The Family - Mario Puzo [108]
Cesare bowed his head in acknowledgment; then, with a glint in his eye, he asked, “I am grateful, of course—but will this gain me a wife?”
Louis was obviously distressed. “With the refusal of Princess Rosetta, and with your permission, we will begin a more extensive search immediately. We will scour the French royal houses for just the right princess.”
Cesare stood to leave. “I will extend my stay,” he said, “and visit your countryside until she is found.”
In Rome, the Pope could think of nothing but his son’s marriage. He called Cardinal Ascanio Sforza to him and asked that he return to Naples to plead again with the king.
But weeks later the cardinal returned without success, for Rosetta continued to refuse, and he had found no willing match among the other young women. And during his stay in Naples, Cardinal Sforza found more that was troubling. There was news in the south that Louis XII was planning another French invasion to claim his ancestral rights to both Milan and Naples.
“Is this true?” Ascanio Sforza asked Alexander. “And what do you mean to do about it?”
The Pope was enraged to be so questioned by Ascanio. But he was unable either to lie or tell the truth. Instead he said, “I would take action if my son, Cesare, was not hostage at the very court of France.”
“A very well-dressed, well-kept, willing hostage,” the cardinal remarked, “who carries with him the coffers of the Holy Mother Church filled with riches for his pleasure. Or to seduce a wife in order to form an alliance which will threaten Rome itself.”
Pope Alexander was outraged now, and so he thundered, “My dear cardinal, it was your brother Il Moro, if you recall, who invited the first French invasion. And it is Rome that is betrayed—for not one of the members of the house of Aragon will offer a marital alliance. They give me little choice.”
“So it is true that you have aligned with France against Aragon?” Ascanio asked, with some satisfaction.
Alexander struggled to compose himself. Then he stood up and pointed toward the door of his chambers and said, “Leave at once, for what you have spoken nears heresy. And I suggest that you pray for forgiveness for such slander, or I shall give you last rites and have you tossed into the dark waters of the Tiber on this very night.”
Cardinal Ascanio Sforza fled, but the sound of the Pope’s fiery invective and thunderous voice sent him racing down the steps so quickly that his heart in his chest was pounding. He tripped once but picked himself up, determined to leave Rome for Naples as soon as he was able.
During the months that followed, the Pope put aside all papal business. He could focus on nothing but a new alliance. He refused visiting ambassadors from Venice, Florence, Milan, and Naples—anyone who did not come to offer his son Cesare a wife.
In France, after several months, King Louis called Cesare into his chambers and happily announced, “I have brought some very good news. If you and the Holy Father agree, I have found a splendid match for you: Charlotte d’Albret, a beautiful and intelligent woman, and the sister of the king of Navarre.”
Cesare, pleased and relieved, immediately sent a message to his father asking for permission to marry and to extend his stay in France.
After celebrating High Mass at Saint Peter’s, Alