I have been in Your Lordship’s house and, as I wrote, I find it beautiful. Your Lordship writes that I am teasing you. This is not the case, because if the rooms were not beautiful I would not say anything, but as they genuinely seem that way to me, I had this written to Your Lordship, and so I say that they are beautiful, and all the more so as Your Lordship has learned from the example of my room [in the Castello], and it is quite true that you have bettered it.115

This autograph letter indicates the couple’s intimacy, as Isabella denies making fun of her husband, and shows a level of competitiveness as well as: ‘an acute sense of mutual awareness between the couple in the use and exhibition of their camerini’.116 The spaces of both marchesi were used as companion showpieces to visitors. Prominent guests were dazzled by Mantegna’s Triumphs of Caesar, and by the palace of San Sebastiano which housed them, as well as by the same artist’s Camera degli Sposi in the Castello. Also in the Ducal Palace were Isabella’s impressive camerini and this set of exclusive display spaces provided a significant attraction in the Gonzaga diplomatic arsenal.117 The marchesi’s spaces 114   Isabella decorated her camerini mostly between 1491–1508, while Francesco concentrated on his in Palazzo San Sebastiano from 1506–12. Bourne, ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives’, p. 95. 115   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 24 September 1506, b. 2994, L. 19, ff. 71v–72r: ‘son stata ad vedere li allogiamenti novi de S.to Sebastiano che sono molti belli, et quelle picture compareno mirabilmente’. Mantua, 5 October, b. 2116, fasc. XI.3, c. 262r–v. Partially transcribed by Bourne, ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives’, p. 93, mentioned by James ‘Friendship’, p. 13. Appendix Document 26. 116   Bourne, ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives’, p. 93. 117   In 1494, for instance, Isabella impressed Giuliano de’ Medici, il Magnifico, with the stunning works of Mantegna: ‘Doppo disnare è venuto a visitarme. Io l’ho acarezato et factoli vedere la camera & Triomphi […] Non ho mancato de belle parole’. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 2 March 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVI, c. 178r. In 1506 the marchesa had the Camera degli Sposi renovated as it seemed that Julius II might visit Mantua. Ronald Lightbown, Mantegna (Oxford, 1986), p 116. Bourne, ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives’, p. 110, gives further examples: in 1511 prestigious visitors attended two banquets at Palazzo San Sebastiano and then a party hosted by Isabella at the Castello; in August the following year, during the Congress in Mantua, Matthäus Lang was honoured at both sites, with both marchesi in attendance; and in 1514 Francesco, Isabella and their sons entertained the duke of Milan at San Sebastiano. These camerini continued to be esteemed. In 1535 important Spanish visitors were shown Francesco’s palace of San Sebastiano,

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were individualised, but were frequented by both spouses and employed together in the aggrandisement of the family. Generally, and with an interest in each other’s concerns, the marchesi had different and complementary foci in their patronage. Isabella projected an image of female virtue, erudition, and political agency; while Francesco concentrated on military and genealogical subjects through triumphs and heraldic iconography, and had an interest in cartography and his famous Gonzaga horses.118 In their musical patronage these parallel undertakings are also found: Isabella sponsoring secular, courtly forms; Francesco a patron of martial and religious music.119 The marchesi kept separate finances, but there was a degree of flexibility in ownership. This was often related to a need to fund projects of dynastic advancement and mutual concern. Isabella frequently pawned her jewellery to raise money, for instance in 1494 to facilitate Sigismondo’s promotion to cardinal.120 The couple also aided each other in obtaining objects useful for the other’s image projection. They might then be reimbursed by the other spouse, as in the case of some expensive veils costing 180 ducats that Isabella ordered in 1496 for Francesco to bring back with him from Southern Italy. This request met with some chagrin from the marchese who insisted, perhaps jokingly, that he would demand a further ten ducats for transporting them.121 Isabella’s grotta, and Federico’s new Palazzo Te, thus projecting an image of splendour and of dynastic continuity. Zaffardo to Federico Gonzaga, Mantua, 5 December 1535, b. 2522, c. 37r–v. Brown, ‘San Sebastiano’, p. 178. For the prestige accorded to Isabella’s rooms by her descendents see Brown, ‘Public Interests’ and La Grotta di Isabella d’Este: Un simbolo di continuità dinastica per i duchi di Mantova (Mantua, 1985). 118   Molly Bourne, ‘Ville gonzaghesche prima di Giulio Romano’, in Giulio Romano e l’arte del cinquecento, ed. by Ugo Bazotti (Mantua, forthcoming). For Francesco’s interest in maps and city views (shared by Isabella), see Bourne, ‘Francesco II Gonzaga and Maps’ and Francesco II Gonzaga, Ch. 7; Gilbert, pp. 140–1; and Brown, ‘The “Camera del Mapamondo”’. 119   For Francesco’s patronage of military and church music, and the establishment of the Gonzaga cappella in the Duomo, see Prizer: ‘Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia’, p. 13, and ‘La cappella di Francesco II Gonzaga e la musica sacra a Mantova nel primo ventennio del Cinquecento’, in Mantova e i Gonzaga, pp. 267–76; and Iain Fenlon, ‘The Gonzaga and Music’, in Chambers and Martineau, eds, pp. 87–95, p. 87. 120   Clearly Isabella had the smaller budget. She outlined her annual revenue of approximately 11,500 ducats to her father, Mantua, 18 May 1502, b. 2993, L. 13, ff. 71v–72v. Luzio and Renier, ‘Il lusso’, pp. 312–13, Shemek, ‘Properties’, pp. 116–17. The same sources provide information on the pawning of Isabella’s jewels. See also Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, pp. 410–11. 121   Francesco to Isabella, Padula, 22 May 1496, b. 2111, c. 81r, postscripts c. 80 r, c. r 79 : ‘Marino Caraciolo n’ha facto intendere havere commissione da voi de far fare certi veli, liquali ne costano bene 180 ducati et così noi havemo pagato li denari. Però darite ordine che alla tornata nostra ne sij restituito, et dovendoveli portare in le valise ne pare meritare qualche cosa, per forma che per mancho de 190 ducati non seti apta da haverli’.

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Following courtly codes of gift giving the couple routinely sent each other presents. As in the example above of the gift sent to Isabella with Mattello, these were frequently foodstuffs, such as fruit, fish, meat, and game.122 An epistolary exchange of May 1499 regarding two giant mushrooms Francesco sent to his wife indicates the couple’s affinity, and such gifts and affectionate letters also presented an image of unity to others. From Marmirolo on 12 May, Francesco wrote: Four mushrooms have been gathered in our hunting reserve today which are gigantic compared to the others, and as soon as they were presented to us we thought of Your Ladyship, as without sharing it with you nothing can give us pleasure. So we are sending the two biggest and most beautiful, hoping that they will please you, at least for the novelty of their size. We imagine that you will congratulate us that such enormous things have begun to grow in our park.123

Isabella replied jovially the following day: The mushrooms that Your Lordship has sent are truly of such a size that we can believe that the animals which are reared in the park must also grow in such a gigantic way. Having a stag at my house I had thought of sending it to graze in that park. But seeing the size of these mushrooms I have decided not to send it there, because it is already very big and I worry that it would grow so tall that it would not find cover capable of hiding its body. I enjoyed the mushrooms with love for Your Excellency and they delighted me greatly.124 122   Eg. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 22 March and 29 August 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.1, c. 115r and c. 132r, about gifts of lamprey and zizoli (giuggiolo, jujube berries). Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 10 August 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.2, c. 361r, thanking him for sending a new kind of perch, which she received with ‘grande delectatione, per havere veduto cosa che non vidi mai et che rare volte debe produre la natura’. She sent one of the fish on to Alfonso d’Este, ‘aciò che lui anchora vede cossì bella varietà’. 123   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 12 May 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.1, c. 24r: ‘Del parcho nostro si sono hogi racolti quatro funghi, quali a comparatione de li altri sono giganti, e subito che ne furono presentati ne ricordassimo di la S.V., senza participatione di laquale niuna cosa ni poteria piacere. Perhò ge ne mandiamo dui li piu belli e magiori, sperando li debano essere grati almeno per la novità de la loro grandeza. Expectamo ben che la si congratuli cum noi che nel parcho nostro cominciano a nascere cose gigantesche’. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, pp. 131–2n. 124   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 13 May 1499, b. 2113, fasc. II.1, c. 153r: ‘Li fungi che me ha mandato la S.V. sono veramente de tanta grandeza che se può credere che li animali quali se alevaranno nel parcho debano venire de natura gigantescha, et però ritrovandome in casa uno cervo havea pensato mandarlo a pascere in quello parcho. Ma vista la grandeza de questi fungi ho deliberato non lo mandare in tale pascolo, perché essendo adesso molto grande dubito veneria in tanta extremità de alteza, ch’el non trovaria più coperto che fusse capace del corpo suo. Li fungi ho goduto per amore de V.Ex. quali me hanno molto delectato’. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, pp. 131–2n.

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In another example the marchese joked in 1500 that the lamprey Isabella had sent him only narrowly, and quite miraculously, escaped being eaten by the courtier Alessandro da Baese.125 This courtly jesting suggests such missives being read aloud for the amusement of an entourage and places the exchange of small gifts between the marchesi into a public sphere. The couple often presented each other with gifts they had received from outside parties, thus procuring items without immediate expense and showing others an image of commonality. In August 1517, for example, Isabella thanked Francesco for a gift of capons originally given to him by the commissario of Goito.126 Gifts to one spouse could also be appropriated by the other without being offered. For instance, in June 1493, Francesco artfully wrote to his wife of his confidence that she would not object to him keeping a fine horse sent to her by the king of France.127 Isabella likewise decided on gifts that Francesco should present to her, in some cases items the marchese intended for others. In 1495, for instance, she objected to Francesco’s instructions to send on tapestries taken as booty from Charles VIII at Fornovo to her sister Beatrice, duchess of Milan. Mindful of these items’ importance in propagandising Francesco’s victory, she wrote insistently to the marchese, emphasising her obedience to him while utilising her powers of sophisticated epistolary rhetoric and persuasion. Although it appeared initially she would be unsuccessful, eventually the tapestries went to Milan only on loan before being returned to Isabella.128 It seems likely that she had made her feelings sufficiently clear to her husband and sister that her wishes were not denied. 125   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 23 March 1500, b. 2114, fasc. I.1, c. 37r: ‘La lampreda che ni ha mandato la S.V. ne è grata, et perché la è bella e perché la deriva da Lei, ma molto più per essere stata tolta da la gola de Alexandro da Baese, che ni è parso bene uno miraculo’. 126   Isabella to Francesco, Porto, 12 August 1517, b. 2123, f. II, c. 136r. Isabella made reference to her weight - with which she battled, particularly in later life - suggesting that the unwell Francesco needed such fare more than she: ‘Credo che la Ex.V. dubitando che in questi così excessivi caldo io non mi smagrassi, habbi mandato a me li belli et grassi capponi che gli ha donato il comissario di Goito, quali, anchor che comprehenda bisognare più alla Ex.V. che a me, goderò volentieri per amor suo, con quel bon core che son certo havermegli mandato quella’. 127   Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 5 June 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. IX.1, c. 348r: ‘Piacendone el zanetto che manda la M.tà del S. Re ala S.V. havemo deliberato, cum quella sicurtà che possemo, retenerlo per noi, & per suo amore goderlo, & metterlo in nostro uso, essendo certi che la ne pigliarà molto mazore contento che se lo usasse per suo proprio commodo’. 128   Isabella to Francesco, delaying sending the tapestries and trying to persuade Francesco to allow her to keep them, Mantua, 24 July 1495, b. 2110, c. 103r. Appendix Document 8. Shemek, ‘Properties’, pp. 123–5. On 1 August Francesco reminded her again to send the tapestries to Milan, and thanked her for a gift of fish, Casalleggiano, b. 2961, L. 4, f. 50v. Isabella sent the tapestries on 5 August with a succinct message indicating her displeasure, b. 2110, c. 112r: ‘Illmo S. mio. Per obedire V.Ex. gli mando lo apparamento

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Significantly, Francesco also gifted properties to his wife, and with them responsibility for their administration. Early in their marriage, he gave her the palaces of Porto and Sacchetta and the court and property at Palidano.129 Certain properties were customarily used by the Gonzaga consort, Porto for instance had been Francesco’s mother’s palace and Isabella passed it to her daughter-inlaw Margherita Paleologa, with the stipulation that it should go in turn to the next duchess of Mantua.130 The distribution of property among women is an interesting issue here. Isabella inherited from her friend Margherita Cantelmo, left income to her daughters, and bequeathed the collections in her camerini to Margherita Paleologa’s custodianship.131 As Sally Hickson has pointed out, in addition to providing enjoyment for her daughter-in-law, this bequest proclaimed the continued cultural influence of the Gonzaga consort, and encouraged that the collection would not immediately be dispersed.132 However, while Isabella ensured the financial welfare of her donzelle, daughters, and sons, it was, of course, Federico that she named her universal heir. Although properties given to her by Francesco were hers to do with as she would, she told him she viewed herself merely as their custodian to administer for the benefit of the Gonzaga, thus assuring him they would be not be bequeathed out of the family, and encouraging more such responsibilities be entrusted to her. Financial independence and management of her own court and possessions gave Isabella personal economic power.133 Her administration of centres such as Palidano, and those that she bought for herself including Castiglion Mantovano, Bondenazzo, Castelnovo, and, later, Solarolo, allowed her to supplement her annual budget through shrewd financial supervision.134 However, this activity de la camera del Re de Franza aguadagnato nel facto d’arme aciò che la possi disponerne a suo modo. In bona gratia de la quale me raccommando sempre. Mantue v Aug.ti 1495. Ill. me D.V. Consors obsequens Isabella’. Francesco sent the tapestries to Milan and added a further piece, Casalleggiano, 23 August 1495, b. 2961, L. 4, f. 74v. However, two days later the duchess thanked him and informed him she would be sending all five pieces back to Isabella. Luzio and Renier, ‘Delle relazioni’, pp. 632–3. 129   Belluzzi, passim. For Francesco’s palaces outside of Mantua see Bourne, ‘Ville’. 130   Brown, and Lorenzoni, ‘“Al suo amenissimo palazzo”’, p. 35. For Isabella’s villa life see Lisa Boutin, ‘Isabella d’Este and the Gender Neutrality of Renaissance Ceramics’, Women’s Studies, 40 (2011), 23–47. 131   For Isabella’s will, see Hickson, ‘Female Patronage’, pp. 312–23. 132   Hickson, ‘Female Patronage’, p. 246. 133   For Lucrezia Borgia’s skills in financial management see Dianne Yvonne Ghirardo, ‘Lucrezia Borgia as Entrepreneur’, Renaissance Quarterly, 61 (2008), 53–91. 134   Isabella bought the territory of Castelnovo in the Parmesana from her brother Ippolito in July 1512. Amico Maria della Torre to Federico, Mantua, 26 July 1512, b. 2485, c. 57r. In 1529 she sold Bondenazzo and bought Solarolo. For rose-tinted views of Isabella’s rule of Solarolo see Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, II (1905), pp. 296, 364 and Renier, Isabella d’Este-Gonzaga, p. 16. For Isabella’s possessions see her annual budget of 1502, n.116 above.

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was not conducted without appreciation of her partnership with Francesco. While not deferring to her husband in these affairs, Isabella appears to have regularly informed him of developments. In 1503, for instance, she told him about her decision to cease renting some of her land to Alberto da Bologna and lease it instead to the goldsmith Gianfrancesco.135 The marchesa acknowledged her husband’s awareness of her situation, and implied that these were shared problems: ‘Your Excellency knows the many annoyances that you and I have suffered from Alberto da Bologna over these possessions of mine’.136 Isabella stressed to Francesco that she managed her properties to mutual gain. In 1499 she feared that the mill at Gonzaga was having a detrimental effect on her holdings at Palidano and begged Francesco: ‘I pray and beg Your Lordship to make whatever provisions you deem fit so that we can not only preserve the profits but increase them, because everything is for your benefit, and you have nothing more solid, and which you can value more, than that which I possess.’137 Francesco clearly felt that she was an able administrator and in March 1500 gave her, unrequested, the fish-breeding pools, ‘le pischere’, of Suave.138 Isabella made clear her gratitude for this gift and the trust placed in her. She emphasised that her property was for common profit and that Francesco was master of all she possessed. Isabella enjoyed governing at all levels and, in highlighting her deference to her husband, she encouraged more possessions be given over directly to her capable rule: As Your Excellency has so graciously given me the pischere of Suave, I will take possession of them and put them in order so that we can then both enjoy the fish. I thank you for the gift and for the loving words that you wrote to me, although having given the pools to me they are not a gift as such, just consigning them

135   The year before, Isabella reported to Francesco a disagreement with this goldsmith, who ‘è intrato in tanta collera che lui medemo ha dicto non mi volere servire più’. Perhaps this was an attempt to placate Gianfrancesco. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 26 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 163r–v: 136   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 17 October 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.2, cc. 394r–395v: ‘La Ex. V. scia li molti fastidij che lei & me habbiamo sentito da Alberto da Bologna per queste mie possessione’. 137   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 12 May 1499, b. 2113, fasc. II.1, c. 150r: ‘prego et supplico la S.V. se digni farli lei quella provisione gli parerà conveniente, aciò che se possi non solum conservare le intrate, ma augumentarle, perché tutto cede a beneficio suo, attento che la non ha cosa più ferma, et da potersi meglio valere, cha de quello ch’io possedo’. 138   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 7 March 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.1, c. 101r: ‘L’altro zorno essendo nui a tavola la me disse che la me voleva donare le pischere de Suave, hozi mo’ lo sottofactore me ha dicto havere commissione da la Cel. V. de consignarmele. Ma per questo non ho voluto mandare ad tuore la tenuta, parendomi conveniente che prima le recognosca da quella et la ringracia del dono a me facto, qual tanto m’è più grato quanto che senza mia richiesta me l’habia conferito’.

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to my custody for your greater benefit, Your Excellency being more their owner than before, as you are with the other things you have given me.139

The following year, regarding matters at Sacchetta, Isabella acknowledged Francesco’s support and reasserted: ‘I do not attend to anything but increasing the profits for our benefit and that of our son’.140 In addition to displaying team behaviour when making gifts to each other, the couple, like Isabella’s parents, also frequently worked together when presenting gifts to others, particularly to important personages.141 For instance, Isabella wrote to Francesco in October 1500 asking advice on the appropriate caparison for a horse to be sent to the queen of France, and in 1502 about presents of salami, malvasia wine, and confections that the marchese wanted to give the king.142 This section has illustrated the marchesi’s sharing of people and property, and a final example, similar in tone to that which opened the section, demonstrates Francesco’s insistence that Isabella feel confident to take lordship over his possessions. It includes, as above, the marchese’s emphasis on Isabella’s authority to act in his stead, in this instance lending his possessions. In November 1490 he wrote to his wife that she should go ahead and lend his lance to a certain Constantino for a duel in Milan, and continued: We reply that not once but a thousand times we have given authority to Your Ladyship over the state and the power to be able to make decisions as much as we can, as everything is common between Your Ladyship and us. And when we are not in our territory and some of our friends ask some pleasure you must

139   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 March 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.1, c. 105r–v: ‘Doppo che la Ex.V. tanto graciosamente me ha donato le pischere de Suave farò tuore la possessione, et metterle ad ordine per potere poi comunemente godere de li pisci. Ringraciola et del dono et dele amorevole parole che la me ha scripto, benche havendole datte a me non sia dono, ma consignatione et custodia d’esse a magiore suo beneficio, essendone V. Ex. più patrono che non era prima, sì como è de tutto el resto de quello me ha donato’. 140   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 August 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VIII.2, c. 360r: ‘non attendo ad altro che ad augmentare le intrate per beneficio nostro et de nostro figliolo’. 141   For Eleonora of Aragon’s consultation with Ercole d’Este over a gift of a gilded, pear-shaped cup full of money to encourage Ambrogio da Rosate’s support for their son Ippolito’s cardinalate, see Chiappini, p. 78. Isabella and Francesco’s daughter-in-law Margherita Paleologa also planned the sending of gifts with her co-regent Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga after Federico’s death. Mattozzi, p. 112. 142   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 October 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.2, c. 154r and Mantua, 26 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 163r–v. I explored the gifting of animals, and the place of animals in Isabella’s image construction and power sharing with Francesco, in a paper given at the Society for Italian Studies Biennial Conference 2007.

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Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga do no more nor less than we would and without reservation because that is our intention.143

The marchesa’s relationship with some of Francesco’s amici, of a more troublesome sort, and the elimination of threats to her position of co-rule are explored in the next chapter.

143   Francesco to Isabella, Urbino, 5 November 1490, b. 2107, fasc. XLV.3 c. 342r: ‘rispondimo che non solum una fiata ma mille havemo datta la auctorità a la S. Vostra del stato et facultade de poterne disponere tanto quanto nui medesmi per esser ogni cosa tra la S.V. et nui comune. Et quando non se ritroviamo in el territorio nostro che alcuni de nostri amici ne richiede de qualche apiacer quella facia ne più ne mancho come faressimo nui et senza alcun rispetto perché cusì è la intencione nostra’. This letter is referred to by James, ‘Friendship’, p. 13.

Chapter 3

The Elimination of Threats to the Marchesa’s Authority The Downfall of Francesco Secco When Isabella arrived in Mantua in February 1490, the most powerful individual after her husband was Francesco Secco (or Sicco), a long-established and authoritative figure. Secco had been uomo di fiducia of the previous marchesi Lodovico II and Federico I, and in 1451 had married Caterina Gonzaga, Lodovico’s illegitimate daughter. After Francesco Gonzaga’s succession, Secco was named luogotenente generale dello stato with full powers in 1485.1 However, as the marchese gained confidence as a ruler and with Isabella by his side capable and available to support him in that role, Francesco Secco’s place at the pinnacle of power became precarious. Isabella ‘seems to have recognised the serious threat behind Secco’s domination’, and her determination to govern fully alongside her husband dictated that Secco’s power could not continue.2 The young ruling couple may have resented the influence of an elderly manipulator from past regimes. They may also have become alarmed about Secco’s might, as he was in possession of virtually a private army with which to exercise rough justice.3 Furthermore, Secco’s position had barred the access to influence of Francesco’s uncles Rodolfo, Lodovico, and Gianfrancesco. Indeed, along with his brother Stefano, castellan of Mantua, Secco may have been responsible for the fabrication of charges of treason brought against the marchese’s uncles in 1487, leading to their banishment from   See letters patent and letter of Francesco Gonzaga to Francesco Secco, Gonzaga, 27 May and 16 June 1485, Patenti, L. 3, ff. 146r–147r. Fermo Secco d’Aragona, ‘Francesco Secco, i Gonzaga e Paolo Erba. Un capitolo inedito di storia mantovana’, ASL, 6 (1956), 210–261, p. 257. For Francesco Secco’s life see Secco d’Aragona; Gianfranco Ferlisi, ‘Le vicende di un cortegiano del ‘400: Francesco Secco da “fedelismo” di Ludovico II a protagonista di un’oscura congiura di palazzo’, CM, 110 (2000), 33–37; and Marilena Dolci, ‘Congiure e misteri alla corte dei Gonzaga. Il processo a Francesco Sicco. Prima parte. La fuga di Francesco Sicco’, CM, 120 (2005), 23–47 and ‘Congiure e misteri alla corte dei Gonzaga. Il processo a Francesco Sicco. Seconda parte. Le congiure’, CM, 123 (2007), 17–50. 2   Chambers and Dean, p. 236. 3   For Secco’s persecution of the investigating magistrate Beltramino Cusadri, his enacting of arbitrary jurisdiction, and his military retainers’ activities, see Chambers and Dean, pp. 135, 139–40, 233–7, 253–4. 1

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the city.4 Secco’s removal may also have been supported by Ercole d’Este, keen to see his daughter in her due position. From Isabella’s arrival, Secco would no longer govern alone when Francesco was away and the marchesa in Mantua. From Padua in March 1490, the marchese wrote to his wife of ‘that care of our state which we confide in Your Ladyship and place in you along with the Magnificent Messer Francesco in our absence’, and in May Isabella wrote to her husband that she had opened some letters from Venice ‘with Your Lordship’s license to see if they contained anything I could act upon with the advice of the Magnificent Messer Francesco Secco’.5 After initial collaboration with Secco, a pair of letters from the following year demonstrates the marchesi’s desire that Isabella take full personal responsibility for matters of order and justice in her husband’s absence. Isabella told Francesco of the discovery in the city of the body of a mutilated little girl: ‘so dirty, bruised, and bloody that it arouses pity to see her’. The case was ‘completely abominable’, upsetting to their subjects and warranting a public investigation, and Isabella informed Francesco ‘so that Your Excellency can make the provision you deem fit’. She continued that she had issued the standard grida against prosecution of the Jewish community in holy week.6 The marchese’s reply authorised her to take control of matters and praised her actions: With displeasure we have learned of the discovery of the dead little girl, mistreated and then exposed, as Your Ladyship writes, a truly abominable

  Secco d’Aragona, p. 216. The Ferrarese Paolo Erba, brother of one of Francesco’s uncle Lodovico’s servants, testified against the uncles in 1487. Once Secco had fallen from grace in 1491, under torture Erba accused Secco of setting up the plot. Cashman, ‘Public Life’, p. 146. 5   Francesco to Isabella, Padua, 26 March 1490, b. 2107, fasc. XLV.1, c. 300r: ‘quella cura del stato nostro, che ne confidamo ne (la S.) V. e riposiamo insieme col M.co M. Francisco (in qu)esta absentia nostra’. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 29 May, fasc. XLVI.2 c. 365r: ‘cum bona licentia de la Ex.V. per vedere se gli era cosa che se havesse potuto fare qua col consilio del Mag.co M. Francisco Sicco’. 6   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 26 March 1491, b. 2107, fasc. II, c. 103r: ‘è tutta schizata, amachata, & sanguinata che era una compassione a vederla. M’è parso darne aviso a la V. Ex. per essere caso molto abhominevole & da farne a publico terrore qualche publica indagatione aciò che la Ex.V. possi farli quella provisione gli parerà […] questa mattina ho facto renovare la crida de li hebrei per la septimana sancta secundo el consueto’. For other attacks on children see Matteo Bernardelli, ‘Il diritto sessuale: crimine e peccato alla corte dei Gonzaga’, in Cipolla and Malacarne, eds, pp. 87–121 and Alessia Bertolazzi, Irene Lodi, and Alessandra Rossi, ‘Per potere, per violenza: infanzia e sessualità’, in Cipolla and Malacarne, eds, pp. 185–209. Gride against attacks on the Jewish community in holy week were issued in most years of Francesco’s reign. Cashman, ‘Public Life’, p. 291. For an illustration of the marchesi’s relationship with Mantua’s Jewish community see Cashman, ‘Public Life’, pp. 276–95, and Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e gli Israeliti di Mantova’, Rivista Storica Mantovana, 1 (1885), 183–6. 4

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case and under no circumstances should the perpetrator be left unpunished should information be had. Therefore we are content […] that you have a full investigation made […]. We also praise Your Ladyship’s work and provision made for the Jews in holy week.7

In addition to wishing to occupy the seat of power with his consort, the marchese was eager to reconcile with his uncles. Although throughout the spring of 1491 Secco and the marchesi continued to exchange pleasantries, during a trip to Ferrara the rapprochement of the marchese and his uncles was advanced. The Milanese ambassador in Ferrara wrote to his master that Francesco would like to rid himself of Secco so that his uncles could return.8 In May 1491, Francesco again left Mantua for Ferrara, seemingly on good terms with Secco. Isabella wrote to the luogotenente professing the ‘singular love’, ‘singulare amore’, she had for him and stating that she had heard of tension between her husband and Secco, distressing her and her parents, but had been reassured by the marchese. She elegantly warned Secco to avoid further causes for misunderstanding and not to heed anybody spreading dissent. Secco’s reply to Isabella also feigned renewed harmony.9 Such masks covered the end of Secco’s domination as, perhaps with the example of the execution of Cicco Simonetta in Milan in 1480 in mind, he saw that he was left with no choice but to relinquish his role to Isabella. He furtively arranged to leave Mantuan territory and pass into Lorenzo de’ Medici’s service. That Secco was to be supplanted by the new marchesa was made explicit in June 1491. Francesco planned to travel Italy, attending palii, and visiting relatives and places of pilgrimage. Although appearing to be pleasure trips, according to Molly Bourne, ‘the marquis’s travels during this period were […] instrumental in raising his political profile, enhancing his diplomatic relations with other states, and establishing an effective partnership of statecraft with his wife’.10 While Secco had previously administered the state in his absence, the marchese now nominated Isabella as regent. Francesco expressed his great confidence in his wife to his sister Chiara: while we are away we have left the weight and government of our state and dominion to our illustrious consort, knowing that we can well entrust it to her 7   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 26 March 1491, b. 2107, fasc. I.1, c. 5r: ‘Cum despiacere havemo inteso la ritrovata de quella puttina morta, maltractata, et poi exposta, come la S.V. ne scrive, caso veramente abominabile, et perhò da non lassare impunito chi l’ha perpetrato, quando se ne possa havere noticia. Unde siamo contenti, come anche la S.V. ne raccorda che quella ne facia fare ogni subtile investigatione [...] laudamo l’opera et provisione per la S.V. facta per la septimana sancta de li hebrei’. 8   Secco d’Aragona, p. 257. 9   Isabella to Secco, Belriguardo, 22 May 1491, b. 2904, L. 136, c. 95r and reply 25 May, b. 2440, c. 250r. See Dolci, ‘Prima parte’, pp. 28–9, and Secco d’Aragona, p. 222. 10   Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 37.

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Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga prudence and integrity, even though she is of tender age, and to this point Her Ladyship has made an excellent start and is well equal to important and honourable matters, and in every action she demonstrates exceptional intelligence. It is thus that we can travel freely where we will, very calm and with an untroubled mind, without continually looking back, as we remember that at home we have our aforementioned illustrious consort overseeing our government and concerns.11

The momentousness of this revolution in the Mantuan hierarchy, with the seventeen-year-old marchesa succeeding the experienced, well-respected statesman, is suggested by the reticence of Giorgio Brognolo, Mantuan orator in Venice, to announce the demotion of Secco, who had been instrumental in establishing the alliance between Francesco and the Serenissima. Francesco was forced to remind Brognolo of his duty to obey and on 10 June the orator asked Venetian consent for both the marchese’s planned trip to Naples (in the event he did not travel as far south) and Isabella’s appointment as acting head of state.12 The doge replied: ‘we are very pleased for the illustrious lady marchesa, your consort, to attend to the said government’. However, Secco’s exclusion was not to be ignored, the doge reminding the marchese that, of course, his wife would avail herself of the luogotenente’s advice and efforts, ‘consigli et opere’.13 Venice was a state potentially in support of Secco and, after his flight from Mantua in July, the Gonzaga secretary Antimaco was sent to the lagoon city to ensure the former luogotenente would not find succour there.14 From being a dangerously influential official, Secco was now under suspicion of plotting to take 11   Francesco to Chiara Gonzaga, Ferrara, 20 June 1491, b. 2904, L. 138, ff. 46r–47r: ‘in questa nostra partita nui havemo lassato el peso et governo del stato et domino nostro a la Illu. Consorte nostra, cognoscendo nui poterne molto bene ripossare sopra la prudentia e integrita sua, anchora ch’è di età la sia tenera, e fin qui la sua S. ha grando principio e disponitissima a grande facendi importanti e honerevoli et in ogni sua actione dimostra singulare inzegno, sichè liberamente et cum buona tranquilitate et quiete animo possimo andare dove a nui pare senza guardarne adrieto ogni fiata che se recordamo haver a casa la prefata Ill. Consorte nostra a la impresa del governo et cossa nostra’. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, pp. 37–8. James, ‘Machiavelli’, p. 61. 12   Francesco to Giorgio Brognolo, Gonzaga, 7 June 1491, b. 2190, n.n.: ‘si dogliamo de vuj legendo el vostro postscripta dove diceti non vi esser parso de fare a quella Ill. ma Si.a l’ambassata che vi commettessimo circa il lassare che volevimo fare dela Ill. M.a nostra consorte al governo del stato et cose nostre […] ve dicemo adunque che quando vi commettemo faciati una ambassata bona o cativa che la sia vuj haveti a farla et obedire et del resto lassare a nuj il caricho […] exequeti pur quanto haveti in commissione da nuj che cossì è nostra intentione’. Giorgio Brognolo to Francesco, Venice, 10 June, b. 1433, c. 160r. Partially quoted Dolci, ‘Prima parte’, p. 31. 13   Doge Agostino Barbarigo to Francesco, Venice, 10 June 1491, b. 1422, n.n.: ‘Piacene assai che la Illu. Madona Marchesana, soa consorte, resti al dicto governo’. Dolci, ‘Prima parte’, p. 31. 14   Isabella to Eleonora d’Aragona, Marmirolo, 16 August 1491, b. 2991, L. 1, f. 30r.

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Francesco’s life and state. It is doubtful that there was substance in these charges beyond plans to dominate the Mantuan political scene from within the established system. Gianfranco Ferlisi, for instance, states that the accusation of treason was unconvincing and seems to have been aimed at ridding the Gonzaga of a no longer welcome presence.15 Sigismondo Gonzaga, a vital part of Isabella and Francesco’s wider power team, was named luogotenente.16 Meanwhile, the accused man had taken his chance to flee and joined his daughter, Count Marsilio Torelli’s wife, before going to Pisa. His departure was clearly expected, as Isabella had him followed on the night he left.17 This is an example of the marchesa’s empowering use of espionage and information networks to protect her position, strategies seen repeatedly in her removal of adversaries. Isabella was eager to take advantage of possessions left behind by Secco’s flight. She sent her father some of Secco’s fine wine and attempted, unsuccessfully, to obtain 12,000 scudi he had deposited with a Veronese banker.18 The marchesi intended to use Secco’s money to pay the outstanding wages of troops formerly under his command. It would not have been expedient to leave soldiers, potentially loyal to their former commander, unpaid.19 Isabella rejoiced when her husband received 6,000 scudi from the salary of Secco’s broken condotta with the Venetians, and at Venetian warmth toward the marchese.20 While the marchese was in Venice, Isabella confidently assured him that in Mantua, ‘everything proceeds peacefully’.21 Isabella was initially quiet in her correspondence abroad on the subject of Secco. For instance, she informed her mother on 23 July that she would leave the topic to her husband, perhaps presenting a less extreme image in order that the marchesi could divide their front if required by the tide of opinion. However, revelling in Secco’s continued undoing, she exploited her system of correspondents to further blacken his name. She wrote, for instance, to: Giovanni Bentivoglio in Bologna; Maddalena Gonzaga in Pesaro; Elisabetta Gonzaga in Urbino; Chiara Gonzaga in France; and Beatrice d’Este, Isabella of Aragon, and the count of Caiazzo in Milan aiming to prevent Secco from finding favour in that city.22 15   Ferlisi, p. 36: ‘non appare molto convincente l’accusa di cospirazione rivolta al Secco: la vicenda sembra costruita ad arte per eliminare una presenza scomoda’. 16   Others who filled the void left by Secco included Antonio Scarampo, Giacomo da Capua, Donino Puello, Antimaco, and Girolamo Stanga. Dolci, ‘Prima parte’, pp. 27, 30. 17   Dolci, ‘Prima parte’, p. 35 18   Secco d’Aragona, p. 234, and Pizzagalli, p. 60. 19   Francesco to Isabella, Pesaro, 18 October 1491, b. 2107, fasc. I.1, c. 67r. For Secco’s troops see Dolci, ‘Prima parte’, p. 24. 20   Isabella to Francesco, Porto, 21 September 1491, b. 2107, fasc. II, c. 190r. Partially transcribed Secco d’Aragona, p. 240. 21   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 15 September, b. 2107, fasc. II, c. 116r: ‘ogni cosa passa quietamente’. 22   Secco d’Aragona, pp. 237–8.

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Francesco and Stefano Secco were charged in Mantua in absentia with treason in September 1491 and their possessions formally seized.23 With the marchese travelling to various cities, including Bologna, Florence, and Urbino, in these months, and the diplomatic difficulties surrounding Secco’s exile, it was a testing first period of regency for Isabella. From the outset Francesco reassured her of his belief in her ability and of their strong bond. He instructed her from Urbino in July, for instance, to reply in his name to Lodovico Sforza’s request for her company, saying that she would be able to visit once he had returned.24 Isabella’s letters to her husband made clear, in patterns continuing throughout her married life, that she was prudently taking advantage of others’ counsel, and that she asserted her own judgement while also proclaiming deference to that of her husband.25 An interesting example of the latter tendency is found in a letter from Isabella to Francesco from a trip to Ferrara in November 1491, relating to correspondence received from Milan: By a specially sent messenger the most illustrious lord Lodovico has sent me two letters from Vigevano, one directed to Your Excellency from the most illustrious duke [the titular ruler Giangaleazzo Sforza, nephew of the de facto ruler Lodovico, il Moro], the other to me, asking if I would be content for Messer Stefano Secco to settle in his ducal territory. I decided to send these to Your Excellency immediately with this letter so that you can reply in both our names as you see fit. I believe that lord Lodovico would perhaps like to begin by this means to open the door to allow Messer Francesco in time to be received there. So it seems to me that you should show that you would receive no less displeasure in refuge being given to Messer Stefano as to Messer Francesco, because we do not hold him to be as innocent in Messer Francesco’s crimes as His Lordship persuades himself. I do not say this to remind Your Excellency how to act, knowing you to be much more prudent than me, but because I do not hold them in any less contempt than you do, I could not contain myself from sharing my opinion with you. You must now do as you see fit.26

  Secco d’Aragona, p. 241.   Francesco to Isabella, Urbino, 3 July 1491, b. 2107, fasc. I.1, c. 53r–v: ‘Alla littera

23 24

de lo Ill.mo S. Lodovico che ne haveti mandata ne pare che faciati respondere in nome nostro, come volunteri et de bona voglia, ritornati che nui serimo a casa, restaremo contenti che vui andiati a Milano […] et qui inclusa vi remettemo la littera de sua Ex.tia perché li possiati fare fare la risposta, come dicto’. 25   For instance, Isabella told her husband she had consulted with ‘lo M.co M. Guidone’, Mantua, 4 October 1491, b. 2107, fasc. II, c. 119r. 26   Isabella to Francesco, Ferrara, 10 November 1491, b. 2107, fasc. II, c. 137r. Appendix Document 1. See Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 4 October, c. 119r for another example of shared information and decisions.

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Rather than reply to il Moro’s letter herself, she encouraged Francesco to respond on behalf of them both, presenting a shared image. Perhaps, also, she preferred to avoid personally giving an answer that might irritate Sforza. She advocated a harsh anti-Secco stance, brooking no harbouring of the brothers by her allies. Stressing that she did not believe herself more competent than her husband, she forcefully set out her opinion and Francesco, by inclination or persuasion, agreed, as a subsequent letter from Isabella to her husband attests: in another letter from you dated the 13th of this month replying to mine I have learned how you sent Guidone to Milan about the request for Messer Stefano Secco. I am pleased that my opinion concurred with Your Lordship’s, and I pray you to advise me of the results of Guidone’s mission.27

The case of Francesco Secco’s disgrace and exile occurred simultaneously with Isabella’s initial experiences of power at the Mantuan court. It is not known to what extent Francesco and Isabella believed Secco guilty of treasonable plotting, but it is undeniable that his position of extreme power quickly became untenable after Isabella’s arrival. While the marchesi continued to brand him a traitor, other powers received him honourably and doubted Francesco Secco’s guilt, and, as seen above, Stefano went to Milan only weeks after being condemned.28 The Milanese ambassador to Venice Taddeo da Vimercate reported to il Moro that the doge saw powerful, shadowy figures behind the marchese’s wish to see Secco destroyed, and Francesco himself indicated to Giorgio Brognolo that ‘others’ had sought to bring down Secco. It has been suggested that those inducing the marchese to this may have been the emperor or king of France, in order to divide the Venetian forces, or il Moro in retaliation for Secco’s role in Francesco’s decision to move from the service of Milan to Venice.29 Another plausible candidate for the mysterious figure is the duke of Ferrara. Unquestionably the return to influence of the marchese’s uncles could not but destroy Secco, and Ercole d’Este’s part in that accord, as well as the benefit to him and his daughter in the luogotenente’s removal, contradicts his professed satisfaction at the seeming reconciliation of the marchese and Secco before the latter’s flight. It may be, for instance, that the duke’s letters to his daughter of 22 May, in which he proclaimed his ‘great pleasure and contentment’, ‘piacere & contento assai’, at events, were a facade to be shown to others to 27   Isabella to Francesco, Ferrara, 21 November 1491, b. 2107, fasc. II, c. 139r: ‘per un’altra sua de 13 instantis responsive de la mia intesi como la mandava Guidone a Milano per la richiesta de M. Stephano Sicco. Ho havuto piacere ch’io me sia incontrata col parere de V.S., la qual prego se digni avisarme el fructo che haverà facto Guidone’. 28   For example, the Florentine authorities welcomed Francesco Secco in Pisa. Secco d’Aragona, p. 240. Secco continued in the service of Florence, and fought on the French side at Fornovo opposite his former lord. He died in battle in 1496. 29   Secco d’Aragona, p. 235. Francesco to Giorgio Brognolo, Gonzaga, 7 June 1491, b. 2190, n.n.: ‘altri se siano mossi’. Dolci, ‘Prima parte’, pp. 32–33.

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simulate Ercole and Isabella’s goodwill toward the doomed Secco.30 Indeed, that Ercole was projecting double faces is shown in a letter to his wife dated 23 May in which he praised her and Isabella for writing congratulatory letters to Secco, as long as those letters ended up in Secco’s hands and not his enemies’, where they would do more harm than good.31 The image presented by the marchese, his consort, and her father suggested that they had eventually been persuaded of Secco’s guilt by his detractors, foremost among whom were the marchese’s uncles, but that they had even-handedly wished to make peace with Secco until his actions made this no longer conceivable. Yet Francesco, Isabella, and Ercole gained from the luogotenente’s exclusion. Regardless of how much they believed the substance of allegations against Secco or how much Isabella and Francesco worked together to orchestrate his downfall, both of which shall probably never be fully ascertained, in ridding themselves of the luogotenente the marchesi certainly presented a united front and developed their strategies of teamwork and team masking. The marchesa was manoeuvred into the position of rightful stand-in head of state in public perception and in effect, and the renewed sympathy of Francesco and his uncles was engineered without endangering that position. Secco was the first and, arguably, greatest threat to Isabella’s role as Francesco’s second-in-command, but several other figures were to endanger the couple’s partnership, threatening to come between the marchesi or obscure the passage of information. ‘Erano ultra modo grati’ ‘They were exceptionally favoured’: The Murders of Il Milanese and Ercole Strozzi While Secco proved a risk to Isabella’s influence from outside the couple, courtiers excessively favoured by Francesco, with too much power or highly sensitive information, proved a danger to Isabella created from within the connubial alliance. The murders of two of Francesco’s favourites in 1505 and 1508 seem likely to have been carried out at least with Isabella’s tacit approval, if not her active support.

 

30

Ercole d’Este to Isabella, Ferrara, 22 May 1491, b. 1185, c. 115r. That Francesco Gonzaga spent much time in Ferrara in early 1491; that Francesco and Ercole visited Secco at his villa in San Martino Gusnago together on 14 June; and that Secco wrote to Ercole from Pisa immediately after his flight, suggest that the duke was seen publicly in the role of peacemaker but was intimately acquainted with Francesco’s mind and his probable determination to rid himself of Secco. Secco d’Aragona, pp. 258, 227, 231. It seems that the perceptive Secco, however, may have suspected Ercole and il Moro of supporting his downfall. See Dolci, ‘Prima parte’, p. 33. 31   Dolci,‘Prima parte’, p. 28.

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On 11 November 1505 the courtier Enea Furlano da Cavriana, known as il Cavaliere, had Antonio Maria Regazzi di San Secondo, known as il Milanese, murdered as he returned home from court.32 Francesco described the position of these courtiers thus: They were exceptionally favoured by us. And as a sign of the love I bore them, one [Furlano], as well as being given a natural daughter of ours in marriage, was commissioned with the management and government of all our soldiers; the other [Regazzi] was given the management and government of the city and our whole state.33

While before the murder Furlano was an important figure at court, unofficially betrothed to the marchese’s eleven year-old illegitimate daughter Teodora, Regazzi held great sway with Francesco.34 The marchese wrote to Antonio Costabili, Regazzi’s father-in-law, just before the murder: Messer Milanese [Regazzi] has always been one of those rare servants the likes of whom are extremely hard to find in the world, for which he has deserved from us wholeheartedly the highest degree of confidence and the liberty to make use of all we have in the world, such that there is nobody who knows our every thought more than he does.35

  For the murder see: Anna Maria Lorenzoni, ‘Un omicidio alla Corte mantovana profetizzato dalla Beata Osanna Andreasi’, CM, 29 (1971), 317–25; Clifford M. Brown and Anna Maria Lorenzoni, ‘il cinquecentesimo anniversario di un omicidio alla corte di Francesco II Gonzaga’, CM, 120 (2005), 79–112; Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, pp. 89–93, and, ‘Leone X’, pp. 119–21; Cian, ‘Pietro Bembo’, pp. 124–5; David Chambers, ‘Francesco Cardinalino (c. 1477–1511), the Son of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga’, Atti e Memorie dell’Accademia Virgiliana di Mantova, 48 (1980), 5–55, pp. 13–20; and D. Busolini, ‘Furlano, Enea’, DBI, 50, pp. 779–80. 33   Francesco to Angelo Tovaglia, Mantua, 19 November 1505, b. 2913, L. 188, f. r–v 51 : ‘ni erano ultra modo grati. Et per segno dil amore gli portavimo, ad uno, ultra che gli havessimo disponsata una figlia nostra naturale, era sta commisso al regimento et governo de tutte le gente d’arme nostre, a l’altro quelli de la cità et tutto il stato nostro.’ Lorenzoni, ‘Un omicidio’, p. 319. 34   Although Isabella seems to have generally been a supporter of Furlano, Francesco states that he had gone against her opinion in considering Furlano’s betrothal to his daughter: ‘alla Ill. nostra consorte paresse cosa inconveniente’. Perhaps Isabella had other suitors in mind for Teodora. Francesco to Alvise Marcello, Mantua, 10 March 1506, b. 2913, L. 190, ff. 38r–41r. Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, p. 91. 35   Francesco to Antonio Costabili, Mantua, 9 November 1505, b. 2913, L. 188, ff. v 71 –72r: ‘Messer Milanese ni è sempre stato uno de quelli servitori che rarissimi si trovano al mondo, per il che l’ha meritato apresso noi il primo grado di confidentia e la libertà de disponer de ciò che havemo al mondo fin dil core, che niuno vi è che più di luj sappia ogni nostro pensier’. Partially transcribed Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, p. 85. 32

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The king of France’s description of Regazzi as the marchese’s ‘principal intermediary in secret negotiations’ also suggests Regazzi’s proximity to Francesco and knowledge of his most confidential affairs.36 In addition to his political role, Regazzi was a central figure in the social life of the court, as illustrated by a letter Isabella wrote Francesco from a party at Regazzi’s house in November 1500 (Figure 3.1).37 On hearing of the assassination, Francesco was enraged by Furlano’s audacity, particularly as the murderer had taken Teodora with him as he fled to Venice. In addition, several sources, perhaps seeing Francesco’s desire for vengeance and seeking favour, came forward to further discredit Furlano. He was accused by ‘his chancellor and others who knew his wickedness’ of plotting to murder French officials. Francesco also believed that Furlano had attempted to sow discord between the marchese and one of his brothers, either Giovanni or Cardinal Sigismondo, by telling the brother that Francesco had plotted against him: ‘we marvel that, were it not for the quiet nature of our house, we brothers would have had our own blood on our hands as a result of his evildoing’.38 It would seem that Francesco had received this information from the said brother. This raises questions as to whether Giovanni or Sigismondo, perhaps in collaboration with Isabella, was craftily aiming to prevent Furlano’s return to favour, hoping to manipulate the direction taken in filling the power vacuum left by the removal of both favourites. While Francesco sought Furlano’s extradition, in a reaction similar to that shown towards the condemnation of Francesco Secco, the majority did not want to see him subject to recrimination from the marchese. Despite the enormity of his crimes, Furlano had a great many supporters at court and abroad, as Regazzi had been not only powerful but an unsavoury and unpopular character. Before her death in June 1505, the Beata Osanna Andreasi had prophesised that God would mete out a harsh punishment on Regazzi; he had been condemned by Venice for forging money, and had argued with many courtiers, who called him a thief (‘ladron’ and ‘ladronazo’), as a summary of those with grievances against 36   Louis XII to Venetian Republic, Blois, 22 November 1505, b. 626, n.n.: ‘principale interpositor degli negocij secreti’. Lorenzoni, ‘Un omicidio’, p. 321. 37   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 23 November 1500, b. 2114, fasc. II.2, c. 170r . This fascinating, unpublished letter, demonstrates a cheerful courtly atmosphere at Regazzi’s house as well as showing who was at the party. It encouraged Francesco to return to Mantua for another dinner the following Thursday, and was signed with autograph signatures by Isabella (‘prima in sottoscricino e in amare la S.V.’), Regazzi, and nineteen other courtiers and donzelle. Cashman, ‘Public Life’, pp. 79–80. 38   Francesco to Alvise Marcello, Mantua, 10 March 1506, b. 2913, L. 190, ff. 38r–41r: ‘questo havemo per boccha dil suo cancellero ultra alcuni altri conscii de sue scelerità […] ni maravigliamo, se non fosse la quieta natura di casa nostra, che non devenessimo fra noi fratelli, per sua mal opra, a metterni le mani nel proprio sangue’. Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, p. 90.

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Isabella d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, Mantua, 23 November 1500. ASMn, AG, b.2114, fasc.II.2, c.170r.

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him compiled in 1507 by the capitano di giustizia reveals.39 Furlano justified his actions claiming that Regazzi had wished to kill him, had attempted to block his betrothal to Teodora, and had suggested Furlano had behaved improperly towards young Leonora Gonzaga.40 Dignitaries including the doge and Caterina Cornaro wrote to the marchese in Furlano’s support.41 He was well respected and Regazzi widely despised thus it is not surprising, with her adherence to the creed of political expediency, that Isabella was not vociferous in condemning Furlano. In line with the marchesi’s tendency to divide fronts, in a premeditated or unpremeditated manner, in order to gather information and form alliances, Isabella received letters in support of Furlano while Francesco would harbour no thoughts but revenge. Luigi Ciocca wrote to Isabella on 16 January 1506 colourfully describing the assassinated man as: that nefarious and wicked thief and traitor Milanese da San Segondo, son of a gypsy, born in a pig trough, nursed among sheep, and raised among thieves, evildoers, enchanters, and forgers, sower of discord, supporter of troublemakers, persecutor of the good, and enemy of virtue and justice.42

Although Ciocca then wrote to Tolomeo Spagnoli that he was distressed that the marchese had, quite correctly, accused him of supporting Furlano, and vowing that he hated all of Francesco’s enemies, Ciocca nevertheless wrote to the exile pledging his unswerving support.43 He told his friend that he had received a menacing letter from Francesco but remained Regazzi’s enemy.44 He included a sonnet he had written damning Regazzi and a copy of the letter he had sent to Isabella on 16 January, thus indicating that both Ciocca and Furlano anticipated that the marchesa would back them. Furlano himself appears to have expected to gain Isabella’s   Frate Francesco da Ferrara to Francesco, Milan, 3 March 1506, b. 1637, c. 25: ‘molte e molte volte, già sono circa cinque anni, [Osanna] mi disse come Dio contra di quello era grandemente irato’. Sanudo, VI, 295: ‘è da saper, quel milanese, fu morto, havia taja per il conseio di X, per esser monatario’. Capitano di giustizia to Francesco, Mantua, 4 September 1507, b. 2470, c. 289r. Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, pp. 86–7, 95. 40   Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, pp. 88, 91. 41   Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, p. 92. 42   Luigi (or Alvise) Ciocca to Isabella, Florence, 16 January 1506, b. 1105, c. 629 r : ‘quello nephando et scellerato ladroncello et traditore Milanese da San Segondo, figliol d’un zingano, nato in un albio da porci, nutrito tra pecore et alevato tra ladri, malefici, incantatori, falsificatori di monete, seminatore de discordie, fautore de ribaldi, persequtore de boni et inimico de virtù et de iustitia’. Lorenzoni, ‘Un omicidio’, p. 323. 43   Luigi Ciocca to Tolomeo Spagnoli, Florence, 1 February 1506, b. 1105, c. 625r. 44   Luigi Ciocca to Enea Furlano, Florence, 22 February 1506, b. 1105, c. 628r, copy of letter and sonnet c. 629r–v. Ciocca and Regazzi had a long-standing animosity, and the latter had poisoned the marchese against the former, giving ample motive for Ciocca and others in similar positions to rejoice in Regazzi’s murder. Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, pp. 87, 110. 39

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support. Francesco’s roguish spy in Venice, Vigo di Camposampiero, whose animosity for Isabella is seen below and in Chapter 6, wrote in March 1506, as he had heard that the marchese had granted Isabella permission to visit Florence: ‘I am certain that the Cavaliere [Furlano] will go to speak to Her Ladyship’.45 Besides receiving letters in Furlano’s defence, Isabella also supported Francesco. She worked closely with the marchese to find a new husband for Regazzi’s widow, Violante Costabili, and placate her important Ferrarese family.46 Francesco arranged a meeting with the widow’s uncle Camillo Costabili in the marchesa’s apartments and, according to a letter from Camillo to his brother Antonio, told him: ‘I have decided in the presence of my wife and the most reverend Monsignor to show you my disposition about matters concerning Violante’. Isabella and Sigismondo’s presence functioned as a testament of Francesco’s good faith, and provided high status guarantors of his word. Camillo told his brother that afterwards he had privately discussed the prospective husband with Isabella and her intimate circle, and was reassured: ‘from what I understand from the marchesa, he is of good family and this is also the opinion of Madonna Alda [Boiarda] and Benedicto [Capilupi]’. He reported that, ‘all Mantua speaks well of him, in contrast to the other [Regazzi], of whom every man with one voice speaks ill’.47 The marchese, determined to discover the true agents of the murder, looked suspiciously on several of Regazzi’s many enemies, including Cecilia Gallerani and Lucrezia Borgia.48 The latter proclaimed her innocence to Francesco through  

45

Vigo di Camposampiero to Francesco, Venice, 5 March 1506, b. 1441, c. 358r, postscripts c. 359r and c. 360r: ‘io son certo che dito cavalere andarà a parlar a Sua S.ria’. 46   Antonio Costabili was a Ferrarese diplomat and official. On 18 April 1506 Antonio would be named giudice of the Dodici Savi; he was Alfonso d’Este’s consigliere secreto, and would play a vital role during the war between Ferrara and the papacy of 1510–13, being heralded as ‘pater patriae’ for his service. Costabili is famous today as the subject of a portrait (now in a private collection in Milan) by Dosso Dossi and as the patron of the Costabili Polyptych by Dosso and Garofalo. Giancarlo Fiorenza, ‘Dosso Dossi, Garofalo, and the Costabili Polyptych: Imaging Spiritual Authority’, The Art Bulletin, 82, 2 (2000), 252–79. The day after Regazzi’s murder, Alfonso d’Este wrote that he had heard of this through Antonio Costabili and recommended Violante to the marchesi’s care and favour. See Alfonso to Isabella, Ostellato, 12 November 1505, b. 1189, n.n. He also wrote from Ferrara on 19 and 24 November, saying Camillo Costabili had told him of Violante’s excellent treatment and asking that this continue. 47   Camillo Costabili to Antonio Costabili, Mantua, 26 November, 1505, b. 2192, n.n: ‘“Io ho deliberato in presentia de mia mogliere e de Monsignore Reverendissimo, farvi vedere lo animo mio circa le cose de la Violante” […] el giovane non è gentilhomo ma, per quanto intendo da la marchesana, l’è da bene e de questo parere è Madonna Alda e Benedicto […] tutta Mantua dice bene de lui al contrario de l’altro che ogni homo per una boccha ne dice male’. This letter seems to be a copy in Capilupi’s hand. Partially transcribed Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, p. 85. 48   Vigo di Camposampiero reported to Francesco that a counsel deciding that Furlano should kill Regazzi had been held at Cecilia’s house, Venice, 12 March 1506, b. 1441, c. 361r–v.

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Alberto Pio of Carpi, although she accepted the possibility that Furlano may have killed Regazzi on behalf of the Estensi without her express knowledge.49 Although the duchess of Ferrara may or may not have been party to the crime, after Furlano’s capture by a jubilant Francesco in 1507, Isabella chose to admit that the Este had supported the assassination.50 As Furlano was to be tortured to extract a confession, Isabella told Francesco that she had known of Furlano’s plan, supported by Alfonso and Ippolito d’Este and unnamed individuals of Francesco’s service, and had advised him not to carry it out. The marchese instructed the capitano di giustizia to act on the new information: In a certain discussion this morning our most illustrious consort told us that not only did the duke her brother and Monsignor cardinal [Ippolito] incite the Cavaliere [Furlano] to murder our poor deceased Milanese [Regazzi], but others in our household also instigated and pressed him for this, according to what the Cavaliere told her. She remembers replying to him that he should not pay heed or give credit to such troublemakers, because they were advising him to risk his neck and once he was out of the way they would turn their backs, forgetting all promises they made of being his friends. Thus, seeing that the Cavaliere manifestly persists in his stubbornness, not wishing to tell us anything unless by force, we would like you to put him to the rope hoist, as we instructed you yesterday, and make him confess which of our people encouraged him.51

  Alberto Pio to Francesco, Carpi, 2 March 1506, b. 1308, n.n. Lucrezia had been a prime suspect behind a previous attempt on Regazzi’s life by Furlano in the church of San Francesco with a poisoned dagger earlier in 1505. Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, pp. 89–90. The Ferrarese certainly seemed to support Furlano. For instance, the Ferrarese diplomatic machinery worked for his rehabilitation with the king of France. Francesco to Jacopo d’Atri, Mantua, 3 January 1506, b. 2913, L. 188, ff. 96r–98r. If the Este were behind the murder, Alfonso’s assertion to his sister that he was alarmed to hear of it through Violante Costabili is an interesting example of courtly masking, see n. 46. Vigo di Camposampiero wrote to Francesco from Venice on 28 February 1506 that Furlano had told several people that he had met with the duke of Ferrara and spoken with him in secret, with the duke promising ‘di far ogni sforcio per aiutarlo e con litere e con lingua e con amici’. Vigo reported that the Montefeltro were also disposed to helping Furlano regain Francesco’s favour, b. 1441, c. 349r, postscript c. 350r. The marchese tasked Vigo with discovering who was behind the murder, but he reported that Furlano denied anyone had incited him. Vigo to Francesco, Venice, 4 March 1506, c. 353r–v, postscript c. 355r. 50   After his capture Furlano was held prisoner in the Castello for two years, before escaping and entering Venetian and papal service. According to Sanudo in September 1509: ‘el Cavriana […] si ha inamorato ne la fia dil castelan, la qual li ha dato chiave, adeo con lui è fuzita’, IX, 167. 51   Francesco to capitano di giustizia, Gonzaga, 4 September 1507, b. 2914, L 197, f. 65r. Appendix Document 30. Two days later Francesco wrote to the capitano di giustizia that Isabella had told him that ‘il Cavallier non li nominava citadini ma degli nostri de la 49

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Isabella had thus been informed beforehand of the plot against Regazzi and of its perpetrators, by at least one of them, but told her husband she had, to some extent, tried to dissuade Furlano. Possibly under torture, he corroborated this story to a degree, although in Furlano’s version she had dismissed him, preferring to know no details, rather than actively dissuading him. The capitano told Francesco: ‘the Cavaliere confirms that he said to your illustrious consort what Your Lordship wrote that he said, and that Her Ladyship replied: “and I do not want to hear or know anything about it, get ye to a whorehouse! [va a la stuva]”’.52 Isabella was clearly aware Regazzi’s murder was being planned; whether she knew details is less evident. She would be pleased to lose her husband’s troublesome and dominant favourite. Certain observers, like Luigi Ciocca, could be confident she would endorse the assassination and not censure others’ friendship with Furlano. Without destructively offending her husband by openly praising the murder, her real views could be subtly made known at court and abroad. In this way, between them Isabella and Francesco could maintain the good favour and intelligence of all courtiers (pro- and anti-Furlano) and forestall discontent. While viewed along with her brothers as Furlano’s friend, Isabella (like Francesco’s brothers) may have benefitted from the assassin’s disgrace in influencing his replacement. Francesco’s hatred of Furlano continued such that on his deathbed he made Federico vow never to forgive him, a promise his son would break the following year in 1520 after intercession on Furlano’s behalf from Rome.53 Isabella did not insist on her husband’s last wishes, not averse to Furlano’s return; the political tide was in his favour and the events of fourteen years before had served her well. Another intimate of Francesco’s was murdered in 1508, again with evidence pointing to collaboration between Isabella and the Estensi in his removal. The murdered man was Ercole Strozzi, poet and very possibly intermediary in the clandestine romantic friendship of the duchess of Ferrara and Francesco Gonzaga.54 Not long before Regazzi’s murder in November 1505, Lucrezia Borgia camera più chari’, Gonzaga, 5 September 1507, b. 2914, L. 197, f. 66v. Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, pp. 91–2, Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, p. 94. 52   Capitano di giustizia to Francesco, Mantua, 4 September 1507, b. 2470, c. 289r: ‘El cavaliere dice havere dito ala Illustrissima consorte vostra como quella scrive Sua S.ria havere ditto, e che Sua S.ria rispondea: “e non ne voglio intendere né sapere niente, va a la stuva”’. Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Il cinquecentesimo’, pp. 94–5. 53   Sanudo, XI, 526, describes Francesco’s continuing hatred of Furlano in 1510. Furlano did not have long to enjoy his pardon, he died in 1521 in battle in Ferrarese service. 54   For Francesco and Lucrezia’s romance, generally attributed to the marchese finding Isabella’s cultural and political importance unattractive, see Luzio, I Borgia, pp. 121–67, and Nosari and Canova, p. 240. Another example of an intermediary murdered in this period was the servant of Maria Varana, sister of Francesco Maria della Rovere. Francesco Maria had his sister’s carver killed for carrying letters on Maria Varana’s behalf to her lover Gian Andrea, who would also be murdered. Cartwright, Baldassare Castiglione, I, p. 226.

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was invited to visit Francesco in Borgoforte. The duchess spent two days with the marchese, and by 1507 the pair seem to have been regularly communicating through covert correspondence, with Strozzi’s help.55 On 4 April 1508, Lucrezia provided Alfonso d’Este with an heir, and then the duke left for a trip to France but returned unannounced and early, with the possible, unsuccessful, intention of catching his wife with his brother-in-law.56 On the night of 5–6 June 1508, Strozzi’s body was found on a street corner near the Casa Romei in Ferrara, with twenty-two dagger wounds and his hair pulled out. A lack of blood at the scene suggested that the body had been moved. The murder remains a mystery but several hypotheses of guilt have been suggested. Strozzi was married to Barbara Torelli (granddaughter of Francesco Secco), who had fled from her first husband Ercole Bentivoglio, and thus he had enemies among the former lords of Bologna.57 Some contemporaries avoided speculation over who was responsible, such as Bernardino de’ Prosperi when writing to Isabella on the day of the body’s discovery.58 Others, such as Simone Fornari of Reggio and Lorenzo di Filippo Strozzi, would accuse Alfonso d’Este of the murder.59 Silence surrounding Strozzi’s death still leads many to suspect the duke of Ferrara of playing a part.60 Francesco Gonzaga’s support in pursuing revenge for the murder was enlisted by Strozzi’s heavily pregnant widow and his brothers Guido and Lorenzo Strozzi,

  Sarah Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia (London, 2004), p. 274, pp. 278–90.   Alfonso may have had concerns over his wife’s fidelity for some time. She also

55 56

corresponded passionately with Pietro Bembo, again with Strozzi as intermediary. Hugh Shankland, The Prettiest Love Letters in the World: Letters between Lucrezia Borgia and Pietro Bembo, 1503 to 1519 (Boston, 1987). Whether this relationship reflected genuine feeling or rhetorical, courtly convention, it was potentially subversive to the authority of the duke, who built a private passageway between his wife’s rooms and his own. 57   Genevieve Chastenet implicates the Bentivoglio, using a letter of Barbara Torelli to Francesco as proof, Lucrezia Borgia (Milan, 1996), p. 284. Torelli’s letter stated that the murderer sought her children’s inheritance and her dowry. Felisatti, p. 178. However, that Barbara may have believed the Bentivoglio to be guilty does not preclude the possibility that others were culpable. 58   Bernardino de’ Prosperi to Isabella, Ferrara, 6 June 1508, b. 1242, c. 139r: ‘de li malfactori non se ne scia’. 59   Edmund Gardner, Dukes and Poets in Ferrara (London, 1904), pp. 519–20n. 60   This has been attributed either to Alfonso’s love of Barbara Torelli, or Lucrezia’s jealousy of Torelli, or the duke’s anger at the poet’s intimacy with the duchess. No evidence can be found to substantiate these assertions. Cartwright claims Alfonso ordered the assassination for love of Torelli, Isabella d’Este, I (1903), p. 313, as does de la Sizeranne, p. 172. Antonio Frizzi mentions the same hypothesis. His main evidence for this seems to be the lack of investigation carried out by the authorities, although this suits other hypotheses equally. He also considers that Alfonso may have been jealous of Strozzi’s relationship with the duchess, Memorie per la storia di Ferrara (Ferrara, 1850), IV, p. 232.

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evidence of Francesco’s close relationship with the murdered man.61 As the ducal authorities made no visible attempt to identify the murderer, Francesco unsuccessfully offered a five hundred-ducat reward for information. If one accepts that the Este ordered Strozzi’s murder, it can be seen (as by Maria Bellonci and Massimo Felisatti) as an act of recrimination and of image protection, devised by Duke Alfonso, Cardinal Ippolito and Isabella.62 Political justification for the Este arranging Strozzi’s murder may have come from their knowledge of clandestine correspondence between Francesco and Lucrezia via Strozzi. Several interesting letters from March and April 1508, two months before Strozzi’s murder, can be found in the Gonzaga archive (Figure 3.2).63 Arriving from Ferrara, these letters are addressed to a certain Guido and sent by a certain Zilio. The hypothesis can be put forward that these are letters written on behalf of Lucrezia to Francesco. In this case, these letters written by Ercole Strozzi would be sent to Ercole’s brother Guido in Mantua. Guido Strozzi would then either deliver the letters to Francesco personally or call upon his brother-in-law Uberto degli Uberti or the mysterious Ia. (perhaps Jacopo d’Atri). If these letters were indeed a means of secret correspondence between Lucrezia Borgia and Francesco Gonzaga, through Ercole Strozzi, they made use of code names to disguise the individuals discussed. Credible identities can be put forward for the code names adopted: the marchese was the addressee, Guido; the duchess was referred to as Barbara; Alfonso as Camillo; Cardinal Ippolito as Tigrino; Isabella as Lena; and Ercole Strozzi himself as Zilio. These letters appear to have been closely guarded and burnt in small batches.64 The letters discuss the depth of Madonna Barbara’s [Lucrezia’s] feelings for Guido [Francesco]; Zilio [Ercole] and Barbara’s desire that Guido should write making clear that these feelings are reciprocated; Barbara’s wish for Guido to visit her;65 the secrecy 61   Barbara Torelli, Guido Strozzi and Lorenzo Strozzi to Francesco Gonzaga, Ferrara, 8 June 1508, b. 1242, c. 201: ‘persuadendone che la Ill.ma S. V. farà vendetta contra achi li ha morto così fidelissimo servitore’. Francesco was also asked to be godfather to the daughter born to Barbara Torelli thirteen days after her husband’s death. Barbara Torelli to Francesco, Ferrara, 19 and 30 June 1508, b. 1242, c. 204 and c. 208. 62   Bellonci, Lucrezia Borgia, pp. 309–29, Felisatti, pp. 168–80. 63   Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 23 March and 2, 9, and 25 April 1508, b. 1242, cc. 92–96v. See Figure 3.2. 64   Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 23 March 1508, b. 1242, c. 92r–v: ‘Messer Guido mio carissimo. Ho havuto la lettera con tutte le mie & quella di Madonna Barbara che stano benissimo: ho dato la sua a lei, & l’altre al foco’. 65   Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 15 April 1508, b. 1242, c. 96r–v: ‘Lei vi ama asaissimo & asai più de quello che forsi voi pensate [...] Mostrate amarla caldamente che non vole da voi alcuna altra cosa. Quando mi risponderete, non mi rispondete circa questa parte, perché non voglio chel pari chel vi bisognino li sproni ad inanimarvi ad amarla, che so li pareria l’amasti pocho. Ponete ogni diligentia in procacciare di venire da lei, che vederete quante carreze la vi farà [...] vi scrivo una altra mia da potere monstrare.’

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Figure 3.2

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 2 April 1508. ASMn, AG, b.1242, c.94r.

of the correspondence;66 concern over Guido’s health (Francesco was indeed in the grip of syphilis symptoms in April 1508); the need for Guido to appear to make peace with Camillo [Alfonso] and Tigrino [Ippolito]; and Camillo’s plan to visit France. Zilio also apologises on Barbara’s behalf for not letting Guido know personally that the duchess had given birth, but Camillo and Tigrino had not let her do so. On 9 April, Zilio writes 66   Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 23 March 1508, b. 1242, c. 92r–v: ‘li spiace questa vostra tepideza, ma li piace che sete secreto [...] se vorrete vi si rimandarà sempre le lettere’.

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that if Barbara hears that Guido is aggrieved, she will send one of her servants to Mantua with apologies, and she awaits the return from Lena of Bernardino (Isabella’s Bernardino de’ Prosperi) to hear if he carries such complaints.67 Do not be surprised if she [Barbara] has not told you anything about the Lady Duchess’s delivery, she wanted to tell you for your satisfaction, but Camillo did not want her to and neither did Tigrino […] She complained to them, saying that they were making her commit an error against every duty, and she told them that if she hears that you are offended by this she will, without fail, publicly send one of her men to you to make her apologies. She also says that if you have not yet complained about this that you should do so, in order that this can reach her ears and she can then send someone to you. If Bernardino, who has come from Madonna Lena, reports any such thing, as soon as he arrives she will send someone to you. She wanted to send me now. I said to her that it is not a good idea for me to come at the moment, because it could seem that I come for this reason. You would not believe how upset she is over this snub, and Camillo’s perfidy. She wants you to know that she is yours and she is not a changeable person, and that you command her, and if it was possible she would see you most happily.68

It may be telling that Barbara herself, like one who has recently given birth, is too tired to write to Guido with her own hand.69 More research needs to be done to be sure of the identities of the people mentioned in these letters, and to ascertain whether Francesco and Lucrezia are indeed Guido and Barbara, and what this might have meant for their spouses and for the ill-fated Ercole Strozzi. The letters certainly indicate that the correspondents are powerful figures at the very heart of the Ferrarese and Mantuan courts, who went to great lengths to preserve their secret communication. 67   Bernardino de’ Prosperi was a ducal chancellor in Ferrara, and correspondent of Isabella’s from 1490 to his death in 1528. 68   Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 9 April 1508, b. 1242, c. 95r: ‘non vi maravigliasti se non vi significava cosa alcuna del parto della Signora Duchessa, tuttavia volea per vostra contenteza advisarvelo, ma che Camillo non volse & similmente Tigrino [...] & che lei se ne è dogliuta con loro dicendoli che la fano fare questo errore contra ogni debito, & gli ha detto che se intende che vi dogliate che vole ad ogni modo mandare publicamente un suo a fare sua excusa, & che quando a quest’hora non vi fosti dogliuto che vi dogliate in modo che possa venirli alle orechie aciò possa mandare da voi. Se Bernardino che è venuto da Madonna Lena ne referirà qualche cosa subito chel sia qui mandarà. Volea mandarmi hora. Gli ho detto che non è bono che io venga al presente, perché pareria che io vennesse per questo. Non potresti credere quanta displicentia ha di tale errore, & della perfidia di Camilo. Vi fa intendere che è vostra & che non è persona volubile & che li commandate, & vi vederia se fosse possibile molto volunteri’. 69   Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 15 April 1508, b. 1242, c. 96r–v: ‘vi volea scrivere di sua mano ma anchora gli vano gli’occhi a torno per la debelleza’.

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Despite their efforts, the couple referred to as Guido and Barbara do not seem to have been wholly successful in concealing their relationship. A letter of 23 March 1508 refers to spies sent to entrap them, indicating that Camillo [Alfonso], Tigrino [Ippolito], and Lena [Isabella] were mistrustful. The letters mention an incident involving a certain M. This individual appears to have presented himself to Guido, hinting Barbara had sent him to arrange a secret visit to Ferrara, and offering Guido a portrait of his beloved. Zilio reported to Guido, however, that Barbara, ‘never gave M. a commission to speak to you, if not to try to bring you to Ferrara so that you could make peace with Camillo and Tigrino […], and she never said a word to him about a portrait’. Luckily, Guido was wary of this envoy. Both parties had recognized M. as a spy, most likely dispatched by one or both of their spouses, and Zilio expresses to Guido his suspicion of Lena: ‘it could be that he made that offer [of the portrait] on the advice of Madonna Lena, and that you have done well to respond to him as you did’.70 A credible identity for M. is Masino del Forno, known as il Modenese, one of Ippolito and Alfonso’s most trusted officers. Isabella was certainly watching Strozzi and his brother-in-law Uberto closely, and she described the latter to Alfonso as her enemy, who had offended her before and continued to do so.71 A contributory factor in Isabella’s enmity towards Uberto is likely to have been his notification to Francesco of a complaint against the marchesa after an attack on one of her donzelle in February 1507 (see Chapter 4). According to Felisatti, Isabella communicated with Alfonso about a matter of extreme sensitivity for the houses of Este and Gonzaga, of which she preferred they speak in private. The linking of Strozzi to the hated Uberto, and references to a need to burn their correspondence for the utmost confidentiality, may be evidence that the siblings were discussing ridding themselves of the poet.72 Strozzi’s removal rendered communication between Lucrezia and Francesco more difficult and the murder, with the body exposed in a public place, seems also to have been intended to serve as a warning, a form of punishment of the duchess without scandal. Strozzi’s murder may have been connected to that of Don Martino, a young Spanish priest from the Borgia circle, killed in Ferrara the very night before after having dined with Lucrezia’s household.73 It seems unlikely

70   Zilio (Ercole Strozzi?) to Guido Strozzi (for Francesco Gonzaga?), Ferrara, 23 March 1508, b. 1242, c. 92r–v: ‘Madonna Barbara [...] niuna volta ha dato commissione a M. che vi parli se non che lui disse che volea tentare di condurvi a Ferrara aciò vi repacificasti con Camillo & con Tygrino [...] de retracto lei non ge ha detto cosa alcuna, ma dice che lui ne ha uno, & che potria essere che per consiglio di M.a Lena havesse facto quella offerta e che voi havete facto bene a risponderli per il modo havete facto’. Quoted by Felisatti, p. 177. 71   Felisatti, p. 174. 72   Felisatti, pp. 174–5. 73   Bernardino de’ Prosperi to Isabella, Ferrara, 6 June 1508, b. 1242, c. 139r.

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that two intimates of the duchess should have been assassinated on successive nights without the acts functioning as a threat.74 In a letter to Ippolito d’Este, Girolamo Comasco identified Masino del Forno as the assassin. Masino del Forno was known for attacking people by grabbing their hair, which was consistent with the state in which Strozzi’s body was found.75 Angela Borgia’s husband, Alessandro Pio of Sassuolo, was also implicated in the murder and, as he was reliant on Este support, he would certainly not have killed a rich and powerful favourite of the duchess without being confident it was the duke’s wish.76 Alfonso himself would be accused of the murder by Julius II in 1510.77 Regardless of who carried out the deed, Strozzi’s murder can be seen as an act of political exigency from those who held their onore, authority and states paramount. Isabella, Ippolito, and Alfonso were bound by mutual interests and support, along with close, often covert, communication. As with Regazzi’s murder, it seems they were able to arrange the removal of a bothersome individual close to Francesco. Although Lucrezia continued to correspond with Francesco through the dead man’s brothers, the contact lost momentum.78 Dishonour was avoided, along with an open rift between Ferrara and Mantua, which would have undermined the authority of all concerned, humiliated Alfonso and Isabella, blurred clarity of lineage leaving the new Ferrarese heir in a questionable position, and weakened both houses. Matters of sexual intrigue had political repercussions. They denied the ruler control over legitimacy and dynasty, the foundations behind a hereditary title, and jeopardised the imperatives of status, property, and paternity. Given that Lucrezia had provided a male heir, her place had become at once less expendable and scandal was unacceptable. Alfonso had to display full dominion over his family and household. For Isabella’s part, her husband’s liaisons with Lucrezia threatened their political partnership and her access to power, while Strozzi’s pivotal role in that interaction afforded him   The duke had also managed to frighten several of the duchess’s confidantes in the first months of his reign. In 1505 the poet Tebaldeo asked Francesco for an ecclesiastical benefice, claiming Alfonso hated him and he was in danger in Ferrara. Gardner, p. 496. 75   Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 283. 76   Gardner, p. 519. 77   Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, pp. 283–4. 78   For example, in August 1508 Francesco told Lucrezia he was ill and could not leave Mantua so she decided to visit him there. At the last moment this was stopped by Alfonso and Ippolito, who mocked both parties by having a jester write to Francesco that a necromancer had seen that his illness seemed not to be serious. Felisatti, p. 178. Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, pp. 286–90. However, as Ch. 6 shows, in 1511, when the balance of power appeared to be shifting, Francesco made a final bid for Lucrezia and asked Julius II, planning to seize Ferrara, for full power over the duchess should he succeed. Francesco had an apartment personally prepared for Lucrezia in Palazzo San Sebastiano and encouraged her to come to Mantua through Lorenzo Strozzi. Francesco Gonzaga to Lorenzo Strozzi in Ferrara, Mantua, 11 April 1511, b. 2918, L. 214, cc. 25v–26. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 491. 74

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intolerable sway and potentially explosive information. Both Isabella and Alfonso held the reputation and perpetuation of their houses as their main concern, in Isabella’s case of both the Gonzaga and Estensi, and they were prepared to go to extreme and violent lengths to protect their interests. The Banishment of Tolomeo Spagnoli and Vigo di Camposampiero Two final instances, to be briefly mentioned, of Isabella eliminating enemies and rivals for power come at the end of her period of power sharing with her husband and the beginning of that of sharing with her son, and illustrate that enmities made during her years of co-rule were not to be forgiven. While Francesco was alive Isabella had to be secretive in removing his favourites, weighing up the risk and backed by others. She could not persecute enemies openly, as her husband was able to do, on at least one occasion, when wishing be rid of an intimate of Isabella’s. In 1513 Francesco dismissed the donzella Alda Boiarda who had served the marchesa for a decade; despite Isabella’s pleas, he insisted that Alda was hated and divisive.79 After Francesco’s death, the marchesa was similarly able to openly show her anger against her foes, and she sought the prosecution of counsellors who had profited from his illness to acquire wealth and influence. The first among these was the powerful chancellor Tolomeo Spagnoli.80 He had sought to marginalise Isabella and had taken such advantage of his position that his brother Alessandro said that if Tolomeo’s ducats were cut in half, out would spill the blood of poor men.81 Tolomeo was forced to flee, seeking refuge in Milan and then Rome, where he had friends at the papal court, and Baldassare Castiglione had to push Isabella’s case against him. He was tried in Mantua in absentia for corruption and abuse of the marchional seals and stamps.82 Removal of the corrupt Spagnoli was a popular   Pizzagalli, p. 358.   Tolomeo was the illegitimate son of Gonzaga official Pietro Spagnoli and

79 80

half-brother of the poet Battista. In 1494 Isabella recommended Tolomeo to Francesco in recognition of his work as ‘assistente qua a la canzelaria’ for three years without remuneration, Mantua, 5 August 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVII, c. 234r. From a position as one of Francesco’s secretaries, Tolomeo became the marchese’s first secretary after Antimaco’s fall from grace in 1506 until Francesco’s death. In 1507 he was granted the right to use the Gonzaga name. For his cultural activities see Ettore Bolisani, ‘Tolomeo Spagnoli, secretario alla corte dei Gonzaga filologo ed umanista’, Atti dell’Istituto Veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti, 118 (1959–60), 11–51. For Spagnoli’s intimate relationship with Francesco, see Bourne, ‘Mail humour’, p. 205. 81   Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, p. 77. For his attempts to sideline Isabella, see Chapter 6. 82   Castiglione to Isabella, Rome, 12 August 1519, b. 864, c. 69r: ‘M. Ptolomeo ha grandi amici presso el Papa, ciò è che ge lo dipingono per un homo da bene, di modo che a

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move, the public downfall of dominant officials often accompanying regime change.83 Furthermore, to quote Kolsky: ‘Isabella had taken complete control of the government and [...] unburdened the administration of anyone likely to object to her takeover’.84 After Francesco’s death, Isabella also turned her attention to one of Francesco’s closest cronies, Ludovico (Vigo) di Camposampiero, an intriguingly unpleasant character, whose life would make a most interesting focus for study. Vigo turned his hand to many violent and lewd activities,85 earning Isabella’s antipathy in 1504 when he pursued her donzella Giovanna Boschetti. The girl was in love with the married Vigo and agreed to clandestine meetings. When she discovered the affair, with the girl not yet dishonoured, Isabella urged Giovanna’s parents to find a suitable husband and had Vigo punished with a humiliating beating.86 Vigo’s hatred of Isabella, and whispering against her, were dangerous, as seen in his determined undermining of her regency in 1510, discussed in Chapter 6. After Francesco’s death in March 1519, the marchesa had Vigo exiled in April on the evidence of treachery against her which she had carefully retained since 1510, writing to Girolamo Arsago that she had in hand a letter Vigo wrote to Julius II: ‘which being of great importance we kept to bring about this result’.87 Vigo went to Venice where he started rumours about Isabella’s involvement in pro-French treachery and criticised her rule, denigrating her and Federico as unfit to govern, with Mantuan affairs in the hands of a mere woman and child, ‘d’una femina et d’un putto’. 88 Vigo’s defamation of Isabella was provocative and, along me è forza fare quello che non soglio, ciò è dire male assai e così faccio’. However, Spagnoli continued to hold influence in Rome. Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, p. 83. 83   For instance, on his accession Henry VIII executed the ministers Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, who were associated with unpopular taxation during Henry VII’s reign. 84   Kolsky, Mario Equicola, p. 176. 85   For Vigo’s procuring of a young boy for Francesco’s sexual pleasure while on campaign near Bologna in 1506, see Bourne, ‘Mail humour’, p. 202. 86   Isabella to Albertino Boschetti and Beatrice de’ Contrari, Mantua, 18 June and 1 July 1502, b. 2192, n.n. See also Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 66–7n. 87   Isabella to Girolamo Arsago, bishop of Nice, Mantua, 4 May 1519, b. 2193, c. 22r–v: ‘È ben vero che ce ne pervenne un’altra [lettera] in mano pur di costui a Papa Julio, quale per essere di grande importantia da noi fu conservata per far l’effetto è stato fatto […] Né anche lui né altra persona dil mondo pò sapere per qual via ni sia pervenuta in mano, perché mai l’havemo ditto né siamo per dirlo ad alcuno’. Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, p. 75. Although Vigo’s possessions were seized, Isabella ensured these passed to his wife. Pizzagalli, p. 423. 88   Gian Battista Malatesta, Mantuan ambassador, reported to Isabella from Venice, 19 September 1519, b. 1454, c. 35r: ‘L’ambasciator di Ferrara mi ha detto che questi giorni qua si era levata una zanza che lo Ill.mo S.or marchese havea imprigionato V. Ex.a per haver ritrovato che la si era convenuta cum Mons. di Lautrech di torlo per marito & darli il Statto nelle mani, et che lui pensa Vigo esser stato l’auctore, qual ha ditto anchora altri mali, & ho inteso d’alcuni fratti de l’ordine di S. Benedeto che già pochi giorni Vigo è statto cum

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with her other exiled enemy, Spagnoli, he risked being silenced by violent means. Gaspare Feltrio suggested to Isabella in 1520 that it had been a grave error to allow the traitors Vigo and Tolomeo to leave Mantua, and it would be better if they should both share the fate of Rozone, formerly in Federico’s service and murdered in Mantua, perhaps at the young marchese’s will, earlier that year.89 Vigo was finally disposed of in Rome on Easter Sunday 1521, murdered by a supporter of the marchesa, Emilio Furlano, a brother of Enea, il Cavaliere, who had murdered il Milanese sixteen years before.90 Vigo’s removal provides a closing example in contrast to the opening case of Francesco Secco. It shows how the recently widowed Isabella, after nearly thirty years as marchesa, during which she had needed at times to resort to subterfuge to sustain her central role, was finally able to direct her wrath openly toward a contender for control. The position she carefully protected of second-in-command, and her experience in eliminating threats to that status, beginning with Secco and maintained throughout her married life, prepared her for the exclusion of Spagnoli and Vigo and the assumption of power in regency for Federico.

il S.r Janes a un suo monestero appresso Padua nominato Praia & che dicea gran mali di V. Ex.a, concludendo le cose di Mantua esser nelle mani d’una femina et d’un putto’. Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, pp. 75–6. 89   Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, p. 103. 90   The pope it seems was unconcerned and it was felt that Vigo deserved his fate. Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, p. 252.

Chapter 4

Disgruntled Diplomats and Scissor Attacks: Divided Fronts in the Court Environment The previous chapter, in the episode of Enea Furlano’s murder of il Milanese, illustrated how individuals out of Francesco’s favour often turned to his wife. This chapter similarly shows courtiers attempting to use Isabella’s closeness to her husband to influence him. We consider the Gonzaga courtier-diplomats from the Brognolo family, who looked to Benedetto Capilupi, and ultimately the marchesa, for mediation to resolve their dispute with Francesco. In a contrasting example, proving that this could be a two-way process, we have the marchese’s support enlisted by the family of a donzella attacked by Isabella in a jealous rage. In these instances Isabella and Francesco projected different messages. Where one had offended a courtier, the other offered support and sympathy to the insulted party, apparently without discussion with their spouse. Here the couple’s demonstrated use of divided domestic fronts was probably unpremeditated, and uncommunicated. Subsequent chapters illustrate more deliberate use of divided fronts in international contexts. The marchesi had a strong image of unity; it was beyond doubt that their allegiance lay fundamentally with each other. This allowed each, as a quite distinct individual, to take on problems the other may have had difficulty resolving. This strategy of a partnership perceived as well bonded, and thus able to split and reunite, was used in multiple ways to detect and deflect danger. When courtiers carefully communicated a grievance to the non-offending spouse, and were placated by that co-ruler, they were less likely to remain dangerously angry for long against the other. Thus, the couple could hope to reduce the risk of hidden resentments endangering the court environment. It was natural that the consort would be approached by those seeking the ruler’s favour. Lisa Regan and Stephen Kolsky have demonstrated that the female patronage networks of Renaissance Italy were used as channels by which the male producers of culture could access the patronage of male rulers.1 Indeed, in her widowhood Isabella found that several individuals would shift their efforts to gain favour from her to her son. Interestingly this transit from female to male power figures does not seem to have occurred to any great extent in the marriage of Francesco and Isabella. Rather the picture seems to be more one of shared cultural resources, as indicated in Chapter 2. In the political sphere, however, many instances can be found of individuals making explicit use of Isabella as a 1   Regan, ‘Creating the Court Lady’ and ‘Ariosto’s Threshold Patron’, and Kolsky, Mario Equicola.

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conduit to her husband, just as courtiers trying to reach Lodovico Gonzaga went through Barbara of Brandenburg, particularly if expressing criticism of the prince’s behaviour.2 Chapter 2 showed Girolamo Redini’s admiration for the marchesa, and in the same days in April 1498 that the Augustinian wrote to Francesco to urge that he follow his wife’s counsel – the month after she had asked him to mediate over the pheasant thief – Redini exhorted her to exert influence over her husband’s behaviour. He told her that, while she may have some detractors at the court of Mantua, in Rome she was highly respected, and he expressed his dismay at the sway of malevolent courtiers. He went on to portray Francesco’s reputation in the papal city in extremely alarming terms: It seems to me that Your Excellency’s virtues, graces, and other excellent aspects, are better understood, appreciated, and praised in Rome than they are in Mantua […] I write many things to your most illustrious consort […] I beg you to see that he treads carefully and if he is wise, really his affairs will turn out well and honourably […] the poor lord has to be more wary of his own people than others […] I am not at all surprised that the Venetians sacked him, I am not surprised that his brother is not a cardinal, I am not surprised that he is scorned, and it is said that he has no stability or brain. Rather I am astonished and find it miraculous that the poor lord is alive and still mentioned at all for any honourable thing, so much has he been, and is being, betrayed, humiliated, and mocked by some of his men, both here and elsewhere […] He must show that he has intelligence and is not mad as they have wished to paint him; that he knows how to keep quiet; and that it is false, and the scoundrels lie when they say so, that wine makes him spill all his secrets from his mouth. Traitors! Pardon me, my most illustrious lady, if writing this I speak out of turn, I know I cause you pain for the love you bear the lord and because every shame and wrong of his is also yours, but be patient, these are not things to be silent of, so that you are more aware and cautious in the future.3

In detailing this dishonour, reminding Isabella that the vergogna was also hers, Redini aimed to induce her to halt the ascendancy of malicious counsellors and persuade Francesco to mend his ways. In 1500, with the might of France and the Borgia threat looming ever larger, Chiara Gonzaga would similarly implore her sister-in-law to deliver the marchese from bad counsel, and advise him to show reverence to the king of France: I pray you warmly to always try to ensure that the lord marchese is well counselled in his every action, because if this was ever necessary, it is now more

  Swain, p. 183.   Girolamo Redini to Isabella, Rome, 22 April 1498, b. 852, c. 436r. Imperfectly

2 3

transcribed Luzio, I Borgia, pp. 37–8. Appendix Document 12.

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than ever. And especially make sure that he does his duty towards His Majesty the most Christian king.4

Another of Francesco’s sisters sought Isabella’s intervention in her husband’s policies in January 1505, when Elisabetta Gonzaga asked her to dissuade the marchese from entering into an alliance with Venice. Elisabetta claimed that this rumour had overshadowed her time in Rome with her husband and the pope. However, the marchesa took offence at being asked to involve herself in this instance, replying rather cuttingly to her friend: I cannot but be greatly disappointed that Your Ladyship, possibly due to the maliciousness or excessive curiosity of gossipmongers, was prevented from fully enjoying the pleasure and contentment that you felt for the caresses and honours given by His Holiness to the most illustrious lord duke your consort on his arrival to Rome, when you were told that my most illustrious lord consort had one of his men in Venice to negotiate with the Signoria. But as this news is completely contrary to the truth it has not been necessary for me to remind him against this or do anything to stop His Lordship [...] your Ladyship should therefore put aside any bad impression that you had and look to sincerely enjoying the favours and exaltation of your lord.5

She finished by reminding the duchess to return tapestries they had lent her. However, Elisabetta and Isabella’s continued close discussion of political affairs is seen in July 1509, just before Francesco’s captivity. Isabella informed her husband that the duchess had sent a secret communication detailing certain disquieting words from their daughter’s groom-to-be, Francesco Maria della Rovere, which Isabella was to decide whether to show the marchese. Underlining their partnership, Isabella wrote that she would prefer Francesco to be aware of this, ‘I do not want to keep anything hidden from you’, and made clear that both women expected the marchese to take the words calmly, tell no one of them, and conduct negotiations  

4

Chiara Gonzaga to Isabella, Lyons, 7 July 1500, b. 2114, fasc. IV, c. 222r: ‘Vi prego caldamente che de continuo cerchati de far ch’el S. marchese in ogni sua operatione venga ben consiliato, perché se ne fu mai de bisogno a quest’hora n’è più che fusse mai. Et precipue vogliati fare ch’el se metta al devere verso la maiestà del Cristianissimo Re’. 5   Isabella to Elisabetta Gonzaga, Mantua, 18 January 1505, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘Non posso se non delermi grandemente che V.S. per malicia o troppo curiosità de inventori de zanze la fusse sturbata ad godere compitamente lo piacere et contenteza che la sentiva per le careze et honori facti da la S.tà de N.S. alo Ill.mo S.re Duca suo consorte ne la gionta sua a Roma, quando gli fu significato che lo Ill.mo S.re mio consorte havea uno homo suo a Venetia per pratica de assetarsi cum la Sig.ria. Ma per esser questo aviso in tutto allieno da la verità non è stato necessario ch’io facci raccordo né opera in contrario cum Sua S.ria […] Vostra S. adunque se levi ogni mala impressione che l’havesse havuta et attendi a godersi sinceramente de li favori et exaltationi del S.re suo’.

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with the pope’s envoy on arrival.6 Isabella was skilled at being seen to share the right information with Francesco, and at communicating and intervening with her husband on behalf of family members and courtiers. ‘Legare lo asino ove vole il patrone’ ‘Tie the ass where the master wishes’: Trouble with the Brognolo, 1499 In the first case to be examined in detail, Isabella’s intercession and conciliation are sought by a Mantuan ambassadorial family, the brothers Giorgio and Floramonte Brognolo and Giorgio’s son Lodovico.7 The episode shows the reality of Renaissance diplomacy and considers, through the evidence of unpublished materials, what happened when pressured ambassadors were discontented or lords unhappy with their work. The ambassador was the prince’s representative at the foreign court and the following incident gives some insight into a situation in which that representative could not fulfil his position to the satisfaction of either the prince whom he served or the ambassador himself. In this example, the seasoned diplomat Giorgio Brognolo found himself in a problematic position as he attempted to secure remuneration for Francesco from his condotta with Lodovico Sforza, il Moro. At the same time the marchese was in the process of trying to secure himself a better deal elsewhere, all the while assuring Sforza of his loyalty. By the spring of 1499, cracks were evident in Francesco’s relationship with il Moro. The anti-Milanese Treaty of Angers between Venice and France having been signed in February, Sforza’s star was clearly on the wane, and he had been unable to pay the marchese, offering him land in lieu of payment. Francesco was torn between France and Venice, as well as the obligation he had to Milan and to his pro-Sforza feudal overlord, the emperor. By May he would approach Louis XII with offers of service.8 The correspondence detailed here dates from the previous month and shows Francesco most concerned with collecting his salary, presumably before the Sforza should fall (as they would in October). His business in Milan 6   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 16 July 1509, b. 2118bis, f. II.3, c. 243r–v: ‘In la littera mia era una poliza de la Duchessa directiva a V. Ex. remettendosi a me di monstrargela o no, dubitando che la non si havesse a turbare. Ma io che non voglio tenerli celato alcuna cosa ho voluto mandargela sapendo che la saperà ben retenere in sé quel che la vorrà et tollerare lo apetito dil Duca, perché queste sue parole sono più presto da essere tolte in bona parte per il desiderio che l’ha di godere la sposa sua, nel che V. Ex. debe ponere ogni cura per satisfarlo et non lassare partire malcontento l’homo dil Papa per il beneficio de nostra figliola. La Duchessa non voria già che questo né altri intendessino il scrivere suo, aciò non andasse a noticia dil Duca né dil Papa. V. Ex. si governarà secundo la solita prudentia sua’. 7   See the entries on the three by Roberto Zapperi in the DBI, XIV (1972), pp. 447–55. 8   Francesco’s father-in-law was similarly torn and Ercole d’Este also played a careful double game: after the expulsion of the Sforza he was in attendance on Louis XII in Milan, while sending Ippolito d’Este to the emperor with il Moro.

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was conducted by Giorgio Brognolo and his son Lodovico, tasked specifically with the resolution of financial matters. Giorgio had served as Gonzaga oratore in Naples (1481–87), Rome (1494), and Venice (1489–92 and 1495–98) before taking up the position in Milan in 1498.9 He was thus a well-established, trusted and respected Gonzaga ambassador.10 In correspondence of 3 and/or 5 April, Francesco upbraided Giorgio and Lodovico for tardiness in settling the issue of payment, suggesting that serving the marchese was not the ambassadors’ first concern.11 It should be clarified here that the misdemeanour of which they were accused was primarily one of irresolution rather than disloyalty. True, it was not unknown for ambassadors serving at rival courts, eager for reward, to fall under the influence of other powers, and it has also been suggested that the Brognolo were more Isabella’s men than Francesco’s, making it possible that, on her wishes, they were following a more pro-Sforza agenda than the marchese would have liked.12 However, Francesco entrusted the Brognolo with key diplomatic missions, hardly to be expected were they not loyal to the marchese as well as his wife, and during the period in question the Gonzaga were playing a double game in which the actions of the Brognolo at the Milanese court were important in the projection of friendliness to the Sforza, simultaneous with overtures to their enemies. While Roberto Zapperi suggests that Isabella pushed a policy of not breaking with the Sforza as Francesco resolved to abandon them, a picture of joint decision in adopting these double faces is likely.13 Furthermore, that the marchese would consult his wife on his difficulties with the Brognolo shows that he did not suspect her of pulling the ambassadors’ strings and issuing them with instructions contradictory to his own, but saw her as a partner and excellent counsellor. It may well be, however, that the ambassadors were not fully apprised of the Gonzaga double game and, on the ground at the Milanese 9   See Chapter 3 for the example of Giorgio Brognolo being chastened by Francesco while orator to Venice for not following orders to communicate Isabella’s supplanting of Francesco Secco at the start of her marriage. 10   Isabella’s trust for Brognolo is indicated in a letter of two years previously. The orator had excused himself for opening one of her letters, to which she replied: ‘non bisognava facesti scusa de havere aperto essa littera perché poteti vedere tutti li secreti nostri’, Mantua, 13 May 1496, b. 2992, L. 7, f. 12r–v. For more on Brognolo see Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘Isabella d’Este e Giorgio Brognolo’. 11   Francesco’s original letters to Giorgio Brognolo which caused such a stir do not appear to survive but their content and dates can be known through references to them in the other letters given here. 12   Roberto Zapperi writes that Giorgio, Lodovico, and Floramonte Brognolo were: ‘in quella cerchia di agenti mantovani legati piuttosto alla marchesa Isabella che al marito di lei’, DBI, 14, p. 453. 13   According to Zapperi, Lodovico Brognolo supported ‘l’infelice azione diplomatica, condotta dal padre, d’intesa con la marchesa Isabella, per impedire l’inevitabile rottura con lo Sforza’. Francesco on the other hand was ‘deciso ad abbandonare il cognato alla sua sorte’, DBI, 14, p. 453.

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court, felt that the pro-Sforza policy, seemingly of Isabella’s making, was the more correct one. The Brognolo regarded Francesco’s accusations of unsatisfactory service, product of a lack of results during an anxious time, as a genuine affront, and Lodovico replied to his signore in harsh tones. He pointed out that his father was unwell and that the letter received had added to this, before justifying their inability to move financial matters forward by the fact that il Moro would not see orators on holy days. He continued forcefully: If now Your Excellency complains about me I do not want to make any other excuse, accepting that you must judge as you see fit. I will say this, that neither in my conscience nor in my father’s will there ever be regret that we did not follow our duty and debt to faithfully and advantageously execute the commissions given to us by Your Lordship, who I beg will preserve this old and faithful servant, being sure that should you lose him you would regret it and know you have lost a person who was very much to your benefit.14

This reaction seems to have left Francesco somewhat baffled, and he wrote to Isabella on 9 April that he had kept Lodovico’s letter overnight, in order to study it and attempt to make sense of it. Unable to do so, he sent the letter to his wife, asking for her opinion.15 Francesco shared his bemusement with Isabella, placing confidence in her judgement. Her reply shows Isabella mindful to recognise her husband’s faith in asking her opinion and to profess her inferiority to him in judgement as a prelude to setting out her advice. She began by thanking Francesco for seeking her counsel and sending her the letter, and downplayed her ability to decipher it better than he: ‘I am sorry that I am not able to gratify you because what you, being much more prudent than I, do not understand, I see even less’. Nonetheless, after a carefully constructed opening, ‘to obey you rather than to say anything in my opinion’, she gave her view. Her summation was thus: while she had not seen Francesco’s letters to Milan (just as we have not), she understood that he had been disappointed by the Brognolo’s service, which had failed to carry out his wishes to the letter and with haste. She had read that Lodovico justified his behaviour and his father’s and stated that when il Moro returned from Pavia they would proceed with their orders, delayed for reasons explained in other letters. Although Lodovico’s letter had an emotive tone, Isabella suggested that there was nothing to be made of this correspondence until the Brognolo had spoken to the 14   Lodovico Brognolo to Francesco, Milan, 6 April 1499, b. 1633, c. 339r–v. Appendix Document 13. 15   Francesco to Isabella, Gonzaga, 9 April 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.1, c. 16r: ‘Havemo retenuta fin questa matina la qui alligata recevuta heri da Milano, per studiarla se potevimo cavarne constructo correspondente al scrivere nostro là, ma non sapendo cavarne nulla, le mandamo ala S.V. pregandola che la ni avisi quel che ne pare a lei, per il principio di essa la S.V. comprenderà il più dil tenore de le nostre’.

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duke and written to Francesco again. She finished by reiterating that she deferred, ‘to Your Lordship’s better judgement’.16 It appears that at that point Isabella wrote a missive to the Brognolo to pass on to il Moro. It was natural that she would occasionally give letters to other rulers by means of her official envoys, whom she could instruct how the communication should be conveyed. With the often indirect nature of information flow in Renaissance diplomacy, it was also established practice for others to be in contact with Isabella through her trusted secretary Benedetto Capilupi, as seen in Francesco’s case in Chapter 2. Giorgio Brognolo appears frequently to have communicated with Isabella through his friend Capilupi.17 A letter survives, dated 11 April from Milan from Lodovico to the secretary, which seems to be a copy of the original in Capilupi’s hand. In it Lodovico told Benedetto that he had shown the duke Isabella’s letter and that il Moro was pleased with it. Sforza now wanted her to inform her husband that he remained happy to honour Francesco, and although matters had not been ideal he would pay him accordingly, but that he was hurt by the marchese’s attitude of distrust and disrespect. Brognolo asked that Capilupi pass this delicate circuitous communication on to the marchesa, and ‘with that dextrousness you deem fit, declare that if it were not for the respect she has here, I fear that soon enough our affairs would have gone awry’. The suggestion that were it not for Isabella’s political authority Mantuan relations with Milan would be ruined is a provocative statement indeed, as is Lodovico’s reference to ‘our bad government’. Lodovico included a copy of a letter his father had received from the marchese, to show that his family had been mistreated. Nevertheless he assured Capilupi that they had been working for Francesco’s aims, and underlined his father’s ill health. Intriguingly, the copy surviving in the archive testifies on its reverse that present were ‘el Si.re Petrozentile’ (perhaps the nobleman Pier Gentile Varano); Antonio Maria Regazzi, the ill-fated Milanese of Chapter 3; and the marchese’s secretaries Tolomeo Spagnoli and Antimaco (Matteo Sacchetti). It seems that the Brognolo’s discontent had enough importance for Capilupi to copy Lodovico’s letter, and to note the attendance of other courtiers and chancery officials in the reading of its contents.18 The presence of individuals close to Francesco suggest that this letter was likely to have been known to the marchese, as well as to his wife, to whom the letter was intended by its writer to be shown. Capilupi’s reply, again surviving in the form of a copy of the original in his hand, told Lodovico that he had shown the Brognolo letters to Isabella. They had thus been successful in making use of the secretary to reach his mistress,   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 April 1499, b. 2113, fasc. II.1, c. 141r. Appendix

16

Document 14. 17   For example, Isabella to Giorgio Brognolo, Mantua, 8 February 1492, b. 2991, L. 1, f. 95r: ‘habiamo inteso per le vostre lettere a Benedicto Codelupo la diligentia che usati per quelli nostri intaglij’. 18   Copy, Lodovico Brognolo to Benedetto Capilupi, Milan, 11 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n. This copy of the original seems to be in Capilupi’s hand. Appendix Document 15.

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and Isabella could, in an indirect manner, begin to guide the situation toward mediation. Capilupi told his friend that, along with her secretary, the marchesa ‘regrets our disgrace’. Capilupi professed himself confused, at a loss to what else to say, other than to urge the ambassadors, as before, to follow their orders and ‘leave the thinking to whom it belongs’. He asked Lodovico to burn his letter, as he had burnt the one he received, and he returned the marchese’s letter sent to show him. Capilupi, and by extension Isabella, tried to defuse the situation, with sympathy and appeals for obedience.19 Tellingly, Lodovico took the advice Capilupi gave him as also being from Isabella. In his reply, dated 15 April, he said that he and his father would heed the appeal ‘to have good patience, and serve, and tie the ass where the master wishes’. They would keep in mind Isabella’s will and their friendship with the secretary.20 On the same day, assured of a sympathetic hearing, Giorgio contacted Isabella directly. He wrote of his loyalty and exemplary service to Francesco, but told of his upset at the lack of faith shown in him and lack of respect for his long years given to the house of Gonzaga. It is clear that he perceived Francesco and Isabella as a pair (‘I am content out of reverence for His and Your Excellencies to bear everything’) but he beseeched the marchesa to facilitate his withdrawal from Milan, fearing for his health, his very life, if he should stay under such circumstances.21 Giorgio also wrote two letters to Francesco on 15 April. Their tone contrasts with the communications made to Isabella. One of Brognolo’s letters to Francesco carried on with business, seemingly as usual.22 In the other letter, with rhetorical sophistication, Brognolo defended himself from his master’s accusations. He reminded Francesco of his faultless record of thirty-two years of service and justified himself, describing the duties and actions of a courtier in terms reminiscent to the modern reader of Castiglione, asking forgiveness for any inadvertent offence he had given the marchese. He explained that he was not in anyone else’s service but had only followed the ambassador’s duty in ingratiating himself in Milan in order to be

19   Copy, Capilupi to Lodovico Brognolo, Mantua, 12 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n. Appendix Document 16. 20   Copy, Lodovico Brognolo to Capilupi, Milan, 15 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n.: ‘Messer Benedicto mio: Non farò altra risposta a le littere vostre per essere risponsive di una mia, se non che ho recevuto la littera me remetteti dil nostro Ill.mo Si.re insieme cum quella che se driccia ad Alfonso, la qual secundo il solito, darò in mane propria. Ho grande piacere che la nostra Ill.ma M.a habia visto la mia e quelli che la mi conforta ad havere bona patientia, et servire, e legare lo asino ove vole il patrone, il che mio patre et me habiamo deliberato di fare, per tenire li precepti di sua Ex.tia, e li amorevoli ricordi vostri [moves on to the subject of various objects he has been procuring for Isabella]’. 21   Copy, Giorgio Brognolo to Isabella, Milan, 15 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n., sent copy, b. 1633, c. 101r. Appendix Document 17. 22   Giorgio Brognolo to Francesco, Milan, 15 April 1499, b. 1633, c. 97r–97bisr.

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better placed to forward Francesco’s concerns.23 He did not ask to be withdrawn from his post, seeming to entrust this wish to the good offices of the marchesa.24 At this point, Isabella and Capilupi were the individuals most fully apprised of the feelings of all parties. Not only were they receiving letters directly from the Brognolo, Isabella was still being kept abreast of developments in the situation by Francesco. On 15 April he forwarded another letter received from Milan, ‘so that you are involved, as you are in all our affairs’, and the following day she returned it: ‘I send back to Your Excellency the enclosed letter by Lodovico Brognolo which you sent me, for which I thank you most gratefully’.25 It seems that Isabella and Capilupi also had access to letters sent within the Brognolo family. A copy of a letter from Lodovico Brognolo to his uncle Floramonte, Gonzaga agent in Rome, is found in the archive; again this appears to have been transcribed by Capilupi and witnessed by Antimaco and Regazzi, and thus, again, may have been shown to Francesco as well as Isabella. In any case, Capilupi was protecting himself, and Isabella, by having witnesses to his correspondence with the Brognolo family. In his embittered letter to Floramonte, Lodovico asked his uncle to push for his ‘liberation’, but stated his intention to remain away from the Mantuan court as he imagined he would be suspected of passing information back to Milan. He said they would henceforth obey although he had serious doubts on the ability of his master to proceed wisely: ‘from now on we will have to tie the ass where the master wishes, and if he is flayed that is his affair’.26 As Giorgio Brognolo recovered somewhat from his illness, and perhaps with continued mediation by Isabella and Capilupi, the heated letters seem to have ceased and the situation to have improved between Francesco and his envoys. Some weeks later, for instance, Francesco, in continued disagreement with il Moro over terms for the renewal of his condotta, wrote to Giorgio: ‘regarding the means you must employ in governing yourself we leave this to you’.27 Giorgio remained,   The Mantuan and Ferrarese ambassadors, Zaccaria Saggi da Pisan and Jacopo Trotti, discussed in Dover’s dissertation similarly got close to the duke of Milan in order to serve their masters better, ‘Letters, Notes and Whispers’, Ch.5. 24   Giorgio Brognolo to Francesco, Milan, 15 April 1499, b. 1633, c. 98r–99r. Appendix Document 18. 25   Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 15 April 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.1, c. 18r: ‘Havemo da Milano la qui inclusa littera, la qual mandamo ala S.V. aciò che la ne sia participe, come l’è de tutte le cose nostre’. Reply, Mantua, 16 April, fasc. II.1, c. 145r: ‘Remmetto alla Ex.V. qui inclusa la littera de Lodovico Brognolo quale me ha mandato, dilche summamente la ringracio’. 26   Copy, Lodovico Brognolo to Floramonte Brognolo, Milan, 16 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n. Appendix Document 19. 27   See copies of Francesco to Giorgio Brognolo, Mantua, 2 June and Revere, 23 June 1499 (‘circa il modo che haveti a servare in governarvi ne remettemo a vuj, che secundo il tempo vi consigliarà procediati’) and to Lodovico Sforza (manu propria), Revere, 22 June, b. 2191, n.n. 23

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Figure 4.1

The Brognolo Episode, An Isabellian Information Web.

for the meantime, in his post, and retained his role in some of Francesco’s most vital political negotiations. Lodovico also kept the favour of both marchesi, for instance, being sent as envoy to Cesare Borgia in 1502.28 Thus, while in this episode the Brognolo had difficulty with Francesco, critical of him after he reprimanded them, and were devoted servants of Isabella, grateful for her support, they should not be viewed as estranged in practical terms from the marchese, for whom they continued to dutifully exercise key diplomatic roles. Giorgio Brognolo was a veteran of many thorny negotiations, and yet it was this instance that led to conflict with his master. This was due not to the   See Francesco to Isabella, Vigevano, 26 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 68r.

28

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pressures of dissimulation upon an ambassador, but to the experienced Brognolo’s indignation at what he perceived as ingratitude of his steadfast service, as well as to his ill health (he died the following year). Highly significant for this study is the way in which Isabella used the respect she commanded from the Brognolo to defuse the situation and counsel that they continue to perform their duties, faithfully following their master’s decisions and orders. Furthermore, Isabella was located at the heart of the information web (see Figure 4.1). Her husband, partner in duplicitous policy, made her party to letters addressed to him, and asked her advice on how best to proceed. Lodovico Brognolo wrote to Capilupi, knowing that Isabella would see this communication. Giorgio Brognolo wrote frankly to Isabella and appealed that she would intercede on his behalf, and it is probable that she saw the letter addressed to Floramonte Brognolo from his nephew. The Brognolo episode was successfully resolved. The potentially dramatic departure of Gonzaga orators at the Milanese court, at a time of political turbulence and suspicion of Francesco from various quarters, was averted and public awareness of the impending rift seems to have been avoided. An Eruption of Rage: Isabella’s Attack on Elisabetta Tosabezzi, 1507 A reverse situation, in which Francesco worked to placate a courtier angered by Isabella, occurred in 1507. In contrast to the previous instance, and indicative of conventional marital power relations in Renaissance Italy, here the marchese expressed plainly his disapproval of his wife’s actions. While tension between the couple is demonstrated, nevertheless, the strict political alliance of the marchesi was never brought into question and a personal rupture did not occur. On 19 February 1507 Uberto degli Uberti wrote to Francesco at his villa in Gonzaga. As discussed in Chapter 3, Uberto was Ercole Strozzi’s brother-in-law and would later be described by Isabella as her enemy, perhaps in part due to his reporting to Francesco of the events contained in this letter. He told the marchese that Isabella had attacked one of her donzelle and ‘in the greatest rage hit her and cut her hair, with threats to expel her from her service’. The girl was Elisabetta (Lisabetta, Isabetta) Tosabezzi, from the family of the high-ranking Gonzaga official and ambassador Benedetto Tosabezzi.29 The girl’s brother Niccolò was naturally upset at this treatment and planned to put his case before Francesco. Uberto told the marchese that he and the castellan had delayed Niccolò, so that Francesco could first be informed and decide how he would prefer Tosabezzi to visit.30 Francesco replied that Uberto had acted correctly, and that Niccolò should

  For Benedetto Tosabezzi, see also Chapters 1 and 2.   Luzio transcribes several letters concerning this incident in ‘Tragedie’, app. 18.

29 30

Apart from a brief mention on p. 94, they stand alone and are not accompanied by analysis. More recently some are reproduced in the appendix of Cipolla and Malacarne, eds,

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be instructed not to come to the marchese, or to react otherwise to the incident, until Francesco was back in Mantua.31 Having deferred receiving the aggrieved brother, the marchese wrote to Capilupi for clarification of events, again Isabella’s secretary a conduit for sensitive communication with the marchesa. Capilupi responded that Isabella ‘will make known to you the reason that moved her through a person in Your Lordship’s confidence’, sending for Fra Anselmo for this purpose. Neither the friar nor the messenger sent to him had returned and, interestingly, Capilupi, aware that this reply would not satisfy the marchese, emphasised that for his part he had done as requested.32 Francesco had heard details of the attack, which included accusations of flirting, and was in no way placated. He responded aggressively to the secretary: We have understood from your letter what our most illustrious lady consort replied to you about the case of Isabetta and we say to you that we will not deal either with friars or priests, and that we certainly intend to come to Mantua, where she can tell us her mind, and we will tell her ours. And although in beating the girl she said to her ‘go now, play the nymph with the lord’, she has never played the nymph with us. But we do know others, that have played the nymph and got themselves pregnant. And on this subject we want you, Madonna Alda [Boiarda], [Margarita] Gambacurta, Alessandro da Baese, and Federico Cataneo […] to advise yourselves well between you and clarify this to us. We remind you well that it is we who are the marchese of Mantua and no one else.33

Francesco was unforgiving of Isabella’s public loss of composure, to be attributed perhaps to slow recovery from her son Ferrante’s difficult birth on 28 January and to the fact that Elisabetta, guilty or otherwise, was certainly the focus of lascivious attention from Francesco’s circle, as a letter of September 1506 from the bawdy pp. 388–90. Uberto degli Uberti to Francesco, Mantua, 19 February 1507, b. 2470, c. 481r. Appendix Document 27. 31   Francesco to Uberto degli Uberti, Gonzaga, 20 February 1507, b. 2914, L. 195, f. 65r: ‘Piaceni che habbi retenuto il fratel de la Isabetta Tosabeza, ch’el non sia venuto a noi, volemo anchor che li facci intendere ch’el non vengha né esso facci altro nel caso di la sorella finché non siamo venuti a Mantua’. Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, app. 18. 32   Benedetto Capilupi to Francesco, Mantua, 20 February 1507, b. 2470, c. 482r: ‘havendo referito alla Ill.ma M.a mia quanto V. Ex. me disse circa il caso che la scia, Sua Ex. non mi ha risposto altro se non che per persona confidente a V.S. gli farrà intendere la causa che l’ha mossa, et per questo ha mandato dreto al Ven. Frate Anselmo, pregandolo a ritornare, per il quale dice volere far chiarire l’animo suo a V. Ex. et perché fin qui non è venuto, né ritornato il cavallaro, m’è parso fare intendere a V. Ex. ch’io ho satisfacto fidelmente a quanto me commise’. Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, app. 18. 33   Francesco to Benedetto Capilupi, Gonzaga, 21 February 1507, b. 2914, L. 195, f. 65v. Cipolla and Malacarne, eds, p. 389. Appendix Document 28.

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Vigo di Camposampiero testifies.34 Furthermore, the previous chapter of this study has shown several potential causes of marital disharmony in these years, and Chapter 6, while demonstrating the marchesi’s continued political cooperation, will give further examples. This incident raises interesting issues about Isabella’s donzelle, who held an important place at the heart of the marchesa’s activities and deserve to be the focus of further scholarly attention. While, as seen elsewhere in this study, the marchesa used her ladies’ charms to manipulate the political environment, effects of that allure on her husband could not be countenanced. For the marchese it was unacceptable that Isabella should cast accusations upon Elisabetta, which he indignantly claimed lacked substance, while certain donzelle disgraced the court, flirting too publicly or getting pregnant. In 1513 Francesco disapproved of scandalous gossip probably caused by behaviour Isabella encouraged from the donzella Eleonora Brognina, romanced by key political figures (see Chapter 6). In the case of the assault on Elisabetta, although the marchese was away from the court at Gonzaga, it is significant that he obtained intelligence of the exact words the marchesa supposedly spoke as she attacked the girl. He charged Capilupi and other courtiers in Isabella’s circle with investigating the incident and giving him a full report on his return. This demonstrates, paradoxically through disharmony, the synergy of the couple’s courts. Francesco, despite his anger, also made clear that there would be dialogue with his wife: of course he would hear her side, ‘l’animo suo’, before giving vent to his. However, Francesco finished his letter to Capilupi by admonishing him to remember that he alone was marchese of Mantua, and Isabella would be answerable to him for her irrational actions. On 22 February Francesco, brooding at Gonzaga, wrote again to Uberto. He stressed his overlordship of the court, that he would fully examine the matter and punish the guilty party – be that the donzella, if she had compromised her virtue, or his consort. He stated his refusal to allow that ‘gentlewomen and our citizens be wrongly shamed in our house by anyone at all’.35 Correspondence on the matter ceases at this point, with Francesco’s return to Mantua. There is nothing to suggest further scandal or open recriminations between husband and wife, and that concord in the couple’s partnership was soon re-achieved is shown by letters written while 34   Vigo reported to Francesco of his visits to the Castello: ‘niente non lì vedo che merite favore se non Lisabeta, qual mi pare una superba roba, e più sfogiata de’ esser nele parte secrete cha di sopra’, Mantua, 3 September 1506, b. 2469, c. 431r–v. Quoted Pizzagalli, p. 219. 35   Francesco to Uberto degli Uberti, Gonzaga, 22 February 1507, b. 2914, L. 195, ff. 69v–70r: ‘Il caso accaduto alla Isabetta donzella ognhor più ni spiace, e viva securo suo fratello et ogniuno de gli soi che non siamo per lassarlo così. Intenderemo la cosa, et essendo lei colpabile sia certa di haver magior punitione, quando anche la sia innocente siamo per ogni via per refrancarli l’honor suo e non comportare che le gentildonne e citadine nostre siano a torto vergognate in casa nostra da chi si voglia. Se vorai venir a parlarni, seremo domane a S.to Benedetto’. Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, app. 18.

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the marchese was away on military business with Louis XII some weeks later. It was imperative that they continue in their political teamwork, as demonstrated in Chapter 6, and share news, for instance discussing Cesare Borgia’s death in a lively exchange of letters.36 There is the suggestion, however, that Isabella remained in part disillusioned with her husband. In an autograph letter of 26 April, beset by the fretfulness afflicting a condottiere’s wife, she described herself as having ‘little spirit’, ‘pocho animo’, and imagined not having to fear, married to a different sort of man: I conclude that it would be better to be the wife of a coward than a gentleman, or of a doctor who returns home in the evening to rest and eat by the fire, than to have many anxieties with many honours. But while I say this to joke with Your Lordship, I would not actually have a coward or any sort other than Your Lordship is in some ways, although in some others I would gladly swap.37

Isabella, of course, ultimately preferred to have the anxieties and the honours above a cosy domestic scene. After the reproachful suggestion that she would alter some aspects of her husband with pleasure, she did not linger on the negative and comforted Francesco that prayers were being said for his safety, urging him to be careful. She stressed how well she knew his valour, that he was anything but the coward: ‘it remains on your part for you to watch out for dangers and not want, as is your habit, to always be among the first, doing more than you need and more than the others’. She continued to reinforce their bond by giving him affectionate news of their children. Thus, despite the insinuation of flaws, the marchesa’s letter did not threaten to upset the status quo. Elisabetta Tosabezzi stayed in Isabella’s service.38 However, communication from Niccolò to the marchese of 29 June 1507 suggests that Elisabetta’s brother continued to have problems with her treatment by Isabella. Niccolò stated that he had repeatedly asked, through Capilupi, for his sister to be returned to him, but Isabella retained her in her service, regardless of warnings from Tosabezzi that he would seek Francesco’s intervention. In his familiar role as the marchesa’s mouthpiece, Capilupi had said Isabella would hear no more of these requests, astonished that Tosabezzi would dare demand his sister and interfere between husband and wife.39 Tosabezzi stated his intention to present his case to Francesco in person. Further exploration in the archives is required to uncover the outcome  

36

Francesco to Isabella, Asti, 10 and 15 April 1507, b. 2117, fasc. I, c. 9r–v and cc. 13 –14 . Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 12 April, fasc. II, cc. 65r–66v. 37   Isabella to Franceso, autograph, Mantua, 26 April 1507, b. 2117, fasc. II, c. 86. Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, app. 18. Appendix Document 29. 38   Elisabetta later married the courtier Aurelio Recordati. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 220. 39   Niccolò Tosabezzi to Francesco, Mantua, 29 June 1507, b. 2470, c. 504r. Cipolla and Malacarne, eds, pp. 389–90. r

r

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of this dispute. However, several significant conclusions can be drawn from the evidence as it stands. The episode highlights gender divisions at court. The court spheres were generally kept relatively separate, Isabella largely responsible, for instance, for the concerns of her donzelle. Yet in this case Niccolò demanded the signore’s repeated involvement in his consort’s domestic affairs, although Francesco would not intercede without the full facts and good cause. Niccolò had to persist as dishonour to women in a family brought shame upon the men. The reverse was also true: for instance, the Boschetti family experienced the contrary circumstance the previous year as Isabella’s donzella Giovanna Boschetti, Vigo di Camposampiero’s former beloved, was forced to enter a convent after the infamy of her father Count Albertino’s association with the conspiracy against Alfonso and Ippolito d’Este.40 Capilupi’s often central role in contact with Isabella is again evidenced in this episode. Francesco sought Isabella’s explanation for her attack on Elisabetta through the secretary, presumably unwilling to directly accuse his wife. Later he advised Niccolò Tosabezzi to use Capilupi as his intermediary in aiming to withdraw his sister from Isabella’s service. To conclude, rare disagreements such as this, and other examples seen elsewhere, did little damage to the Isabella and Francesco team. There were more crucial issues at stake than their personal, marital concord. Paradoxically, when aggrieved outside parties were involved, through being able to divide their front, and have one spouse placate those angered by the other, they could prevent subversion of the couple’s combined image, ultimately ensuring that harmony reigned. Their alliance was strong and thus they could occasionally appear divided precisely because the danger of lasting, unbridgeable divide was low. The following chapter shows this division of fronts beyond the domestic arena in an international political context. This division was conducted in a calculated manner, with the marchesi’s reaction to the threat of the Borgia.

  This was a face-saving situation not only for the girl and her family but also for Isabella, as it was not unusual for girls in her service to choose to become nuns. Giovanna had already been a cause of difficulty with disagreement between Isabella and the Boschetti over the provision of her dowry and finding a husband. Isabella to Giovanni’s brother Jacopo Boschetti, Mantua, 3 June 1502, b. 2192, n.n. and Isabella to Albertino Boschetti and Beatrice de’ Contrari, Mantua, 18 June and 1 July 1502, b. 2192, n.n. For Giovanna’s cloistering see Isabella to Giovanna Boschetti, Sacchetta, 30 August 1506, b. 2994, L. 19, f. 52r–v; and Rita Castagna, ‘Una donzella di Isabella d’Este e la ragion di stato’, CM, 63–64 (1977), 220–32. Vigo’s reaction to his former beloved’s fate is found in a letter to Francesco, Mantua, 15 September 1506, b. 2469, c. 461r–v: ‘la Boscheta che fu già el mio sole va nele moniche […] è stata missa nele moniche di Santa Catelina martire […] A vui lasso pensar che gie la fata metere’. 40

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Chapter 5

International Diplomacy: The Borgia Menace Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga’s teamwork is demonstrated in their response to the threat Cesare Borgia posed to the Italian states between 1499 and 1503, a period requiring from the Gonzaga a delicate political balancing act and excellent skills in masking. The couple’s policy involved projecting different fronts to ensure Mantua would be considered a loyal ally by prevailing powers. Their correspondence, particularly dense once Francesco departed for the court of Louis XII leaving Isabella to govern Mantua, suggests shared political decision making. While previous chapters have illustrated domestic power sharing, showing shared resources, administration, and authority, and Isabella and Francesco’s reaction to various problems with members of the court, this chapter specifically considers their power sharing in foreign policy, as they worked together for the security and advancement of the state. ‘One watches the other hang’: The Threat of the Borgia In 1492 Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope Alexander VI and, under a policy of dynastic ascent, set about carving out a state in the Romagna for his son Cesare. In 1498 Louis XII made Cesare duke of Valence. With French support, by the beginning of 1501 Cesare, known as Valentino, had taken Fano, Pesaro, Rimini, Cesena, Forlì, Faenza, and Imola from their signori. His father named him duke of the Romagna and the following year the Borgia campaign seized Camerino and Urbino. That winter Cesare put down the infamous insurgency of his captains at Senigallia by tricking them to their deaths. He posed a significant danger to Italian rulers, including those of Mantua and Ferrara, and the Este forged an alliance with the Borgia in 1502, marrying Isabella’s brother Alfonso to Cesare’s sister Lucrezia. The Gonzaga were likewise keen to consolidate Mantua’s relationship with the Borgia, whose power was being strengthened but was nevertheless based on temporary possession of the papal tiara. The marchesi needed sharp-witted strategies to navigate this political environment, torn between the dispossessed signori and the threat, and opportunities, presented by the mighty Borgia.1 1   The Gonzaga/Borgia relationship is explored in Luzio’s, I Borgia. It is also briefly discussed by Daniela Ferrari, ‘I Borgia e i Gonzaga: Un rapporto controverso’, in I Borgia (Exhibition catalogue, Rome 3 October 2002–23 February 2003), ed. by Carla

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The direct relationship of the Gonzaga with Cesare Borgia started in 1495, when Cesare offered his service to Francesco as the hero of Fornovo, and received falcons and dogs in return, the first of many gifts.2 However, the Gonzaga already had several links to the Borgia, the most influential of which were exploited for information and in attempts to persuade the pope to raise Sigismondo Gonzaga to the rank of cardinal. One such connection, in the early years of Borgia power, was Lucrezia Borgia’s first husband Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro. He was the widower of Maddalena Gonzaga, Francesco’s youngest sister, and often wrote to the marchesi, for example, in 1495 reporting his efforts to press the pope about Sigismondo’s cardinalate.3 Another useful insider was Carlo Canale, a Mantuan who had been secretary to the late Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga and was the husband of Vannozza Cattanei, Cesare’s mother. Isabella and Francesco’s relationship with Cesare Borgia began in earnest in 1499, after the French expelled the Sforza from Milan. On 2 October Francesco met Louis XII at Pavia, with Cesare also in attendance, and the king entered Milan on 6 October. To survive, smaller powers needed a place in the sphere of influence of stronger states, and as the Borgia allied themselves with France, the Gonzaga also felt the need to win the king’s favour. The marchesa’s close connection to Lodovico Sforza brought her under suspicion, and there were rumours that, with Venetian encouragement, the French were considering seizing Mantua.4 Isabella had to prove herself decisively pro-French. She enlisted her sister-in-law Chiara at the French court. She also aimed to disassociate herself from the Sforza quickly by addressing to Donato de’ Pretis, Gonzaga envoy in Venice, a letter of 16 October designed for the eyes of the French ambassador. This responded to the Frenchman’s possibly barbed comment, apparently joking, that he would like to go to Mantua ‘to visit us Alfano (Milan, 2002), p. 196. Isabella’s famous rivalry with Lucrezia Borgia is considered by Prizer, ‘Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia’, and by several biographers of Lucrezia Borgia including Ferdinand Gregorovius, Maria Bellonci, and Sarah Bradford. 2   The Gonzaga sent gifts of dogs, falcons, and trout from Lake Garda to Alexander VI and extended this gift-giving relationship to Cesare. In 1498 Cesare requested Gonzaga horses for his visit to France and used such gifts to develop his impressive stables. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 42. In 1502 Francesco sent him hunting dogs, and he wanted more from Isabella the following year. Cesare to Francesco, Imola, 27 September 1502, Autografi, b. 5, c. 144r and to Isabella, Rome, 6 August 1503, c. 176r. The Gonzaga also showed their friendship to Cesare by favouring people he recommended. In May 1502 they awarded a benefice to ‘el Mantuano’, one of Borgia’s men, and in the same month Cesare requested that Gianfrancesco Budo from Cesena hold office in the podestaria in Mantua the following year, Cesare to Francesco, Rome, 7 and 12 May 1502, Autografi, b. 5, c. 127r and c. 129r. 3   Giovanni Sforza to Francesco, Pesaro, 21 January, 21 February, 20 March 1495, b. 1065, c. 303r–v, c. 310r–v, c. 316r, and Rome, 6 and 15 October, 9 December, c. 323r, cc. 325r–326v, and c. 328r. 4   Isabella had also been incriminated by the testimony given by Sforza and Gonzaga messengers tortured by the French. Luzio, ‘La corte sforzesca’, pp. 154–5.

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and ask our pardon for what he said about us, believing us to be sforzesca, because it is very clear that we are a good francese’.5 In this letter ostensibly to her envoy she employed feminine attributes to definitively convince the French ambassador. She admitted she had been attached to il Moro, out of female sentiment for her late sister’s husband and for the esteem he had shown her, but once Francesco and Sforza had begun to disagree her feelings had changed. Her political allegiance, as a good wife, was like her husband’s and wholeheartedly French. Underlining this claim was a description of her attire: she was ‘all dressed in lilies’, ‘tutta vestita de ziglij [gigli]’, which were clearly French emblems. She closed by restating the invitation to Mantua in more cordial terms, and it seems the letter was effective: the ambassador asked forgiveness and offered his service.6 Isabella also made contacts in the king’s entourage, and sent letters and gifts to the sovereign and other prominent figures.7 Louis XII’s support of the Borgia had become more apparent with Cesare’s marriage to the king of Navarre’s sister Charlotte d’Albret in May 1499. With common French allies and Cesare’s rise now unmistakable, according to Daniela Ferrari there began ‘a skirmish of refined tricks between the Borgia and Gonzaga, masked by demonstrations of friendship, all the more eloquent as their mutual diffidence deepened’.8 In such skirmishes Luzio attributes to Isabella ‘diplomatic qualities much greater than those of her coarse, awkward, and violent husband’.9 While Isabella certainly deployed expert

5   Isabella to Donato de’ Pretis, Mantua, 16 October, 1499, b. 2993, L. 10, ff. 71v–72r: ‘a visitarne, et dimandarne perdono de quello che l’ha dicto de nuj, credendo fussimo sfrocescha [sforzesca], perche la è mo’ chiara che siamo bona francese’. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 47. The ambassador had previously sent Isabella a small gift of fruit via Donato, and she responded by sending some pheasants by the same intermediary. In a short letter genuinely meant for Donato she wrote: ‘Circa le parole che ve ha dicte l’oratore regio ve respondemo nel modo che vedereti potergela monstrare’. Another example of a circuitous route to direct dialogue, again through Donato, is discussed in Cockram, ‘Epistolary Masks’, pp. 25–29. 6   The ambassador, Accursius Maynerius, to Francesco, Venice, 2 November 1499, b. 1438, c. 644r: ‘Suplie a Madame tres humblement qu’elle me pardonne la mauvaise oppinion que j’ay eu d’elle. A ceste heure qu’elle est toute bonne Françoyse je suis tout son tres humble serviteur’. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 47. 7   During the years of the Borgia threat foodstuffs were sent to Louis XII, for instance ‘salame, malvasia et qualche confecti’, Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 26 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 163r–v. The marchesi sent gifts of animals including: falcons to the king of France; dogs to the Count of Egmont; and horses to Marshall Gye. Isabella utilised another Gonzaga status symbol by sending a work by Mantegna to Cardinal Rohan, governor of Milan. Felisatti, pp. 99, 102, and Luzio, ‘La corte sforzesca’, p. 155. 8   Ferrari, ‘I Borgia e i Gonzaga’, p. 196: ‘inizia tra i Borgia e i Gonzaga una schermaglia di raffinate astuzie, mascherate da dimostrazioni di amicizie tanto più eloquenti quanto più profonda era la diffidenza reciproca’. 9   Luzio, I Borgia, p. 47: ‘qualità diplomatiche più assai che il rude marito, maldestrato e violento’.

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diplomatic skills, Francesco’s importance to their collaboration in facing the Borgia threat must not be discounted. Exactly two weeks after Isabella’s letter to Donato, Francesco wrote to his wife from Goito with instructions regarding a request from Cardinal Giovanni Borgia for the loan of military pavilions for Cesare. The marchesi’s teamwork is evident in their response. Francesco told his wife that while he was loath to refuse the request, he did not want to be forced to borrow to replace loaned items.10 He asked Isabella to establish if they had some old fabric coverings, or could lend a large pavilion, and to give these to Borgia’s envoy. Francesco himself, as expected, would write an apologetic letter. The marchesi clearly found some acceptable items, as the following day Francesco sent Isabella a letter to accompany the envoy ‘to whom Your Ladyship can give those pavilions’.11 In 1500 Cesare laid siege to Forlì and Imola before turning on Pesaro and Faenza, and disquiet about Borgia power grew, together with rumours of treachery and poison.12 Italy’s signori watched in fear as Cesare seized their neighbours’ states and Francesco wrote to his brother Giovanni: ‘for what I understand and can take as certain we will go one by one’, and: ‘here we are like those who are taken to the gallows in company, one watches the other hang […] without helping him’.13 Francesco sent one hundred infantrymen to his former brother-in-law in Pesaro, but Giovanni Sforza sent them back, realising that they would do nothing to change the course of events, and could endanger Mantua.14 Sending troops, the Gonzaga attempted to walk a political tightrope, aiming to show solidarity with Sforza without hostility to Borgia. The Gonzaga’s divided loyalties were visible when French and Borgia forces besieged Faenza in April 1501. Two months before, Giovanni Bentivoglio of Bologna had attempted to enlist Francesco’s support in bringing down the Manfredi of Faenza, but with nothing to gain the marchese refused to involve himself.15 10   Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 30 October 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.3, c. 88r: ‘non voressimo dire de no, né voressimo anchor privarcene noi, per andarli poi mendicando […] noi faremo la scusa per littere’. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 48n. 11   Francesco to Isabella, Goito, 31 October 1499, b. 2113, fasc. I.3, c. 93r: ‘a cui la S.V. può fare consignare quelli paviglioni’. Isabella’s replies to these letters, Mantua, 30 and 31 October, are found in fasc. II.2, c. 205 r and c. 206r. 12   Felisatti, p. 117. 13   Francesco to Giovanni Gonzaga, Mantua, 1 and 4 October 1500, b. 2192, n.n. ‘per quanto comprehendemo et possimo tenere per certo li andaremo tuti ad uno ad uno’, ‘di qua siamo ala similitudine de quelli che sono in compagnia conducti ala forcha, che uno vede apichare l’altro […] senza prestarsi aiuto’. 14   Sabatini, p. 231. Felisatti gives an alternative figure of 50 infantrymen, p. 118. 15   Giovanni Bentivoglio to Francesco, Bologna, 13 February 1501, b. 1145, n.n.: ‘il p.to S. Duca [Valentino] me fa instantia voglia operare cum V. Ex. sia contenta mandare uno suo ad persuadere ad quelli homini [faentini] et al S.re tale acordio et confortarli ad succonbere’. Reply Mantua, 13 February, b. 2114bis, fasc. VII.1, c. 244r.

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During the siege, and while not going against Cesare, the marchesi demonstrated that they were of one mind in supporting the valour of the faentini and the honourable conduct of their doomed lord, Astorre Manfredi. It was understandable that the couple might privately cheer a popular hereditary ruler fighting for his state. Furthermore, with Italians fighting the French, evocation of a romanticised nationalism recalled the Gonzaga’s propagandistic idealisation of Francesco’s command at the Battle of Fornovo five years earlier. Francesco reported to Isabella on 20 April that the faentini were fighting bravely, with substantial French losses, and continued: ‘even though the news is not too good for Duke Valentino, we are pleased that poor signore has had this honour up to today’.16 Isabella wrote on the same day: ‘it pleases me that the faentini are so loyal and constant in their lord’s defence that they restore Italian honour. Thus let God give them grace to persevere, not to wish Duke Valentino ill, but because that poor signore and his faithful people do not deserve such ruin’.17 Three days later, the seige of Faenza continuing, the marchese relayed to his wife the latest information and praised the town’s defenders in nationalistic terms: Having received and read the attached letter, which methodically details all the battles given in Faenza and how matters stand on both sides, we have immediately ordered it is sent to Your Ladyship so that you can take pleasure from seeing that the honour and virtue of the Italians is not as dead and buried as some barbarians say.18

Despite private leanings, the marchesi would not commit to romantic notions over harsh reality, as demonstrated by their dealings with the French during the period of Fornovo. Authors of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as Burckhardt, attempting to ascribe to Isabella a nascent modern nationalism, have overstated her support for the courageous faentini.19 Rather in this correspondence   Francesco to Isabella, Villa di Stopiario, 20 April 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VII.1, c. 252r: ‘anchora che la nova non sia troppo bona per il Duca Valentino, pur ni piace che quel povero signore habia havuto questo honor fin al dì de hogi’. 17   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 20 April 1501, b. 2993, L. 12, f. 37r: ‘piacemi che faentini sieno tanto fideli et constanti ala defensione del suo S.re che recuperano l’honore de’ italiani. Cossì Dio gli conceda gratia de perseverare, non per augurare male al duca Valentino, ma perché quello povero sig.re et il suo fidel populo non meritano tanta ruina’. D’Arco, doc. 27, p. 247. 18   Francesco to Isabella, San Benedetto, 23 April 1501, b. 2114bis, fasc. VII.1, c. 257r: ‘Ricevuta e lecta la alligata littera, ne la qual si contieneno ordinatamente tutte le battaglie date a Faenza et in che termine si trovano le cose da l’uno canto, e dal altro, subito havemo ordinato sia mandata ala S.V. aciò che la pigli piacere vedendo che l’honore e la virtù de’ italiani non è cossì morta e sepulta come dicono alcuni barbari’. 19   Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy, trans. by S.G.C. Middlemore (London, 2004), p. 46: ‘Every deed of loyalty and heroism such as the defence of Faenza against Cesare Borgia she felt as a vindication of the honour of Italy’. 16

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the couple demonstrate realism, following the people of Faenza’s hopeless struggle without involving themselves in this downfall. Their prime concern was Gonzaga security and advancement. As Isabella’s father said to the marchese, through Pier Gentile Varano, of the Borgia threat and Francesco’s refusal to send men to aid Giovanni Bentivoglio: ‘Your Excellency has done very well not to send anyone to help […] for these are times at the present when one struggles to maintain one’s own state, without wanting to defend others’, and suggested the best course of action for the Gonzaga was ‘to temporise’.20 Webs of Kinship To defend their state, the Gonzaga were careful to prepare for all outcomes and maximise opportunities. After Federico’s birth in 1500, the selection of godfathers provided an occasion to consolidate relationships through compaternitas.21 Chosen as godparents were the Emperor Maximilian; Cardinal Federico Sanseverino, an ally of France; and Cesare Borgia. This astute selection covered the powers of the empire, France, and the papacy.22 After becoming Federico’s godfather, Cesare reflected this bond by addressing Isabella and Francesco by the titles commatre Also Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, I, p. 188. Peter Burke, considering the rise in intellectual expressions of Italian identity after 1494, states: ‘This pan-Italian consciousness should not be equated with modern nationalism […] It tended to take the traditional form of xenophobia’. The Art of Conversation (Cambridge, 1993), p. 73. 20   Pier Gentile Varano to Francesco, Ferrara, 1 May 1501, b. 1237, fasc. VIII, n.n.: ‘la Ex.tia V. ha fato molto bene a non mandare nissuno in aiuto de Misser Zohanne Bentivoglio […] che questi sono tempi al presente che el se ha faticha a mantenire il suo [stato], senza volere deffendere quello de altrj […] confortandola a temporezare’. Partially quoted Luzio, I Borgia, p. 66. 21   Compaternitas involved the godparent in a commitment of spiritual co-parenting, thus establishing a relationship not only with the child (of patrinus or matrina), but with the parents (mutually compater or commater). See: John Bossy, ‘Godparenthood: the fortunes of a social institution in early modern Christianity’, in Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe 1500–1800, ed. by Kaspar von Greyerz (London, 1984), pp. 194– 201; Bossy, ‘Blood and baptism: kinship, community and Christianity in western Europe from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries’, in Sanctity and Secularity: The Church and the World, ed. by Derek Baker (Oxford, 1973), pp. 129–43; and Guido Alfani, Padri, padrini, patroni. La parentela spirituale nella storia (Venice, 2006), esp. Ch. 1, pp. 33– 48. The number of godparents varied according to local custom. Mary Vaccaro, ‘Artists as godfathers: Parmigianino and Correggio in the baptismal registers of Parma’, RS, 21 (2007), 366–76, p. 367. 22   Following standard practice, noble stand-ins represented the illustrious godfathers at the baptismal font. Isabella to Elisabetta Gonzaga, Mantua, 16 July 1500, b. 2993, L. 11, ff. 58v–59r. See Cesare to Francesco, congratulating the ‘clarissimi et generosi’ parents and accepting the role of godfather, Rome, 24 May, Autografi, b. 5, c. 106r. Gregorovius, p. 261.

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and compatre, using fraternal language to further underline ideas of compaternity, and signing himself ‘compatre (or compare) et minor fratello’.23 Yet titles of kinship by baptism were not enough of a guarantee of nonaggression. Thus, the Borgia and Gonzaga chose to disregard the issue of spiritual incest caused by the compaternity of godparenthood, and in 1502 discussed the betrothal of Cesare’s daughter, Luisa, to Federico.24 For a papal family wishing to secure its position, and avoid ruin or insignificance after its pope’s death, marriage into ruling houses was an essential diplomatic and dynastic strategy. In the Borgia’s case this was, of course, seen in Lucrezia’s marriage to Alfonso d’Este. However, before the Ferrara wedding had taken place some observers feared it was an elaborate plan conceived by the pope, Cesare, the king, and the Venetians to seize Ferrara and other states, including Bologna, Urbino, and Mantua. The jurisconsult Matteo Maria da Busseto counselled Francesco that to preserve his person and his state he must absolutely not attend the marriage.25 This concurred with the decision taken by Isabella, Francesco, and Ercole d’Este, discussed in Chapter 2: Isabella would represent the Gonzaga at the wedding; Francesco would ensure Mantuan security. The couple covered both bases. While Isabella was wary, personally disapproving of the bride, in practical terms it could be hoped that the union, rather than risk, would bring assurance of Este/Borgia bonds and added security to Ferrara, by extension reinforcing Borgia links with the Gonzaga and protecting Mantua. Such objectives of consolidation and projection of alliance, in Gonzaga and Borgia interests, were also behind the planned marriage of Luisa and Federico. To both parties the engagement formed part of shielding and strengthening strategies, though very different. For the Gonzaga it was a powerful indicator of pro-French/ pro-Borgia sympathies and a safeguard against Borgia aggression. For Cesare it worked toward a policy, seen too in the Este marriage, of building a wall of allied states around the Romagna, by which Borgia plans for overlordship could be fortified, and potentially expanded, through the next generation. The Gonzaga also hoped to gain the coveted cardinal’s hat for Sigismondo, trying to conclude negotiations in this regard quickly, and simultaneously protract negotiations for the marriage while observing the unfolding of events.   For example, Cesare to Isabella, Rome, 12 June 1502, and Aquapendente, 1 February 1503, Autografi, b. 5, c. 133r and c. 166r. Cesare to Francesco, Pamplona, 7 December 1506, c. 184r. 24   Cesare to Isabella, Rome, 12 June 1502, Autografi, b. 5, c. 133r: ‘Illustrissima Signora Commatre […] Circa el matrimonio del suo primogenito et la nostra figlia, el quale ultra che per molti altri respecti me habia summamente ad piacere, me è gratissimo per essere totale corroboratione de la nostra comensata amicitia, in conservatione de la quale vorria anchor con più strecto vinculo si fosse possibile ce obligassemo, per el grande beneficio et stabilità che ali nostri communi stati è per resultare’. Reproduced Alfano, ed., p. 197. 25   Nosari and Canova, p. 229. 23

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Isabella discussed conditions with Cesare’s envoy, the Spanish nobleman Enrico Corberano, in consultation with trusted Gonzaga advisors, and informed Francesco of developments. She aimed to keep the sum to be paid to secure the cardinal’s hat low, and the dowry from the Borgia high, ‘but between us [Isabella, Sigismondo and Giovanni Gonzaga, Antimaco, Capilupi, and Lodovico Brognolo] we have decided that if he were to fix the dowry at fifty thousand ducats and the hat between twenty and twenty-five thousand we could agree’.26 To provide for other eventualities, they secretly discussed a Spanish bride for Federico with the ambassador Emanuel.27 Insinuations to the Gonzaga from the French that their vital support of the Borgia may not continue indefinitely prove the sense of these policies of duplicity and procrastination.28 Aside from their potential value, dynastic arrangements could prove problematic upon political reverses. Indeed, complex webs of kinship and friendship were troublesome for the Gonzaga as several dispossessed signori sought refuge in Mantua, a fact difficult to balance against the building of ties with Cesare. Refugees taking Gonzaga hospitality included Giovanni Sforza, the Caetani of Sermoneta, and the Varano of Camerino. The best-known refugees arrived while discussion of Federico and Luisa’s betrothal was in progress. On 21 June 1502, Cesare seized Urbino, and Guidobaldo da Montefeltro fled to Mantua; Elisabetta Gonzaga was already there on a visit. The Montefeltro had been duped by appearances of Borgia friendship, such as the duchess’s role in Lucrezia’s wedding reception; warm words from Cesare Borgia to the duke; and Borgia’s request to borrow the very artillery which he then turned against its owners. These events were startling, and Isabella wrote to Chiara Gonzaga of ‘the unexpected and vile case of the loss of the duchy of Urbino’. The duke, lucky to have escaped with his life, had arrived ‘in his jacket […] with only four horses […] having been treacherously taken by surprise’. All in Mantua were ‘so dumbfounded, so confused, and so saddened that we no longer know where we are’, and Isabella asked Chiara to use all possible influence at the

  Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 November 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 177r–178r:

26

‘vederò de tirar più abasso che poterò li dinari dil capello et la dota magiore, ma fra noi havemo ragionato che quando il facesse la dota de 50 mila ducati computato il capello da 20 fin in 25 mila si poteria concludere’. Partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 132n. 27   Luzio, I Borgia, pp. 90–1. 28   Ghivizzano, Gonzaga ambassador to the French court, told Francesco in July that the king counselled caution and warned against binding commitment to the Borgia, suggesting that as the betrothed were only infants, the political situation could change before the marriage. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 98. In August Ghivizzano reported that the king advised Francesco to be wary of Cesare. In addition, Jean-François de la Trémoille suggested delaying tactics: ‘la intertegna qualche pocho di tempo [...] per non esser in tutto bene assettate le cose fra Valentino et questa Chr.ma M.tà, per le quale parole mi pare comprendere questa essere la voluntà de la p.ta M.tà’. Pavia, 17 August 1502, b. 1635, c. 38r–v.

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French court: ‘I pray you where you can to favour the affairs of the aforementioned lord duke and duchess’.29 ‘It is not wrong to be prepared for all eventualities’: Double Faces and Teamwork30 Cesare Borgia posed a patent threat to Italian states, and the reaction of the Gonzaga was crucial. However, with the inference that French support for Borgia expansion might not continue, and in light of affronts against their friends and family, it was by no means obvious that the Gonzaga should single-mindedly pursue a proBorgia course of action.31 The solution lay in divided fronts and well-constructed protestations of support to all camps. The marchesi were diffident in matters of state, unswerving only in their unequivocal commitment to Mantua’s preservation, regardless of alliances or friendships. Isabella presented herself pro-Borgia, while maintaining good relations with the dispossessed Montefeltro and their friends; Francesco initially supported Borgia but also spoke out against him, before the king’s pro-Borgia stance was made explicit and reconciliation was effected. On 7 July 1502 Isabella wrote a friendly autograph letter to Cesare on Francesco’s behalf, excusing the delay of certain letters relating to the negotiations.32 Yet the  

29

Isabella to Chiara Gonzaga, Mantua, 27 June 1502, b. 2993, L. 13, f. 87r–v: ‘lo inopinato et nefando caso de la perdita del Ducato de Urbino, e la gionta qua in giupone [...] cum quatro cavalli solamente [...] per essere stato con tradimenti acolto a lo improviso […] Siamo remasti tuti tanto atoniti, tanto confusi, et tanto adolorati che nui medesmi non sapiamo dove se retrovamo […] pregola voglij dove la può favorire le cose de li p.ti S.re Ducha et Duchessa’. Partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 125. Francesco wrote to Chiara in a similar vein, Mantua, 1 July, b. 2911, L. 175, ff. 68r–69r. He spoke of Guidobaldo’s plight, and ‘questo per fidarse lui del Duca Valentino che gli faceva demonstratione di carnale fratello, et tale che ogni homo sincero et netto da inganni, ne seria rimasto in la trapola’. Interestingly, the duke, typically considered Borgia’s innocent victim, may have been plotting with Cesare’s enemies in Camerino, despite protestations of friendship and brotherhood. Perhaps Guidobaldo was as treacherous as his betrayer. Orestes Ferrara, The Borgia Pope, trans. by F. J. Sheed (London, 1942), pp. 346–7. 30   Some of this section has been published in Cockram, ‘Epistolary Masks’. This is available on-line at www.maneypublishing.com/journals/its and www.ingentaconnect.com/ content/maney/its. 31   Francesco told Isabella that her father had expressed the belief about Urbino that: ‘il Duca di Romagna serrà fortiato a retrarsi da la impresa e confessare de havere mal facto’, Revere, 4 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 53r. 32   Isabella to Cesare Borgia, Mantua, 7 July 1502, b. 2192, n.n., copy of autograph letter: ‘aciò che la conosca che la tardita de la resposta non è proceduta dal canto nostro [...] et comprehenderà cum quanto bono et sincero animo el S.re mio procede in questo caso’. See also Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 5 July, Autografi Volta, b. 1, fasc. 103, and reply Gonzaga, 6 July, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 54r.

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Gonzaga were still defending the ousted signori and their supporters. Isabella appealed to Cesare for the restitution of Elisabetta Gonzaga’s dowry, and on behalf of the loyal Emilia Pia and Dionigi Agatoni de’ Maschi.33 The marchesa followed a policy of apparent cooperation over potential confrontation, and Cesare, with his own aims, reciprocated. Their mutual observation and suspicion required a positive front. Isabella and Cesare attempted to make convincing declarations of friendship; a ‘friendship’ jointly understood to be based solely on political expediency could be undeniably helpful, but a friendship perceived by a dangerous or useful party as more genuinely supportive could be invaluable. While Isabella and Cesare both expressed alliance, Francesco increasingly demonstrated his backing of the exiled signori, and met Louis XII as the king descended again into Milan. Isabella informed her husband that Guidobaldo, Giovanni Sforza, and the others with cases against Borgia were following him to the king, who had given them hope through granting the duke of Urbino a hearing: ‘thus everyone will be on Your Lordship’s tail and God be willing that as he has welcomed you, he will also be the means to restore them in their homes under the standard of the aforementioned most Christian Majesty’.34 Events came to a head for the Gonzaga, as the marchese found himself surrounded by friends petitioning the king, and Cesare’s emissary Francisco Trocio returned suddenly to Mantua.35 Isabella could not determine Trocio’s true mission at court and feared he was a spy, sent to ascertain their allegiance. He was

  Isabella wrote to Cesare that his envoy Francisco Trocio of Avila (also called Troche) would report her thoughts on various matters, including ‘le cose de M.a Emilia, quale gli raccomando assai, et cossì che se digni perdonare a M. Dionisio che ha accompagnato quel che alhora era suo Signore’, Mantua, 3 July 1502, b. 2192, n.n., copy of autograph letter. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 94. Also, on Emilia’s behalf, see Isabella to Cesare, Mantua, 31 July, b. 2993, L. 14, f. 2v. For more on Dionigi Agatoni de’ Maschi see the entry by Gino Franceschini, DBI, I (1960). 34   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 13 July 1502, b. 2993, L. 13, f. 93v: ‘cossì tutti serranno a la coda de V. S. et Dio voglia che sì come la gli ha dato recapito sij anche megio a restituirli in casa col stendardo de la p.ta Chr.ma M.tà’. A copy in the Archivio Gonzaga of a letter from Guidobaldo to the king illustrates his hope that Louis might intervene in his favour and shows the marchesi’s possession of information, Mantua, 30 June, b. 2192, n.n. 35   Isabella fostered her acquaintance with the apostolic protonotary Trocio. They corresponded and in the autumn of 1502 Trocio wrote to Isabella about sending her a book and thanked her for some sonnets, declaring himself ‘in perpetuo obligato [...] non desidero altro che poterlo cum qualche opera et effecto dimonstrare’, Rome, 1 September and 5 October 1502, b.855, c. 118r and 120r. Gregorovius, pp. 282–3. Isabella used this relationship to attempt to influence the pope. Isabella to Trocio, Mantua, 22 October, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 26v–27r. Brown, Per dare, pp. 160–1. Cesare eventually suspected Trocio of some treachery and had him strangled in June 1503. Cecil H. Clough, ‘Niccolò Machiavelli, Cesare Borgia, and the Francesco Troche Episode’, Medievalia et humanistica, 17 (1966), 129–149. 33

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lodged with il Milanese so that the spy could be spied upon.36 Isabella outlined the envoy’s stated assignment in a letter to Francesco to be shown to Trocio, then in a confidential postscript wrote that this seemed to have satisfied the envoy, but stressed that the marchese must now send a carefully-composed reply addressed to her, emphasising his dedication to a Borgia alliance. She requested: that replying to me you compose an affectionate letter, which I may show him and give him word for word, and even if Your Excellency is of entirely another mind, you must not reveal it in writing or in speech, holding back, because it is not wrong to be prepared for all eventualities, and not to show your true colours until the contract is concluded. I, along with our little one, am well and recommend myself to Your Excellency. I beg that you reply immediately, so that man will depart soon from here, as it would not be advisable that he linger.37

Francesco duly sent his reply, addressed to Isabella and to be shown to Borgia’s man.38 However, this letter did not strike the marchesa as sufficiently convincing, and she felt obliged to compose a reply from her husband herself, and have it sealed with one of his seals and delivered to herself in Mantua.39 Both letters survive (Figures 5.1 and 5.2): Francesco’s, sent from Asti on 18 July, began by stressing the good favour he enjoyed with Louis XII, his cordial feelings for Cesare, and his commitment to the union of their families, with the caveat that he would remain in brotherhood with Cesare as long as he was of the same spirit. The marchese also explained that if he had seemed supportive of Guidobaldo, this was only out of fraternal sentiment toward his brother-in-law, and that nonetheless he remained a Borgia ally. He continued that the Duchess Elisabetta would relate to Isabella the king’s positive reception of the duke of Urbino. In the postscript, attached with wax, he instructed that Isabella was to reply to Trocio as she saw fit, emphasising 36   For Trocio’s movements and missions for Cesare Borgia of 1501–1503 see Clough, ‘Niccolò Machiavelli’, p. 130n. 37   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 15 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 148r–v: ‘che respondendomi farmi una littera amorevole, da poterla monstrare a lui et dargli parole per parole, et quando Vostra Excellenza havesse bene altro animo, non lo demonstrare né in scripto, né in dicto, reservando un colpo in sè, perché non è male ad intertenersi per ogni cosa che potesse accadere, et non si scoprire finché il tracto non se facci. Io sto bene insieme col nostro puttino et a Vostra Excellenza mi racomando. Laudo che la Signoria Vostra respondi subito, aciò che questui si levi presto de quà, dove non serià in proposito stesse molto’. This letter is also discussed by Shemek, ‘Mendacious Missives’, pp. 76–77. The postscript is partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 138–9. 38   Francesco to Isabella, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 65r, postscript 64r, Asti, 18 July 1502. Appendix Document 21. 39   Francesco to Isabella (Isabella’s fake letter), b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 61r–v, copy 62 r–v , Asti, 18 July 1502. Appendix Document 22. It has been claimed that this letter is lost, eg. Marek, p. 83. However, it is very partially transcribed in Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 140n.

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her prudence and decision-making authority, and also suggested she tell the envoy to return to Mantua upon her husband’s homecoming. Another letter in the Archivio Gonzaga is clearly Isabella’s forgery, as can be seen by comparing it with another written by her secretary (Figures 5.2 and 5.3).40 It is a persuasive artefact of masking. The forgery is also closed with a Gonzaga seal, dated 18 July from Asti, and appears travelled. Although containing much the same subjects, keeping, for instance, the veiled admonition that Francesco would have fraternal feelings toward Cesare as long as these remained reciprocal, this letter is altered in tone. After an effusive salutation, the forgery commenced immediately with the issue of Trocio’s presence. The marchese’s letter had begun with the affection demonstrated towards him by the king, but Isabella downplayed this point and saved it until the close. Instead she had the letter emphasise from the outset that Francesco and Cesare were of one mind; the marchese working also towards a Borgia agenda while at the French court and stating that he would not discuss the plans for the Borgia/Gonzaga union but would leave the matter in Cesare’s hands. Unsurprisingly, the potentially problematic reference to Guidobaldo was also reworked. In Isabella’s counterfeit, her husband assured her that if he had been heard to back the Montefeltro it was only so that word might reach them and offer comfort, and was not a reflection of genuine support. The marchesa’s letter quite explicitly acknowledges that masking was a fact of life at court, and words could be deployed for effect only. The letter contained no mention of any warmth shown to Guidobaldo by the king, although a passing reference was added to remind Cesare to return Elisabetta’s dowry. Like Francesco’s, Isabella’s letter had the marchese tell her that she could dismiss Trocio, bidding him to return upon her husband’s repatriation. However, it stressed less her ability to speak for both marchesi, perhaps in order to be rid of the envoy more quickly. This is an excellent instance of Isabella’s masking and sprezzatura at work, attempting to convince with seemingly unpremeditated demonstrations. The letter was apparently personal communication from husband to wife which attested to the warmth of their feelings for Cesare and it could be confidently exhibited to Trocio, who left Mantua on 22 July.41 Both letters had the same aim of sending Trocio back to Cesare with a positive impression, but Isabella was sufficiently dissatisfied with her husband’s letter to forge her own version. It was an inherently perilous practice to fake a letter and have it sent, requiring the complicity of others and risking discovery. Why did Isabella feel the need to do so? Could this be an example of the domineering behaviour often attributed to her in the sphere of her patronage of artists?42 Rather, 40   For instance, the same hand is found in Isabella to Cesare, and Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 21 and 26 July 1502, b. 2192, n.n. 41   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 22 July 1502, Autografi Volta, b. 1, fasc. 103. 42   For instance, Isabella is described as ‘an exceptionally difficult patron’ by J.M. Fletcher in a review of Egon Verheyen’s ‘The Paintings in the Studiolo of Isabella

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Francesco Gonzaga to Isabella d’Este, Asti, 18 July 1502. ASMn, AG, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 65r, and postscript c. 64r.

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Figure 5.2

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Isabella’s forgery: Francesco Gonzaga to Isabella d’Este, Asti, 18 July 1502. ASMn, AG, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 61r.

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Figure 5.3 An example of Isabella’s secretary’s hand. Isabella d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, Mantua, 15 July 1502. ASMn, AG, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 148r. it is a reflection of the fact that the marchesa was the one in the presence of the envoy, with more intuition in this particular case of exactly what Trocio and Cesare needed to hear. In a dangerous situation for her husband, state, and dynasty, she took the initiative, careful that the forged letter remained in her possession. Furthermore, and indicative of shared responsibility, Isabella told her husband frankly that she did not like his letter and had changed it, and she sent him a copy of her version to keep him up to date. He had been overruled by her decision, as she was the one in situ. On 20 July she wrote to Francesco: Your Lordship’s letter containing certain parts which did not seem to me appropriate to show to Duke Valentino’s man, I had a special letter written and expanded it somewhat […] and I send a copy to Your Excellency in order that you may be completely informed. Also, I did not want anyone to know about this so that it should not reach the ears of the duke and duchess [of Urbino], and they should become suspicious through those words, which skilfully I put in the letter to give more hope to Valentino [...] Thus having shown him the letter he was most satisfied.43 d’Este at Mantua’, Burlington Magazine, 118 (1976), 426–7. Rose Marie San Juan gives this and further examples, and explores Isabella’s reputation in ‘The Court Lady’s Dilemma’. 43   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 20 July, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, cc. 155r–156r: ‘Continendo alcune parte la littera de Vostra Signoria quale non mi parseno in proposito monstrare al homo del Duca Valentino, feci formare una littera particulare et fecila ingrassare un poco, parendomi che havendomi poi a restare apresso, non si potesse errare a monstrargela in questo modo, et mandone copia a Vostra Excellenza aciò che del tutto sij informata. Né ho voluto che alcuno lo intendi, aciò che non andasse ad orechie de la duchessa né dil Duca: et

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Francesco demonstrated that he was more than satisfied with their partnership and with Isabella following her initiative as she chose. Some days later he assured her, in relation to sending Lodovico Brognolo to Cesare to retrieve Elisabetta’s dowry: ‘we are happy that Your Ladyship send him in your name with whichever commission you decide, because always in this, and every other circumstance, we have confidence in your prudence’.44 ‘If someone wanted to poison Your Excellency...’: Danger at the King’s Court As Trocio departed, Isabella felt happy to use him to ask Cesare for favours, and on 22 July asked for Cesare’s intervention with the pope to allow her to dispense benefices in her territory.45 That day she also wrote to Francesco supporting Elisabetta’s request that Brognolo go to Urbino, either in his name or Isabella’s.46 However, the following day she changed her mind, in light of worrying news. Her husband, members of his retinue, and Ferrarese informants were keeping her abreast of developments at the king’s court.47 On this information, Isabella judged Francesco’s outspoken encouragement of the signori worrying. While deferring to his judgement, she boldly counselled caution and self-protection: Where I have any concern about Your Lordship’s person and state, even if it is small, it does not seem right to hide it from you, who will accept it knowing the che pigliassino diffidentia de quelle parole, quale artificiosamente ho poste in la littera: per darne magiore speranza a Valentino […] Cossì havendoli monstrata essa littera è rimasto molto satisfacto’. Shemek, ‘Mendacious Missives’, pp. 77–78. Partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 139–40. 44   Francesco to Isabella, Vigevano, 26 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 68r: ‘simmo contenti che la S. V. lo mandi in nomme suo cum quella comissione che a lei parerà, che sempre in questa et in ogni altra occurentia se confidiamo in la prudencia de la S.V.’. 45   Isabella to Cesare, Mantua, 22 July 1502, b. 2993, L. 13, f. 97r–v: ‘Io ho temptato già molti mesi de havere una reserva de primi beneficij vacanti in lo dominio mantuano per la summa de trecento fino in quatrocento ducati per gratificare alcuni mei servitori, et principalmente me istessa per li respecti ch’io ho dicti a M. Francisco. Ma cum quanta instantia hanno facto li R.mi Sig.ri Car.li S.ta Praxede, et mio fratello, quali ho usati et seperatamente et unitamente per mezi, mai la S.tà de N.S. ha vogliuto condescendere [...] ma vedendo che la Ex. V. piglia tanta cura de compiacermi et sapendo che alcuna cosa non è impossibile a lei da la S.tà de N.S. m’è parso usare quest’altra prosumptione de pregarla et supplicarla se digni operare che la S.tà Sua mi faci questa gratia’. 46   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 22 July 1502, Autografi Volta, b. 1, fasc. 103. Also, Elisabetta to Francesco, Mantua, 22 July, b. 2115, fasc. IV.3, c. 205r: ‘Questo messo dil Duca Valentinoijs, che hora se retrova qua dice parerli che fosse bene al proposito mandare un homo al p.to Duca per la cause de la dote mia’. 47   Her Mantuan correspondents included Ghivizzano and Alessandro da Baese, the Ferrarese included il Prete, Niccolò da Correggio, and Morelletto Ponzoni. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 96.

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sincerity behind it, and then you will govern yourself as you see fit […] one does not know who to trust now and if there were to be an accord between the king and Valentino it would not be unwise that Your Lordship had protected himself, because in the business of states, as you know, one does not consider the interests of one’s companion, nor enmities that previously existed between them. For the desire I have for Your Lordship’s every security and advancement I could not hold back these few words. […] I have written to Your Lordship about sending to Valentino for the duchess’ dowry […] but as I have heard that beyond what you said to your messenger, you have since said other words publicly in the king’s court against Valentino, I do not know how wise it would be to dispatch someone if they were the sort of words that he would be angry to hear.48

This was the day after Isabella had received from Cesare two statues, an antique Venus and a Cupid by Michelangelo, which had been taken from the palace of Urbino after the expulsion of the Montefeltro.49 Despite such semblance of friendship and esteem, Isabella revealed her deep mistrust of Borgia in another letter on the same day, which merits being given at length.50 Warning Francesco against poison, she advised him to preserve his persona, vital that he safeguard both his physical person and his façade for the security of the state. The marchesa was profoundly concerned for Francesco, and the safe maintenance of their partnership: My most illustrious lord. A rumour has arrived here, either by letters from certain people or by mouth from someone coming from those parts, that Your Lordship has used bad words about Valentino in the presence of the most Christian king and the pope’s men, and whether or not this is true, this rumour spreading will reach Valentino’s ears. He being the sort of man who does not scruple to conspire against his own blood, I am certain that fearing Your Lordship, he will not undertake anything with greater diligence than plotting against your person. As I know how freely you usually live because of your natural goodness, and 48   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 23 July 1502, Autografi Volta, b. 1, fasc. 103. D’Arco, pp. 260–1. Appendix Document 23. 49   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 22 July 1502, Autografi Volta, b. 1, fasc. 103. Isabella requested these from Borgia through her brother, Cardinal Ippolito, in a letter showing not only her impeccable use of networks but also her powers of persuasion. Isabella to Ippolito d’Este, Mantua, 30 June 1502, b. 2192, n.n. Brown, Per dare, p. 157. Borgia took the opportunity to strengthen Isabella’s obligation to him and emphasise his liberality, sending the statues with accompanying sonnets by Tebaldeo. Massimo Castoldi, ‘Il Tebaldeo e Cesare Borgia: due sonetti inediti sul dono ad Isabella d’Este del cupido marmoreo di Michelangelo’, Anuario de estudios medievales, 19 (1989), 709–15, p. 709n. Despite her affection for the duke and duchess of Urbino, Isabella did not to return the impressive statuary when the Montefeltro were restored. Brown, Per dare, pp. 177–80. 50   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 22 July 1502, Autografi Volta, b. 1, fasc. 103.

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Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga as one jealous of your life which I hold above my own and our state, I have questioned messengers and recently Antonio da Bologna about how you live, and everyone tells me that you are served at table by anyone without distinction, and that Alessandro da Baese eats with you at table and the grooms and pages do the job of stewards and footmen. In this way I see that if someone wanted to poison Your Excellency the way would be clear, as you do not have any tasters or guard. So I beg and beseech you that even if you do not care about yourself, out of respect for me and our children you will take better care of your person, making Alessandro take on the office of steward with great diligence and oversee the tasting of every thing and in every place that you eat and drink. And if Alessandro […] cannot do the job of steward we will send Antonio or someone else that Your Excellency decides from here. If you do not nominate Alessandro or someone else […] I will definitely send someone because I would rather you were angry at me than that I and our little one had cause to cry. [autograph] My lord, do not mock this letter of mine or say that women are cowards and are always afraid, because their malice is much greater than my fear and your courage. I would have written this whole letter with my own hand but the heat is so extreme that if it carries on I fear we will die. The little one is very well and sends a kiss to Your Lordship and I commend myself to you always. Mantua 23 July 1502 Desirous to see Your Lordship, Isabella by her own hand.51

Isabella’s subsequent letters continued to show growing worry and her instinct for caution. On 26 July, giving further insights into the couple’s security measures, she referred to highly confidential correspondence received at Mantua through Giovanni Gonzaga, which she sent on, to be covertly presented to Francesco in private by the musician Marchetto Cara: I cannot contain myself for the jealousy with which I guard your life and honour, and must beg with all my heart that once you have read the letters you will burn them immediately along with this one and not only ensure that they do not reach anyone’s ears, but also that you yourself pretend you have never seen them. Neither should you reply to me unless it is to say that you have them, in some way that could not be understood if intercepted.

She stressed the need to hold the king’s favour, and again implored Francesco, for love of Federico, to be careful: As I have said many times to Your Lordship, as long as you save your person and state in these revolutions that will be enough for us […] I beg and implore that

51   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 23 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 160 r–v. Partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 136–7. Appendix Document 24.

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for all the love you bear our little boy you will proceed with caution, and keep yourself in the good grace of the most Christian king.52

A group decision was also made among the Gonzaga that the mission to discuss Elisabetta’s dowry be scrapped in light of Francesco’s comments about Cesare, the feeling being that a mission in Isabella’s name would also be ineffective, and they should attempt to bring about the result through Lucrezia.53 Isabella was working closely with her in-laws, and it could reasonably be hoped that the tide might soon turn against Cesare and the Montefeltro be restored. Francesco wrote to Isabella that he spoke often of the matter with the king and ‘His Majesty definitely wants to undertake the enterprise [to retake Urbino] but would like to do it as easily as possible […] and Your Ladyship should only communicate this to our brothers and the duchess’.54 The marchesa gathered information about Borgia’s activities from her network of correspondents and sent Francesco detailed reports of developments.55 Francesco 52   Copy Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 26 July 1502, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘né mi posso contenere per la gelusia che ho di la vita et honore suo che non la supplichi cum tutto il cuore che lecte che le haverà voglij subito brusarle insieme cum questa et non solum lassarle andare ad orechie di persona, ma lei medesima prosuponere de non haverle viste, né mi fare resposta se non di recevuta cum qualche modo che non se possi intendere quando la littera fosse intercepta […] como molte volte ho dicto ala S.V. pur che lei salvi la persona et stato ne debbe bastare in queste revolutione [...] supplico et sconguiro per quanto amore la porta al nostro puttino, vogli procedere cautamente, et conservarsi in bona gratia del Chr. mo Re’. Partially transcribed Luzio, I Borgia, p. 96. 53   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 29 July 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, f. 1r–v: ‘Del mandare Lodovico Brognolo al Valentino per il dote de la Duchessa havemo lei e li fratelli et mi consultato’. 54   Francesco to Isabella, Vigevano, 22 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 66r–v: ‘Sua M.tà vole ogni modo fare la impresa ma la voria fare cum più facilità potesse [...] e questo la S.V. solum lo comunicharà cum nostri fratelli e M.a Duchessa’. Isabella replied: ‘Lo capitulo che parla de la impresa de Urbino l’ho comunicato solamente cum M.a Duchessa et fratelli’, Mantua, 25 July, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 162r. 55   For instance, one letter detailed the alertness in Ravenna and Cervia against attack by Cesare; Borgia’s habit of hunting with leopards in Urbino; the locations of his troops; the destruction of buildings in Rimini from which attack could be made on the city’s fortress; the beginnings of dissent between Cesare and Vitellozzo; and a list of commanders, infantry, and cavalry in Ravenna and Cervia. The marchesa finished with the promise ‘la S.V. serrà tenuta informata ogni volta ch’io haverò cosa di momento’. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 August 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 6v–8r. This report was partially in response to Francesco’s confidential instruction to his wife, Vigevano, 22 July, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 66r–v: ‘La S.V. farà electione de uno homo da bene et quella lo mandarà verso Ravenna cum comissione de investigare, intendere, et esplorare quello che se fa e che se dice e che gente d’arme, fantarie, e cavalli ligeri ge sonno, et del risposto suo la S.V. ne darà subito adviso, perché la Chr.ma M.tà de questo ne ha recerchati et questo la S.V. lo tenerà in sé’. That Louis appears to have asked Francesco to gather this intelligence for him indicates the marchese’s

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also passed on the latest news as he received it, leading Isabella to request on one occasion that the most confidential communication be written in postscripts which she could keep secret, while allowing a more general letter to be shown at court. In the main body of a letter of 29 July Francesco made reference to an attached letter from il Milanese, detailing ‘all his movements’, ‘tuti li suoi andamenti’, and stating that when the marchese returned, they would evaluate the information and decide together how to act on it, advising that in the meantime Isabella remain watchful.56 In the main body of her reply Isabella claimed not to have received the attached letter, but in a postscript, which she instructed should be burnt, admitted: yesterday I did receive il Milanese’s letter but I used this excuse to avoid it reaching the hands or attention of others, so tell Alessandro [da Baese?] that when Your Lordship writes something so important to me it should be put in a separate letter that does not have any other content, that I can keep close to me, while giving others something to digest with a letter containing only general matters.57

On 5 August Isabella wrote of her relief to hear of a formal condotta agreed between Francesco and the king, increasing the security of the state, and she organised public celebrations to advertise the marchese’s position of royal favour. Francesco had not ordered these displays, but Isabella was sure he would grant retroactive approval, as she customarily arranged such festivities,58 and felt that their propaganda value would be all the more effective with Francesco still at the French court. This also underlined their partnership, as Isabella suggested her

proximity to the king, and supports the difficulty at this point of being sure of the French/ Borgia alliance. 56   Francesco to Isabella, Milan, 29 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 69r–70r: ‘ala nostra venuta rasonando insieme pigliaremo quello espediente che a nuij dui parerà ma in questo mezo come ho ditto la S.V. stia cum li ochgi aperti’. Very partially transcribed Luzio, I Borgia, p. 95n. The same letter also contains a picture of Francesco’s dedication to his family, with a light-hearted competitiveness with Isabella over Federico and an in-joke reference to the Cupid statue sent by Borgia: ‘S’el nostro unico putino fila fa perché non ha da cui redurse, essendo absente dal suo pà che non gli desdice mai de cosa che voglia. Et speremo ala ritornata nostra che nui seremmo quello da li basi del putino et la S.V. de li basi de la figura de Cupido’. 57   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 1 August 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 166r–v, postscript 167r (copy without postscript, b. 2993, L. 14, cc. 3v–4v): ‘ho heri havuto la littera dil Milanese, ma per non lassarla andare in mane né a noticia de altri ho preso questa scusa, et però advertischa Alex.i quando la S.V. me scrive cosa de simile importantia a fare una littera seperata che non habi altra continentia et che la possi tenere presso me et dare pasto ad altri cum cose generale. […] Brusati questa polize’. 58   For Isabella’s arrangement of festivities to honour Francesco, see Chapter 2.

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husband might organise further celebrations on his return, these being considered hers, ‘to announce the happiness and joy that I feel’.59 After this optimism, the situation was suddenly inflamed when Cesare appeared at the king’s court in Milan on 5 August. According to Sanudo, Francesco rashly spoke ill of Cesare, saying he was ‘a bastard and son of a priest’, and they challenged each other to a duel, the marchese heard to say ‘maybe I will free Italy’, ‘Forse libererò la Italia’.60 Despite Francesco’s words, the king warmly received Borgia, with whom a secret treaty had been signed. Niccolò da Correggio described Cesare’s welcome to Isabella.61 Cesare was unmistakably in the highest favour, and Francesco was required to convincingly pay him court and be reconciled to him. Machiavelli later wrote that Cesare could ‘maintain the friendship of kings and princes so that they either had to help him gracefully or offend him carefully’.62 The Venetian diplomat Giustinian similarly stated that Cesare’s nature was never to forget an insult or leave revenge in others’ hands, and two Ferrarese agents reported that he could not forgive an affront and was ferocious in vendetta.63 Peter Burke points out that theatrical cultures tend to emphasise performances of courtesy and honour as means of checking, and hiding, the dissimulation inherent in their societies.64 In a theatre society based on rules of courtesy, an insult was violence against the façade and a discord that needed to be overcome if the front was to be reconstructed. The settlement of the conflict between Cesare and Francesco, two martial figures, appeared to be in the duel. However, rather than place these important personages in danger, the resolution came in putting conflict aside, reconciling publicly, and portraying an image of manly fraternity. In this case, despite his fearsome reputation, Cesare, as much as Francesco, was flexible enough to follow an advantageous policy of friendship, and by 7 August Francesco could write to Isabella that they had embraced, ‘offering ourselves to each other as good brothers’.65 Francesco’s bravado does not seem to have caused any lasting rupture with Cesare; individuals with some common  

59

Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 5 August 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 9v–10r: ‘per publicare il contento et allegreza che io sento’. 60   Sanudo, IV, 292 and 299: ‘straparlava de [Borgia] che era bastardo e fio de un prete; in modo che se desfidono e volseno dimandar el campo al re’. 61   Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 187. Naturally Cesare was also welcomed by Ercole and Alfonso d’Este, in attendance on the king. 62   Machiavelli, Ch. 7: ‘mantenere le amicizie de’ re e de’ principi, in modo che ti abbino o a beneficare con grazia o offendere con rispetto’. 63   Mallett, The Borgias, p. 209, Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, I, p. 179. 64   Peter Burke, The Historical Anthropology of Early Modern Italy (Cambridge, 1987), p. 13. 65   Francesco to Isabella, Milan, 7 August 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 74r: ‘hoggi se havimo acarezati et abrazati insieme offerendose l’un l’altro da boni fratelli’. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 97.

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objectives and allies, and perhaps similar interests, they returned to the impression of cordial relations. Manifold Appearances of Reality To stress their understanding with the Borgia, the Gonzaga ejected the refugees, with the exception of Duchess Elisabetta, from Mantua. In her relationships with the Montefeltro and Borgia, Isabella continued to ensure that double-handedness was not exposed, presenting diverse appearances of reality to different audiences to preserve alliance. Statesmanship required Isabella, caught between Cesare and her life-long friend and sister-in-law, to employ skill and self-control to maintain a chosen image without being affected by emotional ties.66 She successfully deployed masking to hide the chicanery. Like Machiavelli’s example, Ferdinand of Aragon, she could exemplify the ruler who, had they honoured good faith, would have many times over lost ‘either their reputation or their state’.67 Cesare wrote to thank Francesco for his support and they corresponded warmly.68 The use of epistolary conventions of friendly, intimate language to underline alliance is found in a letter Francesco sent to Borgia in October 1502. Upon being invited to accompany Louis XII to France, leaving Isabella as regent, Francesco presented a mask of confidence: ‘departing, I have instructed my most illustrious wife that, while I am away, in any matter she must turn to you for advice and help, as a most trusted person’. He referred to their compaternity, their common son, ‘figliolo nostro comune’, and spoke of loyalty and affection, ‘fede et amorevoleza’.69 While Mantua was left in her care, Isabella faced difficulties in juggling the Borgia and Gonzaga interests. The Montefeltro were briefly restored between October and December 1502. Elisabetta requested aid from Giovanni Gonzaga   Isabella’s genuine affection for Elisabetta Gonzaga, beyond family loyalty, overcoming the difficulties created by Cesare, can fairly be deduced from their rich correspondence, and evidence of time spent together enjoyably on visits and travelling, as to Venice in 1502. 67   Machiavelli, Ch. 18: ‘Alcuno principe de’ presenti tempi, quale non è bene nominare, non predica mai altro che pace e fede, e dell’una e dell’altra è inimicissimo; e l’una e l’altra, quando e’ l’avessi osservata, li arebbe più volte tolto o la reputazione o lo stato’. 68   Cesare to Francesco, Imola, 13 September 1502, Autografi, b. 5, c. 138r: ‘Restamo pienissimamente satisfacti de la sincera et cordiale benivolentia et de li modi et opere quella ha usate in le presenti occurrentie nostre con el S.re Guido Ubaldo et la Ill. S.ra Duchessa sua sorella, de li quali summamente la rengratiamo’. 69   Francesco to Cesare, Canneto, 8 October 1502, b. 2911, L. 177, f. 9r: ‘io partendomi ho commisso a la Ill.ma mia mogliere che in qualunche suo caso, per il tempo che starò fora, habia ricorso a quella per conscilio et aiuto, como a persona confidentissima.’ Luzio, I Borgia, pp. 103–4. 66

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and Francesco, and seemingly it was Isabella she asked to push this agenda with the marchese, as on other occasions discussed in Chapter 4. Isabella reported to Francesco her measured reply: I replied to her that her every success pleases me, but that I could not place the person of Signor Zoanne at her disposal without Your Excellency’s express commission. And as for exhorting you to disobey the king if he commanded you [to go against the Montefeltro], I did not know how that could be done honourably as you are in his service, but that nevertheless I would write everything to Your Lordship so that you were informed of every occurrence […] I remind you to preserve your person when you can do so with the good grace of his most Christian Majesty.70

Francesco supported this stance, telling Isabella to reply that he would neither back nor go against Cesare until he knew the king’s mind.71 There was a steady coming and going of envoys between Mantua and Cesare’s court. Lodovico Brognolo appears to have been well received on his missions to Borgia, bearing important communications on several occasions, and he also went between the marchesi.72 In Francesco’s absence Cesare communicated to Isabella on most issues, particularly those relating to the betrothal. The marchesa stressed that he should not stop sending envoys to move matters forward while Francesco was away.73 She thus became well acquainted with Borgia’s intermediaries, 70   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 12 October 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, f. 22r–v: ‘Io gli ho resposto piacermi ogni ben suo, ma che de la persona del S.re Zoanne io non disponeria senza expressa comissione de V. Ex. Et che quanto sia de confortarla a non obedire il Re quando ge lo commandasse, che non sapeva como la potesse farlo cum honore suo essendo stipendiato da lei, et che non dimeno scriveva il tutto a V. S. cossì per farla avisata de ogni occurrentia [...] ben gli ricordo a conservarsi la persona sua quando cum bona gratia de la M.tà Crist.ma lo possi fare’. 71   Francesco to Isabella, Vigevano, 15 October 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 41r: ‘la S.V. poterà respondere a M.a Duchesa che nuj non daremo favore alcuno né disfavore al Sig.re Ducha de Romagnia né ale sue sintanto che non havemo intesi la deliberatione de la M.tà Chr.ma’. 72   For a mission to Borgia see Cesare to Isabella, Cesena, 16 December 1502, Autografi, b. 5, c. 159. For Brognolo as intermediary between the marchesi, see Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 17 October, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 22v–24r. 73   Isabella to Cesare, copy of autograph, Mantua, 17 October 1502, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘io havesse in absentia sua a fare tutto quello che se recercava in la conclusione […] me è parso notificare la commissione ch’io ho, aciò che la non restasse di mandare il suo per l’absentia dil S.re Marchese’. Isabella sent a copy of this letter to Francesco, along with the latest news from the dispossessed signori, torn ‘fra la speranza et la paura’. Her letter reveals the couple’s common aims and information sharing, Mantua, 17 October, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 22v–24r. Cesare replied to Isabella that he was happy to work with her, Imola, 21 October, Autografi, b. 5, c. 148r. A week later, sending Corberano, he reiterated this: ‘Ralegramoce

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including Francisco Trocio, Giovanni Artese, and Enrico Corberano. As well as fostering a good relationship with Trocio, she seems to have thought much of Corberano, describing him to her husband as a ‘truly courteous person’, ‘persona veramente gentile’.74 It was during a visit of Corberano, sent to both Francesco and Isabella with news, that Giovanni Gonzaga left Mantua suddenly for Bologna to involve himself in anti-Borgia activities. With the danger of Gonzaga/Borgia relations being irrevocably soured, Isabella related how she had immediately sent il Milanese, Capilupi, and Brognolo to Corberano to assure him that Francesco had expressly ordered his brother ‘that under no circumstances should he go to Bologna, such a departure being against Your Lordship’s will and mine’. Corberano had replied that he had already known about Giovanni’s departure for four hours, and Isabella assumed this was from a certain Alphonso Spagnolo who had been seen talking to Corberano in the church of S. Francesco at vespers, proving the lengths to which she had been going to keep him under surveillance. After initially agreeing to write to Borgia in the marchesi’s defence, Corberano decided to go to him in person.75 Isabella turned the envoy’s presence to her advantage by using him to protest their innocence, telling Francesco after Corberano returned to Mantua: ‘He is back again and reports that as far as Signor Zoanne’s departure is concerned the lord duke remains very satisfied by Your Lordship and cares little about it’.76 The marchesi thus denounced Giovanni to Borgia, and suffered no fallout from Giovanni’s actions. Despite appearances, Giovanni did not fall into disfavour with molto che la conclusione sia remessa in la Vostra Ill.ma S.ria [...] non stimamo possa essere in meglior mano’, Imola, 28 October, Autografi, b. 5, c. 152r. 74   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 November 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, cc. 179r–180r. Corberano visited Mantua several times in October and November 1502. Cesare to Isabella, Imola, 7 October, Autografi, b. 5, c. 146r. The marchesa promised him her portrait, which he was keen to receive. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 106n. 75   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 November, 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 32r–33r: ‘facilmente poteria essere causa de dare ombreza al sig.re Duccha de Romagna […] lo certificassero cum il testimonio de epso Brognolino quale de comissione de la Ex.V. haveva facto intendere al Sig.re Zoanne che nullo modo dovesse andare a Bologna, questa andata sua essere contra il volere de la Sig.ria Vostra et mia’. To publicise the marchesi’s disapproval Isabella issued a decree stating that Giovanni was in Bologna against Francesco’s will, and that any subject to follow him faced the gallows and confiscation of property, anyone already there having to return within six days to avoid this punishment. Luzio, I Borgia, pp. 105–6. Also b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 177r–178r, and Cesare to Isabella, Imola, 5 November, Autografi, b. 5, c. 155. 76   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 November 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 179r–180r: ‘Quel M. Corberano zentilhomo dil Sig.re Duca de Romagna quale era qui per lo apunctamento dil parentato et capello, seguita la partita del S.re Zoanne per Bologna, andò in persona al sig.re suo per fare la scusa de la Ex. V., che senza saputa et consentimento di quella era partito [...] Di novo è ritornato et quanto sij per la partita del S. Zoanne referisse ch’el S. Duca resta molto satisfacto de la S.V. et che di tale andata si ne cura poco’.

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Francesco and Isabella. That he played a significant part in the division of Gonzaga fronts is suggested by Francesco’s reassurance to Giovanni on an earlier occasion in August 1500: ‘because of the conditions of the times we speak improperly of you in public, but that does not mean however that in our heart we do not love you and hold you as a brother’.77 After his flight in November 1502, Giovanni maintained his place in the Gonzaga power axis and information machine. Less than a month later, Isabella told Francesco: ‘the accord between the lord duke of the Romagna and the Bolognese […] has been made known to me by Signor Zoanne your brother, who commends himself to Your Lordship’.78 A careful balancing act was also required when dealing with Cesare’s requests for extra troops and free passage through the Gonzaga state.79 These were both inconvenient and, in light of the surprise attack on Urbino, potentially hazardous. Requests were frequent for supplies and the transportation of goods without payment of taxes, duty, or tolls.80 Francesco’s absence was a useful excuse for procrastination and Isabella could put off requests, claiming not to be able to act on them until her husband’s return, as above with the suggestion that Trocio come back on Francesco’s homecoming. This was a deliberate inversion of the marchesa’s projection of her authority, Isabella exploiting the status of the consort as subordinate spouse, and a strategy by which Francesco and Isabella could buy   Francesco to Giovanni Gonzaga, Mantua, 24 August 1500, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘per le conditione che sono de’ tempi parlamo in publico licentiosamente di voi, ma non resta perhò che nel cor non vi amamo e vi habiamo per fratello’. 78   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 1 December 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 59r–61r: ‘lo accordo del Sig.re Duca de Romagna et bolognesi [...] ho havuto del S. Zoanne vostro fratello, el quale se raccomanda a V. S.’. Giovanni wrote an autograph letter to Isabella excusing his flight, perhaps to be shown around court, Bologna, 4 November, b. 1145, n.n. Throughout that month he sent regular news to his sister-in-law, Bologna, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 27 November, although his letters suggest she did not reply until 24 November, b. 1145, n.n. In December Isabella told her husband that Sigismondo had gone to visit Elisabetta in Venice and Giovanni was leaving Mantua again for Bologna that day, but would return for Francesco’s homecoming. Mantua, 21 December 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 70r–71r. Isabella wrote to Giovanni at the end of the month with information about negotiations with Cesare and news from Sigismondo in Venice. Mantua, 30 December, ff. 73v–74r. In January 1503 Giovanni was back in Mantua awaiting the marchese’s arrival. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 26 January 1503, b. 2993, L. 14, f. 95r. 79   Francesco to Isabella, Vigevano, 15 October 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 42r. 80   Cesare wrote to Isabella sending an Imolese subject, Gian Battista Cattaneo, to buy grain at a good price without duty in October 1502, Imola, 26 October, Autografi, b. 5, c. 150 r. Later Borgia informed her that promises from Francesco to allow him to buy grain at a good price in Mantuan territory had been ignored, officials demanding a third more than the local asking price. He asked her to remove these difficulties, Imola, 14 November, Autografi, b. 5, c. 157r. Also Isabella to Cesare, Mantua, 24 November, b. 2993, L. 14, f. 55 r–v and Cesare to Isabella, Cesena, 20 December, Autografi, b. 5, c. 161r. 77

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time. In answer to one of Cesare’s requests for grain, Isabella replied that she was unable to oblige before Francesco’s return, expected in a month.81 The couple kept each other minutely informed, letters from this period continually revealing their strong perception of family unity and shared adoration of their children.82 They made use of both common and separate sources of information, providing access to a rich vein of intelligence upon which to base decisions. In addition to Carlo Canale, other contacts at the papal court, such as Gian Lucido Cattaneo and Floramonte Brognolo, provided the Gonzaga with key strategic intelligence on the Borgia.83 They also used family correspondents for influence and information, Isabella, for example, developing contact with Chiara Gonzaga when France was central in her line of vision. During Francesco’s absence, Isabella ensured she had various contacts with the French to inform her of events and currents of feeling. Ferrarese sources were useful, such as the envoy who informed Isabella that her husband’s loyalty was under suspicion at the French court.84 Isabella’s father, Ercole d’Este, also maintained close correspondence with the Borgia. After Senigallia Both Isabella and Ercole sent Cesare congratulations in January 1503 on ridding himself of his treacherous captains, taken in by his call for reconciliation and then captured on New Year’s Eve at Senigallia and executed. The nineteenth-century historian Gregorovius describes Ercole’s communications with Cesare, in terms equally applicable to Isabella’s, as confidential in tone, each one ‘a diplomatic lie dictated by fear’.85 Isabella’s opinion of only a few weeks before Senigallia proves her diplomatic insight: ‘the lord duke of the Romagna […] proceeds with such secrecy and caution that one does not understand his handiwork or plans until after   Isabella to Cesare, Mantua, 23 December 1502, b. 2192, n.n.   Letters of Isabella to Francesco thick with diplomatic intelligence include: Mantua,

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22 November 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 51v–52r; 1 December, ff. 56v–59r; 6 December, ff. 63r–64r, and 3 January 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.1, cc. 331r–332r. Discussing family matters are: Mantua, 2 November 1502, ff. 30r–32r: ‘La Hippolita comincia a caminare et zanzare et ogni dì viene più buffoncella’; and 13 November, ff. 40r–41v: ‘Federico gli manda tre basini inclusi in questa littera’. On 21 November, Isabella reported how Elisabetta Gonzaga had nearly drowned, falling into a Venetian canal while boarding a boat after her sleeve had caught on a boat nearby, ff. 49r–50r. On 1 December, ff. 59r–61r: ‘La S.V. me scrive che sebene è in Franza et molto acarezato da le M.tà Chr.me del Re et Regina non resta però che sempre la non me habi nel cuore insieme col nostro puttino. Questo io lo credo facilmente, ma non credo già ch’el desiderio suo de vederni sia a grande pezo da paragonare al mio, perché io non penso né attendo ad altro cha al ritorno suo’. 83   For example, Cattaneo had kept Isabella informed about the Ferrara betrothal. Luzio, I Borgia, pp. 68–9. 84   Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, I, p. 189. 85   Gregorovius, p. 98: ‘una menzogna diplomatica dettata dalla paura’.

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their execution’.86 Borgia, and other correspondents, quickly informed Isabella of events in Senigallia, and she detailed to Francesco all she knew from various sources, including Giovanni Gonzaga, Francesco Malatesta in Florence, Gian Lucido Cattaneo in Rome, and a certain Modesto, newly arrived from Venice.87 This demonstrates Isabella’s extensive information network and the importance she placed on having all possible facts at her disposal. She made little comment on the situation, laying out the information and considering primarily where the Gonzaga may fit in: seeing the need for assurance of their standing with the French, and believing, with the outlook dangerous and unclear, that Francesco should continue working to conclude an honourable, profitable alliance with the king as soon as possible. Isabella sent Cesare a gift of one hundred carnival masks; she praised his ‘happy progress’ and ‘glorious exploits’, and underlined his friendship with herself and her husband.88 She urged him to continue keeping her informed of his progress, ostensibly to rejoice in his triumphs, but to gain information on his movements. Also, the letter bearer could be a useful spy, as when Trocio was sent by Cesare to Mantua the previous year. Isabella informed Francesco she had heard that Cesare was proceeding toward Perugia: ‘under the cover of congratulating His Excellency I will send another messenger there to learn of his progress and tell Your Lordship’.89 Cesare’s letter of thanks for the masks, in its very address emphasising his friendship and kinship with the marchesa, portrayed the signori as tyrants whose states he aimed to rightfully restore to the Church.90 The exchange of letters  

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Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 1 December 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 56v–59r: ‘il Sig.re Duca de Romagna […] procede cum tanta secreteza et cautela che non se intendeno effecti né designi se non doppo la exequutione’. This was a very similar opinion to that expressed by Machiavelli to the Ten from Cesena on 26 December 1502. See Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince: A Revised Translation, Backgrounds, Interpretations, Marginalia, ed. by Robert M. Adams (London, 1992), p. 84. 87   Cesare to Isabella, Senigallia, 1 January 1503, Autografi, b. 5, c. 163. Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 133n. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 10 January, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 81r–84r. D’Arco, doc. 39, pp. 262–5, Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, I, pp. 244–7. 88   Isabella to Cesare, Mantua, 15 January 1503, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 88r–v. Gregorovius, p. 283, Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, I, p. 248. Appendix Document 25. For masks see Luzio and Renier, ‘Il lusso’, pp. 685–6. 89   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 12 January 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.1, c. 333r–v: ‘Io sotto coperta de congratularmi cum S. Ex. mandarò un’altro cavallaro là per intendere li progressi suoi et renderni conto a V.S.’. Luzio, I Borgia, p. 111. 90   Cesare to Isabella, Aquapendente, 1 February 1503, Autografi, b. 5, c. 166 r: ‘Ill.ma & Ex.ma signora commatre et sorella nostra honoranda’. Transcribed Gregorovius, pp. 283–4, reproduced Alfano, cat. II.13, p. 198. Corberano testified to the success of Isabella’s gift (addressing her as his ‘benefatrice’ and proclaiming his ‘perpetua servitù, [...] rara e singulare’), Aquapendente, 1 February, b. 1105, c. 199r. Andrea Cossa also told Isabella of Cesare’s pleasure at receiving the masks, Aquapendente, 2 February, c. 200r.

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illustrates Isabella and Cesare’s relationship, and their desire that each see matters from a viewpoint of common kinship. Cesare continued to ask favours of the Gonzaga, and Isabella continued to foster positive interaction, while gathering information to share with Francesco.91 Aiming to defuse the danger of outside influences, the marchesa also attempted to maintain the security and harmony of the Mantuan state, governing in her husband’s stead.92 The Gonzaga and Borgia presented masks of closeness, through established conventions, in order to convince the other of their sincerity, reduce suspicion, and secure the alliance. Cesare could be adept at presenting a friendly epistolary façade, for instance sending cordial letters to Guidobaldo before taking Urbino, and the Gonzaga sought to persuade him of their good feeling while remaining wary of sentiments expressed in his communications. Correspondence with the Gonzaga was valuable to Cesare; Gregorovius counted forty-one surviving letters from Cesare to Isabella and Francesco in the Mantuan archive.93 Cesare also attempted to make use of circuitous correspondence with the Gonzaga, for instance in requesting that the Bentivoglio ask the Gonzaga to help end resistance in Faenza. Cesare’s friendly correspondence with Isabella seems uncharacteristic; he was not known for his good relations with women, and apparently preferred dealing with men.94 The marchesa may initially have encouraged this friendliness to add   For favours see: Cesare to Francesco, Rome, 25 March and 20 April 1503, Autografi, b. 5, c. 168 and c. 172; and Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 12 January 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.1, cc. 328r–329r. I sabella complained to Francesco in November 1502 that, with so many rumours in circulation, it was difficult to ascertain which information was correct, apologising if she had misinformed him ‘perhò che altro non gli posso scrivere se non quello che a me è scripto overo per bucca d’altri intendo’, Mantua, 16 November 1502, b. 2993, L. 14, c. 44v. For the couple’s on-going information exchange see Isabella to Francesco: Mantua, 25 January 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.1, cc. 336r–337r, with updates on the situation in the Romagna; news from Florence that the Republic would like Francesco as their captain; and talk of a league between the French, Florentines, Ferrarese, and Borgia. With cryptic evidence of shared intelligence and partnership, 2 February 1503, c. 340r: ‘Per l’inclusa littera la S.V. comprehenderà la causa che me persuade et constringe ad spaciarli volan(do) il presente cavallaro. Però non gli dirò altro se non che ley è savia, et che la non può fallire ad governarsi cauta(mente) et gli dimando di gratia che se may la penso di sé, la tenga di certo che hora l’è il tempo de aprire bene li occh(i)’. Francesco also kept Isabella informed, for instance of the king and Charlotte d’Albret’s negative feelings toward Cesare, Romorantin, 16 January 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. V.1, c. 210r. 92   In January 1503 after a fight in the city Isabella issued a decree prohibiting the carrying of weapons, Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 25 January, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 93r–94v. She updated her husband concerning violent crimes, Mantua, 20 and 21 July, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.1, c. 353r–354r, c. 355r–v. 93   Gregorovius, p. 98. 94   Seemingly Cesare usually ignored women who were not close family or a sexual target. Sabatini, pp. 254–5 and William Woodward, Cesare Borgia (London, 1913), pp. 22–7. 91

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another dimension to the wider Gonzaga/Borgia relationship, and then Cesare, recognising its potential value, responded with interest. Naturally, Isabella ensured her relationship with Cesare had a gendered rather than sexual subtext, such correspondence calling for a tone of elegance and respect appropriate to such inter-gender communication. Tebaldeo’s sonnets accompanying Cesare’s gift of the Cupid and Venus from Urbino show such courtly deference and veneration, Borgia presenting himself as an admirer of a cultured noblewoman.95 Significantly, the differing expectations attached to correspondence of noblemen and women allowed the marchesi to select the channel best suited to different communications. Isabella could use her role as consort to deflect troublesome demands, such as Cesare’s requests for supplies, or to broach politically sensitive matters in an indirect manner. Some of the marchesa’s letters to Cesare might overtly concentrate on personal, domestic matters such as the betrothal, but covertly have political intent. We find Isabella trying to discover tactical information from Cesare surreptitiously, with pretexts of family matters, as when using correspondence concerning the giving of masks to elicit his plans. Isabella’s letters provided a channel both for diplomatic intelligence and for power projection and image enhancement, and political news obtained could be forwarded to Francesco. Acting mostly in synergy with her husband, she built on opportunities, merging private, familial, and state concerns in her correspondence. In a treacherous political environment she employed epistolary personae as instruments of control, showing herself as a master of articulation as artifice. The End of the Borgia Threat The Borgia’s threatening rise was halted by the misfortune that when Alexander VI died on 17 August 1503 Cesare was seriously ill, unable to consolidate his power or prevent their enemy Giuliano della Rovere’s election as Julius II.96 Isabella expressed joy to her husband that the refugee signori would be restored, so benefitting the Gonzaga: ‘for the obligation they owe Your Excellency they ought reasonably to always be attached and grateful to you’.97 Francesco tried to obtain Cesare’s fine horses stabled in Urbino, on the pretext of safeguarding them while Guidobaldo settled his state again and during any disorder that might   Castoldi, pp. 713–4.   Francesco kept Isabella informed about the conclave and developments in Rome,

95 96

although expressing his concern that his letters might be delayed or go astray, and described rumours of dark, supernatural events surrounding Alexander’s death, Isola degli Orsini, 11, 17, and 22 September 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. V.2, c. 244r–v, cc. 250r–251r, and c. 254r–v. The last is transcribed by Gregorovius, p. 286. 97   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 31 August 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. VI.1, cc. 359r–360r: ‘me piace che quelli poveri sig.ri forausciti siano restituiti in stato, che per l’obligo hanno ala Ex.V. ragionevolmente gli debeno essere sempre affectionati & grati’.

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follow. He charged Isabella with the delicate business of seeing to this ‘by making some arrangement about this matter with the duchess as if by your own idea, with that grace and excellent manner that you usually know how to exercise with your discretion and talent’.98 Testifying to the persuasive mask of Gonzaga friendship, facing the crisis after his father’s death, Cesare headed for the marchese’s camp in September 1503. In the upheaval the marchesi closely watched his moves, Francesco reporting, for instance, Cesare’s renewed links with Spain.99 Cesare continued to show faith in Francesco, writing to him throughout the autumn of 1503, but his cause was now destined to fail, and in November Julius II detained him.100 He managed to reach Naples in April 1504, but was arrested there in May and sent to Spain as a prisoner. Drawing Cesare’s story to a close, after his escape to Navarre from incarceration in the castle of La Mota in Castile in 1506, he sent a letter each to Francesco and Isabella.101 Written three days after reaching Pamplona, the pair of similar letters introduced their bearer, also sent to Ferrara, who would acquaint the Gonzaga with the latest news. Borgia no longer signed himself duke of the Romagna but ‘compatre e minor fratello’, believing compaternity with the Gonzaga might still prove advantageous. That he sent his messenger to the   Francesco to Isabella, Siena, 4 September 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. V.2, c. 242r–v: ‘La

98

S.V. ni farà piacere a fare di ciò qualche practica come da sé cum la Duchessa, cum quella gentileza e ben modo che per la sua discretione et ingegno la suole sapere fare’. Assuring her husband that under her governance ‘le cose nostre passano cum tanta quiete’, Isabella informed him that although writing to Elisabetta ‘in optima forma’, she had heard from Lodovico Brognolo that Borgia’s horses were elsewhere, a fact subsequently supported by Elisabetta’s reply. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 15 and 26 September, b. 2994, L. 16, ff. 32v–34r and f. 41r–v. 99   Francesco to Isabella, Florence, 2 September 1503, b. 2115bis, fasc. V.2, cc. 240r r –241 : ‘Valentino è declarato spagnolo’. 100   Cesare to Francesco, sending an envoy Messer Pietro, Nepi, 15 September 1503, Autografi, b. 5, c. 178r; sending dogs and messages through a staffiere Sebastiano, Nepi, 17 September, c. 180r; and asking Francesco to help some of his soldiers recover certain belongings, Nepi, 18 September, c. 182r. Francesco informed Isabella of Cesare’s arrest, concluding ‘di lui pocho bono iudicio si può fare’, Rome, 29 November, b. 2115bis, fasc. V.3, cc. 316r –317r. 101   Cesare to Isabella, Pamplona, 7 December 1506, Autografi, b. 5, c. 185r: ‘Ill.ma et [Ex.ma Signora] Commatre como sorella nostra honoranda Comatre: Aviso [V. Illma S.ria como d]apoi tante travagli ha piaciuto ad N. S.re Dio [liberarme et cavarme] de prescione nel modo che da Federico mio se[cretario] exhibitore de questa intenderà, piaccia alla infinita sua [clementia che sia per maiure] suo servitio. Al presente me retrovo in [Pampilona col Ser. mo] Re et Regina de Navarra, dove arrivai [alli tre] de decembre, como de questo et de ogni altra cosa dal prefato Federico V. Ex.tia ad pieno intenderà, al quale piaccia de quanto dirà in nome mio prestare quella piena fede che faria alla mia propria persona. Ad V. Ill.ma S.ria sempre me recommando. De Pampilona adi vij de Decembre MDVJ. De V. Ex.tia compatre e servitor[e]’. This letter is in very poor condition, with transcription based on comparison with Cesare’s very similar letter to Francesco of the same date, c. 184r, reproduced Alfano, cat. II.12, p. 198, transcribed Gregorovius, p. 289.

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Este and Gonzaga courts indicates that he judged that, besides his sister, Mantua was the most likely source of Italian support. Cesare seems to have perceived the alliance as still holding some weight, indicating the marchesi’s shrewd presentation of Gonzaga goodwill through masks of friendship and kinship.102 In successfully negotiating the crisis of the Borgia menace, the marchesi followed a common strategy. Francesco’s absence from Mantua during this period allowed the couple to project quite different images: Isabella courting Cesare while Francesco was in the presence of the signori and the king, waiting to see which direction events would take. While Isabella was the mastermind behind some of the tactics employed, demonstrating political prudence when counselling caution to Francesco and altering his letter of 18 July 1502 to best fit her understanding of the expedient course of action, the couple undoubtedly worked together. Unfortunately, scholars have often denied Francesco even partial acknowledgment for Gonzaga political successes, and at the time of the Borgia threat he is accused of imprudent behaviour and little else. George Marek, for instance, gives Isabella full credit for saving Mantua from Cesare.103 Yet, their response to Borgia machinations shows that the couple must be considered as a team, each concerned both with self-presentation and with dynastic presentation, working together for the house of Gonzaga. A pivotal part of the teamwork between Francesco and Isabella was in information sharing and the exchange of letters when apart. Naturally, the marchesi shared the news of Cesare’s death in a skirmish while fighting for his brotherin-law in March 1507.104 In Cesare’s last years the Gonzaga/Borgia relationship was complicated by Lucrezia’s efforts to enlist Francesco’s help for her brother, leading to their liaison at Borgoforte in October 1505 and ensuing relationship, as discussed in Chapter 3.105 Biographies frequently focus on Francesco and Isabella’s marital disharmony from these years on. Although important, this can mistakenly overshadow the general picture of alliance in their actions. Despite tension in their relationship in later years, explored in the following chapter, the couple’s continued collaboration must not be disregarded.

102   The Gonzaga’s declared friendship for Cesare, along with the marchesa’s influence, still had persuasive power after some years, and Cesare’s daughter Luisa corresponded with Isabella from France. 103   ‘That the Gonzaga state remained upright when all around the Italian states were toppling, was entirely due to Isabella’s skill’, Marek, p. 81. 104   Francesco to Isabella, Asti, 10 and 15 April 1507, b. 2117, fasc. I, c. 9r–v and cc. 13r–14r, Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 12 April, fasc. II, cc. 65r–66v. 105   To please Lucrezia, Francesco sent an envoy to Spain to request Cesare’s release. Bellonci, Lucrezia Borgia, pp. 289–93.

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Chapter 6

Overcoming Tension and Troubles The previous chapter examined the marchesi’s political power sharing and decision making in issues of peninsular and international importance as exemplified by their response to the machinations of Cesare Borgia. This final chapter analyses their reactions to later political challenges. It considers the strain on their relations before and after the Venetians’ capture of Francesco in 1509, then when their interests pulled them in different directions during Julius II’s conflict with Ferrara, and, finally, the problems occasioned by Francesco’s long illness. Above all, this section again demonstrates Isabella and Francesco’s teamwork in action, like Machiavelli’s ideal prince, adapting to the political exigencies of their times.1 The sustained use of divided fronts to cover different diplomatic bases is demonstrated; this policy a crucial factor in the couple’s successful negotiation of some of the stormiest years of Renaissance politics. Permitted by the strong individual identities of the marchesi, this division allowed the Gonzaga as a team to ensure that they would back the strongest side. This ‘team masking’ was sometimes the unambiguous direct choice of both parties. Sometimes an explicit decision to divide fronts is not discernible. On other occasions the marchesi were seemingly in disagreement, and apparently made no common accord. This chapter in looking at these last situations questions whether the rifts were always genuine, or were perhaps further examples of skilful double faces. Biographers have focused on Francesco’s last years as a time of insurmountable estrangement in the couple’s marriage, with episodes taken as evidence of the marchese’s ingratitude and inability to see his wife’s worth. However, evidence suggests that, despite some marital disharmony, with the state paramount the couple maintained their enduring and successful partnership committed to the advancement of the Gonzaga. Thus, although Francesco and Isabella’s relationship changed somewhat over the years of their long marriage, the foundation of their power sharing and teamwork did not. ‘V.S. me ami pocho da un tempo in qua’ ‘Your Lordship has loved me little for some time’: Periods of Difficulty, 1506–07 The previous chapter saw the marchesi’s unity in facing Cesare Borgia and ended with their sharing of information about his death. In the years which followed 1   Machiavelli, Ch. 25: ‘sia felice quello che riscontra el modo del procedere suo con le qualità de’ tempi’.

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the fall of the Borgia, the couple continued to work together as a political unit, tackling a terrible plague in Mantuan territory in 1506, for instance, and projecting double fronts in the autumn of the same year, when Francesco fought for the pope in deposing the Bentivoglio, while Isabella offered friendship to the dispossessed.2 Strong ties bound Francesco and Isabella to the Bentivoglio: Isabella’s halfsister Lucrezia had married Annibale Bentivoglio in 1487, Giovanni Gonzaga married Laura Bentivoglio in 1494. The Gonzaga followed a mutually agreed policy. Isabella wrote to the marchese thanking him for news about the taking of Bologna, but stated that it saddened her, and she would offer the Bentivoglio refuge as Francesco instructed if they came to Mantua.3 In April 1507 Isabella told Francesco she had deliberately avoided opening letters, regarding an interdict Julius II had placed on Mantua for the harbouring of Bentivoglio women, in order to plead ignorance of their contents.4 Further confirmation of ongoing teamwork is Isabella’s long description to her husband of intelligence received about a Bolognese plot to poison the pope.5 However, there was evidence of some marital tension, particularly with Francesco more often in Mantua and Isabella’s full involvement in political and administrative matters less required. Carolyn James refers to ‘periods of strained relations’ between the couple from the marchese’s return from action with the French army at the end of 1503 to his imprisonment in 1509, with a ‘reduced level of political collaboration’.6 Examples can be found of both marchesi being somewhat disparaging about the state of matrimony at this time. Isabella, trying to persuade Giovanna Boschetti to become a nun in 1506 wrote that the girl would be happy without the ‘many worries suffered by those who marry and stay in this world’.7 Francesco informed Giovan Francesco Tridapale, from his experience of many years of marriage, that he would find matrimony strange and the need to please his wife frustrating.8 There were several causes of tension. The marchesi disagreed about the naming of their second son, born in November 1505: Francesco wished him to be called   Isabella pawned her jewels so that Francesco: ‘in questo importante bisogno de la peste se ne possi servire a modo suo’, Sacchetta, 12 June 1506, b. 2116, fasc. XI.1, c. 219r–v. 3   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 October 1506, b. 2116, fasc. XI.3, c. 259: ‘ma mi doleo de la ruina di Bentivolij […] Se alcuno de loro capitarà qua serrà da me amorevolmente raccolto, et per naturale mio instincto et per obedire V. Cel.’. 4   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 16 April 1507, b. 2994, L. 20, f. 40r. James, ‘An Insatiable Appetite for News’, p. 386. 5   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 29 May 1507, b. 2117, fasc. II, cc. 102r–103r, postscript c. 104. 6   James, ‘An Insatiable Appetite for News’, p. 382. 7   Isabella to Giovanna Boschetti, Sacchetta, 30 August 1506, b. 2994, L. 19, f. 52r–v: ‘ogni giorno ti ritrovarai più contenta, per li molti affanni che hanno quelle che se maritano et stanno in questo mundo’. 8   Kolsky, ‘Images’, p. 57n. James, ‘Friendship’, pp. 14–15. 2

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Alvise/Louis after the king of France, and Isabella Ercole, after her father who had died earlier that year.9 In an autograph letter of October 1506 she reminded her husband that on an occasion in Sacchetta he had remarked on the similarity between the baby and Isabella’s father, she had replied that the boy should have been named in Ercole’s honour, at which Francesco had laughed and Isabella had understood this as approval. She suggested that he could name any future sons Alvise, allowing her this Ercole. She implied that Francesco had accused an unnamed party of inciting her against him, but asserted that no one could induce her to fight with him, but the marchese himself; if he showed love for her then no one could lead her to believe otherwise. She then made the explicit statement that for some time no middleman had been required to show Isabella that her husband loved her little.10 This offers some further insight into the motivations for the marchesa’s jealous attack on Elisabetta Tosabezzi of five months later (see Chapter 4). The letter of April 1507 discussed in Chapter 4, another intimate autograph from Isabella to her husband, also allows the reader to perceive both the familiarity between the marchesi, and a certain dissatisfaction from the marchesa.11 The hint of discontent in Isabella’s assertion that she would gladly change Francesco in some respects was followed by reassurance and concern for his safety in the field, 9   Francesco to Isabella, San Marino, 1 October 1506, b. 2914, L. 193, c. 23v: ‘ni rincresce ben che la S. V. perseveri in voler al suo poter mutar il suo diricto nome a Loysi nostro figliol a cui elegessimo quello nome per reverentia dil Re di Franza, et a cui volemo per ogni modo el corri. Perhò cessi V. S. di nominarlo altramenti aciò ch’el non si pensassi che l’andassi cercando nove cause di noiarni’. It was a well-established practice to name children after their grandparents. Francesco’s illegitimate daughter was named Margherita after his mother, then came Leonora after Isabella’s mother, followed by Federico for Francesco’s father, leaving it likely that their second son should be Ercole. It is interesting that to resolve the issue their third son Ferrante was not named Ercole. Instead, the couple’s second son appears to have carried both names throughout his childhood, before the name Ercole finally stuck after the marchese’s death. After their disagreement, in letters to Francesco Isabella habitually called their son Alvise. Eg. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 20 October 1506, b. 2116, fasc. XI.3, c. 272: ‘gli anuncio il ben stare mio, de Federico, Alvise, et tutte le putte’; Mantua, 22 August 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, c. 122r: ‘Loyse, et io stemo bene’; Revere, 14 June 1518, b. 2123bis, f. IV, c. 277r: ‘Louise nostro figliolo’. However, she did occasionally use her preferred name to her husband, Porto, 16 June 1518, b. 2123bis, f. V, c. 309r: ‘Hercule nostro comune figliolo’. To Federico in these years she would refer to his brother by both names. Isabella to Federico, Mantua, 13 February 1516, b. 2122, f. II, c. 220r: ‘Aluyse tuo fratello’; Mantua, 24 February 1516, c. 222r: ‘Hercule et Ferrante toi fratelli’. 10   Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Mantua, 5 October 1506, b. 2116, fasc. XI.3, c. 262r–v. Partially transcribed Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p. 445 and ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives’, p. 93. Appendix Document 26. 11   Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Mantua, 26 April 1507, b. 2117, fasc. II, c. 86r. Luzio ‘Tragedie’, app. 18. Appendix Document 29.

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the insinuation of unhappiness lessened by highlighting Francesco’s bravery; Isabella’s deep knowledge of his conduct; and reference to their family, with Ercole being called by Francesco’s preferred name ‘Loise’. A suggestion of disillusionment was nevertheless put forward. Thus is seen a relationship built on common aims, and continued practical teamwork, but with an undercurrent of issues of trust and appreciation. ‘Il Cardinale et io pensamo sempre alla sua liberatione’ ‘The cardinal and I think always of your liberation’: the Marchese’s Imprisonment, 1509–10 By 1509, with Francesco fighting for the Franco-papal-imperial coalition against Venice in the War of the League of Cambrai, Isabella was back in control of governing Mantua, and the marchesi demonstrated their customary and expedient information sharing and teamwork. In May 1509 for instance, Francesco, unwell, thanked Isabella for prayers for his health; Isabella oversaw public celebrations of the Venetian defeat at Agnadello; and sent on to Francesco’s camp for examination a dubious individual she suspected of spying, as a mistress of dissimulation herself she felt: ‘in these times one cannot be too alert or suspicious’.12 In June an intimate autograph letter thanked her husband for a gift of partridges and lamented her inability to lose weight.13 On 3 August, Isabella wrote to Francesco of Messer Maximo, the pope’s envoy sent to discuss the marriage of Leonora with his nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere. The marchesa deferred discussion, and Francesco praised her good judgement.14 However, on the night of 7 August the calm in the marchesi’s relationship would be shattered, as Francesco was taken prisoner by the Venetians outside 12   Francesco to Isabella, thanking her for prayers, to which he attributed his recovery, Cassano, 17 May 1509, b. 2118, f. I.1, cc. 52r–53r. Luzio identifed Francesco’s illness at this time as syphilis in ‘La reggenza’, p. 8, although in earlier work he stated that the marchese began suffering from this illness in 1512, ‘Contributo’, p. 411. Isabella to Francesco, about public celebrations, Mantua, 17 May 1509, b. 2118bis, f. II.2, cc. 191r–192r. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 10. Isabella to Francesco, sending a certain Don Julio, Mantua, 19 May, c. 195r–v: ‘a questi tempi non si può essere troppo accorto, né sospettoso’. She may have been overly wary on this occasion. Francesco to Isabella, claiming Julio was ‘racommandatoni dal S.r Gioan Zordano, et dal p.to vescovo de Tivoli’, Brescia, 26 May, b. 2118, fasc I.2, cc. 61r–62r. 13   Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Mantua, 22 June 1509, b. 2118bis, f. II.3, c. 229r, signed ‘quella che ama V. S. quanto se medesima, Isabella’. 14   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 August 1509, b. 2118bis, f. II.3, c. 257r and c. 262r–v and reply Verona, 4 August, f. I.2, c. 104r–v: ‘non haveria possuto governarsi più discretamente né cum maior circumspectione in haver intertenuto M. Maximo nel modo che ha facto’.

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Verona at Isola della Scala.15 Isabella had to react to the shocking, perilous news without hesitation. Sigismondo Gonzaga, made cardinal legate of le Marche early in the year, was recalled immediately to Mantua.16 He remained at Isabella’s side during his brother’s imprisonment, supporting her in her rule and putting his signature beside hers on many important and sensitive documents. Isabella wrote to her officials on 9 August, balancing description of the emotional anguish appropriate to the circumstances with affirmation of her ability to act as a strong regent: although for this sudden circumstance we are most filled with consternation and extremely distressed, we are not however so without spirit or advice that we do not intend to do all possible to preserve completely this state, and we have already made many provisions. Not only do we have sufficient spirit to protect this state, but we promise the swift liberation of our lord.17

She paraded Federico before her subjects, to show that there was still a male ruler, just as her mother had responded to imminent danger during the war of Venice and Ferrara by showing the people the ailing duke.18 Isabella also wrote to a great number of powerful people in Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire for support. These included the pope; the cardinals Medici, Volterra, Sanseverino, and Aragon; the gonfalonier of Florence; the queen of France; the duke and duchess of Bourbon; and the dukes of Saxony and Bavaria.19 She sent envoys to the king of Hungary and the sultan.20 Isabella’s able regency cannot be discussed in detail here, but a brief overview demonstrates her successful negotiation of difficulties. Luzio suggested Isabella’s regency had three aims: to protect Mantua from enemies and pseudo-protectors; to see Francesco freed without compromising his state; and to avenge his capture through the punishment of his captors and those who had taken advantage of his 15   Roberto Cessi, ‘La cattura del Marchese Francesco Gonzaga di Mantova e le prime trattative per la sua liberazione’, Nuovo Archivio Veneto, 25 (1913), 3–35. 16   Isabella to Sigismondo, Mantua, 8 August 1509, b. 2995, L. 21, ff. 34v–35r. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 13. 17   Isabella to every vicario, podestà, and commissario, Mantua, 9 August 1509, b. 2995, L. 21, f. 38v: ‘benché per questo improvviso caso semo molto consternate et sopra modo afflicte, non siamo perhò cossì perso de animo et consiglio che non deliberamo de fare il possible per conservare integramente questo stato, et già havimo facte molte provisioni [...] non solo ni basta l’animo di servare questo stato, ma ne promettemo la presta liberatione dil p.to Seg.r nostro’. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 14. 18   Pizzagalli, p. 245, and Gundersheimer, ‘Women, Learning and Power’, pp. 61–2. 19   Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 15. 20   Giancarlo Malacarne, I signori del cielo: La falconeria a Mantova al tempo dei Gonzaga (Mantua, 2003), pp. 305–7; and H. J. Kissling, ‘Francesco II Gonzaga ed il Sultano Bâyezîd II’, ASI, 125 (1967), 34–68, pp. 66–7.

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situation.21 The marchesa achieved these objectives by using all the skills and resources at her disposal. At home a public display of support for Isabella and her sons was shown, she tried to keep her subjects happy, and rare instances of insubordination were publicly punished to deter others.22 Her subjects’ support was cited to avert Louis XII’s threat to send French troops to Mantua as protection, just as the calmness of the state and Sigismondo’s assistance were reasons given to deflect the emperor’s intervention.23 Isabella maintained state security with the help of her officials, from whom she demanded constant updates.24 Abroad, she utilised her diplomatic arsenal to its fullest, and delicately balanced her fostering of alliances.25 With the marchese captive, power was expressly in Isabella’s hands. This was the only period in which they could have no real power-sharing relationship. Over the next eleven months Isabella would have very little contact with her husband, imprisoned in the Torresella of the Ducal Palace, although she sent portraits by Costa of herself and Leonora to keep him company, and tried to alleviate his misery by sending the musicians Angelo Testagrossa and Marchetto Cara, who   Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 13–14.   Isabella to Jacopo d’Atri, Mantua, 9 August 1509, b. 2995, L. 21, ff. 39r–40r.

21 22

Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 14. On 3 November she wrote to Gian Pietro da Nuvolara that she would rather pawn all her jewellery and possessions than see her subjects suffer. Pizzagalli, p. 250. She benevolently dispensed justice, refusing, for instance, to send a peasant back to his lord for punishment. Isabella to Marchese Oddone d’Incisa, Mantua, 21 November, b. 2917, L. 209, ff. 41r –42v: ‘non mi pare de mandare el pover homo ad periculo de morte, che se ben l’hè villano è perho homo, et noi, essendo lui in casa nostra, gli devemo haver compassione como ad homo’. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 25. Some Mantuan subjects offered, without being asked, to contribute one hundred ducats towards the expenses for Leonora’s marriage. Isabella to Francesco Malatesta, Mantua, 30 October, f. 11r. In November 1509 Isabella wrote to the podestà of Ostiglia that he should publicly chastise those who had disobeyed her as an example to others, Mantua, 12 November, f. 30r–v. Also Mantua, 19 November, ff. 41r–42v. 23   Isabella to Louis XII, Mantua, 12 August 1509, b. 2995, L. 21, ff. 47v–48r. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 18–9. 24   In November 1509 Isabella instructed the podestà of Ostiglia to give troops to an imperial commander. However, in a confidential postscript she ordered that to the commander the troops should appear gladly given, to others the podestà should dissimulate that no order to this effect had been issued, avoiding provocation of Venetian anger against Francesco, Mantua, 12 November 1509, b. 2917, L. 209, f. 30r–v. 25   Through envoys in France she proclaimed a pro-French stance. Isabella to Jacopo d’Atri and Suardino (mutatis mutandis), Mantua, 17 January 1510, b. 2192, n.n. She supported Ferrara against Venice. As usual, she wrote frankly to her brother Alfonso, and in December 1507 asked that he not reveal her as the source of any information which might anger the French, Mantua, 6 December 1509, b. 2192, n.n. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 38–9. For Isabella’s use of coded letters with her envoys, see Cockram, ‘Epistolary masks’, pp. 25–28.

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may also have acted as a messenger to the marchese, as seen in Chapter 5.26 The marchese’s rare letters, clearly passing through Venetian hands, asked that Isabella, his dear wife, ‘moier cara’, convey his commendation to his courtiers and children, and organise prayers to be said for him.27 Isabella attempted to send letters and messengers through the doge, although of course she could not communicate freely in this way, and her messages did not always reach the marchese, as seen below.28 Isabella stressed in her wide correspondence that she was drawing on Cardinal Sigismondo’s counsel and was neither overly enjoying ruling nor attempting to usurp Francesco’s place. However, the Venetians followed a policy of encouraging in the marchese mistrust of his wife. In January 1510 Isabella was condemned by the Venetians for a variety of offences, including assisting the emperor and supporting Ferrara against them. The marchesa wrote defiantly to her envoys in France that the Venetians had accused her of having little respect or love for her consort. She was afraid that his captors would torment Francesco with such allegations, but was certain the world would bear witness to her efforts for his liberation and state. She continued that she did not object to accusations of being pro-French, because she was. She hoped the king would ensure Francesco’s freedom, and was sure the marchese also secretly felt the same. The ambassadors were to make all of this known to the powers at court, avoiding Venetian ears for fear of reprisals against Francesco. She finished by listing those who could testify to her actions, including the pope, the emperor, and the king and queen of France, particularly underlining her close relationship with Sigismondo to emphasise that the marchese’s best interests were continually being followed.29 Isabella had sent Fra Anselmo, prior of the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, to Venice to justify her actions, but the friar was given short shrift, not allowed to speak to Francesco and undo any denunciations promoted by the Venetians.30 By the following month Isabella was sure that the Venetians were trying to poison her husband against her, breaking their partnership, weakening the marchese, and making him more pliant to their plans. She instructed Lodovico Brognolo in Rome to counter allegations:   Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, II, p. 38.   Copy of Francesco to Isabella, Venice, 20 August 1509, b. 2118, f .I.2, c. 107r.

26 27

He also wrote to his secretary Tolomeo Spagnoli that he commend him to Isabella and Sigismondo, his family, and various courtiers, autograph, Venice, 4 and 24 September, 1 and 24 November, c. 108, c. 109r–v, c. 111, c. 112r–v. 28   For instance, Isabella thanked Doge Leonardo Loredano for permission to see the marchese given to Battista Scalona and Folenghino, and re-sent Folenghino with a letter and items for Francesco, Mantua, 15 September 1509, b. 2192, n.n. 29   Isabella to Jacopo d’Atri and Suardino (mutatis mutandis), Mantua, 17 January 1510, b. 2192, n.n. Partly transcribed Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 38–9. Appendix Document 31. 30   Isabella to Lodovico Brognolo, Mantua, 7 January 1510, b. 2192, n.n.

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Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga that we are not loving to our lord consort, and do not want his liberation, although we cannot believe that either the Venetians or any other person in the world could accept such thoughts as true. But they say it to frighten us and to make our lord despair, and this is what tortures us and keeps us in constant torment.31

Brognolo was to reveal the contents of a letter ostensibly from Isabella to Elisabetta Gonzaga, in which she again highlighted her teamwork with Cardinal Sigismondo; pleaded her wish to soon be freed from the pressures of ‘this unhappy government’, ‘questo infelice governo’; made clear the mind games played on Francesco by the Venetians; and expressed her hope that the pope would ensure the prisoner would be able to receive her messengers.32 Isabella also wrote to the doge in polite terms, asking that the marchese receive her envoy and continue to be treated well.33 Francesco appeared to have accepted that his wife was against him. Marino Sanudo reports that, in discussion with the Council of Ten about the possibility of release and a military command, Francesco said he did not trust his wife, ‘who does not care much about him and who he fears is whole-heartedly pro-French like his brothers-in-law in Ferrara […] but he trusts Signor Zuane [Giovanni Gonzaga] and the cardinal well’.34 Thus the marchese seemingly complied with Venetian wishes, rejecting Isabella but still showing faith in his brothers, and thus not dismissing the Gonzaga power alliance all together. However, this apparent break in the partnership may have been a strategic façade. Lodovico Guerrieri da Fermo, for a time imprisoned with Francesco, reported secretly to the marchesa that her husband had complete faith in her decisions.35 However, perhaps (appearances may again mislead) genuine dissent then occurred. Francesco requested that Federico, demanded as a hostage by France and the emperor to guarantee continued Gonzaga alliance, be sent instead to Venice to secure the marchese’s release, upon which Francesco would commence service as a Venetian captain. Isabella wrote to her husband outlining the reasons why she would not send their heir:

31   Isabella to Lodovico Brognolo, Mantua, 17 February 1510, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘che non siamo amorevole al S.re nostro consorte, né che desideramo la sua liberatione, benché non possiamo credere che né a venetiani, né a persona dil mondo possi penetrare simile penseri. Ma lo fanno per impaurirni et mettere in desperatione il S.r nostro, che questo è quello che ne crucia et tene in continuo tormento’. 32   Isabella to Elisabetta Gonzaga, Mantua, 17 February 1510, b. 2192, n.n. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 42–4. Appendix Document 32. 33   Isabella to Doge Leonardo Loredan, Mantua, 17 February 1510, b. 2192, n.n. 34   Sanudo, X, 252: ‘la qual non li vol tropo ben et che dubita non sia tutta francese chomo è so cugnati di Ferara [...] ma dil signor Zuane e dil cardinal si fida ben’. 35   Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 49–50.

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I have seen what Your Lordship has written to me and heard what Aurelio has said to me on your behalf, that I should send Federico immediately so you may be free. Your Lordship can be sure that I do not desire anything more in the world than this, but I am pained and tormented that I cannot do it, knowing it to bring the manifest danger, or rather certainty, of the ruin of the state, of our children, and of your person, considering that even if Federico was in Venice, we could still not be certain of obtaining Your Lordship’s liberty, on the contrary it would cause you to be incarcerated longer.36

Furthermore, Isabella believed that with Federico absent, and Francesco serving the Venetian enemy as their captain, with the great number of French and imperial troops in the area, Mantua would be seized. If the Venetians were really concerned about Francesco, she said, they would simply free him without a hostage and allow him to return home to govern his state and children. She finished with a persuasive defence of her position, stressing her partnership with Sigismondo in acting for the advancement of Francesco’s interests: If Your Excellency is angry with me for this, and will deprive me of your love and grace, I will be happier to stay with you in this absence and preserve the state, than to remain in your grace now and see you and your children deprived of the state, hoping that in time by your prudence and goodness you will know that I have been more loving to you than you yourself. You must, therefore, have a little patience, being certain that the cardinal and I think always of your liberation, and when the time comes we will not be lacking, as we have not been lacking until now. Witnesses to this are the pope, the emperor, the king of France, and all the lords and powers, Christian and infidel too. I conclude my most illustrious lord that I do not want to deprive myself of Federico and Your Lordship together, because if I knew this to be your liberation I would not only send Federico but all the other children in his company […] Besides, governing myself in consultation with the cardinal and according to the will of the League […] I can receive neither injury nor shame […] I pray you to forgive me if this letter is badly written and even worse composed, because I do not know if I am dead or alive […] She who desires Your Lordship’s good no less than her own, Isabella

Francesco reacted with another manifestation of anger against his wife. Sanudo writes that he cursed her as ‘that whore my wife’, ‘quella putana di mia mojer’. Crying, the marchese continued: ‘send me to the battlefield alone, do what you want with me, I have lost my state, honour, and freedom in one blow’, before 36   Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 14 May 1510, b. 2119, f. II.1, cc. 42r–43r. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 56–7. Appendix Document 33. Sanudo refers to this letter, clearly of no confidentiality, giving an overview of its contents, X, 326.

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saying that the cardinal was not to blame.37 This sounds similar to his previous denunciation of Isabella, and defence of Sigismondo, which may have been tactical. Perhaps it is significant that at this point Francesco recalled Lodovico Guerrieri, who had communicated secretly with Isabella before. Perhaps there was more to this display of animosity than meets the eye. If so, Luzio’s contrasting of the attitude of the incarcerated Francesco, like ‘a sick dog on a chain’, with Isabella’s constitution is unfair.38 The marchese, seemingly a Venetian puppet, wrote to Tolomeo Spagnoli from the Grand Council chamber, asking the secretary, along with Sigismondo and Vigo di Camposampiero, to covertly raise money to support the Venetians. The letter does not mention Isabella.39 Julius II told the Venetian ambassador he had heard from Mantua that Francesco had threatened to cut Isabella’s throat if she did not send Federico, but she, on Sigismondo’s advice, had continued to refuse.40 The pope urged Francesco not to harm Isabella on his release, because Julius was sure she had not sent Federico with the preservation of the state in mind.41 At these events the marchesa put forward two hypotheses to her brothers. The first, supported by Ippolito d’Este, was that Francesco was feigning anger to manipulate the Venetians, and therefore Isabella must continue on her prudent course. The second was that Francesco was being manipulated and misinformed by his captors, in which case it was hoped that once free he would accept that Isabella had been right.42 Whatever Francesco’s true feelings, several people were convinced Isabella was against him. According to Sanudo, Giorgio Arrivabene, a Mantuan printer living in Venice, denounced the marchesa as wholeheartedly pro-French, and wishing to see her husband hang. Vigo di Camposampiero likewise accused Isabella of being unequivocally French, ‘tutta francese’, and also of being surrounded by bad counsellors, ‘who do not wish the marchese to get out so that they can be marchesi 37   Sanudo, X, 327: ‘mandeme in Campo sollo, fè quel volè di me, ho perso il Stado e l’honor e la liberation a una bota’. 38   Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 21–2: ‘cane malato alla catena’, ‘ben altra la tempra d’Isabella’. 39   Francesco to Tolomeo Spagnoli, Venice, 28 May 1510, b. 2119, f. I, c. 4r. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 58. 40   Sanudo, X, 417: ‘li disse aver lettere questa note di Mantoa di la marchesana, che ‘l marchexe li à scrito mandi il fiol a Veniexia si non li tajerà le cane di la golla, e che li à risposto non lo vol dar, cussì consigliata dal cardinal’. 41   Sanudo, X, 514: ‘a non voler far male a sua moglie quando el sarà liberato e capitano zeneral di la Signoria nostra, perché tien certo l’habi fato de non li dar el signor Federico suo fiol per causa di la conservation dil stato suo’. 42   Bernardino de’ Prosperi to Isabella, Ferrara, 6 June 1510, b. 1242, c. 586r–587v: ‘Sua S.ria R.ma [Ippolito] confirmoe et commendoe il vedere de V. S. in tal caso, dicendo che el era però certo ch’el S.re Marchese dicesse et facesse assai cose artificiosamente et da savio per trovarse dove el se trova’. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 99–101.

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in his absence’.43 The Venetians allowed Vigo’s letters against Isabella to reach Francesco, and the marchesa’s nemesis planned to kidnap Federico and deliver him to Venice if Francesco would agree. Vigo went to Rome where he continued to sow sedition, and gossiped that the marchesa planned to sell Mantua to the French before her husband’s return and flee to Ferrara or Milan.44 The pope awaited impatiently the agreed dispatch of Federico to Bologna, where he would enter the safekeeping of the duke of Urbino while his ultimate destination was decided. Julius fumed at Isabella’s prevarication and began to regret defending her to Francesco.45 Isabella informed Jacopo d’Atri and Battista Scalona, however, that the Mantuan nobles supported her decisions. She understood that the pope and marchese had said ‘some bad words’, ‘qualche male parole’, about her and Sigismondo but she excused Francesco: ‘it is either to satisfy the Venetians or else for the desire to free himself, natural to every creature. But we console ourself […] hoping that when the lord marchese is of free judgement he will praise our actions’.46 The marchesa tried to defend herself to her husband: I well believe that when Your Lordship knows the truth of matters, you will know that the cardinal and I could not do other than we are doing, and this we do for the great love we have for Your Lordship, because we could not endure for your state and belongings to go to ruin by our hands, seeing this so manifest […] My most illustrious lord, I pray you to repose upon your obliged brother and your wife, faithful and loving as no other ever was, and be sure that we never think nor act for anything but this.47

Francesco’s liberation was near at hand. The pope suddenly turned on his League allies, joining forces with the Venetians. He demanded to be sent the marchese, fearful that Isabella would cede the strategically vital Mantuan territory to the Ferrarese and French. Isabella, of course, had no such plans, and on 14 July, the day of Francesco’s release, she ordered the podestà of Ostiglia, to the south east of Mantua, to be on guard against the French, and make ready the fortresses.

  Sanudo, X, 508, 515: ‘qualli non voriano il marchese ussisse per esser lhoro li marchexi’. 44   Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 66–8. 45   Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 65–6. Sanudo heard that the pope raged: ‘quella putana di la marchesana non vol darlo, non la scuserò più col Marchese, el qual ussito la castigarà, replicando l’è una putana’. X, 563. 46   Isabella to Jacopo d’Atri and ‘in simili forma’ Battista Scalona, Mantua, 12 June 1510, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘o sia per satisfar a Venetiani o pur per il desyderio di liberarsi, natural ad ogni creatura. Ma ni confortamo […] sperando che quando el S.r Marchese serrà di suo libero arbitrio laudarà le actioni nostre’. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 68–9. 47   Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Mantua, 1 July 1510, b. 2119, f. II.1, c. 44. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 71. Appendix Document 34. 43

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Indicative of the marchesi’s common thinking is that on the same day Francesco communicated to Isabella the same instructions his wife had just carried out.48 ‘El volle che la S.V. per adesso e per sempre habia lo governo de tute le cose’ ‘He wants that Your Ladyship now and for ever has the government of all things’: After Francesco’s Liberation When Francesco reached Rimini he was met by an envoy from Isabella. The marchese seems to have immediately shown his appreciation for his wife’s actions, giving her a bracelet he had worn, and presenting her with the territory of Asola. Federico Cattaneo told Isabella, ‘he wants that Your Ladyship now and for ever has the government of all things’.49 As Isabella came to an agreement with the pope that Federico should be in his care, and not sent to Venice, she refused to be indebted to Julius for his mediation with Francesco, writing to Lodovico Brognolo: As for being obliged to him for commending us to the signore, […] that out of his respect he would pardon us and put aside all anger that he had against us for our actions, to this […] we want you to reply that we do not want such a commendation to be at all useful to us with our lord, because we do not repent, nor will we ever repent […] of the means we employed for the liberation of the lord and his state, and we want to defer to the true judgement that His Excellency will be able to make of us when he returns home. Our actions have been public and common between the most reverend and illustrious monsignor brother of the lord marchese and ourself, and in consultation with other gentleman prudent and loving to His Excellency, they have been praised and commended by the whole world and especially by His Holiness.50

 

48

Lodovico Guerrieri to Isabella, Venice, 14 July 1510, b. 1444, c. 34r. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 76–7, Kissling, p. 66. 49   Federico Cattaneo to Isabella, Rimini, 16 July 1510, b. 1082, c. 28r: ‘el volle che la S.V. per adesso et per sempre habia lo governo de tute le cose’. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 77. 50   Isabella to Lodovico Brognolo, Mantua, 18 July 1510, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘quanto sij di haverli obligo che la ni habbi facto raccomandare al Sig.re, pregandolo che per rispecto suo volij perdonarni et deponere ogni sdegno che havesse concepto contra de noi per le cose tractate, a questo […] volemo respondiati che non volemo che tal raccomandatione puncto ni giovi cum il S.r nostro, perché non ni pentemo né pentiremo mai […] de li modi per noi servati circa la liberatione del S.re et stato suo et voremo starni al vero iudicio che ni poterà far Sua Ex. quando serrà in casa. Le actioni nostre sono state publice et commune fra lo R.mo & Ill.mo Mons. fratello del S. Marchese & noi, & cum consulta de altri gentilhomini prudenti & amorevoli a Sua Ex., laudate e comendate da tutto il mondo et maxime da Sua S.tà’. Partially transcribed Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 79.

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She also took pleasure in the fact that Vigo’s rumours had played into her hands, and instructed Brognolo to jest with the pope before stressing her loyalty to the Gonzaga: Because we understand that His Holiness has said that he accelerated our lord consort’s liberation for fear that we would invite the French into this state, we want you to skilfully joke with His Holiness that we are pleased such doubt crossed his mind, because it has been the cause of the lord marchese’s more speedy liberation […] We cannot think how His Holiness could have conceived such thoughts, considering what we would have gained from betraying and ruining our husband, children, and own self; we are not so deprived of intellect, charity, or love.51

In order to reassure herself of the true feelings of the pope and Francesco, Isabella asked Elisabetta Gonzaga’s counsel, and was comforted that the pontiff’s anger had passed and the marchese’s affection was genuine.52 Francesco and Isabella had successfully presented double faces, projecting differing leanings and traversing the greatest peril of their rule. That there was more to this than appearance suggested, and perhaps a deliberate strategy, is not an outlandish hypothesis. Once free, it seems the marchese was not infuriated by the decisions his wife had taken, showed affection towards her, and continued to give her authority. Their two-front strategy continued. Francesco now held a prestigious position for the Venetians and papacy and Isabella maintained positive relations with the Gonzaga’s previous allies. The emperor demonstrated warm feelings for Isabella; praised her conduct as worthy of a prince; and proclaimed: ‘you could not have proceeded more to our satisfaction than you have for the good of that state, the marchese, and your children. Thus you deserve praise and commendation’.53 Later in the year Isabella assured the emperor through Girolamo Cassola: ‘the 51   Isabella to Lodovico Brognolo, Mantua, 25 July 1510, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘perché intendiamo che Sua Beatitudine ha havuto a dire che l’ha accellerata la liberatione del S. N. consorte per dubio che nuy non chiamassimo francesi in questo stato, volemo che dextramente motigiati cum Sua S.tà che ni piace che tal dubio gli sij venuto in mente poi che l’è stato causa de liberare più presto el S. Marchese […] Non sapemo pensare como a N.S. possi intrare simili pensieri considerato il guadagno che haveressimo facto a tradire e ruinar marito, figlioli et nuy medesime, che non siamo però prive di intellecto né di charità & amore’. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 80. 52   Pizzagalli, p. 272. 53   Emperor Maximilian to Sigismondo and Isabella, Innsbruck, 11 August 1510, b. 429, c. 58r–v: ‘non haveresti potuto procedere più al ben de quello stato & del Marchese & de li filioli vostri a satisfaction nostra de quello haveti fato. Unde meritate laude & commendatione’. Girolamo Cassola to Isabella, Innsbruck, 17 August; b. 544, c. 499r–v: ‘La Ces. M.tà […] a V. Ill.ma S. mostra una tal affictione di cor como se fusse inamorato in essa’. Also Girolamo Cassola to Isabella, Parma, 24 February and 4 March 1511, b. 1368, n.n. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 83–4, and ‘Isabella d’Este di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 294–5.

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lord marchese is no less of a good imperiale than we are’.54 In October 1510 the Venetian ambassador apologised to Isabella for criticism during Francesco’s captivity, and stated that if among the populace she had been denounced, ‘among wise men of rank she was reputed prudent and it was known that she could not have behaved better than she did’.55 ‘In bocca de questa gente potentissima’ ‘In the jaws of these most powerful people’: Hostility of Julius II toward Ferrara Ferrara stayed loyal to its French allies, refusing to return territorial gains to the Venetians, and Alfonso d’Este was excommunicated by the pope on 9 August 1510, his role as gonfaloniere of the church given to Francesco, in addition to captaincy of the Venetian forces.56 With her husband fighting for Venice and the papacy against the French and Ferrarese, Isabella declared to the Venetians that she would follow her husband’s alliances.57 However, by December 1510 Sanudo suspected that the opposite had occurred, with Francesco following his wife’s leanings.58 The marchesi had settled back in to their habitual playing of the double game. Isabella wrote confidentially to her son-in-law the duke of Urbino, captain of the papal troops, encouraging him to be less than committed to taking Ferrara.59 From his release, and before his homecoming, the marchesa involved her husband in ploys favourable to the requests of French troops. 60 She excused this as a strategy of non-provocation of the French before Francesco was safely home. 54   Isabella to Girolamo Cassola, Mantua, 1 December 1510, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘S. Marchese non è niente manco bono imperiale di quello siamo noi’. 55   Tolomeo Spagnoli to Francesco, Mantua, 26 October 1510, b. 2479, c. 25r–v: ‘apresso gli homini savij et di conto la era riputata prudente et era cognosciuto che la non si poteva portar meglio di quel che la fece’. Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 87. 56   Vigo di Camposampiero took pleasure in informing Francesco that he had replaced Alfonso, also an enemy of Vigo’s, as gonfaloniere, Bologna, 6 August 1510, b. 1147, c. 307r, postscript c. 308r. 57   Tolomeo Spagnoli told Francesco that Isabella had prudently replied to a Venetian envoy consoling her on the perils facing her brother, ‘alla via che andarà V. Ex.tia andarà sempre lei, senza altro rispecto né interesse’, Mantua, 25 October 1510, b. 2479, c. 28r. 58   Sanudo, XI, 659: ‘il marchexe è fato francese e aderitosi a la voglia di la moglie’. 59   Isabella to Francesco Maria della Rovere, instructing that he burn the letter, Mantua, 17 September 1512, b. 2192, n.n. Also Isabella to Cesare Gonzaga, partially enciphered, Mantua, 29 November 1510, b. 2192, n.n. 60   In these dealings Isabella used double letters: the first in order to protest innocence; the second revealing another side to events. In September 1510, she informed Francesco that officials from Viadana had been forced to provide menacing French troops with boats to cross the Po, and would report to the marchese the details so that he could justify this decision. In a confidential postscript Isabella added: ‘Ho facto scrivere la littera in forma

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Isabella was, of course, devoted to aiding her brothers in their war. In September 1510 she exhorted Alfonso ‘to defend yourself virilely and continue in not holding back, as you have done until now. I too am not holding back in what I can do’.61 At the beginning of October she planned to leave Mantua for three days to confer with Ippolito d’Este, but she was prevented from departing by gentlemen, including Giovanni Gonzaga, who feared that it would look as though she were leaving for good and that her absence would incite civil disorder. Isabella defended her plan indignantly to Alfonso, showing faith in her own political ability.62 It seems that Francesco had received this news from an informer in Sermide, hostile to the marchesa, who had reported it to Rome. The evidence points overwhelming to Vigo, who had denounced Isabella to the pope and Venice for withholding supplies to build a boat bridge to enter Ferrarese territory. The bridge was to be at Sermide and Vigo wrote to Isabella from that town on 8 October that he had heard she was speaking ill of him.63 Isabella replied cuttingly: ‘the person who told you che V. S. la possi mostrare, sapia però lei che le navi sono sta dimandate et gli Locotenenti de Viadana le hanno lassate tore secondo l’ordine dato che intese V. S.’, Mantua, 28 September 1510, b. 2119, f. II.1, c. 54r–v, postscripts c. 55, c. 56. For the marchesa’s letter to the podestà at Viadana, instructing him not to acknowledge the French advance request for boatsand containing a draft of the letter, with spaces to be filled in as appropriate, to send to Francesco once the French passage was a fait accompli, see Mantua, 28 September, b. 2996, L. 28, f. 52r. Shemek, ‘Mendacious Missives’, pp. 79–80. Isabella also wrote to the commissario of Marcaria that he should allow the French to pass and then write, in a letter that Francesco could show to his papal allies, that it had been unpreventable, Mantua, 29 September, f. 54r. 61   Isabella to Alfonso d’Este, Mantua, 3 September 1510, b. 2996, L. 28, f. 37v: ‘confortandola a deffendersi virilmente et non mancarsi si medema como ha facto fin qui. Io anchora non manco di quel che posso’. 62   Isabella to Alfonso, Mantua, 9 October 1510, b. 2996, L. 28, ff. 60r–61r: ‘Me pregarono instantamente che volesse restare. Io che sapeva l’animo mio de ritornare, & che non mi pareva che per tri giorni che stesse fori de Mantua dovesse occorrere scandalo, me sdegnai che non mi credessero, & mi reputassino cossì legere che volesse abandonare marito, figlioli, & stato, et che non havesse saputo levarmi secretamente quando havesse voluto […] me fecero forza che non andassi, dicendo che anchora che loro & li altri prudenti lo credessero, la plebe & ignoranti haveriano creso altramenti & titubato. Cossì restai, né hora resto malcontenta de tale violentia, cognoscendo essere proceduta da grande amore & affectione che me portano, & da grande fede & devotione al sig.re & stato suo, ch’io anchora, quando havessi pensato de fare dispiacere a Sua Ex. et mettere in periculo il stato non me serei mossa’. 63   Vigo di Camposampiero to Isabella, Sermide, 8 October 1510, b. 2480, n.n.: ‘io ho inteso che molto turbato hè stata la Ex.cia V. dolendosi di me con parole ingiuriosissime, per esser venuto a far fare el ponte, dil che veramente V. Ex.cia a gran torto, perché sapeti ch’io non fo questo da me stesso, io son servo […] V. Ex.cia deponi el sdegno con me […] et se quela vedesse el cor mio forsi conoseresti ch’io ve son miglior servitore di quelo pensati, et ancor vederesti ch’io non son così trista persona como me teneti’. Partially transcribed Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 255–6.

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we have spoken ill of you […] lied, because we do not take that much interest in your affairs. We have not spoken well of you of course, because we could not. We have not spoken ill, because it is not in our nature’. She finished with the declaration that she did not want ‘in any way to be involved with you’, ‘in alcuna cosa intrometterci cum vui’.64 It was at this time that Isabella managed to obtain through the bishop of Ivrea an incriminating letter Vigo sent to the pope, which she saved until she could take revenge in 1519 (see Chapter 3).65 The marchesa sent her trusted courtiers Mario Equicola and Benedetto Capilupi to explain her actions to Francesco in Bologna. She could report to Giovanni that the marchese was ‘calm and satisfied’, and had indeed given her more authority, and she acknowledged Sigismondo’s support in this matter, as in all others.66 Isabella personally wrote to her husband expressing certainty that he would forgive her this once for deciding to leave Mantua without his approval, arguing intriguingly: ‘the sudden decision, the desire to talk to my brother, mixed with a little rage, prevented me thinking any further’.67 The marchesa’s anger was probably due to the hostilities against Ferrara, but there may have been some other reason. Whatever the case, her admission to her husband suggests he was aware of the cause, and he forgave her decision, entrusting her with greater power. In the years following Francesco’s release, the conflict against Ferrara caused tension between Isabella’s marital and natal families. The marchesa courted danger in sharing intelligence with her brothers: she gave them access to Gonzaga correspondence, made use of codes, and urged that incriminating communications be burnt.68 She suggested often that Francesco was supportive of their cause.   Isabella to Vigo di Camposampiero, Mantua, 9 October 1510, b. 2996, L. 28, f. 61r:

64

‘Quel che ve ha referito che noi habiamo dicto mal de vui, come ni haveti scripto, ha dicto le bosie, perché non tenemo tanto conto di facti vostri. Non havemo già dicto bene, perché nol potemo dire. Non havemo dicto male, perché non è de nostra natura ’. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 256. 65   Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 259. 66   Isabella to Giovanni Gonzaga, Mantua, 21 October 1510, b. 2996, L. 28, ff. 67v–68r: ‘Tanto rimase quieto & satisfacto el S.re quanto havessimo saputo desiderare, […] usando le più dolce & amorevole parole dil mondo, confirmandone magior auctorità che non havevimo in le cose del stato. Al R.mo Ill.mo S. Car.le nostro cognato & patre hon. havemo grande obligatione, per havere facto in questo caso quello che in tutti gli altri è solito per sua bontà et prudentia’. 67   Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Mantua, 21 October 1510, b. 2119, f. II.2, c. 75: ‘Da Mario et da Benedecto ho inteso che V. S. è restata satisfacta de quanto hanno dicto a V. S. da parte mia, de che ne regracio et baso la mano a V. S. [...] la subita delliberacione, el desiderio de parlare a mio fratello, mixto con un pocho di colera, non mi lassarno pensare tanto oltra. Confesso havere errato in volere uscire de Mantoa senza licentia de V. S., cosa che mai più feci et, però non havendo più comisso tale errore se non adesso, spero che V. S. serà tanto più facile a perdonarmelo.’ Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 258–9. 68   Isabella to Alfonso, Mantua, 28 August 1510, b. 2996, L. 28, f. 33v: ‘Aciò che la Ex.V. veda quanto ho dal S. Zoanne [...] gli mando la littera sua cum una copia inclusa’.

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In October 1510 she told her brothers that he was ‘temporising as much as he can’.69 In November the marchesa assured Alfonso: ‘the lord marchese is all Your Lordship’s and commends himself to you’.70 However, despite this Francesco was also watchful of the Este, and instructed the podestà of Sermide to spy on Alfonso, although with this order being copied into Isabella’s copialettere, one imagines she was aware of it.71 The pope, to decide Francesco’s split loyalties, showed him proof that Alfonso had been content for him to rot indefinitely in his Venetian prison.72 However, besides being tied to Isabella’s unshakeable dedication to the Estense cause, Francesco desired to save Lucrezia Borgia from harm. Nevertheless, while striving to maintain the status quo in Ferrara, he also prepared rooms for Lucrezia in Palazzo San Sebastiano, asking the pope’s permission to protect her should Ferrara fall, in gratitude for her concern during his imprisonment, and with the assurance that Alfonso would not find refuge in Mantua.73 From November 1510 Francesco was in Mantua, claiming he needed to protect his territory against French aggression. In fact, through Ippolito d’Este the marchese had agreed with Louis XII that incursions into Mantuan lands should be staged to provide an excuse to stay at home.74 The marchese was suffering from syphilis and seemingly feigned worse indisposition to avoid leading the papal army.75 Julius II initially commiserated, before becoming suspicious. Stazio Gadio suggested that a doctor the pope trusted examine Francesco; ten ducats would suffice to bribe the Isabella to Alfonso and Ippolito, Mantua, 26 October, b. 2192, n.n. (sent copy enciphered): ‘le gente de venetiani che passano sono trecento lanze, duamillia cavalli legeri & quatromillia fanti’. She wrote to Alfonso of the pope’s health and a possible plot in Ferrara on 10 November, b. 2192, n.n. (sent copy enciphered). She shared further intelligence with Ippolito, and requested he burn the letter, ruinous to Mantua if reaching the pope’s attention, Mantua, 14 November, b. 2192, n.n. She repeated the same instruction on 18 November: ‘brusare questa, lecta che l’haverà’, b. 2192, n.n. 69   Isabella to Alfonso and Ippolito d’Este, Mantua, 26 October 1510, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘lo S. Marchese va temporegiando più ch’el pò’. 70   Isabella to Alfonso d’Este, Mantua, 19 November 1510, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘el S. Marchese è tutto de la S.V. & se raccomanda a lei’. 71   Francesco to podestà of Sermide, Mantua, 20 November 1510, b. 2996, L. 27, f. v 38 : ‘Vogliati mandare una bona spia verso il campo del S. Duca di Ferrara nostro cugnato et cometergli ch’el vedi cum diligentia tutti gli andamenti suoi et de quelli francesi: dovi si trovino, et quello che dissegnano fare’. 72   Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 249. 73   Pizzagalli, p. 284. 74   The king would pay for damages suffered through these incursions. Pizzagalli, pp. 279–80. The French and Francesco also agreed to give each other several days’ warning of planned attacks. In January 1511 Francesco allowed French troops to pass Mantuan territory and the French pretended to take the area of Poviglio, with the understanding it would be returned when hostilities ceased. Luzio ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 266–8, 282–3. 75   Christine Shaw, Julius II: the Warrior Pope (Oxford, 1992), p. 262.

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doctor to produce a report to the marchese’s wishes.76 Francesco would go to such lengths to avoid the thorny military situation; if his new alliance were upheld, it could easily incur the wrath of both the emperor and French king. In February Francesco told Sigismondo he felt ‘like a lost man and I do not dare speak, being […] in the jaws of these most powerful people above me’.77 For Mantua’s strategic importance, the Venetians, the pope, the emperor, and the king all sought to obtain conclusively Francesco’s alliance. Luzio defines this pursuit as absurd, ‘comico’, ‘they competed as though he were a political and military factor of the first order, when his broken body and depressed spirit rendered him just a passive instrument in his wife’s able hands’.78 However, Francesco remained head of state and it was imperative that he be considered strong enough to govern. Vigo responded to the pope’s suggestion that the marchese was weak and ruled by his wife, that ‘the most illustrious marchesa had brought about with Your Excellency that you did not come [to fight] any more’. Of course, Vigo could not resist defending Francesco by denigrating Isabella: I replied to His Holiness that […] Your Excellency was one of those men who little allow themselves to be governed by women […] and that you wore the trousers and that you treated the most illustrious marchesa well, and better than any queen or duchess that was in Italy a long time hitherto, but that otherwise you left her to her trifling affairs and in matters of state you knew well how to act for yourself without female counsel, at which His Holiness was most pleased with my speech.79

  Adalberto Pazzini, ‘La medicina alla corte dei Gonzaga a Mantova’, in Mantova e i Gonzaga, pp. 291–354, p. 316. 77   Francesco to Sigismondo, Mantua, 14 February 1511,b. 2918, L. 215, ff. 27r–28r: ‘come homo perso et non ho ardire de parlare per essere, posso dire, in bocca de questa gente potentissima sopra di me’. Luzio ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 293. 78   Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 299: ‘se lo contendevano come se fosse un fattore politico e militare di prim’ordine, quando il corpo infranto e lo spirito depresso lo rendevano solo strumento passivo nelle mani abili della moglie’. He expresses a similar view some pages earlier: ‘Salvare il fratello Alfonso, senza compromettere il suo figliolo adorato, fu per oltre due anni la mira costante degli sforzi angosciosi d’Isabella d’Este […] trascinandosi dietro, spesso riluttante, il fiacco marito’, p. 245. 79   Vigo di Camposampiero to Francesco, Ravenna, 22 March 1511, b. 859, cc. r 483 –487r: ‘la Ill.ma Mar.na aveva operato con V. Ex.cia che più non venevi […] io resposi a Sua S.tà ch’io non aveva inteso che la Ill.ma Mar.na avesse fato questo […] poi li disi che V. Ex.cia era uno de queli che manco si lasava governar ale done […] et che portavi la braga et che ben atratavi la Ill.ma Mar.na et meglio de niuna regina et duchesa che fusse stata in Italia già gran tempo, ma che del resto lasavi far le sue facenduce da per lei et che nele cose di stato bene sapevi far da per vui sencia consiglio feminile, dil che a Sua S.tà asai li piacque el parlar mio’. Luzio ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 299. Francesco’s reply, Mantua, 24 March, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘per la vostra littera havemo compreso quanto velocemente sete pervenuto a N. 76

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In March 1511 Mantua hosted peace talks, which were not destined to be successful. However, they allowed Isabella to focus her energies on winning over as a key ally one of the most powerful delegates: the emperor’s ambassador, Matthäus Lang, known as il Gurgense, bishop of Gurk, who would be formally named cardinal in November 1512. When the Bentivoglio were restored by the French in May 1511 the marchesi characteristically adopted double faces. Isabella congratulated the signori while Francesco commiserated with the pope.80 The pope’s affection for his young hostage Federico, now his favoured companion, allowed the marchesi to deem hollow any threats that on mere suspicion of treachery he would hand their son over to the Venetians.81 On 4 October 1511 a Holy League was announced of the papacy, Spain, and Venice against France, and Francesco sent the French captain Gaston de Foix information about the League. He also instructed vicari administering lands around the Po to allow Alfonso’s artillerymen to pass, as usual feigning ignorance of their approach.82 Francesco Maria della Rovere, in charge of papal troops, likewise maintained a duplicitous policy, moving slowly against Ferrara and making overtures to the French.83 The defeat of the papal armies at Ravenna on Easter Sunday 1512 by the French and Ferrarese, seemed to spell disaster for the League; however, the loss of Gaston de Foix annulled their victory. On 17 May 1512 a new Holy League was announced, with Venetian, imperial, Spanish, and English support for the papal resolution to expel the French from Italy. Francesco again showed his consideration for Isabella’s concerns, suggesting to Julius that the League devote its energies to the expulsion of the French before concerning itself with Ferrara.84 S. di che restemo di voi satisfacto ultra modo. In specie ce piace che Sua S.tà habia di noi la oppinione che l’ha che veramente meritemo et semmo per meritare sempre la sua gratia’. 80   Luzio ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 306, Pizzagalli, pp. 289–90. 81   The ambassador Folenghino reported to Francesco, partially in cipher, that the pope saw Federico as a son and had overlooked Gonzaga offences for this reason, Rome, 14 August 1512, b. 860, cc. 276r–279v. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 121. For papal affection towards Federico, see Luzio, ‘Federico II Gonzaga ostaggio’. 82   Pizzagalli, p. 297. 83   The duke of Urbino sent Castiglione to communicate with the king in March 1512. However, as it became evident that the French were to be expelled from Italy, he reconciled with the pope. Pizzagalli, pp. 304–6, 322. Nevertheless, he promised Isabella that he would move as slowly as possible against Ferrara. Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 206. In October the marchesa wrote to Cardinal Ippolito of Francesco Maria: ‘benché habbi commissione expressa & ogni giorno replicata di fare al pegio che si pò, nondimeno per mio amore et molti altri rispetti […] andarà più retenuto ch’el potrà’, Mantua, 12 October 1512, b. 2192, n.n. 84   Vigo informed Francesco that the pope, although wavering previously, had decided to follow his advice. Pizzagalli, p. 307.

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Isabella made excellent use of her contacts in Rome, particularly the archdeacon Alessandro Gabbioneta and Girolamo Arsago, bishop of Ivrea and Nice, as well as members of Federico’s household.85 Through Federico the pope asked Isabella to mediate with Alfonso.86 While she was in Ferrara in discussion with her brothers in June 1512, Francesco passed on military intelligence to the Este and commanded Federico to aid Alfonso’s cause.87 The reconciliation initially looked successful: Alfonso begged the pope’s forgiveness at his feet; Julius revoked his excommunication. However, the pope turned against the duke, and Alfonso was forced to flee the Eternal city. The Congress of Mantua, August 1512 Isabella continued to attempt to broker peace between the papacy and the Este. In August 1512 the League powers met in Mantua. Among those present were Gurk, the viceroy of Naples (Ramón de Cardona), Giuliano de’ Medici, and Bernardo da Bibbiena. Such was the number and rank of the visitors to the city that the castellan Gian Giacomo Calandra likened the city to Rome.88 The congress aimed to resolve three key issues: the restoration of the Medici in Florence; the restoration of the Sforza in Milan, in the person of Isabella’s nephew Massimiliano; and the war against Ferrara. The marchesa worked with her friends Giuliano il Magnifico and Bibbiena to bring about the first aim, and in return expected their help in resolving the two remaining issues to her satisfaction. Furthermore, focusing the papal army on the restoration of the Medici would deflect its attention away from Ferrara. The marchesa had established an excellent relationship with Gurk the previous year, and fostered Cardona’s friendship. The marchesi used teamwork in entertaining their illustrious guests. For Gurk’s early arrival, Francesco hosted a banquet at Palazzo San Sebastiano with Isabella; and the marchesa then hosted a banquet at Poggio Reale attended by Francesco, Gurk, the viceroy, Spanish ambassadors, the Magnifico Giuliano, and Bibbiena. Francesco had a chance to showcase his palace at San Sebastiano, and the marchesa gave the viceroy and his entourage a tour of her impressive   Eg. Isabella to Stazio Gadio, instructing him that, the courier not finding the archdeacon, he would be entrusted with a letter and box: ‘tu tenghi così occulta essa scatolletta che né Federico né altro la veda, et venuto lo p.to M. Archidiac.o gli la dij con la littera secretamente’, Mantua, 24 September 1512, b. 2119bis, fasc. X.2, c. 471, postscript c. 470. 86   Pizzagalli, p. 308. 87   Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 19 June 1512, b. 2919, L. 223, ff. 15v–16 r, and Mantua, 20 June, ff. 24r–v: ‘havemo novamente receputo littere di campo da M. Vigo de la continentia V. S. vederà per la inclusa copia’. Francesco to Federico, Mantua, 22 June, b. 2119bis, fasc. IX, c. 357r and c. 358r. 88   Bourne, ‘Francesco II Gonzaga, condottiero e committente d’arte’, p. 23. 85

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camerini.89 During the congress, Francesco Vigilio presented a Latin comedy in which Mantua was praised as the last refuge of Italian virtue. Francesco was hailed as a great soldier, who, if not in poor health, would have defended all Italy, and Isabella lauded as in every virtue above her sex.90 In addition to such acclaim, Isabella called into service an ‘army of ladies’, ‘exercito di donne’, to impress the dignitaries, dazzling Gurk with all the principal gentlewomen at the banquet at San Sebastiano, and having the donzella Eleonora Brognina particularly enchant the guests at Poggio Reale.91 In deploying her donzelle as diplomatic weapons, Isabella made an arsenal of an attribute of the consort, expanding the normal functions of her household. Her ladies’ behaviour, dalliances, marriages, and appearance, dressed in Isabellian outfits as a badge of allegiance, were regulated by the marchesa. The political utility of the donzelle is seen throughout the marchesa’s career, and is an area which would benefit from further research.92 The pope was displeased that Mantua had been chosen to host the congress, hoping to receive the delegates in Rome. To placate Julius, Francesco, excusing 89   The viceroy was impressed by the decorative scheme in Palazzo San Sebastiano. Molly Bourne, ‘A Viceroy Comes to Mantua: Ramón Folch de Cardona, Lorenzo Costa and the Italian Renaissance in Spain’, in Coming About … A Festschrift for John Shearman, ed. by Lars R. Jones and Louisa C. Matthew (Cambridge, Mass., 2001), pp. 127–33. 90   Pizzagalli, p. 317. 91   See the dispatches of Amico Maria della Torre to Federico Gonzaga, Mantua, 30 July and 4, 12, 13, 20 and 21 August 1512, b. 2485, cc. 58r –59r, c. 60r–v, c. 62r–v, cc. 64r –65r, cc. 66r –67r, c. 68r for instance, 20 August: ‘Fra l’altre legiadre e peregrine la Brognina è quella che ha portato e porta il vanto e gloria de tutte le belle’. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 113–15. Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, pp. 498–500. For Brognina’s titillating correspondence with Federico Gonzaga, see Bourne, ‘Mail humour’, pp. 211–13. See also the entry on la Brognina, under Leonora Brogna, by Roberto Zapperi in the DBI, XIV (1972). 92   Evidence is seen of the marchesa working to impress illustrious guests by surrounding them with beautiful donzelle at parties. Eg. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 2 February 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 444r: ‘L’altro dì questo Mag.co Ambassatore Venetiano me fece dire che havendo veduto le donne Milanese desyderava anche vedere le Mantuane, pregandome a far fare una festa. […] ho datto ordine de fare lune una festezola qui in castello’. Isabella to Federico, on entertaining Monsignor Lautrec, Mantua, 21 January 1516, b. 2122, f. II, c. 215r–v: ‘con tutti soi gentilhomini si è anchor partito molto contento et ben satisfacto de le careze et bone cere factele da questo populo, maxime da le gentildonne’. Her ladies were the objects of the affections of many prominent individuals. Isabella Lavagnola was adored not only by Equicola, but also by Bibbiena. The latter had previously been enamoured with Alda Boiarda, as was Bembo. Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 225–6. The donzella Delia was the marchese of Pescara’s love, and Isabella sent a portrait of his favourite donzella to Giovanni of Asti, Mantua, 28 February 1505, b. 2192, n.n. While the donzelle could be used to manipulate the political tide, unfortunate girls could suffer when currents went against their male relatives, as demonstrated by Giovanna Boschetti’s cloistering (see Ch. 4).

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himself through ill health, was somewhat removed from the proceedings, while Isabella, in political teamwork, was in the midst of all negotiations.93 Bernardino de’ Prosperi, ducal chancellor, reported to Isabella on 20 August that the people of Ferrara attributed the congress’s lack of a resolution to attack the city to both marchesi.94 Isabella had indeed done her utmost. On 18 August she wrote to Ippolito: ‘Your most reverend Lordship must be well assured that I have not been lacking in any diligent office with the viceroy and Monsignor Gurgense to divert the battle away from Ferrara’, and on 22 August that she found Gurk ‘most well disposed’, ‘benissimo disposto’.95 In October she was able to tell her brother that the viceroy had referred to her ‘the most loving words in the world to the benefit of Ferrara’.96 That autumn Lucrezia Borgia’s son by Alfonso of Aragon, Rodrigo, died and she took to a convent to mourn. Isabella sent condolences through a friend there on 12 September, and Francesco sent Fra Anselmo in person some weeks later. Lucrezia was pleased to see the marchese’s envoy as, significantly, she had attributed the lack of a messenger of condolence as a sign that Francesco and Isabella had decided together to demonstrate coldness.97 The Marchesi and Milan In November 1512 on returning to Italy, Massimiliano Sforza visited Mantua, where the marchesi welcomed him magnificently. He was shown the marchese’s fine horses and was entertained in Isabella’s camerini and at Palazzo San Sebastiano, surrounded by charming ladies. During his visit Cardinal Ippolito appeared in Mantua without warning, by secret invitation from Isabella, and privately discussed Este matters with his nephew Massimiliano.98 Julius was livid. Francesco swore that he would seize the Este given another opportunity, in a letter described by Luzio and Renier as ‘vile’, but rather, it may be countered,

  Pizzagalli, pp. 315–6.   Bernardino de’ Prosperi to Isabella, Ferrara, 20 August 1512, b. 1244, c. 260r,

93 94

postscript c. 261r: ‘qui se tiene che V. S. et lo Ill.mo Sig.re Suo consorte ge ne habij la suprema et magiore parte’. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 119. 95   Isabella to Ippolito d’Este, Mantua, 18 and 22 August 1512, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘V. S. R.ma debbe ben rendersi certa ch’io non ho mancato d’ogni diligente officio col Viceré et Mons. Gurgense per divertire il campo da Ferrara’. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 117–8. 96   Isabella to Ippolito d’Este, enciphered, Mantua, 6 October 1512, b. 2192, n.n.: ‘me ha facto dire per ms. Rozono le più amorevole parole del mondo a beneficio de Ferrara’. 97   Fra Anselmo to Francesco, Ferrara, 7 October 1512, b. 1244, c. 429r–v: ‘se sia accordato con Madona che niuno de lore me a pur mandato a visitare in questa mia tribulatione de la morte del fiolo mio’. Pizzagalli, pp. 321–2. 98   Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 137–43.

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representing the shared double policy of the marchesi and sensible reaction to the danger the furious pope posed to the Mantuan state.99 With Julius’ wrath fully directed at the Este, and potentially toward their supporters, Isabella warned Ippolito in cipher to stay away from Mantua, as Francesco could not turn a blind eye to his visits any longer.100 For his part Francesco emphasised to Rome a division between the marchesi, putting the responsibility for any apparent wavering on to Isabella: It may well be, as we have written other times, that our lady consort, who is after all Don Alfonso’s sister and tender to that blood from which she is born and who is a woman of her own opinion, keeps some secret intelligence of letters and envoys with that court, but hidden from us as she knows very well the displeasure we would have and the protest we would make if we knew.101

Isabella continued with her defence of the Este, in November 1512 securing through the secretary Francesco Chiericati letters seriously compromising Ippolito.102 She began to broker an alliance between Venice and Ferrara, at precisely the same point when it appears that Francesco gave the city up as lost, seeking permission to shelter Lucrezia and forcefully suggesting to his kinsman Federico Gonzaga da Bozzolo that he withdraw his support.103 Whether this was a genuine schism as Luzio suggests, or continued, strategic division of fronts is not clear. However, Isabella set off to spend carnival in the political hub of Milan, in the presence of the papal legate Cardinal Schinner, Gurk, and Cardona. Francesco explained to Gurk that he was unable to attend festivities in Milan due to illness but said he was happy for Isabella to go and represent them both.104 Francesco surely cannot have believed his assertion to the pope through Alessandro Gabbioneta that this trip provided a distraction for Isabella away from  

Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 207. Isabella to Ippolito, sent copy enciphered, Mantua, 7 December 1512, b. 2192, n.n. Francesco to Alessandro Gabbioneta, 22 December 1512, b. 2920, L. 225, ff. 41r–42v: ‘Può ben essere, come altre volte havemo scritto, che M.a nostra consorte, che è pur sorella di Don Alfonso et tenera a quel sangue onde l’è nasciuta et che è donna di sua opinione, tenghi qualche occulta intelligentia de littere e messi con quella corte, ma da nascosto di noi come quella che sa molto bene il dispiacere che n’haveressimo et la demonstratione che ne faressimo quando lo sapessimo’. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 143–4. 102   Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 396. 103   Francesco to Alessandro Gabbioneta and Folenghino and to Gabbioneta only, Mantua, 11 November and 22 December 1512, b. 2920, L. 225, ff. 3v–5v and ff. 41r–42v. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 144, 393–5. 104   Francesco to Ramón de Cardona, Mantua, 29 December 1512, b. 2919, L. 224, f. 48r: ‘per questa volta la p. ta S.ra consorte mia suplirà per lei e per me. Io ge la mando molto voluntieri’. 99

  101   100

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diplomatic affairs and the defence of Ferrara.105 Indeed, as well as advancing Gonzaga interests and helping her nephew establish his rule, that Isabella saw the trip as useful to her natal city is proved in her offer to Alfonso to push his affairs with Cardona and Gurk: ‘I know what I have to do and you should consider that wherever I am it is as though you were there in person’.106 During her stay in Milan Isabella ensured the devotion of the powerful viceroy and cardinal by drawing them into competition over Eleonora Brognina’s favour. Isabella was pleased with the beautiful Brognina’s control over the two top dignitaries, and boasted to Francesco of their infatuation, suggesting again that he was fully aware, and approving, of her political agendas in Milan. On 25 January she visited Cardona and Gurk together, accompanied by Brognina. Gurk prostrated himself at the girl’s feet, forgetting ‘his dignity and status’, and ‘wooed her as much as he wanted until night fell’.107 The following day Isabella reported that she had dined at the Brescian Count Brunoro’s house after a comedy, where she was given ‘the most honorable place’ between Gurk and Cardona.108 Demonstrative of continued teamwork, Francesco asked Isabella to exploit her connection with Gurk to push the Gonzaga case for restitution of Peschiera, which would provide valuable access to Lake Garda. Isabella promised: ‘I will not be deficient in exercising your every command with everyone by those good means which seem to me expedient, and will advise you immediately of their success’. Her ‘good means’ would exploit Gurk and Cardona’s competition over Brognina. The marchesa informed Francesco of the viceroy’s eagerness to beat the cardinal for the girl’s affections, and of a kiss rewarded with luxurious gifts.109   Francesco to Alessandro Gabbioneta, Mantua, 1 January 1513, b. 2920, L. 225, ff. 45v–46r: : ‘la se lontanarà pur alquanto da le cose di Ferrara’. Luzio, ‘Primordi’, p. 108. 106   Isabella to Alfonso, Mantua, 30 December 1512, b. 2192, n.n.: .‘so quel che ho a fare & lei debe reputare de esser in persona dove serò io’. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 397. 107   Isabella to Francesco, Milan, 25 January 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, c. 71r–v: ‘mi transferite da Mons. Gurgense dovi ritrovai il Sig. Viceré, et ad uno tempo et loco medemo ni visitai dui, stessimo in varij et piaceveli ragionamenti cum gran.mo favore di la Brognina, quale havendo fatto venire presso me ad complacentia di Mons. Gurgense. Non contento esso Mons. di questo si gettò in terra per esserli più propinquo, non recordandosi ad quella volta di la dignità et grado suo, et cum ley feci l’amore quanto gli parsi sino che la nocte ni sopragionsi’. 108   Isabella to Francesco, Milan, 26 January 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, cc. 77r–78r: ‘il loco più honorevele in meggio a Mons. Gurgense et il S. Viceré’. 109   Isabella to Francesco, Milan, 1 February 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, c. 88r–v: ‘Non voglio già tacere alla S.V. il gran favore che ha la Brognina dal Sig. Vicerè a concorrentia de Mons. Gurgense. Nel entrare che si feci in casa di Brunoro, [...] Il S. Vicerè [...] aspettavala che passassi gli detti uno baso, dovi per non lassare quello piacere senza il suo premio gli mandete poi a donare vinticinque braza de veluto cremesino, et altritanti de veluto negro. [...] Hoggi poi gli ha mandato ad presentare due manille, una filcia de deci paternostri alla 105

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Taking advantage of Gurk’s passion for Brognina, and her place as one able to sway the donzella in favour of either admirer, on 1 February she reported to Francesco: This evening the most illustrious lord duke, Mons. Gurgense, and the lord viceroy came here masked and there was dancing with more fervour than there has been until now. Mons. Gurgense danced two dances, staying most of the time in amorous conversation with his Brognina. His most reverend Lordship decided to unmask after dinner, and as he and I were discussing various matters, I did not want to neglect the opportunity to bring up our cause of Peschiera […] His most reverend Lordship agreed to everything I was saying without contradiction, and replied to me that although at that point he did not want to make any further resolution, the next day I should send Suardino and he would tell me definitively his decision, and that […] he will bring about that my intercessions be fruitful, with satisfaction for Your Lordship.110

Although concerned Brognina might become conceited at the attention, Francesco praised Isabella’s manipulation of Gurk as being ‘most prudent’ and having ‘satisfied us very much’.111 Isabella advanced Gonzaga agendas while continuing to protect the Este. On 28 January Bibbiena arrived from Rome charged with pushing Cardona to destroy Ferrara with Spanish troops.112 When Isabella understood this mission, she told francese cum una crocetta et due collanete tutte d’oro, che si iudicano di pretio de cento scudi. Ley le ha acceptate et ghodesi di questo favore’. 110   Isabella to Francesco, Milan, 1 February 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, c. 84r–v. Very partially transcribed Luzio, ‘La corte sforzesca’, p. 162. Appendix Document 36. 111   Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 5 February 1513, b. 2120, fasc. I, c. 21r–v: ‘De li grandi favori fatti ala Brognina da quelli S.ri ad concurrentia ce piaceriano assai più che non fanno quando non fusse periculo si havesse ad insuperbirsi, per il che V. S. potra tenerla admonita che se ne sapia temperarsi […] el ragionamento fatto per V. S. col R.mo Mons. re Gurcense circa Peschera per essere stato prudentissimo molto ce ha satisfatti’. Isabella appears to have been less happy about the cardinal’s promises regarding Peschiera, Milan, 3 February, b. 2120, fasc. II, c. 91r–v: ‘Hoggi Mons. Gurgense si parte [...] di la risposta sua fatta circa la causa di Pischera, il Suardino ni scrive diffusamente alla S.V., risposta non già correspondente alle sue large promisse, che la sera in anti mi havea fatto’. The marchesi’s plans were obvious to their kin, Cesare and Giovanni Gonzaga, in Milan. Cesare wrote that he had witnessed Gurk’s positive demeanour toward Isabella, and heard him offering his services in defence of Mantua and Ferrara. Cesare had then been taken to one side by Giovanni, who expressed the opinion that Francesco had asked Isabella to speak to Gurk about Peschiera because of her high standing with the cardinal. Pizzagalli, pp. 330–1. 112   Isabella passed this news on to Alfonso through an enciphered letter to Capilupi. The secretary spoke to Francesco of the matter and sent on the information to Ferrara, assuring Alfonso that Isabella would do all she could in Milan and try to stall the viceroy. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 404–5.

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Capilupi to warn Alfonso, and promised she would restrain Cardona, with powers of Venus stronger than those of Mars.113 She had confidential conversations with the viceroy, encouraging him to prolong his stay in Milan, and on 9 February wrote that she had spent the day in the company of the smitten Cardona.114 On 13 February she told Francesco, who required her presence in Mantua ‘at the government of our affairs’, ‘al governo de le cose nostre’, that, although she would like to, she could not return immediately as she was awaiting an important letter from Alfonso.115 She was afraid this compromising letter from Ferrara, which appears to have been in reply to communication from Cardona that Isabella had encouraged, would end up in the wrong hands.116 Contradictory to Francesco’s testimony to the pope that he hoped Isabella would forget Ferrara while in Milan, he seems to have been complicit in her pro-Este actions. Nevertheless the marchese was keen to see Isabella return to Mantua, and an unnamed meddler at this point appears to have created mistrust between the marchesi, telling Isabella that Francesco was not satisfied with her comportment. Offended and upset, she again used the musician Marchetto Cara, returning from Milan, as an intermediary. Capilupi, who had been close to Francesco and keeping Isabella informed of the state of her husband’s health, communicated the marchese’s response: Francesco desired to know the identity of the troublemaker as he had not expressed dissatisfaction with his wife; between them was love and peace, although she was proud and should not have believed such reports, and he wished her to return soon and resume marital relations.117 113   Pizzagalli, p. 336. Capilupi told Alfonso that he should be pleased that Isabella was in Milan, ‘perché la non cessa di favorire le cose sue, se non in altro, almanco in procurare la dilatione per dare tanto più tempo ad provedersi’. Capilupi to Isabella, Mantua, 5 February 1513, b. 2487, c. 57r. 114   Isabella to Francesco, Milan, 9 February 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, c. 100r–v. 115   Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 9 February 1513, b. 2120, fasc. I, c. 26r. Isabella to Francesco, Milan, 13 February, fasc. II, cc. 105 r–106r: ‘un’altro rispetto che assai più mi preme, mi necessita ad non potermi levare da qui cussì presto, come saria il nostro commune desiderio, quale è d’una risposta ch’io aspetto dal sig.r Duca mio fratello, et non vorria per essere dil gran momento et importantia che l’è, secundo che poi a bocca farò intendere ad V. S., capitassi in altre mani che in le mie. Dovi supplico V. Ex. che ad mio singulare contento gli piaccia concedermi che cum bona gratia sua possi restare qua per tri o quatro giorni doppo che le barche sarano gionte a Pavia, che più presto non creddo poter havere essa risposta’. 116   The draft copy of Isabella’s letter to Francesco (cc. 107r–108r) varies very slightly, giving this scored-out indication, too sensitive for the final draft: ‘un’altro rispetto che assai più mi preme, mi necessita ad non potermi levare da qui cussì presto, come saria il nostro commune desiderio, quale è d’una ch’el Sig.r Viceré novemente cum intelligentia mia ha scritto alcune littere al S. Duca mio fratello: et non vorria risposta ch’io aspetto dal S. Duca mio fratello’. 117   Capilupi to Isabella, Mantua, 2 February 1513, b. 2487, cc. 56r–56bis r. Pizzagalli, pp. 332–3. Bourne, ‘Mail humour’, pp. 213–4.

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‘V.S me deve havere tanto obligo quanto havesse mai marito a moglie’ ‘Your Lordship owes me as much obligation as ever a husband owed a wife’: After Julius On the night of 20–21 February the Este prayers were answered and Julius II died, to be succeeded by Giovanni de’ Medici as Leo X on 11 March. With this drastic change in the political landscape, and although she told Francesco in February she would return to Mantua before long, the following month Isabella was still with the duke of Milan, pursuing her diplomatic projects.118 She supported Massimiliano and Cardona’s ambition to take advantage of the pope’s death to seize Parma and Piacenza from the Church. Francesco prudently communicated opposition to such territorial plans, for the benefit of any incoming pope. His pertinent letter of 9 March to Lodovico Guerrieri, his envoy to the conclave, has often been quoted as evidence of Francesco’s contempt for his astute wife, yet perhaps it might be considered yet another example of expedient double faces.119 He condemned the offence, and his wife’s attendance at her nephew’s side, which he feared would make it seem he had been complicit, and denounced Isabella’s headstrong nature, albeit subtly offering justification for her behaviour: We regret and by now are ashamed to have as our fate a wife of that sort who always wants to act in her own way and by her own head. You know how many times before your departure we wrote to her and sent to say that she must come home […] all has been to no avail, and in the end to our extreme displeasure she has found herself with the duke of Milan and the viceroy in this cursed Piacenza enterprise. She does however offer some excuses: that the aforementioned lord duke did not want to let her leave, which could be true […] but nevertheless we confess to having a wife of her own opinion, as has been seen in many other matters […] As we are not to blame in this case, neither were we informed, so we would not like to have any reproach or mention in relation to it. Therefore we would like you to immediately excuse us of this to the new pope, with the involvement and means of the most reverend monsignor our brother.120

  The marchesa’s presence was clearly considered important by key figures in Milan. Both Massimiliano, on 17 February, and Cardona, on 26 February, wrote personally to Francesco to ask that she be permitted to stay longer. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 410, 412. 119   It is quoted by Maria Bellonci with the assertion that ‘because she had governed too well and ably […] she had lost the love of her husband’, ‘Beatrice and Isabella d’Este’, trans. by Adrienne Foulke, in Renaissance Profiles, ed. by J. H. Plumb (London, 1961), pp. 139–56, p. 151. 120   Francesco to Lodovico Guerrieri, 9 March 1513, b. 2920, L. 225, ff. 90v–91r. Luzio, ‘Primordi’, p. 109. This letter has recently been quoted by Shemek, ‘In Continuous Expectation’, p. 275, and James, ‘Machiavelli’, n. 61. Appendix Document 37. 118

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Whether the marchese’s expressed shame at his wife’s wilfulness was overstated, nevertheless evidence can be found for Francesco’s growing irritation at Isabella for not returning home. She wrote to excuse herself on 9 March, asking her husband to forgive her long absence, and expressing her certainty that he also had her brothers’ interests at heart.121 As he was unwell and eager for her homecoming, Francesco’s reply was testy. He did not condemn her part in Massimilano’s territorial expansions. He avoided direct commands. Instead to speed her return he stressed duty, her professed wish to be with him, and that he would imminently be welcoming Federico back from Rome. Her return would stop rumours over matters their intermediary Capilupi would raise with her, presumably regarding the donzelle’s behaviour. In the letter by Your Ladyship’s hand we have found neither the reasons nor the conclusions that we hoped, although we were not burdened with reading it all, and we have among other things noticed the undersigning […] although if it was true that you desired to see us as you say then no cause could have restrained you. But be that as it may, Your Ladyship must remember the respect and honour in which we have always held you and recognise and remind yourself of your duty, as by now you are of an age and discretion that you should not need to be reminded by anyone else. You should act so that one can believe it when you say, perfectly reasonably, that our regard alone counts for more than that of the rest of the world, and you should return without further delay. We are about to go to Gonzaga to meet Federico, who should be close by now, for the love of whom Your Ladyship should also make haste. And you should do this, above every other respect, to put paid to the rumours that the people are spreading. We will not discuss them here, leaving this to Benedetto Capilupi who is very well informed of them and was present at the commission of this letter. And for the love you bear us we urge you to return immediately.122

Isabella’s indignant reply gives an insight into her opinion of her own character as a wife. She was hurt by Francesco’s criticism, lamenting ‘my bad fortune that always induces Your Lordship to be displeased by my every action, no matter how good’. She defended her prolonged absence, and her conduct, which rather than justly provoking gossip had fostered countless important friendships for both marchesi. She asserted her qualities as an excellent wife, unaccepting of Francesco’s chastisement: ‘thanks to God and myself I have never needed to be 121   Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Piacenza, 9 February 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, cc. 98r–99r. This letter is dated February by Isabella’s hand, but evidence suggests the month was March. The marchesa was in Piacenza, not Milan as the previous month, and Francesco’s letter of 11 March (f. I, c. 36r) appears to reply to this. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, pp. 419–20. 122   Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 11 March 1513, b. 2120, fasc. I, c. 36r. Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 421. Appendix Document 38.

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governed or to be reminded how to govern my person, and even if in other things I am nothing, God has granted me this grace’. Her husband should remember the great debt he owed her, which even if he loved her as much as ever a husband loved a wife, he could never repay. Knowledge of his ingratitude sometimes provoked her to righteous anger, but despite his mistreatment she would forever work for his advancement. However little love he showed her, she would love him more, knowing no better, having been bound to him since childhood. So he should have allowed her to stay a few days more. Francesco should have believed the sentiment of her undersigning that she desired to see him, and if he was so keen to be with her, he could engineer time together more often in Mantua.123 Rather than apologise for noncompliant behaviour, Isabella asserted her selfconfident belief that she deserved more respect and authority. The following day, secure in the success of her rhetoric, she reversed the situation and expressed her intention to further postpone her return. She told Francesco it upset her greatly that he resented her prolonging her journey, as she wished to please and obey him, and she had decided to depart immediately. However, Massimiliano had impelled her to accompany him as he attempted to take Parma and Piacenza, and she artfully implored Francesco to see no art in this delay, ‘as on my faith I am no less desirous than you are that I leave here’.124 Francesco did not oppose this final deferral. Eleonora Brognina eventually favoured the romantic proposals of the viceroy. After making use of Gurk’s infatuation, the marchesa continued to promote Cardona’s support of her nephew while fostering his obsession with the donzella. Possibly Isabella staged the girl’s entry into a Mantuan convent in May 1513 with Francesco’s knowledge. Daniela Pizzagalli suggests that Francesco’s light-hearted mockery of the distraught viceroy indicated his certainty that the donzella would soon be in Cardona’s arms.125 Throughout that year the marchesa and the viceroy discussed Brognina’s case, Cardona desperate to see her return to the world. During discussions of the girl, Isabella asked political favours of the viceroy, for instance in November requesting that he persuade imperial ministers to allow monies owed by Francesco to be waived, in order that the marchesa not be forced to pawn her jewels.126 To complete Brognina’s story, in February 1514 she left the convent and went to her family in Ferrara. The viceroy showed his determination to keep her by depositing two thousand ducats in an account for the girl, to use as 123   Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Piacenza, 12 March 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, cc. 114 r–115r. Luzio, ‘La corte sforzesca’, pp. 164–5, Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, II, p. 86, James, ‘Friendship’, p. 15. Appendix Document 39. 124   Isabella to Francesco, Piacenza, 13 March 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, c. 116r–v: ‘non si persuadi questo essere mia arte, che sopra la mia fede non sono meno di ley volunterosa de levarmi da qui’. 125   Pizzagalli, p. 355. 126   Isabella to Ramón de Cardona, Mantua, 23 November 1513, b. 2192, n.n. Rita Castagna, Un vicerè per Eleonora Brognina alla corte di Isabella d’Este Gonzaga (Mantua, 1982) and Luzio, ‘La corte sforzesca’, p. 167. See also Shemek, ‘Properties’, pp. 137–8.

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a dowry or to provide for herself if she chose not to marry. From the end of that year to the viceroy’s return to Naples in November 1515 Brognina met regularly with Cardona. In October 1515, unable to return to Isabella’s court, she went to Goito where she gave birth to Cardona’s twin boys, incredibly having one in midNovember and the other more than a month later. In January 1516 Francis I made an unsuccessful attempt to have the bishop of Nice abduct the famous beauty, and Francesco, forewarned, instructed the commissario of Goito to turn a blind eye. Brognina was transferred to Naples, where the ex-donzella was married to the viceroy’s captain Gutierrez de la Padilla. After Francesco’s death Brognina was reinstated in Isabella’s service. The marchesa returned to Mantua at the end of March 1513. Henceforth her usefulness as a Gonzaga representative at foreign courts seems to have been recognised in trips ostensibly made for private business and leisure. In March 1514 Isabella went to Garda, then that summer to Milan before proceeding to Genoa, Pisa and Rome, keeping the ailing Francesco minutely informed with diplomatic intelligence, and including colourful and amusing tales to revive his spirits. During her trip to Garda, as well as investigating the feelings of the local people in contested areas toward the Gonzaga, she vividly related the devastation caused by a great storm in Goito; jovially told of her fall on steps in the rocca at Sirmione, sliding down on her behind; and at Lonato laughed at her donzella Livia, whose wearing of undergarments spared her embarrassment when she fell from a horse with one foot caught in the stirrup.127 From Rome she visited Naples, and returned to Mantua in March 1515. Although Francesco seems to have swung between approval and disapproval of Isabella’s extended expedition, on her return he welcomed his wife warmly.128 On these trips the marchesa was an important Gonzaga presence, and Francesco charged her with significant business. In Rome she further ingratiated herself with the new pope, Giovanni de’ Medici, who was Ferrante Gonzaga’s godfather and a friend of the Gonzaga (he had been warmly welcomed in Mantua by Francesco on his escape from the French in June 1512 for instance). Besides benefits, this   Pizzagalli, pp. 360–3. James, ‘Travels’, p. 105.   On 10 October 1514 Capilupi wrote to Isabella from Mantua that he had feared

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that he would lose the marchese’s favour, having assured Francesco that she would be going to neither Rome nor Naples, and he was afraid of appearing to wish to trick his master. He told Isabella that she had been ‘damnata dal Sig.re & altri’ but that Francesco now seemed happy with his wife’s trip, b. 2489, n.n. The marchese had also demonstrated approval at Isabella’s decision the previous month, having informed her: ‘havemo pensato che la andata di la S. V. a Roma viene a certo nostro bono proposito e per ciò la c’è gratissima’, Mantua, 8 September, b. 2120, fasc. IV, c. 211r. Her surprise at her affectionate welcome home is suggested by Guglielmo Caetani’s joke to Isabella that she may have become conceited through ‘la racquistata gratia & le inextimabili accoglienze ch’io sento la Ex.tia Vostra havere contra expectatione recepute alla tornata sua, per il che hora più che mai sia la dilecta del gran consorte’, Sermoneta, 29 July 1515, b. 809, c. 49r–v. Luzio, ‘Primordi’, pp. 142, 145, 177.

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pope would bring difficulties for the Gonzaga through his desire to make his nephew lord of Urbino. During her extended visit Isabella was a significant figure at the papal court, and made use of prominent connections, including Bernardo da Bibbiena, influential with Leo X and named cardinal in September 1513, who pledged his service to her.129 From April to July 1517 the marchesa made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Mary Magdalene in Provence, where she had a Latin plaque, composed by Mario Equicola and describing herself as ‘chief glory of the Italians’, made to mark her pilgrimage.130 This journey was also commemorated by Equicola’s Iter in Narbonensem Galliam.131 In autumn 1518 Isabella visited Casale di Monferrato, Asti, and Genoa.132 These trips during Francesco’s final years reflected the marchesa’s marginalisation by advisors such as Tolomeo Spagnoli. However, travel permitted Isabella to hold a much-lauded place at the heart of other political centres. Exploiting her well-established network of friends and correspondents, she fulfilled an important role in representing the interests, above all, of the Gonzaga, but also of the Este and Massimiliano Sforza, before he was deposed by the French in 1515.133 Her absence on diplomatic business required strong communication with Francesco at a distance, was ideal for the pursuit of double policies when beneficial, and allowed demarcated teamwork without conflict. The marchesi worked together, during Isabella’s absences and while at home, in response to the uncertain balance of power after Francis I’s accession to the French throne. They continued to share intelligence and the quick accumulation of information from a variety of, sometimes contradictory, sources as seen in the descriptions of the Battle of Marignano of September 1515 provided to Isabella by Bonaventura Pistofilo from the Spanish camp and to Francesco by correspondents including the ambassador Rozone.134 Francesco initially placated the emperor while Isabella followed a pro-French agenda, her image being boosted to the king by acclaim from her friends, male and female.135 The couple then agreed on the best course of action in sending Federico to Francis I, again as a hostage but soon   Luzio, ‘Primordi’, and Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 208 –15.   James, ‘Travels’, p. 106. 131   Alessandra Villa of the Université de Savoie is currently working on an edition

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of Equicola’s Iter. 132   Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 238–9. Trips to Monferrato in 1517/18 allowed Isabella to meet Federico’s young fiancée Maria Paleologa. 133   Isabella similarly used travel opportunities when marginalised by Federico, visiting Rome 1525–27. 134   Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, pp. 20–1. 135   Isabella was praised to the king by Alfonso Ariosto, Ottaviano Fregoso, and the constable of France, Francesco’s nephew Charles of Bourbon, as well as by the countess of Caiazzo. Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, pp. 23–4. The contribution of the individuals of Isabella’s social, cultural, and political networks, male and female, in propagating her fame and influence is an area of great interest.

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a popular presence at a powerful court, and their letters to their son demonstrate teamwork and the perception of shared interests.136 The marchesi continued to vacillate among the various powers, Isabella following Estense agendas, sometimes with Francesco’s support, and with the seizing of Urbino by the Medici in 1516 they projected double faces to the Montefeltro and the pope.137 During these years the marchese’s advancing syphilis is an important consideration.138 Francesco may have been irrational and irascible from the effects of his illness. The marchesa, keen to avoid physical relations with him, travelled and conducted Gonzaga business at foreign courts. Her absence was also encouraged by Francesco’s favouring of those counsellors Isabella most abhorred, such as Tolomeo and Vigo. That Isabella believed she was unappreciated in Mantua is implied in Capilupi’s letter to her in October 1514 while she was travelling; he understood she did not want to return home quickly, ‘unless it was clear she would not receive humiliation’.139 Justifying to the pope her persecution of Spagnoli after Francesco’s death, Isabella wrote to Baldassare Castiglione: He kept us so low that while in our tender years we had had some authority in this state, then we were completely deprived of it, as you and this entire city are aware. In confirmation of this, His Holiness knows that we spent nine months away from home, and four in Rome, ashamed to be so abject in Mantua.140

Even if this scenario is accepted, it did not however prematurely destroy the power sharing of the marchesi, for, whether or not they continued to agree, they continued in their dedicated cooperation for Gonzaga advancement. Indeed, Equicola reassured Alfonso d’Este that, despite the influence of the malevolent counsellors, Isabella 136   Federico was well placed to work on his parents’ behalf and promote the causes of Urbino and Ferrara. Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, pp. 26, 77–81; Tamalio, Federico Gonzaga; Cashman, ‘Public Life’, p. 100. 137   An interesting example of Isabella encouraging Alfonso to court Francesco is seen in a letter written Mantua, 19 April 1516, b. 2192, n.n. The marchesa wrote to her brother that he should do certain favours for the marchese, of mutual aid and benefit, but should pretend in a letter to Isabella that the idea was his own: ‘questo io lo scrivo senza saputa del S.r. mio […] perché vorei che V. Ex. me rescrivesse de sorte ch’el paresse che lei da sé se fusse mossa a far tal officio aciò ch’el S. mio ni restasse tanto più obligato a V. Ex.’. Isabella pawned jewels for the Urbinese cause, while Francesco placated the pope. Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, pp. 59, 72, 81–2, 89–91. 138   Luzio and Renier, ‘Contributo’, pp. 411–7. Pazzini, ‘La medicina’, pp. 315–8. 139   Capilupi to Isabella, Mantua, 10 October 1514, b. 2489, n.n.:‘se non era chiara di non havere scorno’. 140   Isabella to Baldassare Castiglione, Mantua, 21 July 1519, b. 2997, L. 37, ff. v 13 –14r: ‘Noi tenne sì bassa che dove in li tenerj anni havevamo qualche auctorità in questo stato, adesso ne eramo in tutto privata, como a voj et a tutta questa cità è noto. In confirmatione di ciò Sua S.tà sa che spendessimo nove mesi fuora de casa et quattro ne stessimo in Roma vergognandoni star così abiecta in Mantua’. Pizzagalli, p. 425.

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was far from kept in the dark.141 Furthermore, Isabella frequently represented the Gonzaga, leading on occasion to rumours that Francesco was dead.142 This work certainly does not deny that there may have been times of genuine division and frustration between the marchesi, but it posits that this was not necessarily destructive, so long as both held the maintenance and aggrandisement of the dynasty as their prime consideration. Naturally Francesco did not feel as dedicated to the Este or Sforza causes as Isabella, but neither would the marchesa ultimately prioritise those over Gonzaga concerns. Francesco’s fundamental belief in Isabella is illustrated by his will and declarations made on his deathbed. On his last days in March 1519 the marchese called to his bedside his wife, both the duchesses of Urbino, his brothers Cardinal Sigismondo and Giovanni, and his sons. On his last day, 29 March, he wrote his will, providing for his family and proclaiming Federico his heir. The twenty-nine year partnership of the marchesi successfully bestowed upon him a strong state. The marchese nominated Isabella as legal regent for Federico, until the age of twenty-two, to be assisted as ever by Sigismondo and Giovanni, and expressed his confidence, having always known her to possess great prudence and ability and rise to every arduous challenge.143 Thus began Isabella’s regency for her son, and a power­-sharing relationship of another era.

  Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, II, p. 56.   Luzio, ‘Isabella d’Este e Leone X’, p. 36. In February 1517 Sanudo heard: ‘ch’el

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marchese di Mantoa era morto, qual era col mal franzoso. Tamen non fu vero’. XXI, 533. 143   Equicola, Dell’istoria, p. 269: ‘Voltesi ultimamente alla consorte Signora Donna Isabella da Este, riferendo molte sue lodi di prudenza, & integrità. Disse haverla sempre conosciuta di maraviglioso ingegno, & giudicatala sufficientissima ad ogn’alta impresa’.

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Conclusion When Isabella arrived in Mantua in 1490 the city had been ruled by the Gonzaga for well over a century and a half, since 1328, and such would be the stability of the dynasty that the family would rule for four centuries. Francesco and Isabella’s dynastic policies ensured Gonzaga survival and advancement during their rule, and this work has provided evidence of their continual collaboration and power sharing to this end, as well as showing Isabella’s elimination of individuals endangering their union. Isabella is an atypical example of a woman in history, her extensive historiography traditionally attributing her with special qualities as a unique patroness and gifted stateswoman, shackled by destiny to a husband her political and intellectual inferior. As research reveals more women directing cultural production and engaging in political activity, Isabella’s position of singularity is being reassessed, although her brilliance is rarely denied. The consistency of Isabella’s sophisticated self-presentation of political authority across the range of her cultural and social activities, justifying and strengthening co-rule, allows for reconsideration of her cultural contributions. Culture and dynastic politics were intertwined, as in Isabella’s promotion of virility, to the enhancement of both spheres, and overarching and wide-ranging interpretation of her cultural contributions shows that Isabella was more than solely the cultural figure of Julia Cartwright’s view. As recent scholarship by Molly Bourne and Clifford M. Brown has shown Francesco to be a notable patron in his own right, evidence here presented has also shown him to be a diplomatic force. Unusual in having to justify a male ruler against his wife, this study has demonstrated Francesco’s importance in policies previously attributed to Isabella alone, and provided a more balanced view of conjugal co-rule, inviting further study of other ruling couples. Isabella’s great authority in her power sharing with Francesco has been revealed, along with her domestic role in order and justice, and conjugal division of property. Contrary to historiographical bias in Isabella’s favour and traditional separation of their activities, it has been made clear that the marchesi acted in alliance. An interesting theme that emerges in this study is the couple’s performance of gender. Isabella heightens the female qualities of the consort in her powerfully feminine entourage of ladies; in the virtuous female traits portrayed in the art she commissioned; and in her reputation as a trendsetter in cosmetics and fashion. However, this is enhanced with her displays of virility. Francesco’s prominent masculinity, on the other hand, is balanced by those occasions when he gives power to his wife or withdraws from public life. Thus we see the couple enacting

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traditional gender attributes of consort and prince but also sharing or inverting these attributes, usually when politically expedient and with each other’s support. Past and current scholars have paid, and are paying, considerable attention to Isabella’s correspondence, often with little consideration of Francesco’s. The survival in Mantua not only of her own autograph and copied letters, but of many to her from Francesco and from intermediaries, has enabled us to have a welldocumented foundation for interpreting the inter-relationships of the marchesi, redressing standard Luzian views of an unbalanced relationship in favour of cooperation. Deciding how much of the correspondence was deceptive and masking is problematic. We have seen that in non-political contexts Isabella enjoyed jokes and deceptions through letters; political dissimulation is a natural companion to this. I have also demonstrated that some of Francesco’s criticisms of Isabella were made for considered effect on third parties, rather than showing genuine distrust or antipathy. Space has precluded closer stylistic analysis of the epistolary rhetoric (which is anyway being undertaken by scholars such as Deanna Shemek and Carolyn James), but the extensively quoted letters here should sufficiently substantiate the interpretation of this relationship. In their diarchy, examples have been given of the marchesi confronting irate courtiers and international threats at the highest level. They were menaced by kings of France, the emperor, popes Alexander VI and Julius II, and by powerful military commanders such as Cesare Borgia, who has emerged in this study as a more complex diplomat than is normally recognised. These dangers were confronted jointly, the couple’s characteristic division of fronts a pivotal part of their response to a shifting, nebulous, and precarious political landscape. Credit for Gonzaga success cannot be taken by Isabella alone. While several instances of denigration of the marchese for his political choices have been seen, for example by Girolamo Redini in 1498 and the Brognolo in 1499, in team masking it may be natural that one party be censured. Furthermore, as the male ruler Francesco’s political decisions were more open to criticism. Nevertheless, it is true that Isabella occasionally disliked her husband’s handling of diplomatic necessities, for instance during the Borgia threat, and it may be the case that Francesco did not possess all of Isabella’s political acumen. But he is not to be discounted as a statesman and political performer. This study has shown that he may indeed have been a more consummate dissimulator than has been credited, for instance, by being perhaps only superficially critical of Isabella during his captivity. This work thus makes a key contribution to Isabellian and Mantuan studies: showing the enduring power sharing of the marchesi. In addition, the wider study of the almost unprecedented surviving correspondence between and around these Renaissance princely rulers has thrown light on court procedures and attitudes; on sexual politics and seduction; on diplomatic activity (as in Milan); on court rivalries, Machiavellian intrigues and assassinations; and, more pleasantly, on gift giving. Several epistolary themes emerge: insights into the marchesi’s communication practices, intermediaries, and security matters.

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Other areas invite further research: the political deployment of the donzelle; Francesco and Isabella’s representation of dynasty while travelling; the marchesi’s religious activities; Isabella’s superstitious beliefs; and her interest in appearance, for instance in cosmetics. Research into intriguing individuals such as Vigo di Camposampiero, Benedetto Capilupi, and the Tosabezzi family are also compelling avenues for continued discovery. More comparative studies will be fruitful, investigating the means adopted by other female rulers and co-rulers, such as Caterina Sforza, Lucrezia Borgia, and Isabella of Aragon, and examining in depth their relationships with the marchesi. Intra-house relationships merit analysis: the part of other Gonzaga relatives in the power-sharing alliance; Isabella’s strategising with her father and brothers, and competition with her family; and the marchesi’s relationships with their siblings and children. Although much remains to be explored, this study has shown that Francesco and Isabella must be viewed as an indivisible partnership, as exemplified and proclaimed in the intertwined characters of their names in the Sala delle Sigle.

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Appendix

1. Isabella to Francesco, Ferrara, 10 November 1491, b. 2107, fasc. II, c. 137r. Discussed in Chapter 3. Isabella suggested the marchesi show disapproval of Lodovico Sforza’s suggestion he might give refuge to Stefano Secco, in order to prevent Francesco Secco’s reception in Milanese territory. […] Per cavallaro a posta lo Ill.mo S. Lodovico me ha mandato da Vigevene qua due littere: una directiva ala Ex. V. del Ill.mo S. Duca, l’altra a me da sua parte, per la quale me ricerca se seria contenta che M. Stephano Sicco andasse ad stanciare suso lo dominio ducale. M’è parso subito driciarle in questa incluse a la Ex. V. aciò che la possi in nome suo & mio farli fare quella resposta gli parerà. Io iudico ch’el S. Lodovico volese forsi cominciare ad aprire per questa via la porta per venire poi col tempo a retirar lì anche M. Francisco. Siché a me pare ch’el se debbi monstrare che non manco dispiaceriane ch’el se desse recapito a M. Stephano como a M. Francisco, perché nui non l’havemo per cussì innocente de li mancamenti facti per Francisco como S. S. se persuade. Questo non dico per dare ricordo a la Ex. V. cognoscendola molto più prudente di me, ma perché non havendoli io manco in abhominatione che la li habia lei, non ho potuto contenerme che non dica el parere mio. Facia mo’ essa el volere suo. […] 2. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 3 June 1492, b. 2991, L. 2, f. 25r. Discussed in Chapter 2. Isabella wrote of gossip about a strange occult ritual carried out by a Jew on the body of a hanged man in Revere. Ill.mo Si.re mio. Li dì passati intesi una zanza che se era levata che uno hebreo havea dimandato a dui fratelli christianj una taza de lacte de donna et promiseli dece ducati se ge lo davano et lo metessino in sua presentia in la testa de quello impichato da Revere. Ma che uno de essi fratelli per inganare lo judeo gli portoe lacte de cavalla et lui stesso fece uno taglio in la testa del impichato et gli mise dentro quello lacte in presentia del hebreo, el quale dimandoe al christiano s’el vedea alcuna cosa. Guardosse intorno et gli rispose vedere grande multitudine de cavalle, ad che dixe lo hebreo ‘tu me hai inganato dandomi lacte de cavalla né io te darò li dece ducati’, per la qual cosa comminciò ad morire molte cavalle vollendose inferire cossì seria facto de le donne s’el lacto non gli fusse sta cambiato. Benché

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io non creda questa patia nondimeno havendo heri scripto al Vicario de Revere ch’el facesse despichare quello sagurato gli mandai anche a dire a bocha ch’el dovesse fare vedere se l’havea taglio alcuno suso la testa. Esso mi risponde essere vero et scriveme quanto vederà la Ex.tia V. per la littera sua quale gli mando qui inclusa. Se altro mi scriverà similmente lo significarò a quella, ala cui bona gratia sempre me racommando. Mantuae iij Junij 1492 3. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 13 April 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. X, c. 464r. Discussed in Chapter 2. Isabella reacted swiftly to erroneous news of a plague infestation in Mantua. Ill.mo S. mio. Benedetto di Agnelli me ha dicto essere certificato che a Parma, Cremona, Bressa & Verona è stata interdicta Mantua como infecta di peste & ch’el crede che questa falsa fama sia stata levata per qualche mercadante che volesse tenire el precio de le lane basse per questa via, che seria grande danno de la Ex. V. & de li subditi, per il che subito io ho facto scrivere in tutti quelli loci & mandato le littere per cavallari aposta a li commissarij & rectori facendoli fede como Mantua & tutto el stato per gratia de Dio è sanissimo non solum da peste, ma da ogni suspicione, aciò che liberamente possi venire cadauno. Per mio debito ho voluto significarlo a la Ex. V. a la cui bona gratia me raccommando. Mantue xiij Aprilis 1493 Vostra Isabella cum R.ne 4. Benedetto Capilupi to Francesco, Mantua, 15 October 1493, b. 2443, c. 259r–v. Discussed in Chapter 2. Capilupi described Isabella’s strong, sensible reaction to her mother’s death. Ill.mo S. mio. Cognoscendo che V. Ex. venirà tutta sconsolata per lo inconveniente sequito per el cavallaro milanese che ha scoperto a la mia Ill.ma patrona quello che ogniuno studiava tenerli celato m’è parso per conforto suo notificarli como lo R.mo Monsignore Prothonotario, lo Ill. S. Zohanne, M.a Beatrice, M. Guidone, Hieronymo, Antimacho & tutta la casa concorreno in opinione che questa sia stata voluntà de Dio per manco male, si perché già essa cominciava ad acorgerse de essere inganata havendone l’ochio adosso a tutti per essere octo zorni hozi che la non hebbe littere da Ferrara, et per haversi già tre nocte secundo lei ha dicto insomniata la benedetta anima de M.a, si etiam perché essendose scoperta questa cosa per la via de Milano o per imprudentia o per grande cativita, s’è facto i(nte) ndere a Madonna che per vedere lei ch’el S. suo patre né V. Ex. né la matre propria quando era viva hanno voluto che S. S. intendi questo caso facilmente si può considerare ch’el sia stato facto a posta per fare dispiacere a la persona sua & a la creatura che l’ha nel corpo, per il che è necessario, ultra li altri rasonevoli respecti, che Sua Ex. per dare nel tracto a tanta iniquità se sforzi contenerse et usare la

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prudentia sua, sì per dare nel cuore a chi altramente desyderasse, sì etiam per gratificare V. Ex. et conservare la creatura a comune beneficio, & contenteza de tutto el populo che sta attento per vedere questo felicissimo parto, subiungendoseli diverse altre rasone, per modo che doppo lo exallare che l’ha facto de lachrimare s’è posta in tanta constantia & forteza de animo che ogniuno se stupisse de la prudentia sua. Quando hebbe la nova pur alhora se havea posto el primo bochone levatase da tavale cum li pianti & poi acquietatase como ho dicto ha in camera sua disnato insieme cum Monsignore & S. Zohanne assai meglio che non se haveria creduto. [...] La può mo’ venire cum l’animo più reposato, che scio non doveva fare, ma lo venire presto serrà ben a proposito & trovarrà che l’ha per (m)oglie la più prudente M.a che sia al mondo. Li prenominati fratelli & servitori de V. Ex. de commissione de li quali ho scripto questa, per lo evangelio, se raccommandano a la sua bona gratia & cussì io. Mantue xv oct. 1493 hora 23 5. Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 1 November 1493, b. 2108bis, fasc. IX.2, c. 401r Discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. Francesco wrote a joke letter for delivery by the jester Mattello, along with a message and gift. Ill.ma Consors Amantissima. Ve mandamo una frutta bella e grassa qual goderete per amor nostro. E havendovela a mandare ho ricercato d’un suffitiente messo e finalmente me s’è abbattuto inanzi quel homo celebre e venerando del Matello, ambassatore proprio da mandare a donare cose e cibi da mangiare per essere lui ghiotto, ingordo, e leccardo e, per sapere bene adaptare e mettere insieme sue parole, gli havemo comesso ch’el vi debba referire cose ardue, secrete, e importante. Per tanto V. S. gli dia tanta fede quanta daresti alla persona nostra propria et per esser lui di fideli e integri servitori nostri, como più volte ha potuto comprehendere V. S. nelle sue strenue opere e admirandi effecti. E ricevuto el presente dono e udita la presente sua ambassciata spacciaretelo con quel migliore e più presto modo che a V. S. parerà, alla quale ce ricomandamo e offerimo ad vota. Datum Marmirolj, die primo Novembris 1493 6. Francesco to Benedetto Tosabezzi, Mantua, 5 August 1494, b. 2109, fasc. XVIII, c. 390r. Discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. Figure 1.1. On the suggestion of Lodovico Sforza, Francesco had Isabella’s secretary write to Tosabezzi, instructing him to help arrange at the imperial court that a daughter could be named Gonzaga heir in the absence of sons. [sealed with Isabella’s seal] [autograph] Franciscus marchio mantua manu propria

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[in the hand of Benedetto Capilupi] M. Benedicto. Lo Ill.mo S. Lodovico nostro cognato & patre honor.mo amandone da figliolo ne ha ricordato ch’el seria bene vedere de impetrare che la investitura nostra dicesse cussì in femina como in maschio, cioè che mancando nui senza figlioli maschi ligittimi, la figliola ligittima primogenita succedesse herede nel stato. Parendone questo ricordo prudente & amorevole lo havemo acceptato, sperando col mezo suo per l’auctorita & coniunctione che ha la Ex. Sua cum la M.tà del Re de Romani doverla obtenere. Lei scrive alo oratore suo in bona forma de propria mane de la mogliere, aciò che la cosa passi più secretamente. Vogliamo che vui faciati in questo caso tanto quanto ve serrà dicto per el suo oratore, governandove a punto secundo el parere suo, perché obtenendose la vogliamo recognoscere da S. Ex. Governatila cum grande secreteza, & non lassati intendere questa pratica né a cancellere né a persona che habiati apresso finché la non sia obtenuta, perché non si obtenendo non voressimo che persona viva lo intendesse, et questo vi commettemo per quanto havereti chara la gratia nostra, che in fede de ciò la presente serrà inscripta de nostra propria mane. Né ve maravegliareti che la sia sigillata col sigillo de la Ill.ma nostra consorte, perché non havemo voluto che la vadi a noticia de altri, cha del suo secretario, per mezo del quale el S. Lodovico ne ha datto questo ricordo. Governative mo’ vui cum quella prudentia che speramo. Mantue v Aug.ti 1494 7. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 15 July 1495, b. 2110, c. 83r. Discussed in Chapter 2. Isabella reported that her authority had been tested by an official, Antonio Donato, whom she had then punished. Ill.mo Si.re mio. Per essere sta dato certo pocho frumento questi dì passati ali provisionati de Hostilia, per subvenirli in la necessità che si trovano, maxime per essere bon tempo che non hanno havuto dinari, et essendo quelli da la torre de mezo, et de pontemolino nel medesimo bisogno, che cossì me ne ha scritto Batayno racommandomeli strictamente, vedendo io non li essere el modo de provederli del denaro, havea preso per partito farli dare uno sacho de frumento per uno, che in tutto sono vinti. Et cossì mandai a dire ad Antonio Donato che ge lo facesse dare, de quello de la corte de Hostilia, el quale cum quanto ge lo habia facto replicare alquante fiate, non ha voluto farlo. Anzi ultimamente respondendo che lo faria, se n’è andato a Gonzaga cum delegiare li poveri provisionati et me insieme, cosa che a me ha dato non picol molestia, consyderando la necessità de li poveri homini constituti nel loco dove stanno et più la pocha stima ch’el si fa di facti mei, che pur el doveria in molto maior cosa de questa obedirmi, essendo cossì intentione de la Ex.tia V. che lui e li altri officiali et subditi de quella me obediscano. Unde aciò che esso habia causa un’altra fiata de più consyderare li commandamenti mei, et che altri ne piglino exempio, persuadendomi fare cosa grata ala S. V. ho ordinato che al p.to Antonio Donato siano tolti sachi vinti de

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frumento del suo proprio, et distribuito ali predicti provisionati, el che ho voluto significare ala V. S. aciò che intendendolo quella per via de Antonio Donato o d’altri l’habia prima inteso da me ordinatamente come la cosa sia passata et in la sua bona gratia me racommando. Datum Mantue xv Julij 1495 Vostra Isabella cum R.ne 8. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 24 July 1495, b. 2110, c. 103r. Copialettere copy transcribed and translated Shemek, ‘Properties’, pp. 133–5. Discussed in Chapter 2. Isabella objected to Francesco’s instructions to send to her sister Beatrice tapestries taken as booty from Charles VIII. Illmo S. mio. La Ex. V me ha facto dire che gli mandi quelli quatro pezi del apparamento del Re de Franza per volerli donare a la Duchessa de Milano. Io sono per obedirla ma a dire el vero in questo caso lo facio malvoluntieri, parendome che queste regale spolie dovessino remanere in casa a perpetua memoria del glorioso facto d’arme de V. Ex, non essendoli alcun altro minimo signo. Dandolo mo’ lei ad altri parerà che la renuntia anchora l’honore de la impresa a chi haverà li t(rophei de) li inimici in mane. Io non lo mando adesso perché gli bisognarà uno mullo & anche aciò che V. Ex. possi pensare de pigliare qualche scusa cum la Duchessa, cum dire che la me havea donato a me prima questo apparamento. Certo quando io non l’havesse veduto non me ne curaria tanto, ma havendomelo mandato a donare V. Ex. & consyderando essersi aguadagnato col periculo de la vita sua, sia certa che lo differisco ad altri cum le lacrime a li ochij. Tuttavia como ho dicto obedirò V. Ex. da la quale aspectarò però che la me replichi. Se questo apparamento valesse mille volte più ch’el non fa & non fusse acquistato como è non me ne rincresceria che l’andasse in mane de la Ill.ma M.a Duchessa mia sorella, quale scia ben V. S. ch’io amo & reverisco, ma solum li respecti p.ti me fanno difficile. Raccommandome in bona gratia de V. Ex. que benevaleat. Mantue 24 Julij 1495. Ill.me D. V. Consors Isabella 9. Floriano Dolfo to Isabella, Bologna, 10 January 1497, b. 1144, c. 76r. Transcribed Minutelli, ed., pp. 114–15, partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, ‘Delle relazioni’, p. 645. See Chapter 2. Dolfo exhorted strength after the death of Isabella’s sister Beatrice and differentiated the marchesa from the emotional female rank and file. Cossì como, Ill.ma M.ma Marchesana, sopra ogni altra donna che hogi al mondo spiri sola seti aliena da ogni costume et inclinamento femineo et, sbandite tute le levitate et sensualitate di che ne sono per natura le donne copiose, vi sete accostata ad li virtuosi et constanti acti virili, mediante li quali può V. Ex. più presto essere

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in lo savio et constante collegio de li homini che nel nobile armento de le donne annumerata, similmente in questo acerbo caso de la morte di la beata memoria di la illustrissima vostra sorella vogliati conformarvi al dono che per accidentale vi haveti vendicato et non perdere il tesoro per voi già acquistato, et esser scartata di lo honorato capitulo de li homini, non comportando la gravissima afflictione de la perduta gemma in pace et seguendo la vana turba et usanza de le donne imprudente, le quale ali loro appetiti et sensualitate et passione di continuo prestano le orechie et senza freno di modestia se abandonano et allagano nel profondo de li occorrenti sinistri overo dextri casi, ridendo cum ridentibus et flendo cum flentibus. Ma l’homo, di natura savio et constante, nele adverse soe fortune patiente et saldo como uno scoglio per soffiare de venti contrarij et odiosi si sta immobile et a quilli fa li debiti et opportunj reparj: stagnando dal cuore et ochi le parate lachrime, cum lo squadro et fillo di la rasone tempera il doloroso appetito et refrena li impetuosi et apparechiati guay, confortandosi in convertire in voluntate quello a chi non si può per necessitate fare targa. Adonqua conforto Vostra Excellentia si facia a questa volta cognoscere et prova di la comune bona opinione che hanno tuti li principi et signori italiani et provintiali, liquali savia, constante, modesta et rasonevole sino ad hora vi hanno reputata, et cum li effecti confirmarlj ne la loro sententia. [...] in pace et cum rasone tolerareti lo inmanissimo et lacrimabile caso, conservareti quello singulare titulo de virtute et cum tal schermo defenderiti il corpo dalj ireparabili colpi di fortuna et il bono nome vostro, che raro fra donne si trova, insino al cielo accrescereti et al nostro Ill.mo Signor Marchese dareti non pocho conforto et ristoro […] So bene non disdire né esser reprehensibile piangere li morti [...] ma ogni cosa cum misura, unde disse il savio ne quid nimis. […] Valete Vivite felici vir mulierque thoro. Bononie die x Ianuarij 1497 10. Francesco to Isabella, Marmirolo, 17 March 1497, b. 2112, c. 4r. Discussed in Chapter 2. An exhausted Francesco retired to Marmirolo to rest, asking Isabella to take on supplications addressed to him. Ill.ma Coniunx nostra Amantissima. Perché il cumulo de le supplicatione ogni dì secondo li bisogni et le occurrentie se fa maiore, ne serà gratissimo che la S. V. pigli lo assumpto de expedirle et signarle tutte, non manchandoli como speramo in essa. Imperoche noi, como quelli che già semo stracchi, per troppo faticha, havemo determinato attendere al quanto al reposo, sì de lo animo como del corpo, et restorare li damni receputi da varie infirmità et disturbi. Però V. S. passate queste feste de Pascha potrà darli principio in la quale reposamo tanto quanto in noi medesmi, essendo commune et unico omne nostro concepto et volere. Murmurilli xvij Martij 1497 Coniunx Franciscus Marchio Mantue etc Ill.mi do. Venetarum omnium copiarum generalis capitaneus

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11. Isabella to Girolamo Redini, Mantua, 8 March 1498, b. 2992, L. 9, ff. 36v–37r. Discussed in Chapter 2. Isabella asked Redini to try to obtain Francesco’s approval to commute the punishment of a man condemned to have both hands removed for the crime of stealing pheasants. Venerabilis pater. Questa mattina andando alla predica videssimo mettersi fora li stendardi de la iusticia et dimandando la causa me fu dicto che l’era per fare taiare due mane ad uno de quelli che haveano preso fasani, una mane ad l’altro & dare tre tracti de corda ad terzo, per il che intrammo in tanta compassione per rispecto de quello a chi se doveano taiare tutte due che mai non hebimo cervello né alla predica, né ad altra cosa pensando sempre sopra questo. Et ritornando indretto, vedendo già apparechiarsi la exequutione, ne assalitte certo tremore che gionta a casa, et ritrovata la tavola apparechiata per disnare non havevamo stomacho. Né era possibile poterne scaciare questo temore et compassione venutane da sua posta, senza che persona del mondo ne havesse parlato in favore suo, né da nui stesse ni potevamo sublevare, anchora che conoscessimo ch’el si havesse molto ben meritata questa punitione. Finalmente per uscire de questo travaglio presimo partito de usare prosumptione committendo che per questa mattina non fusse taiato se non una mane a quello a chi se dovevano taiare due, non a fine de farli gratia de nostra auctorita, ma de dimandarla allo Ill.mo S. nostro consorte per l’altra mane, perché quando pur Sua Ex. non volesse farla sabbato se poterà exequire. Però haveremo charo che subito lo faciati intendere a S. S. et la supplicare che per nostro amore se digni fargli gratia de questa mane et perdonarne se havemo havemo [sic] usato prosumptione, perché certo da la natura et complexione nostra sono sta sforzate. Quando anche vi paresse ch’el dovesse haverlo molto molesto et non fusse per contentarsine non ne parlate niente, et avisatinelo subito per questo cavallaro, però che lassaremo taliarli la mane tanto presto che S. Ex. non poterà haverne noticia. Siché expectamo subito resposta & benevaleat P.V. Mantue 8 Martij 1498 12. Girolamo Redini to Isabella, Rome, 22 April 1498, b. 852, c. 436r. Imperfectly transcribed Luzio, I Borgia, pp. 37–8. Discussed in Chapter 4. Redini urged Isabella to influence her husband’s behaviour, describing Francesco’s bad reputation in Rome and his malevolent counsellors. [...] a me par che a Roma meglio se intendano le virtù, zentileze e tutte l’altre optime parte di V. Ex. et più siano apreciate et laudate che non sono a Mantua […] A lo Ill.mo S. vostro consorte charo io scrivo de molte cose […] Prego quella che operi che lo si vadi retenuto, che veramente se lo è savio le cose sue se adaptaranno bene et honorevolmente […] El povero signore ha da guardarsi

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molto da li suoi più cha d’altri […] perché qui atrovo che qualchun de suoi […] l’ha messo suso fantasie metendogli in suspecto […] Non mi maraviglio zià che luj da venetiani sia casso, non mi maraviglio ch’el fratel suo non sij cardinale, non mi maraviglio che sij delezato et ditto che non ha né stabilità né cervello. Ma me stupisco e tengo per miraculo ch’el povero signore sij vivo e che di luj si facia pur mentione in cosa alchuna honorevole, tanto è stato & è da alchunj de’ suoi tradito, smachato et sbeffato & qui e altrove […] Bisogna che etiam lui sij savio e monstri che l’ha inzegno e ch’el non è matto como che l’hanno voluto dipinzere, e ch’el sapia tener in sé qualche tratto e ch’è falso è e se mentino li ribaldi per la gola quando dicono ch’el vino gli chazi tutti li secreti fuor di buocha. Traditorazi, aperdonatimi, Madona mia Ill.ma, che scrivendo me achorozio da mia posta, scio che vi do affanno per lo amor che portati al signore e perché ogni vergogna e mal suo è etiam vostro. Ma habiati patientia, queste sono cose da non tacere aciò siati più avertiti e cauti in futurum. [...] 13. Lodovico Brognolo to Francesco, Milan, 6 April 1499, b. 1633, c. 339r–v. Discussed in Chapter 4. Lodovico replied to Francesco’s criticism about his and his father’s service in harsh tones. Ill.mo S. mio: Essendo mio patre infermo de una febre et fianchi de mala sorte, heri hebbe una de la Ex. V. de iij.o de questo, per la quale se prese tanto affanno quanto ch’el ne havesse possiuto pigliare per cosa sinistra che gli fusse intervenuta. Parendogli per lo scrivere d’essa che la restasse assai mal satisfacta de le operatione sue, sì per non havere cussì presto communicato le lettere sue sum questo Ill.mo S. come l’haveria volito, sì etiam per non havere sollicitato il quatirone [threemonthly payments]. Dolendosi di me, ch’io habia tardato tanto a parlare a sua Ex. de le commissione havute, et in specie dil denaro, essendo spazato maxime da V. Ex. per questo [...] Se mo’ [la V. Ex.] se dole di me, non ne voglio fare altra scusa, remettendomi che lei ne facia quello iuditio gli pare. Dirò ben cussì, che in consientia né a mio patre né a me dolerà mai che non habiamo facto l’offitio et debito nostro per exequire fidelmente et cum avantagio le commissione havute dalla S.ria V., la quale supplico si voglia conservare questo antico et fidel servitore, rendendomi però certo che ogni fiata gli manchasse, gli ne doleria et conosceria havere perso una persona che assai fusse a suo proposito. [...] 14. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 9 April 1499, b. 2113, fasc. II.1, c. 141r. Discussed in Chapter 4. Isabella thanked Francesco for asking her advice about Lodovico Brognolo’s letter above and gave her opinion.

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Ill.mo S. mio. Ringracio la Ex. V. che se sia dignata mandarmi la littera de Lodovico Brognolo et volere el parere mio circa el cavarne constructo etc. Dolme ch’io non sia sufficiente a satisfarla perché quello che lei per essere molto più prudente di me non intende, io manco lo vedo. Tuttavia per obedirla più presto cha per dire alcuna cosa per mio parere, dico che anchora che non habia veduto le littere de V. Ex. missive a Zorzo Brognolo comprehendo che vedendo quella restare male satisfacta de loro per non havere exequito ad unguem et subito quanto la gli havea scripto, Lodovico habia voluto fare la scusa & iustificatione del patre et sua se cossì presto non l’hanno obedita, volendo infine inferire che ritornato serrà lo Ill.mo S. Duca da Pavia satisfaranno compitamente a quello che hanno differito per le cause contenute ne le precedente littere. L’è ben vero che la littera d’esso Lodovico è alquanto confusa, per la passione credo recevuta intendendo per la littera de V. S. che la non sia restata bene satisfacta de la dilatione usata in parlare al S. Duca. Et però io non vedo che se possi cavare altro constructo del scrivere suo finché non habia di novo parlato a Sua Ex. et poi scripto alla vostra, non dimeno circa ciò me remetto al megliore iudicio de la S. V. alla quale remando le littere d’esso Lodovico inseme cum lo exemplo del compromesso, et in bona gratia sua me raccommando sempre. Mantue viiij Aprilis 1499 15. Copy, Lodovico Brognolo to Benedetto Capilupi, Milan, 11 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n. Discussed in Chapter 4. Lodovico Brognolo expressed to Isabella through Benedetto the feelings of Lodovico Sforza and himself toward Francesco’s actions. M. Benedicto mio. Non si fa altra risposta ala nostra Ill.ma M.na per spaciarsi questo cavallaro in pressa, se non che si è monstrato essa littera a questo Ill.mo Si.re, qual è restato molto satisfacto del scrivere suo, commettendomi poi che da canto vogli fare intendere ala Ex.tia Sua cum pregarla quanto più el può la vogli tenere bene edificato el Si.re Marchese, certificandola che mai gli habia da venire al meno di quello gli è stato promisso, et se ben el non ha ogni fiata cossì inanti tracto li soi pagamenti como el voria non si restarà perhò per questo che al tempo debito non sij integramente satisfacto, ita che in capo lo anno non se li mancharà de uno soldo. Ma quello che dole a sua Ex.tia è ch’el pare che ogni fiata ch’el si venga ali tempi de questi benedicti pagamenti se li venga cum protexti come se si havesse a fare cum persona a cui si havesse poco amore e mancho rispecto. Ho voluto scrivere queste parole a voi aciò che le communicati ala p.ta nostra Ill. ma M.a cum quella dextreza vi parirà, certificandovi che quando non li fusse il respecto suo qua dubitaria che presto presto le cose nostre andariano a traverso e Dio voglia che lo male governo nostro non possi più cha la auctorità sua. A questi dì mio patre hebbe una littera dil nostro Ill.mo Si.re, la qual vi mando qui alligata aciò che vediati che animo li dà Sua Si.re di servirlo contento, e come si governano a casa nostra che quando non fusse il respecto dil patrone

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monstraressimo la insolentia de altri a chi la volesse vedere. Non vi scrivo altro del modo che si sij servato per non tracollare ma et mi remetto al scrivere mio, qual son certo vedereti, e siati certo che non se li è manchato di diligentia e sollicitudine per fare ch’el nostro Ill.mo Si.re habia lo intento suo, ma non li è stato altra si è possuto cavare altra conclusione di quella che scrivo anchora che sij certo serrà cum poca satisfactione de le brigate. Non altro mio patre sta pur cossì de mal complexionato e condicionato per queste sue febre e fianchi pur spero se ne debe valere e se vi raccomanda et io insieme pregandovi ne racommandati ala nostra Ill. ma M.na. Mediolani xi Aprilis 1499 Filius Ludovicus B. [verso] presente el Si.re Petrozentile, el Milanese, Ptolomeo, et Antimacho 16. Copy, Benedetto Capilupi to Lodovico Brognolo, Mantua, 12 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n Discussed in Chapter 4. Capilupi told Lodovico he had shown the Brognolo letters (above) to Isabella, who, along with her secretary, regretted the situation. He urged the ambassadors to follow their orders. M. Lodovico mio. Io non farrò altra risposta ala littera vostra, quale ho facta legere ala nostra Ill.ma M.a insieme cum quella del vostro patre, se non che a sua Ex.tia, como a me, dole de la desgratia nostra, ne più scio che mi dire, restando confuso de li modi e ministri nostri. Ma come più volte vi ho dicto e scritto a vostro patre non bisogna più usare circumspectione, ma essere solamente liberi et meri executori, corri l’aqua dove si voglia et vostro patre farrà bene a vivere, obedire adunguem, et lassare il pensiere a chi la tocca. Per fretta non serrò più longo. Brusati questa, ch’io ho facto il medesimo di la vostra. Qui inclusa serrà la littera dil Si.re, et una di M.a ad Alphonso, fatine lo officio, et a voi cum M. vostro patre me raccomando. Mantue xij Aprilis 1499 17. Copy, Giorgio Brognolo to Isabella, Milan, 15 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n. Sent copy, b. 1633, c. 101r. Discussed in Chapter 4. Brognolo described his hurt at a lack of faith and respect shown in him, beseeching Isabella to facilitate his withdrawal from Milan. Ill.ma M.a mia. La Ex.tia V. può essere certa che cossì in questo caso dil denaro, come in ogni altra particularità continente lo utile et honore dil Ill.mo Si.re suo consorte, io habia operato talmente a beneficio di Sua Ex.tia che niente se li possi agiongere, cossì dio volesse che fosse creduto, ma come scrivo ala Ex.tia sua havendo facto el debito mio, non doveria essere imputato di pocha fede como sono per littere che mi danno nel cuore. Sono contento per reverentia di Sua e Vostra

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Ex.tia supportare ogni cosa né mai manchare di quel mi è naturale, ma certamente mi pare comprehendere ogni dì mi sia havuto mancho rispecto e si facia di me come si cominciasse a servire da uno anno in qua. Supplico la Ex.tia V. si digni havermi compassione, e parendoli che queste cose habiano a continuare come mi pare vedere lo effecto, voglia cum quella bona via li parirà farmi levare de qui, dove havendo a continuare a questo modo non poria durare molto, e in bona gratia di la Ex.tia V. me raccomando sempre. Mediolani 15 Aprilis 1499 Ex. V. Fidelis Servitor Georgius Brognolus 18. Giorgio Brognolo to Francesco, Milan, 15 April 1499, b. 1633, cc. 98r–99r. Discussed in Chapter 4. Brognolo defended himself from the accusations made against him by his master. Ill.mo S. Mio. Sono passati alcuni dì che la Ex. V. non ha havuto lettera alcuna in mio nome, el che è accaduto per la infirmità mia dalla quale son stato molestato da quindice dì in qua in modo che non solamente el scrivere ma etiam el fare facenda alcuna mi dava grandissima molestia. Son certo che la Ex. V. mi haverà havuto per excusato, havendo maxime supplito Lodovico mio figliolo in qualche parte dove io ho manchato per indispositione. Non voglio già negare che apresso il male non habia sentito grandissimo affanno dil scrivere che mi fece la Ex. V. per la sua de v.o, dove la si dole di me, dicendo formalmente che essendo qui per li facti suoi, procuri per l’altri. Dio scio Ill.mo S. mio che ogni mia actione et pensero non si extende in altro cha in procurare totis viribus de exequire fidelmente, et cum ogni diligentia possibile, tutte le cose di la Ex. V. Le quale mi sonno talmente a cuore che metto da canto ogni mia particularità, et quando mi riccordo che ho consumato trenta dui anni in servitij de casa sua, dalla quale son sempre stato honorato et premiato, et in specie dalla Ex. V. et che mo’ me sij impinta questa macula de essere più de altri cha suo non possio havere patientia, et dolendomi più di la disgratia mia cha de altri son forzato cum lachryme alli ochi dire queste parolle, ch’el suspetto è di sorte che dove l’intro non uscisse mai. Però supplico la Ex. V. che simul et semel si voglia levare di tale suspitione, et me di tale affanno, cum fargli quella provisione che la iudicarà lei cum la prudentia sua essere a proposito et prima ben considerare che essendo io provenuto a questa età di cinquanta dui anni et havendone speso la mazore parte in servitio di casa sua non è cosa rasonevole che adesso debba volere prevarichare. Se io ho datto qualche raccordo alla Ex. V. la pò ben essere certa che lo ho facto principalmente per intendere come ce governano le cose di qua circha la matteria dil denaro, dove ho conosciuto et conoscio grandissima difficultà, et quando cum parolle increscievole havesse conosciuto potere fare qualche fructo a beneficio suo, la quale non ha ad dubitare ch’io non gli haveria manchato, ma la condictione de le persone cum chi ho a fare, et corso di tempi, et lo obiecto mio principale de farmi grato in ogni loco dove ho ad tractare facende per la Ex. V. mi hanno insegnato ad usare modestia, et circumspectione, dove ho conosciuto essere necessario fare cussì a beneficio suo. Però se tutte queste cose sono accadute

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contra la mente sua, mi ne doglio summamente et gli chiedo perdono dello errore commisso inadvertentemente, certificando la Ex. V. che da mo’ inanti farò l’officio dil mero executore. Raccomandandomi sempre in la sua bona gratia. Mediolani xv.o Aprilis 1499 Ex. V. Fidelis Servitor Georgius Brognolus [postscript 99r contains political news] 19. Copy, Lodovico Brognolo to Floramonte Brognolo, Milan, 16 April 1499, b. 2191, n.n. Discussed in Chapter 4. Lodovico asked his uncle to push for his ‘liberation’ and said he and his father would grudgingly obey Francesco’s orders. [...] ben vi prego vogliati sollicitare che mi sia facta la liberatione secundo è stato promisso tanto che la cosa è frescha [...] quelli che mi hanno suspecto qua, mi haranno etiam a Mantua e forsi più, parendoli ch’io deba avisare ogni cosa che si farà là qui, ma spero di stare cossì da longe da la corte che non intenderò niuno andamento, havendo deliberato de cortigiarvi tutta questa estade. Che noi habiamo a ligare lo asino dove vole il patrone dico che da mo’ in anti si farrà, s’el si scorticarà tal sia di lui, non serrà già ch’el non ci rincresca. [...] mio patre credo che dimane uscirà di casa cum la gratia di dio. Mediolani xvj Aprilis 1499 R. V. Servitore et Nepos Ludovicus etc. 20. Benedetto Capilupi to Francesco, Ferrara, 9 February 1502, b. 1238, cc. 343r–344r. Transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 115–16, wrongly dated 17 February. Discussed in Chapter 2. The secretary reported Isabella’s diplomatic activities at the wedding festivities in Ferrara. […] hozi poi essendo la p.ta M.a mia et la Duchessa alla camera de la sposa venero dicti ambassatori [Venetian] et in uno medesmo tempo fecero la visitatione a Sua Ex. et Duchessa de Urbino, pigliando anche licentia da la sposa. Ma el primo parlare fu verso M.a mia, cum dirli cum longo exordio che haveano havuto commissione da la Sua Ill.ma Sig.ria de visitare & honorare V. Cel. se la fusse venuta alle noze et, che non essendoli lei, havessino a fare el medesmo cum la p.ta M.a mia, et questo per li benemeriti de V. Ex. cum quello stato dal quale era tenuta per bon figliolo, offerendoli ogni opera & faculta in beneficio de V. Ex. Madama reasumpse tutto il suo parlare et a parte per parte gli respose alta voce, cum tanta ellegantia et prudentia ch’el seria bastato ad ogni consumato oratore, et per me non mi basta l’animo de saperlo mettere in scripto. Non tacerò una sol parte, che

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da ogniuno fu notata per molto savia et artificiosa, che se quella Ill.ma Sig.ria havea experimentata la Ex. V. in tempo giovanile et col mezo suo diffesa Italia, doveano essere certi che adesso che la Ex. V. è de magiore aeta et experientia poteriano quando bisognasse valersi de la persona sua a magior prove. Queste & altre efficace parole misero in stupore li dicti ambassatori & circumstanti, in modo che tutti se gli fecero schiavi. Li dicti ambassatori se volsero poi alla Duchessa de Urbino, et nel parlare suo dissero chiaramente che per essere sorella de la Ex. V. la visitavano principalmente, poi per essere moglie del Duca de Urbino. Lei anchora saviamente gli respose et monstroli gratificare questa visitatione, non manco per el rispecto che haveano alla S. V. como al S.re suo consorte. L’ultimo parlare fu a Donna Lucretia, la quale se bene ha praticato più homini che non hanno vostre moglie & sorella, non agionse però un grande pezo alle prudente resposte loro. Goda V. Ex. che M.a sua consorte ha lassato a tutti questi ambassatori & sig. ri mirabile odore, et ne la spurcissima comedia de heri fu notata tanta venustà et displicentia in lei per ogniuno che la laude d’essa è stata sua, & la vergogna del S.re Duca, certificando V. Ex. che la non volse che alcuna de le sue doncelle gli venessero. Li ambassatori luchesi hozi la voleano visitare, ma non potero per essere dal canto de Donna Lucretia. Dicono de ritornare domane [...] 21. Francesco to Isabella, Asti, 18 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 65r and postscript 64r. Discussed in Chapter 5. This letter was composed to be shown to Francisco Trocio, an envoy of Cesare Borgia, in order to provide convincing evidence of Gonzaga friendship. Illustris Consors Carissima. Ben seria nostro desiderio scrivere ala S. V. la conclusione de le cose nostre, come simmo certissimi che la S. Vostra ogni hora ne stia in expectacione grandissima. Ma tante sonno le facende che occurreno a questo Re Cristianissimo che anchore benché gli ne havemo parlati, et Sua M.tà Chr.ma largamente ne habbi promisso, non ha datto principio ale cose nostre. Tutavia tante sonno le dismonstracione che Sua M.tà ne fa cum questi altri sig. ri francesi che speremo adatarle talmente che rimaneremo satisfatti da Sua M.tà, quale heri ne tenne passezando per la mane cirha hore ij. La Signoria Vostra poterà rispondere a quello M. Francisco mandato per el S.re Duca Ill.mo de Romagnia che nui gli voglimo essere sempre bono fratello purché non manchi da Sua Sig. ria, et de quello animo medemo hora se ritroviamo et de quella bona disposicione che gli facessimo intendere quando fu l’altra volta da nui. Et s’el recerchase la Sig. ria Vostra de questo parentà la Sig.ria V. gli poterà respondere che simmo contenti et se ben gli fusse stato qualche parole che nuj havessimo usate in favore del S. Duca de Urbino, che la passione del cugnato ne ha fatti transcorrere, quando lui ne tochasse ala S. V., ma che per questo voglimo essergli come havemo ditto bono fratello. Quanto sia stato ben visto et acarezato lo Ill.mo S. Duca da la Chr.ma M.tà la S. V. lo intenderà da M.a Duchessa, ch’el S. Duca ge ne scrive ad plenum.

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Né altro ne occorre per hora se non che se racomandiamo al Sig.ria V., basando el putino da nostra parte. Asti, 18 Iulij 1502 Consors Franciscus Marchio Mantue [Separate sheet, attached with wax] Post scripta: Passando queste zentedarme del S. M. Zo.Jacobo Triulci quali vanno ala Mirandula, la S. V. ordini che gli sia fatto honore al usanza de soldati. Confidandone in la prudentia de Vostra Sig.ria quando quello del S. Duca de Romagnia havesse altro et che se alargase cum la S. Vostra, quella ge faci la risposta come a quella parerà, che simmo certissimi che quella lo satisfarà molto bene e parendo ala S. V. de dirgli che vadi et poi ritorni ala venuta nostra quella facia come gli piace. Ut in litteris 22. Francesco to Isabella (Isabella’s fake letter), Asti, 18 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. II, c. 61r–v and copy 62r–v. Partially transcribed in Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 140n. Discussed in Chapter 5. Isabella was not sure that her husband’s letter above would satisfy Borgia’s emissary, so she forged this letter from her husband and had it sent to herself. Ill.ma Domina Consors nostra amantissima. Havemo inteso quanto ni scrive la S. V. de la venuta di quello M. Francisco, camarero del Ill.mo S.re Duca di Romagna, et veramente ni è stata molto grata l’ambasata sua, vedendo che in questa nostra venuta ala Chr.ma M.tà ne siamo governati como era anche parere de la Ex. Sua. Gli poteti respondere ch’el la ringratij grandemente di questo racordo et de la bona dispositione sua verso noi, et maxime circa la pratica del parentado di la qual noi non moveremo parola qua, lassando l’assumpto a Sua Ex. di governarla a suo modo como gli scrivessimo l’altro dì, perché ni troverà sempre di la medesima opinione, havendolo una volta acceptato ne lo animo nostro per bon fratello né mai mancharemo di questo proposito, s’el non mancharà da lui. Ma advertitelo che se bene intendesse che havessimo usate né usassimo alcune parole in favore dil Duca nostro cognato in publico, non pilij per questo suspitione alcuna perché havendolo lui et nostra sorella sua moglie in casa, lo facemo studiosamente aciò che gli sij referito, et habbino causa di passarsi cum qualche conforto, et satisfactione di noi. Circa le cose de la dote de la p.ta M.a nostra sorella, havemo piacere che la Ex. Sua continui in la medesima dispositione, et che ritornati che serimo a casa veniremo ala conclusione. In questo megio poterà la S. V. expedire M. Francisco, cum la p.ta resposta, et dirgli che ni raccommandi al Ill.mo S.re Duca, et che quando intenderà che siamo ritornati a Mantua, parendogli potrà remandarlo a noi, che lo vederemo voluntieri. Non ni occurre per questa dirvi altro se non che non potressimo essere più accarezati da la M.tà Chr.ma quanto siamo, et ala S. V. ni racommandamo, que benevaleat, Asti xviij Julij MDII Coniunx Franciscus Marchio Mantue

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23. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 23 July 1502, Autografi Volta, b. 1, fasc. 103. Transcribed D’Arco, doc. 37, pp. 260–1. Discussed in Chapter 5. Isabella expressed concern about Francesco’s outspoken encouragement of the signori dispossessed by the Borgia. […] Dove mi nasce alcun dubio de suspicione circa la persona et stato de V. S. anchora ch’el sij minimo non mi pare de tenerlo celato cum quella, la quale lo acceptarà cum quella sincerita de animo ch’io mi movo, et lei poi si governarà como gli parerà. [...] adesso non si scia de chi fidarsi et quando accadesse accordo fra il Re et Valentino non seria fora di proposito che la S. V. se lo havesse conservato, però che in li stabilimenti di stati como scia quella, non se guarda al interesse del compagno, né ad inimicicie che prima siano state fra loro. Per il desiderio ch’io ho de ogni secureza de la Ex. V. et exaltatione sua non potuto contenermi de queste poche parole. [...] Io ho scripto alla S. V. del mandare a Valentino per la dote de la Duchessa essendo cossì recircata da lei, ma perché ho inteso che ultra quello che la disse al suo cavallaro in via, ha poi etiam dicte altre parole publicamente in la corte del Re contra Valentino, non scio quanto seria in proposito mandare se fussero parole de sorte ch’el se havesse a sdignare havendole intese […] 24. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 23 July 1502, b. 2115, fasc. III.2, c. 160r–v. Partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 136–7. Discussed in Chapter 5. Isabella revealed her deep mistrust of Cesare Borgia, warning Francesco against poison and advising him to take measures to protect himself at table. Ill.mo S. mio. In questa terra è fama, o per littere de particulare persone o per bocha di qualchuno che venga de quelle parte, che la Ex. V. ha usato di male parole de Valentino alla presentia del Chr.mo Re et de homini del Papa; che quando o vero o non ch’el sij, questa fama essendo divulgata penetrarà ad orechie de Valentino. Il quale essendo de sorte ch’el non ha respecto a machinare contra quelli del sangue proprio, son certa che temendo la S. V. non invigilarà in alcuna cosa cum magiore diligentia cha in volere machinare contra la persona vostra, et sapendo io per la naturale bontà sua in quanta libertà la sole vivere ho interrogato, como gelosa de la vita sua, la quale più extimo cha la mia né il stato nostro, da cavallarij et ultimamente da Antonio da Bologna in che modo la vive, et ogniuno me referisse che ogniuno indifferentemente la serve, et che Alexandro da Baese manza seco a tavola et li cavallarij et stapheri sono seschalco et scuderi. In modo ch’io vedo che quando si volesse avenenare V. Ex. la via seria molto facile, per non se gli fare credenza, né guardia alcuna. Per il che prego et supplico quella che quando ben lei non se ne curasse per sé, voglij per rispecto mio et de nostro figliolo havere magiore cura alla persona sua, facendo fare ad Alexandro l’officio del sescalcho cum grandissima diligentia et farsi fare la credenza de ogni cosa et

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in ogni loco dove la manza et beve. Et quando Alexandro, o per indisposicione o per occuppatione, non potesse fare la sescalcaria io gli mandaria di qua o Antonio o altro che volesse V. Ex., alla quale protexto che se la non farrà che Alexandro o altro la serva per sescalcho ch’io ge ne mandarò ogni modo uno, perché voglio che più presto lei se turbi con me, cha io havere causa de piangere insieme col nostro puttino. [autograph] Signor mio, la S. V. non se facia beffe di questa mia né dica che le donne sono vile e hanno sempre paura per che la malignità de loro è assai magiore ch’el timore mio e animo di V. S. Io haveria questa de mia mano ma el caldo è tanto grande che dubito durando moriremo. El putino sta benissimo e manda un baso ala S. V. e io me li racomando sempre. Mantue xxiij Julij 1502 Desiderosa veder V. S. Isabella manu propria. 25. Isabella to Cesare Borgia, Mantua, 15 January 1503, b. 2993, L. 14, ff. 88r–v. Transcribed Gregorovius, p. 283. Discussed in Chapter 5. After Borgia punished his captains at Senigallia, Isabella dispatched a letter of congratulation with a gift of one hundred carnival masks. She praised his exploits, underlined their friendship, and urged him to continue keeping her informed. [...] De li felici progressi de V. Ex. quali cum una amorevole littera ce ha significati, ne havemo preso quello piacere et contento che si conviene ala mutua amicitia et benivolentia che è fra lei et lo Ill.mo S. nostro consorte et nuj, et cossì in nome suo et nostro ne congratulamo seco de omne secureza et prosperità sua et ringraciamola de la participatione et offerta ce ha facta de tenerni avisate de li successi. Dilche la pregamo ad volere per humanità sua continuare, perché amandola como facemo desyderamo sentire spesso li andamenti suoi per potere insieme cum lej alligrarni dil bene et exaltatione de V. Ex. et perché credemo che doppo li strachi et fatiche che la patisse in queste sue gloriose imprese voglia anche ritrovare loco de recrearsi, n’è parso mandarli per Zoanne nostro staffero cento maschare, non perché non lo cognosciamo vile dono ala grandeza de li meriti de V. Ex. et de l’animo nostro, ma per una testimonianza, che quando in quest nostro paese fusse cosa più digna et conveniente più voluntieri gli la mandarissimo. Se anchora le maschare mancharano de la belleza che se gli conveneria V. Cel.ne imputarà li maestri de Ferrara, quali per la prohibitione che già molti anni è in quella cità de maschararsi in publico hanno desimparato a farle, acceptando per supplimento la sincera voluntà et affectione nostra verso V. Ex. Circa ala pratica nostra non accade replicare altro finché non intendiamo da V. S. Ill.ma la resolutione de la S.tà de N.S. circa il caso de la securtà che gli facessimo explicare divisa per il Brognolo et cossì stiamo in expectatione per potere venire ala conclusione, et a lei ne offerimo et raccommandamo. xv Jan 1503

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26. Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Mantua, 5 October 1506, b. 2116, fasc. XI.3, c. 262r–v. Partially transcribed Bourne, Francesco II Gonzaga, p.445 and ‘Renaissance Husbands and Wives’, p. 93. Discussed in Chapters 2 and 6. After discussing other matters, Isabella spoke of difficulties in their relationship. She wanted Francesco to agree to name their second son Ercole. She closed the letter with appreciation of his palace at San Sebastiano. Ill.mo S. mio. Quello officio che tocava a me che era excusarme de haver tanto tardato a scriver de mia mano a V. S. per più mia confusione lei è stata la prima in excusarsi anchor che connosca esser superflua persuadendomi V. S. esser in tante ocupacione che apena credo possi haver tempo de manzare ma dapoi che se è dignata excusarsi se dignarà anchora perdonarmi s’io non li ho scrito, de la qual tardità ne è stata causa el mal de Federico, non volendo io che in lettere de mia mano vi fusse cosa che havesse a dare affanno a V. S. Hora che gratia de de Dio è sano più spesso satisfari al debito. El capello me scrive V. S. el farò fare subito, gionto che sia el maestro, più bello e più galante me serà possibile. Se V. S. me scriverà a che tempo bisognarà esser facto, e che in questo tempo me pari poter far fare uno saglione, lo farò fare ma la prego me ne avisi subito. Regracio V. S. sia contenta ch’io vedi la intrata in Bologna qual credo habia ad essere belissima cosa e scrivendomi V. S. li venirò de gratia, perché io sto bene, né li è perriculo ch’io disperda perché una bombarda haveria fatica a farme disperdere. Non dice V. S. che persona del mondo habia possanza farmi stare in guerra con lei, se non lei medesima, perché quando V. S. dimostrasse amarme non seria in libertà de altri a farmi credere el contrario. Ma a chiarirmi che V. S. me ami pocho da un tempo in qua li sono bisognati pochi interpetri, ma essendo questa cosa fastidiosa la mozarò. Me dole che V. S. habia havuto per male ch’io nomini el putino per Hercule, né l’haveria facto quando havesse pensato farli despiacere. Ma V. S. scia che essendo lei in Sachetta diceva che l’assimigliava ala bona memoria del S.or mio patre. Io dissi a V. S. che l’haveva torto a non volere che anchora havesse el suo nome e ch’io per me el voleva nominare Hercule. V. S. rise e non disse altro. Se alhora lei l’havesse dicto, non seria corsa in questo errore, ma che io ne farò un’altro e V. S. torà poi qual lei vorà per Aloise e me lassarà uno Hercule a me. Ma credo ben se io ne havesse mille, mai da Federico in fora volere tanto ben a nessuno altro quanto a questo. Tuta via la S. V. se contenti perché io son contenta de quello che a lei piace. Io fui a questi dì in casa de V. S. e como li scrissi mi parse belissima. V. S. scrive ch’io la delegio. Questo non è perché io quando non fussero belle taceria, ma perché me parveno cossì con effecto lo feci scrivere a V. S. e cossì dico che sono belle e tanto più belle quanto V. S. ha pur imparato da la mia camara. L’è ben vero che l’ha poi megliorato. Non tediarò più V. S. con tante parole de pocha sustancia.

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A V. S. mille volte me ricomando, in Mantoa adì v de octobre. Desiderosa veder V. S. Isabella de manu propria. 27. Uberto degli Uberti to Francesco, Mantua, 19 February 1507, b. 2470, c. 481r. Transcribed Cipolla and Malacarne, eds, p.388. Discussed in Chapter 4. Uberti reported Isabella’s angry attack on her donzella Elisabetta Tosabezzi, and the intention of the girl’s brother Niccolò to put his case before Francesco. Ill.mo S.re mio. La Isabeta Tosabecia hozi ha mandato a dimandare M. Nicolò suo fratello et tuta affanata gli ha facto intendere come la Ill.ma M.a vostra consorte per grandissima colera l’ha batuta et taliatoli li capili com minacie de non volerla più a soi servitj. Di questo M. Nicolò n’ha sentito quelli dispiacere e cordolio che ricercha la qualità del caso seguito in una sua sorella et per questo havea deliberato trasferirse da V. Ex. Ma io e’l castelano com parole et dextro modo lo habiamo retenuto parendone prima di avisarne como da nui la S. V. aciò che se li piace ch’el venghi o solo o nui cum lui o nui senza lui, quella me facia intender quanto ho a fare. Mantua 19 februarii 1507 Fidelissimo servitore Uberto de Uberti 28. Francesco to Benedetto Capilupi, Gonzaga, 21 February 1507, b. 2914, L. 195, f. 65v. Transcribed Cipolla and Malacarne, eds, p. 389. Discussed in Chapter 4. Francesco wrote irately about Isabella’s assault of her donzella, instructing Capilupi and other counsellors at Isabella’s court to investigate matters. Benedetto. Havemo inteso per la vostra quanto vi ha risposto la Ill.ma M.a nostra consorte circa il caso de la Isabetta, e nuj vi dicemo che non havemo a far né cum frati né cum preti, e che veniremo ben a Mantua, ove la ni porrà far intender l’animo suo, e nui li faremo saper il nostro. E perché nel batter la putta, essa li diceva, ‘va mo’, fa la nimpha col S.re’, ella non fece mai la nimpha cum nuj. Ma sapemo ben de le altre che hanno facto e la nimpha e factosi impregnar. E sopra questo voremo che vuj, M.a Alda, la Gambacurta, Alexandro da Baese, e Federico Cataneo, che seti gli consiglieri, quali nel venir nostro in castello se ne andettero, vi consigliasti ben insieme e ni chiaresti di questo. Vi ricordamo ben che siamo Marchese di Mantua, né vi è alcunaltro che noi. Gonzage xxj febr. MDVIJ El Marchese di Mantua

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29. Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Mantua, 26 April 1507, b. 2117, fasc. II, c. 86r. Transcribed Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, app. 18. Discussed in Chapters 4 and 6. Isabella jokingly imagined being married to a coward or a doctor rather than a soldier, and not having to fear. She suggested she would change some aspects of her husband before comforting Francesco and urging him to be careful. Ill.mo S. Mio. Per la littera de mano de V. S. resto avisata del ben stare de V. S. e de la partita del Re de Asti. De l’una ne piglio grandissimo piacere e contento, de l’altra non tanto. E ben che mi para vedere V. S. andarlì con animo grandissimo e volentiera, io che ho pocho animo non la vedo andar cossì volentiera, e anchora ch’io speri fra pochi dì haverme ad alegrare de la victoria haverà el Re e de la salute de V. S., in questo mezo vi sono tanti affanni e tante paure a chi non gli è presente che mi pare più longo el male ch’el bene, e però concludo che meglio seria essere mogliere de uno poltrone che d’uno valenthomo, overo de qualche medico che la sera se ne tornase a casa e starsene in consolacione a manzare apresso el foco, che con tante angustie havere tanti honori. Ma ben ch’io dica cossì per scrizare con V. S. non voria però havere un poltrone né d’altra sorte de quello è V. S. in qualche cosa ma in qualche altra lo cambiaria volentiera. Tutti li monasterij de questa terra fanno oracione per V. S. per modo ch’io credo non li poteria acadere mal nessuno. Cossì Dio faci per sua misericordia, resta che dal canto suo lei se guardi da li periculi e non vogli como è suo costume essere de li primi sempre e fare più che non è obligata e più che non fanno li altri. Del mal de Federico V. S. per littere de li medici ne serà avisata. Li altri tutti stanno bene. Loise ha lassato el voto et ha imparato a fare certi basi de li quali M. Lodovico ne saperà render conto a V. S., ala quale me ricomando in Mantoa adì xxvj de aprile. A servir V. S. prontissima Isabella de mano propria 30. Francesco to capitano di giustizia, Gonzaga, 4 September 1507, b. 2914, L. 197, f. 65r. Partially transcribed Luzio, ‘Tragedie’, pp. 91–2 and Brown and Lorenzoni, ‘il cinquecentesimo’, p. 94. Discussed in Chapter 3. Isabella admitted she and others had known of Furlano’s plan to murder to il Milanese. Francesco instructed the capitano di giustizia to torture Furlano for more information. Capitaneo. La Ill.ma consorte nostra in certo discorso questa matina ni ha detto che non sol il S. Duca suo fratello e Mons. Car.le inanimò il Cavallier alla morte dil poverello quondam Milanese nostro, ma etiam altri de gli nostri lo instigavano e sollecitavano a questo, secundo che esso Cavallier a lei diceva e ch’el si può ricordare che la li rispondeva ch’el non havesse mente né desse credito a tali

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instigatori perché lo consigliavano a scavicciarsi il collo e che levato ch’el si fusse di qua voltariano, non li attendendo promissa alcuna che li facessero de esserli amici. Per il che vedendo manifestamente ch’el Cavallier persiste in la sua obstinatione de non ce voler dire cosa alcuna se non per forza, volemo che mettendolo alla corda, come vi commettessimo heri, lo faciati confessare quali dei nostri lo exhortava perché ad ogni modo lo volemo sapere, e subito scriveticelo. Gonzaga iiij Sept. MDVIJ 31. Isabella to Jacopo d’Atri and Suardino (mutatis mutandis), Mantua, 17 January 1510, b. 2192, n.n. Partly transcribed Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 38–9. Discussed in Chapter 6. During Francesco’s captivity, Isabella defiantly defended herself to her envoys in France against Venetian accusations. Suardino Conte. Mandassimo l’altro giorno il Ven. Frate Anselmo a Venetia per visistare lo Ill.mo S. nostro consorte & parlarli de alcune cose familiari. Fu introdutto alla Sig.ria perché non admetteno alcuno al p.to S. se non intendeno prima quel che se gli vol dire. Intesa la causa, il principe cominciò a dolersi de noi che havessimo sollicitato Mons. Gran. Maestro a dare sucorso al S. Duca de Ferrara nostro fratello; che havessimo dato transito alle gente d’arme & fantarie che gli andorono et facte accommodare di nave; che havessimo concesso victuarie per subvenire Verona ad richiesta del Imperatore; che havessimo dato il primo aviso de la rotta de l’armata al S. Zoanne nostro cognato inteso per una littera che per quelli da Lignaco fu tolta su la campagna ad un nostro cavallaro, dicendo che non erano termini da usare contra loro che haveano in podestà sua il Sig.r nostro; che eravamo troppo francese & che poco conto tenevamo & poco amore dimonstravamo al S. nostro consorte. Il Frate volse tenere la ragion nostra et iustificare tutte le parti, de modo che se turborono cum lui & non admettendolo a parlare al Sig.re lo licenciorono subito da Venetia. Non potemo negare che non riceviamo dispiacere de queste parole per rispecto che dubitamo debbano cruciare & desperare il Sig.re cum simili termini. Per il resto poco ni curamo di talj imputationi perché a tutto il mondo consta li modi che servamo per liberatione del S. nostro, et lo affanno & dolore che havemo de la presonia sua, et che per li termini quali loro per interesse proprio damnano sono commendati da altri, como quelli che tendeno alla salute del S.re, conservandosi il stato. Né siamo malcontente che dicano che siamo francese, però che siamo cossì in effecto et volemo continuare sapendo che il Chr.mo Re ha ad essere la potissima cause de la liberatione del Sig.re et che Sua Ex. nel secreto debba havere la medesima speranza. Havemo voluto farvi participe de queste cose aciò che a loco & tempo le possiati secundo vi parerà comunicare cum le M.te Chr.me, cum lo R.mo Mons. legato & qualche fidato amico nostro, non a fine che se habbi a divulgare, perché non voressimo però penetrasse ad orechie de Venetiani aciò che non usassino

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magiore rigidità & pegiori tractamenti in la persona dil Sig.re Nostro, che questo è quello che ne flagella & acora, per il periculo nel quale se ritrova, che quanto sij per le parole che usano di noi, havendo il testimonio dil Summo Pontifice, del Imperatore, dil Re & Regina di Franza, & di Mons Car.le nostro cognato & patre hon. col prudente & amorevole consilio del quale ogni cosa si governa, & di tutto el resto del mondo, poco ni molestano. Ma se queste gran potentie non ne cavano presto di tanto tormento nel qual siamo per la miserabile sorte del S. nostro non poteremo longamente vivere. [...] 32. Isabella to Elisabetta Gonzaga, Mantua, 17 February 1510, b. 2192, n.n. Transcribed Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 42–4. Discussed in Chapter 6. Isabella highlighted her teamwork with Sigismondo; pleaded her wish to be freed from the pressures of rule; described Venetian mind games used on the marchese; and expressed hope that the pope would intercede on her behalf with the Venetians to improve matters with Francesco. [...] Mi dole che cum simili modi debbeno cruciare et disperare Sua Ex.tia, la quale tenghono spesso cum nove inventioni et arti in speranza di presto liberarla poi cum altre gie le levano, dandoli intendere ch’el mal governo nostro ne sij causa et che mo’ serria posto in una casa in Venetia quale dicono li haveriano preparata honorevolmente s’el Car.le et io havessimo servate gli modi che dovevamo servare […] Ma quello che al Car.le et a me dole è che ni concitano el Sig.r Marchese contra, et lo provocano a dir mal di noij, et minaciarni di lapidarni di bono opere, questo non curamo se non per lo affanno et angonia ne la quale metteno el povero sig.re, che quanto sij per noij il papa, et tutto el mondo scia quel che facemo per la liberation sua. Nondimeno essendo io di carne et ossa, como sono, vengo molte volte in desperatione de levarmi da questo infelice governo, et lassare il stato in abandono, et farollo certamente se la S.tà di N.S.r non gli mette la sua mano a persuadere venetiani che non è persona al mondo che più desideri il ben et salute dil sig.r mio di me, et che non potemo il Car.le et io governarni altrimenti se non volimo perdere il stato, il quale secundo gli consigli, ricordi, et commandamenti di Sua S.tà si governa, et perhò a Sua S.tà apertiene la difension nostra […] bisognaria che N. S.r gli facesse capaci de admettere le iustificationi nostre, et non tenere il seg.r Marchese in tanta diffidentia dil amore nostro. [...] 33. Isabella to Francesco, Mantua, 14 May 1510, b. 2119, f. II.1, cc. 42r–43r. Transcribed Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, pp. 56–7. Discussed in Chapter 6.

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Isabella outlined the reasons why she would not hand over Federico as hostage to the Venetians to secure Francesco’s release, defending her position and stressing her partnership with Sigismondo. Ill.mo S.r mio. Ho visto quanto mi ha scritto la S. V. et mi ha detto da parte sua Aurelio, che voglia mandar lì subito Federico nostro figliol per potersi liberar. La S. V. debbe esser certa, che non desydero alcuna cosa al mondo più di questa, ma mi doglio e crucio non poterlo fare, per cognoscer manifesto periculo, anzi certeza, de la ruina dil stato, di figlioli, et de la persona vostra, consyderando che se ben Federico si ritrovasse in Venetia non haveressimo però secureza de la libertà di V. S., anzi seria causa di confirmarlo più tempo in pregione, ritrovandosi lei et lo figliol lì, che seria cum doppio affanno vostro e mio. Se la Ill.ma S.ria di Venetia desydera il bene di V. Ex., come dice, debbe senza voler Federico metterla in libertà et lassarla venire a casa, dove potereti dil stato et figlioli far a vostro modo, et quello che cognoscereti esser il meglio vostro. Se la Ex. V. per questo se sdegnarà cum me, et mi privarà de l’amor et gratia sua, io serò più contenta di star seco in questa contumacia et conservarli il stato, cha restarli adesso in gratia et vederla, insieme cum gli figlioli, priva di esso, sperando che per la sua prudentia e bontà a tempo cognoscerà ch’io serò stata più amorevole a lei che lei istessa. Bisogna adunche che l’habbi uno pocho de pacientia, rendendosi certa che il Car.le et io pensamo sempre alla sua liberatione, et che quando serrà il tempo non mancaremo, como fin qui non havemo mancato. Testimoni sono il Papa, l’Imperator, Re di Franza, et tutti gli s.ri et potentie di Christiani, et di infideli anchor. Io concludo S.r mio Ill.mo che non voglio privarmi de Federico et di V. S. insieme, perché quando io cognoscesse che questo fusse la liberatione sua, non solamente le mandaria Federico, ma tutti gli altri figlioli in sua compagnia, et faria tutto quello che imaginar si potesse, come spero una volta poterli far vedere lo effecto. Nel resto, governandomi cum consulta dil Car.le et secundo che farà la Liga, in protection de la qual et per debito et per ragione è il stato et persona vostra, non poterò riceverne danno né vergogna [...] Pregola me habbi iscusata se la lettera è mal scritta et peggio composta, perché non so se sii viva o morta [...] Quella che desydera il ben di V. S. non manco dil proprio, Isabella. 34. Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Mantua, 1 July 1510, b. 2119, f. II.1, c. 44r. Transcribed Luzio, ‘La reggenza’, p. 71. Discussed in Chapter 6. Isabella defended her actions to her husband. [...] Me doglio fina a l’anima che de l’ambasiata del conte [Malaspina] V. S. non sij restata cum quella satisfactione ch’io desiderava, perché niuno contento ho magiore cha poterla satisfare et ubedire. Ma credo bene che quando V. S. sapesse la verità de le cose, che la conosceria ch’el cardinale et io non potemo fare se non come facemo, et questo per il grande amore portiamo a V. S. perché non poteressimo patire ch’el stato et cose sue andassero in ruina per man nostra,

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vedendola cussì manifesta. Però, S.re, ni bisogna andare cum grandissimi rispecti per conservargli il stato libero, come Dio gratia fin qui havemo facto, sol per spenderlo in la liberatione sua et li figlioli insieme, ma in tempo che siamo securi che la persona sua habbi ad essere libera. Però, S.re mio Ill.mo, prego V. S. se repossi sopra di vostro fratello obligato a V. S. et di sua moglie amorevele et fidele a ley, quanto altra fossi may, et sappi certo che may pensamo né operamo altro cha questo, et tutto quello che è suo, si ha ad spendere per ley, però essendo li figliolj suoi, il stato suo, et io sua, tutti havemo ad essere spesi per beneficio suo. Cossì la supplico ad voler tenere per fermo, perché cussì è cum effecto, et a questo chiamo Dio in testimonio del cor mio. [...] Quella che ama V. S. quanto l’anima, Isabella di man propria. 35. Bernardo Accolti to Isabella, autograph, Rome, 14 August 1511, Autografi, b. 8, fasc. 2, c. 15r. Partially transcribed Luzio and Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p.267. Discussed in Chapter 1. l’Unico Aretino asked Isabella to help elevate the status of his cardinal brother, that he might become pope. Ill.ma Virtuosisimma et Unica mia Madonna […] racomando el Cardinale d’Anchona schiavo vostro e fratello mio, per che venuta sia la hora in la quale conoscerò l’amore mi portate e se saranno vere le parole per parte di V. Ex.tia a me a Bologna referite. Io sono unico fratello al Cardinale e voi sapete quanta e quale parte havete in me. Onde è necessario che aiutando salire a magior grado mio fratello voi facciate voi medesima non solo la più gloriosa ma la più potente donna che may fussi in casa vostra. Del marchese Ill.mo non parlo, che sarà patrone absoluto lui e con vincul[o] indissolubile si confermerà quanto scrivo. Degnissi V. Ex.tia stringere el R.mo Cardinale da Esti e de Aragona a questo voto e fare tanto bene a voi medesima et a l’Unico Aretino che nel core scripta vi porta […] E chosi si degni disponere el Marchese et lo Ill.mo Duca vostro fratello che credo non sarà molta faticha. In summa io mi rime[tto] a la Divina Prudentia di V. S. Ill.ma quale adorata da me più che chosa che socto el celo sia, meritamente di me humilissimo servo suo ricordar si deve. 36. Isabella to Francesco, Milan, 1 February 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, c. 84r–v. Very partially transcribed Luzio, ‘La corte sforzesca’, p.162. Discussed in Chapter 6. The marchesa described her efforts to persuade the amorous Matthäus Lang to push for Gonzaga territorial aims. [...] Questa sera lo Ill.mo S. Duca, Mons. Gurgense et il S. Viceré sono venuti qua in mascara et si è ballato cum più fervore che si è fatto fin qui. Mons. Gurgense ballò

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dui balli, stando el più de le volte in amorosi ragionamenti cum la sua Brognina, parsi ad Sua S.ria R.ma doppo cena dismascararsi, et essendo ley et io in diversi parlamenti, non volsi differire più questa commodità, che non gli toccassi la causa nostra di Pischera [...] Al tutto sua R.ma Sig.ria consentite senza una contradictione al mondo, et mi risposi che per alhora non voleva risolversi altramente, ma che domane li mandassi il Suardino per il quale mi faria intendere risolutamente la deliberatione sua, et che ultra il rispetto di V. Ex. et de le promissioni sue, operaria che le intecessioni mie reportassero bono frutto cum satisfactione di la S. V. […]. 37. Francesco to Lodovico Guerrieri, 9 March 1513, b. 2920, L. 225, ff. 90v–91r. Transcribed Luzio, ‘Primordi’, p. 109. Discussed in Chapter 6. Francesco protested to the new pope his innocence of Massimiliano Sforza’s territorial aims, and denounced Isabella’s headstrong nature, albeit subtly offering justification for her behaviour. […] a noi dole et horamai havemo vergogna di haver per nostra sorte una mogliere di quella sorte che sempre vole fare a suo modo e di suo cervello. Voi sapete quante volte inanci la partita vostra le havemo scritto et mandato a dire che la venisse a casa [...] il tutto è stato niente, che in fine per nostro extremo dispiacere la s’è ritrovata col Duca di Milano et Viceré a questa maledetta impresa di Piasenza. Lei adduce ben perhò alcune scuse: che il p.to S. Duca non l’ha mai voluta lassare partire et potria essere vero [...] ma nondimeno noi confessamo haver una mogliere di sua opinione como s’è veduto in molte altre cose […] Sì come noi non havemo in questo caso colpa, né ne semo stati consapevoli, cossì non ne voressimo alcuna imputatione né nota. Pertanto volemo che subito fati di ciò la scusa nostra con participatione et mezo del R.mo Mons. nostro fratello col novo pontifice. […] 38. Francesco to Isabella, Mantua, 11 March 1513, b. 2120, fasc.I, c. 36r. Transcribed Luzio, ‘Di fronte a Giulio II’, p. 421. Discussed in Chapters 2 and 6. Francesco tried various arguments to persuade Isabella to return to Mantua. […] Avegna che in la lettera di mane propria de V. S. non habbiamo ritrovate né le ragioni né le conclusioni che speravamo, pur non ci è gravato legerla tutta, et havemo inter cetera notato il sottoscritto redarguendovi in l’animo nostro, che se fosse vero che ce desyderasti de vedere como in esso dicete niuna causa vi haverebbe potuto retenere. Ma sia come si voglia, la S. V. si ricordi dil rispetto et honor nel qual sempre l’havemo havuta e recognischi e ricordisi lei qual sia il suo debito, che horamai l’ha tal età e discretione che la non doverebbe haver bisogno di altrui ricordo, e facci ch’el si credi quel che la dice et è ragionevole,

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che più contrapesi il nostro respetto solo che dil resto dil mondo e ritorni horamai senza più longhe. Noi semo per andar a Gonzaga contra Federico qual debbe esser hormai vicino, per amor dil quale anchor V. S. si accelerarà, et oltra ogni altro rispetto per remediar alle zanze che se dicono in populo, le quali altramente non exprimeremo remettendoci a Benedetto Codelupo che ne è informatissimo et si è trovato presente alla commissione de questa nostra, sì che per quanto amor la ce porta la stringemo a subito ritornare. […] 39. Isabella to Francesco, autograph, Piacenza, 12 March 1513, b. 2120, fasc. II, cc. 114r–115r. Transcribed Luzio, ‘La corte sforzesca’, pp. 164–5. Discussed in Chapter 6. Isabella defended her prolonged visit to Milan, and her conduct as a consort and wife. Me doglio ma non me maraviglio che V. S. non resti satisfacta de la lettera mia et più me doleria se cussì como questo è per mia disgracia fusse per mia causa ma considerato che se io non ho cossì presto obedito V. S. non è processo se non per adoperarmi in servicio di un mio fratello et per compiacere ad un mio nepote Duca de Milano et con volontà de V. S. me pare che V. S. non habia tanta causa de restare mal satisfacta de me et per questo mi doglio de la mia mala sorte che sempre indusse V. S. a despiacerli ogni mia actione per bona che sia perché io non credo in questo mio viagio de Milano havere né comportato né facto cosa ch’io meriti essere favola del vulgo. So ben ch’io ho aquistato mille amici a V. S. et a me et havere facto quello ch’io debio et son solita fare perché gratia de Dio et de me stessa non hebbi mai bisogno de governo ni de recordo a governare la persona mia et anchora che ne le altre cose io sia da niente Dio me ha dato questa gratia, de che V. S. me deve havere tanto obligo quanto havesse mai marito a moglie, né pensi V. S. che anchora che la me amasse et honorasse quanto facesse mai una persona un’altra che la potesse pagare la fede mia la quale è causa che qualche volta V. S. dice ch’io son superba perché connoscendo quanto io merito da lei per questa et vedendo essere mal remunerata me fa ale volte mutare complexione in farmi parere quella che con effecto non sono ma anchora ch’io fusse certa de non havere se non male per mano de V. S. non restarò de fare bene et quanto lei mostrarà amarmi pocho, tanto più con effecto l’amarò perché io posso dire essere nata con questo essendoli stata data da aeta che non me recordo mai essere stata senza l’amore suo el quale me pareria dovesse meritare che senza sdegno de V. S. oramai io dovesse havere libertà de havere prolongato xv o xx dì el ritorno mio per le cause sopra scritte et non sdegnarsene con me né credere ch’io non desideri vederla como è sottoscrita la mia lettera che se havesse tanta copia de vederla quanto è el desiderio la vederia più spesso che non fo a Mantoa. Me recomando a V. S. senza fine e la supico me perdoni de questa mia lettera cossì longa [...] Quella che ama V. S. quanto sé, la Marchesa de Mantoa.

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Archival Sources Cited Archivio di Stato di Mantova: Archivio Gonzaga: Decreti: Decreti, L.30. Patenti: Patenti, L.3. Affari di famiglia dei principi dominanti di Mantova: Busta 283 (Letters of the Cantelmi and Maloselli families). Corrispondenza estera (Letters from locations including the imperial court, Rome, Urbino, Venice, Ferrara, and Milan): Buste 429, 544, 626, 631, 632, 808, 809, 852, 855, 859, 860, 864, 1065, 1069bis, 1077, 1082, 1102, 1104, 1105, 1143, 1144, 1145, 1147, 1185, 1189, 1237, 1238, 1240, 1242, 1244, 1308, 1368, 1422, 1438, 1439, 1441, 1444, 1454, 1633, 1635, 1637, and 1641. Corrispondenza interna (Letters from Mantua and the Mantovano): Buste 2443, 2469, 2470, 2479, 2480, 2485, 2487, 2489, and 2522. Lettere originali (Original letters of the Gonzaga family): Buste 2107, 2108bis, 2109, 2110, 2110bis, 2111, 2112, 2113, 2114, 2114bis, 2115, 2115bis, 2116, 2117, 2118, 2118bis, 2119, 2119bis, 2120, 2121, 2122, 2123, and 2123bis. Minute di Cancelleria: Buste 2190 to 2193. Copialettere ordinari misti: Buste 2904, 2907, 2911, 2913, 2914, 2916, 2917, 2918, 2919, 2920, 2921, and 2961.

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Index Notes on Index: To aid the reader, titles, roles or a biographical note are included beside people listed in the index, except modern scholars (who are cited in the index only where their work is discussed in the main text rather than in footnotes). These biographical indications are, of course, very brief and describe the individual primarily in connection to his or her relationship with the Gonzaga court. For fuller details, the reader is directed to the main text, the DBI and beyond. Variations in the spelling of names are not usually given and are only stated, in brackets, when such variants are routinely found in the literature attached to an individual. Nicknames are given in quotation marks in brackets. Kings and popes are indexed under their forenames. Where this may be helpful to the reader, places are followed by their province. Illustrations are indexed with the page numbers in bold of the page on which they are found, rather than with figure numbers. Accolti, Bernardo (‘L’Unico Aretino’) 32n, 43–5, 219 Albano, Taddeo, Venetian merchant 46 d’Albret, Charlotte, duchess of Valentinois, wife of Cesare Borgia 129, 154n Aldroandi, Michele, thief 66–7 Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), pope 9, 21, 23, 24, 35n, 57, 59, 127–8, 133, 136n, 142, 155, 194 Amati family 43n d’Amboise, Charles II, Gran Maestro 37 Andreasi, Osanna, tertiary Dominican, 73, 95, 96, 98 animals 19, 69–70, 81, 85, 128–9; see also gifts; Gonzaga, Francesco II, horses Anne of Brittany, queen of France, consort of Louis XII 25n, 46n, 85, 163, 165 Anselmo, Fra, prior of the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Curtatone 122, 165, 180, 216 Antimaco, see Sacchetti, Matteo d’Aragona, Eleonora, duchess of Ferrara, consort of Ercole I d’Este 10, 18–19, 21–2, 52, 55, 69, 85n, 90–91, 161n, 163, 198

d’Aragona, Isabella, duchess of Milan then Bari, consort of Giangaleazzo Sforza 20, 91, 195 d’Aragona, Luigi, cardinal 43, 163, 219 d’Aragona, Rodrigo, son of Alfonso of Aragon and Lucrezia Borgia 180 Ardinghello, Pietro, secretary 46 degli Arienti, Giovanni Sabadino, humanist and poet 45 Ariosto, Ludovico, poet 19, 49 Arsago, Girolamo, bishop of Ivrea and Nice 109, 174, 178, 188 d’Atri, Jacopo, count of Pianella, secretary, diplomat and Gonzaga official 25n, 64n, 44n, 46, 70, 75, 100, 103, 164–5, 169, 216 da Baese, Alessandro, courtier 82, 97, 122, 142, 144, 146, 211, 214 del Balzo, Eleonora Orsini, marchesa of Crotone 32n, 35n, 36n, 37n Barbarigo, Agostino, doge of Venice 30n, 90, 93 Batalia, Peregrino, thief 66–7 Bayezid II, Ottoman sultan 163 de Beatis, Antonio, secretary and writer 45 Bellonci, Maria 103

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Bembo, Pietro, writer and cardinal 45, 102n, 179n Bentivoglio, Ercole, condottiere and husband of Barbara Torelli 102 Bentivoglio, Giovanni II, lord of Bologna 91, 130, 132, 154 Bentivoglio, Laura, consort of Giovanni Gonzaga 13, 41n, 160 Boiarda, Alda, donzella 99, 108, 122, 179n, 214 da Bologna, Matteo, artist 31 Bondenazzo, Reggio Emilia 83 Borgia, Cesare (‘Valentino’), duke of Valentinois and the Romagna 9, 28, 55, 57n, 58, 112, 159, 160, 194 death of 124, 157 relationship with Isabella d’Este and Francesco II Gonzaga 23, 120, 125, 127–57, 209–12 Borgia, Giovanni, cardinal 130 Borgia, Lucrezia, duchess of Ferrara 83n, 99, 100n, 128, 145, 180, 195 marriage to Alfonso d’Este 23, 46n, 55, 57, 72, 127, 133–4, 152n, 208; see also Ferrara, 1502 wedding relationship with Francesco II Gonzaga 101–107, 157, 175, 181 Borgia, Luisa, duchess of Valentinois 23, 133–4, 149, 155, 157n Borgoforte, Mantua 102, 157 Boschetta, Isabella, mistress of Federico II Gonzaga 27 Boschetti, Albertino, count 109n, 125 Boschetti, Giovanna, donzella 109, 125, 160, 179n de Bourbon, Charles III, count of Montpensier, duke of Bourbon, constable of France 163, 189n de Bourbon, Gilbert, count of Montpensier 13, 41n, 54–5 Bourne, Molly 2, 3, 20, 73, 77, 79, 89, 193 Brandenburg, Barbara of, marchesa of Mantua, consort of Lodovico II Gonzaga 18, 23n, 29, 39, 42n, 112 Brocadelli, Lucia, da Narni, Dominican tertiary, mystic and stigmatic 50 Brognina, Eleonora, donzella 123, 179, 182–88, 220

Brognolo, Floramonte, Gonzaga agent and diplomat 35n, 114, 115n, 119, 121, 152, 208 Brognolo, Giorgio, Gonzaga agent and diplomat 30n, 38, 64n, 70n, 90, 93 tension with Francesco II Gonzaga in 1499 111, 114–21, 194, 204–8 Brognolo, Lodovico, Gonzaga agent and diplomat 32n, 35n, 44n, 134, 142, 145n, 149–50, 156n, 165–6, 170–171, 212 tension with Francesco II Gonzaga in 1499 111, 114–21, 194, 204–8 Brown, Clifford M. 3, 77–8, 193 buffoni, see Fritella; Galasso; Mattello Burckhardt, Jacob 131 Caetani family, of Sermoneta 134, 188n di Camposampiero, Ludovico (Vigo), courtier and Gonzaga agent 68, 99, 100, 108–10, 123, 125, 168–9, 171–4, 176–8, 190, 195 Calandra, Gian Giacomo, castellan 178 Canale, Carlo, secretary, husband of Vannozza Cattanei 128, 152 da Canossa, Lodovico, count 45 Cantelmo, Margherita, wife of Sigismondo Cantelmo 42, 83 Capilupi, Benedetto, secretary to Isabella d’Este 31–2, 35–6, 39, 55n, 70–73, 75, 99, 111, 117–25, 134, 150, 174, 183n, 184, 186, 188, 190, 195, 198, 200, 205–6, 208, 214, 221 Cara, Marchetto, musician and composer 75, 144, 164, 184 Carlina, Franco, thief 66–7 Carminati de’ Brambilla, Ludovico (‘Il Bergamino’), count 59 Cartwright, Julia 4, 193 da Cassola, Girolamo 171–2 da Castelbarco, Francisco, procuratore 65 Castelnovo, Reggio Emilia 83 Castiglione, Baldassare, writer, courtier and diplomat 6, 19n, 46, 108, 118, 177n, 190 Castiglione Mantovano, Mantua 83 da Castiglione, Sabba, writer and knight of Rhodes 45

Index Cattanei, Vannozza, mother of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia 128 Cattaneo, Federico, courtier 122, 170, 214 Cattaneo, Gian Battista, agent of Cesare Borgia 151n Cattaneo, Gian Lucido, agent in Rome 44n, 46n, 152–3 Chambers, David S. 59 Charles V, emperor 9, 26–7, 46 Charles VIII (Valois), king of France 9, 20–21, 43, 82, 93, 201 Chiericati (Chierigati), Francesco, bishop of Teramo and diplomat 45, 181 Ciocca, Luigi (Alvise), Gonzaga agent in Florence 98, 101 Claude of France, queen of France, consort of Francis I 37n, 42 Clement VII (Giulio de’ Medici), pope 27 de’ Contrari, Beatrice, governess 109n, 125n, 198 Corberano, Enrico, envoy of Cesare Borgia 134, 149n, 150, 153n Cornaro, Caterina, queen of Cyprus 98 Correggio, Reggio Emilia 63 da Correggio, Borso, count 57 da Correggio, Niccolò, nobleman and writer 5, 142n, 147 Costa, Lorenzo, artist 19, 75, 164 Coronation of a Woman Poet (Paris, Louvre) 77 Camera del Costa of Palazzo San Sebastiano 77 Costabili, Antonio, Ferrarese diplomat and official 55n, 95, 99 Costabili, Camillo, brother of Antonio 35n, 78, 99 Costabili, Violante, wife of Antonio Maria Regazzi 99–100 Crivello, Biasino, suspected forger 59–60 Cusadri (Cusatri), Beltramino, of Crema, magistrate 60, 87n Dean, Trevor 59 devices 1, 5, 21, 25n, 75–6, 76 doge, see Barbarigo, Agostino; Loredan, Leonardo Dolfo, Floriano, Bolognese jurist 55n, 68–9, 201

249

Donato, Antonio, official, factore generale 61, 200–201 donzelle, women in the service of Isabella d’Este 42, 83, 96, 97, 108–9, 179, 188, 195 Isabella’s attack on Elisabetta Tosabezzi 121–5, 214 Eleonora Brognina as a diplomat through romance 179, 182–88, 220 Dovizi, Bernardo (‘il Bibbiena’), writer and cardinal 45, 178–9, 183, 189 Equicola, Mario, writer and secretary 174, 179n, 189–90, 191n d’Este, Alfonso I, duke of Ferrara 12, 20, 26, 58, 81n, 125, 147, 164, 168, 190, 195, 219 hostilities with Julius II 25–6, 38, 43n, 50–1, 72, 99n, 159, 164, 172–8, 180–184, 216 marriage to Lucrezia Borgia 18n, 23, 46n, 55–7, 102–8, 127, 133, 152n; see also Ferrara, 1502 wedding possible involvement in assassinations 99–101, 102–8, 215 d’Este, Beatrice, duchess of Bari then Milan, consort of Lodovico Maria Sforza 12, 20, 22n, 39, 43n, 68n, 70n, 71–2, 82, 91, 201 d’Este, Ercole I, duke of Ferrara 10, 13, 18–19, 20n, 22n, 26n, 34, 37, 50, 55–7, 61–2, 69, 72n, 80n, 85n, 114n, 132–3, 135, 147n, 152, 195 role in the removal of Francesco Secco 88, 91, 93–4 d’Este, Ercole II, duke of Ferrara 18n d’Este, Ferrante, son of Ercole I d’Este 12, 43 d’Este, Giulio (Don Giulio), illegitimate son of Ercole I d’Este 12, 52n d’Este, Ippolito, cardinal 12, 38n, 43, 46n, 57, 64, 83n, 85n, 100, 103–107, 114n, 125, 143n, 168, 173, 175, 177n, 180–181, 215, 219 d’Este, Isabella, marchesa of Mantua, consort of Francesco II Gonzaga 1, 11, 97, 139, 140 accident in a caretta 51

250

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga attack on Elisabetta Tosabezzi, see Tosabezzi, Elisabetta biography 10–28 camerini, see Mantua, Ducal Palace, studiolo and grotta correspondence, see letter writing death 27 death of her mother 55, 198 death of her sister 16n, 20, 68n, 201 disassociating herself from the Sforza 128–9 dispensing of justice 1, 49, 58–67, 88–9, 164n, 193 finances and property 80, 83–5, 193; see also jewels imprese, see devices ladies-in-waiting, see donzelle marginalisation by favourites 26–7, 46, 58, 68, 108, 189–90 marriage to Francesco II Gonzaga 12, 13, 15, 18–9, 124, 184–7 tension in last years 159–191 mediation on behalf of others 65–67, 111–114 for the Brognolo family 114–121 modern reputation as domineering 138 motherhood 21–23, 34n, 68, 72, 122, 132, 146n, 152, 160–162, 195 patronage and collecting of art 4–6, 18–19, 23,43, 49, 75–80, 111, 138, 193; see also Mantua, Ducal Palace, studiolo and grotto gift of statues from Cesare Borgia 143, 146n, 155 possible involvement in assassinations 99–101, 102–8, 215 regency during Francesco II Gonzaga’s captivity 25, 32, 159, 162–70, 175, 194, 216–218 relationship with Osanna Andreasi 73; see also Andreasi, Osanna relationship with parents 195; see also d’Aragona, Eleonora; d’Este, Ercole relationship with siblings 195; see also d’Este, Alfonso; d’Este, Beatrice; d’Este, Ferrante; d’Este, Giulio;

d’Este, Ippolito; d’Este, Lucrezia; d’Este, Sigismondo relationship with siblings-in-law 13, 18, 195; see also Gonzaga, Chiara; Gonzaga, Elisabetta; Gonzaga, Giovanni; Gonzaga, Maddalena; Gonzaga, Sigismondo response to the Borgia threat 127–57 pleas for caution to her husband 142–5 sharing of power with Francesco II Gonzaga 1–10, 18–20, 23–28, 29–47, 49–86, 111–125, 193–5 eliminating threats to her authority 87–110 facing the Borgia 127–157 in final years 159–191 strategy of divided fronts with Francesco II Gonzaga 6–10, 20–21, 28, 87–94, 98, 111–60, 166, 172–3, 181, 194 taking sides in hostilities against Ferrara 51, 72, 172–84; see also d’Este, Alfonso travels 18–20, 23n, 26–27, 53, 59, 66n, 78, 99, 188–90, 195 to Milan in 1513 180–188, 221 virility 4–5, 7–8, 80,173, 193–4, 201 d’Este, Lucrezia, consort of Annabile Bentivoglio 12, 42n, 160 d’Este, Sigismondo, son of Ercole I d’Este and Eleonora of Aragon 12 d’Estouteville, Guillaume, cardinal 53n Faenza, Ravenna 127, 130–132, 154 Felisatti, Massimo 103, 106 Ferlisi, Gianfranco 91 Ferrara 9–10, 12–13, 20, 22–3, 34, 37, 41, 44, 52–3, 66n, 93–4, 100–107, 109, 127, 132, 156, 163, 187, 190, 198, 212 hostilities with Julius II 25–6, 38, 43n, 50–1, 72, 99n, 159, 164, 172–8, 180–184, 216; see also d’Este, Alfonso, hostilities with Julius II visits by Isabella d’Este and Francesco II Gonzaga 18, 22, 32, 35–6, 56, 59, 69–70, 72–3, 89–90, 92, 197

Index 1502 wedding 55–57, 72, 133, 152n, 208; see also Borgia, Lucrezia, marriage to Alfonso d’Este; d’Este, Alfonso, marriage to Lucrezia Borgia Florence 9, 10, 18n, 38n, 57n, 92, 93n, 98n, 99, 153, 154n, 156n, 163, 178 de Foix, Gaston, duke of Nemours 177 Folch de Cardona, Ramón, viceroy of Naples 178–9, 181–5, 187–8 de’ Folenghi (Folengo), Anselmo, official 61 Folenghino, envoy 165n, 177n, 181 food and wine, see gifts del Forno, Masino, soldier 106–107 Fornovo, Battle of (6 July 1495) 20–21, 26, 43, 64–5, 73n, 82, 93n, 128, 131 Francis I (Valois), king of France 9, 26, 27n, 42, 188–9 Fritella, buffone 74 Furlano, Emilio, soldier 110 Furlano, Enea (‘il Cavaliere’), courtier 21n, 95–101, 110–111, 215 Gabbioneta, Alessandro, archdeacon of the cathedral of Mantua, Gonzaga man in Rome 78n, 178, 181–2 Gadio, Stazio, secretary and agent 27n, 34, 43n, 175, 178n Galasso, buffone 74 Gallerani, Cecilia, mistress of Lodovico Sforza 99 Gambacurta, Margarita, Neapolitan in the service of Isabella d’Este 122, 214 Garda, Lake, 12, 19n, 128n, 182–3, 188 Ghivizzano (Guivizano), Gonzaga official and man in France 54n, 134, 142n Gifts 46, 74, 81–5, 128–9, 170, 182, 194 of animals 46n, 82, 84–5, 128–9 of art 129, 143, 146n, 155 of food and wine 46n, 74, 81–2, 85, 91, 129, 162 of land and property 72n, 83–4 of masks 153, 212 of tapestries 82 Goffman, Erving 6, 7, 43 Goito, Mantua 34n, 35n, 36, 52n, 53, 56n, 59–60, 62, 64n, 82, 130, 188

251

Gonzaga, Mantua 22, 34n, 35n, 36, 62–5, 69, 71, 82n, 84, 87n, 90n, 93n, 100n, 101n, 116n, 122n, 123, 135n, 214–6 Gonzaga, Chiara, countess of Montpensier, consort of Gilbert de Bourbon 13, 21, 41, 89–91, 112–3, 128, 134–5, 152 death of her husband 54–5 Gonzaga, Elisabetta, duchess of Urbino, consort of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro 13, 21n, 26, 41n, 42, 52, 134–7, 141–3, 145, 148, 151–2, 191, 208–11, 215 correspondence with Isabella d’Este 54–5, 91, 113–4, 132n, 148n, 156, 166, 171, 217 Gonzaga, Ercole (Alvise / Luigi), cardinal 22, 26–7, 72, 85n, 160–162, 191, 213, 215 Gonzaga, Federico I, marchese of Mantua 13, 87 Gonzaga, Federico II, marchese then duke of Mantua 22, 27, 32n, 34, 46, 68, 80n, 83, 101, 109–110, 132, 144, 161, 163, 179, 189–91, 221 at French court 26, 41n, 42, 189–90 betrothal to Luisa Borgia 23, 133–4, 149, 155 childhood 22–3, 146, 152, 213, 215 hostage at the papal court 25, 41n, 166–70, 177–8, 186, 218 Gonzaga, Federico da Bozzolo, condottiere 181 Gonzaga, Ferrante, count of Guastalla 22, 26–7, 122, 161n, 188, 191 Gonzaga, Francesco, cardinal 128 Gonzaga, Francesco II, marchese of Mantua, consort of Isabella d’Este 1, 11, 40, 97, 139, 140 biography 10–28 captivity in Venice 25, 32, 159, 162–70, 175, 194, 216–218 correspondence, see letter writing crucible device 21, 76; see also devices death 27, 101, 191 extra-marital relationships

252

Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga with Lucrezia Borgia 101–107, 157, 175, 181 with Teodora 69 fatherhood 21–23, 68, 132, 146n, 152, 160–162, 195 favourites 26, 28, 58, 68, 97, 189–90 bad counsellors 112–113 assassinations of 94–110; see also Regazzi, Antonio Maria; Strozzi, Ercole; di Camposampiero, Ludovico; Spagnoli, Tolomeo health 73, 107, 159, 180–181 syphilis 25–6, 74, 104, 162n, 175, 190 historiographical bias against 2–6, 8, 103, 129, 159, 176, 180, 193–4 horses 2n, 3, 20n, 21–3, 60, 69–70, 72n, 80, 82, 85, 128n, 129, 155–6, 180 in Orlando Furioso 49 marriage to Isabella d’Este 12, 13, 15, 18–9, 124, 184–7 tension in last years 159–191 masculinity 7–8, 147, 193–4 military career 6–7, 10, 19–21, 25–6, 28, 46, 124, 146, 166, 176, 178; see also Fornovo, Battle of; Gonzaga, Francesco, captivity in Venice condotta with Milan 114 during hostilities against Ferrara 172–81 negative opinions of 112, 114–121 patronage and collecting of art 3–6, 19, 23–5, 43, 49, 75–80, 193 placating the Tosabezzi family 121–5; see also Tosabezzi entries problem with Brognolo diplomats 114–121; see also Brognolo entries relationship with in-laws 195; see also d’Este, Alfonso; d’Este, Beatrice; d’Este, Ercole; d’Este, Ferrante; d’Este, Giulio; d’Este, Ippolito; d’Este, Lucrezia; d’Este, Sigismondo relationship with Osanna Andreasi 73; see also Andreasi, Osanna

relationship with siblings 13, 18, 59, 89–90, 96, 195; see also Gonzaga, Chiara; Gonzaga, Elisabetta; Gonzaga, Giovanni; Gonzaga, Maddalena; Gonzaga, Sigismondo response to the Borgia threat 127–57 pleas by Isabella d’Este for caution 142–5 sharing of power with Isabella d’Este 1–10, 18–20, 23–28, 29–47, 49–86, 111–125, 193–5 elimination of threats to Isabella’s authority 87–110 facing the Borgia 127–157 in final years 159–191 strategy of divided fronts with Isabella d’Este 6–10, 20–21, 28, 87–94, 98, 111–60, 166, 172–3, 181, 194 travels 89–90, 92, 195 Gonzaga, Gianfrancesco, lord of Bozzolo 31, 87–9, 93–4 Gonzaga, Giovanni, brother of Francesco II Gonzaga 13, 18, 21, 27, 34, 41, 43, 59, 71n, 96, 130, 134, 144, 148–51, 153, 160, 166, 173–4, 183n, 191, 216 Gonzaga, Ippolita, prioress of Dominican Convent of San Vincenzo, Mantua 22, 152n, 161n, 215 Gonzaga, Livia, daughter of Isabella d’Este and Francesco II Gonzaga (1503–08) 22, 161n, 215. Gonzaga, Livia Osanna (suor Paola), prioress of Franciscan Convent at Santa Paola, Mantua 22 Gonzaga, Lodovico, bishop-elect of Mantua 78, 87–9, 93–4 Gonzaga, Lodovico II, marchese of Mantua 13, 18n, 23n, 29, 39, 43n, 87, 112 Gonzaga, Leonora (Eleonora), duchess of Urbino, consort of Francesco Maria della Rovere 5n, 18n, 21–3, 25–6, 35n, 41n, 42n, 58n, 68, 98, 161n, 162, 164, 191 Gonzaga, Maddalena, consort of Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro 13, 91, 128 Gonzaga, Maddalena, daughter of Francesco II Gonzaga 21n

Index Gonzaga, Margherita, daughter of Francesco II Gonzaga 21n, 161n Gonzaga, Margherita, daughter of Isabella d’Este and Francesco II Gonzaga (1496) 21–2 Gonzaga, Orfeo, son of Francesco II Gonzaga 21n Gonzaga, Phebo, cousin of Francesco II Gonzaga 46, 47n Gonzaga, Rodolfo, uncle of Francesco II Gonzaga 87–9, 93–4 Gonzaga, Sigismondo, cardinal 13, 18, 23, 27, 57, 59, 65, 80, 91, 96, 99, 112, 128, 133–4, 151n, 174, 176, 185, 191, 198–9, 204, 220 during imprisonment of Francesco II Gonzaga 162–71, 216–8 Gonzaga, Teodora, daughter of Francesco II Gonzaga 21n, 95–6, 98 Greenblatt, Stephen 6 Guerrieri (Guerrieri Gonzaga) da Fermo, Lodovico, secretary and envoy 166, 168, 170n, 185, 220 Hickson, Sally Anne 41, 83 imprese, see devices James, Carolyn 160, 194 jewels 5, 80, 160n, 164n, 187, 190n Jews 50, 88–9, 197 Julius II (Giuliano della Rovere), pope 113–14, 162–3, 165–81, 184–5, 217 Kolsky, Stephen 3, 6, 109, 111 labyrinths 25 Lake Garda, see Garda Lang, Matthäus, bishop of Gurk and imperial representative 42, 79, 177–83, 187, 219 Leo X (Giovanni de’ Medici), pope 42, 188–90 Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of Isabella d’Este (Paris, Louvre) 11, 19 letter writing 29–47, 40, 50–58, 93–4, 97, 104, 139, 140, 194

253

burning letters 38, 103, 106, 118, 144, 146, 172n, 174, 175n codes and ciphers 37–8, 164n, 172, 174–5, 177, 180–1 code names 103–106, 104 epistolary rhetoric 30, 63, 65–7, 82, 97, 139, 140, 118, 154, 187, 194 forgery 138, 139, 140, 141 networks 5, 30, 33, 41–7, 51–2, 57, 91, 143, 145, 153, 189 postscripts 30n, 31, 32n, 37n, 38–9, 41, 53n, 55n, 72, 73n, 80n, 90n, 99n, 100n, 137, 139,146, 160n, 164, 172n, 173n, 178n, 180n, 208–209 seals 32, 39, 40, 70–71, 108, 137–8, 199 Loredan, Leonardo, doge of Venice 98, 165–6 Louis XII (Valois), king of France 9, 23, 25, 34, 43, 46n, 85, 96, 100, 112, 114, 124, 127–9, 133–8, 142–9, 153, 154n, 157, 161, 164–5, 167, 175–7, 209–11, 216 Luzio, Alessandro 2–4, 8, 10, 28, 129, 163, 168, 176, 180–181 Machiavelli, Niccolò, writer and diplomat 6–9, 147–8, 153n, 159 maiolica 75, 76 Malatesta, Francesco, Gonzaga agent in Florence 38n, 153, 164n Malatesta, Gian (Giovanni) Battista, ambassador 109n Manfredi, Astorre, lord of Faenza 130–131 Mantegna, Andrea, artist 19, 75, 129n Camera degli Sposi (Camera Picta) (Mantua, Ducal Palace) 1, 13, 79n Madonna della Vittoria (Paris, Louvre) 20, 76–7 Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue (Paris, Louvre) 77 Parnassus (Mars and Venus) (Paris, Louvre) 77 Triumphs of Caesar (London, Hampton Court) 79 Mantua 10, 12–13, 15, 19, 23, 26, 29, 33, 36–7, 41, 47, 49, 52, 72, 83, 87, 93, 99, 105, 107, 109–110,

254

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112, 119, 122–3, 127–30, 134–8, 148–50, 153–4, 157, 162–4, 167, 169, 174–7, 180–1, 184–5, 187–90, 193–4 Congress of Mantua 178–80 Ducal Palace 1, 13, 23, 25, 63–4, 79, 123, 214 Camera degli Sposi (Camera Picta) (Andrea Mantegna) 1, 13, 79n Camerino delle Fiamme 76 grotta 5, 75, 77–80, 83, 179–80 Sala delle Sigle 1, 1, 75, 195 studiolo 5, 75, 77–9, 83, 179–80 Terracotta bust of Francesco Gonzaga (Gian Cristoforo Romano) 11 Palazzo di Porto 35, 78, 82–3, 91, 161 Palazzo San Sebastiano 23, 25n, 76–80, 107n, 175, 178–80, 213 Camera del Costa 77 San Sebastiano, church 13, 76 facade 76 Santa Maria della Vittoria, church 21, 65n Te Island 23, 80n Marignano, Battle of (September 1515) 189 Marmirolo, Mantua 33n, 54, 58–62, 70, 74, 81, 89n, 90n, 119n, 199, 202 de’ Maschi, Dionigi Agatoni, official of the duchy of Urbino 136 Mattello, buffone 33, 74–5, 81, 199 Mattozzi, Louisa Parker 5 Maximilian I (Habsburg), emperor 9, 25, 71, 93, 114, 132, 164–7, 171, 176–7, 189, 194 de’ Medici, Giuliano (‘il magnifico Giuliano’), duke of Nemours 79n, 178 de’ Medici, Lorenzo (‘il magnifico’) 31n, 89 de’ Medici, Lorenzo, duke of Urbino 26, 27n, 189 de’ Medici, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco 54 Milanese, il, see Regazzi, Antonio Maria di San Secondo

da Montefeltro, Guidobaldo, duke of Urbino 13, 23, 100n, 113, 134–8, 154–5, 143, 145, 148–9, 209–11 Morari family 43n music 4, 5, 19, 42, 75, 77, 80; see also Cara, Marchetto; Testagrossa, Giovanni Angelo; Tromboncino, Bartolomeo da Novara, Bartolino, architect 13 Ostiglia, Mantua 164n, 169, 200 d’Ostuni, Fra Serafino, Prior of San Francesco 73–4 Paleologa, Margherita, duchess of Mantua and marchesa of Monferrato 5n, 27, 41n, 58n, 83, 85n Paleologa, Maria, sister of Margherita 64n, 189n de la Palice (la Palisse), Jacques, French nobleman and soldier 36n Palidano, Gonzaga, Mantua 83–4 Pallavicino, Antoniotto, cardinal 46n parties 79n, 96, 97, 179n, 183 Peschiera del Garda, Verona 182–3 Pia, Emilia, noblewoman and companion of Elisabetta Gonzaga 136 Pio, Alberto, prince of Carpi 21n, 100 Pio, Alessandro, of Sassuolo, husband of Angela Borgia 107 Pistofilo, Bonaventura, writer, secretary and diplomat for the Este 189 Pizzagalli, Daniela 187 plague 64, 160, 198 Poggio Reale, Mantua, villa of 178–9 Pontano, Giovanni, writer 7, 19, 31n, 75 portraits 75, 106, 150n, 164, 179n Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of Isabella d’Este (Paris, Louvre) 11 Gian Cristoforo Romano, Terracotta bust of Francesco Gonzaga (Mantua, Ducal Palace) 11 Prete, il, agent of Isabella d’Este 46n, 57n, 97, 142n de’ Pretis, Donato, Gonzaga agent and official 34n, 70n, 128–30 Prisciani, Pellegrino, polymath 78

Index de’ Prosperi, Bernardino, ducal chancellor in Ferrara 37n, 45n, 102, 105, 106, 168, 180 Recordati, Aurelio, courtier, husband of Elisabetta Tosabezzi 124n Redini, Fra Girolamo, Augustinian friar and Gonzaga diplomat 55n, 65–8, 112, 194, 203 Regan, Lisa 77, 111 Regazzi, Antonio Maria di San Secondo (‘il Milanese’) 38, 97, 117, 119, 137, 146, 150, 206 assassination of 21n, 94–101, 107, 110, 111, 215 Renier, Rodolfo 2, 4, 8, 28, 180 Revere, Mantua 36, 50, 59, 61, 119, 135, 161, 197–8 Rodriguez-Salgado, M. J. 10 Romano, Gian Cristoforo, medallist and sculptor Portrait medal of Isabella d’Este 73, 75, 78n Terracotta bust of Francesco Gonzaga (Mantua, Ducal Palace) 11 Rome, Sack of 9, 27 Rossetti, Biagio, architect 78 della Rovere, Felice, daughter of Julius II 43n della Rovere, Francesco Maria, duke of Urbino 23, 25, 101, 113–114, 162, 169, 172, 177 Rozone, Gian Stefano, envoy 110, 180n, 189 Sacchetta, Mantua 36, 55n, 72n, 83, 85, 125n, 160n, 161, 213 Sacchetti, Matteo (‘Antimaco’), secretary 90–91, 108, 117, 119, 134 Salimbene, Antonio, envoy 52n Sanseverino, Federico, cardinal 132, 163 Sanseverino, Gaspare, condottiere 75 Sanseverino, Gianfrancesco, count of Caiazzo 59, 91 Sanudo, Marin, Venetian historian 69n, 98n, 100n, 101n, 147, 166–9, 172, 191n Scalona, Battista, secretary 165n, 169

255

Scalona, Gian Carlo, agent and official 46–7 Schinner, Matthäus, cardinal 181 Secco d’Aragona, Francesco, luogotenente generale 18, 59n, 87–94, 96, 102, 110, 115n, 197 Secco d’Aragona, Stefano, castellan 87, 92–3, 197 Senigallia, Ancona 127, 152–3, 212 Sermide, Mantua 35n, 72n, 173, 175 Sforza, Anna, consort of Alfonso I d’Este 20 Sforza, Ascanio, cardinal 34n, 46n Sforza, Battista, duchess of Urbino, consort of Federico da Montefeltro 18n Sforza, Caterina, ruler of Imola and Forlì 195 Sforza, Francesco, duke of Milan 43n, 44 Sforza, Giangaleazzo Maria, duke of Milan 20, 92 Sforza, Giovanni, lord of Pesaro 13, 128, 130, 134, 136 Sforza, Ippolita, duchess of Calabria 12n, 31n Sforza, Lodovico (‘il Moro’), duke of Bari then Milan 9, 12, 20–22, 32n, 34–5, 39, 43n, 52–3, 70–71, 92–4, 114–119, 128–9, 197, 199–200, 205 Sforza, Massimiliano, duke of Milan 26, 79n, 178, 180, 182–9, 220 Shemek, Deanna 5, 31, 41, 194 Solarolo, Ravenna 27, 83 Spagnoli, Tolomeo, secretary 26, 58, 60, 68, 72–3, 75n, 98, 108–110, 117, 165n, 168, 172n, 189–90, 206 Strozzi, Ercole 94, 101–8, 104, 121 Strozzi, Guido 102–7, 104 Strozzi, Lorenzo 102, 103n, 107 Suardo, Jacopo (Suardino), envoy and official 70n, 164n, 165n, 183, 216, 220 Suzzara, Mantua 31n, 72n Swain, Elisabeth Ward 5, 29, 39 tapestries 82–3, 113, 201 Tebaldeo, Antonio, poet 19, 74n, 75, 107n, 143, 155

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Testagrossa, Giovanni Angelo, musician 164 Torelli, Barbara, wife of Ercole Strozzi 102–103 della Torre, Amico Maria, secretary 83n, 179n Tosabezzi, Benedetto, diplomat 39, 40, 70–71, 121, 195, 199 Tosabezzi, Elisabetta, donzella 121–5, 161, 195, 214 Tosabezzi, Niccolò, brother of Elisabetta 121–5, 195, 214 Trocio (Troche), Francisco, of Avila, envoy of Cesare Borgia 136–42, 150–151, 153, 209–210 Tromboncino, Bartolomeo, musician and composer 19 Trissino, Gian Giorgio, writer and diplomat 45 Trivulzio, Antonio, cardinal 46 Tuttavilla, Girolamo, son of Cardinal d’Estouteville 33n, 53

da Urbino, Nicola Plate with devices (London, British Museum) 76

degli Uberti, Uberto, brother-in-law of Ercole Strozzi 103, 106, 121–3, 214

Zaffardo, Francisco, debtor 65 Zilio, see Strozzi, Ercole

Varano family, of Camerino 134 Varano, Pier Gentile, son of Rodolfo da Varano and Camilla d’Este 117, 132, 206 Venice 9–10, 19–21, 25, 27, 31, 34, 38, 39n, 43n, 46, 52, 54, 57n, 62, 64, 65n, 72, 88, 90–1, 93, 96, 99–100, 109, 113–115, 128, 129n, 133, 147, 148n, 151n, 152n, 153, 171–3, 175n, 176–7, 179n, 181, 204, 208 doge, see Barbarigo, Agostino; Loredan, Leonardo Ducal Palace, Torresella 164 imprisonment of Francesco II Gonzaga 25, 32, 159, 162–70, 175, 194, 216–218 Viadana, Mantua 34n, 51, 61, 73n, 172n, 173n da Vimercate, Taddeo, ambassador 93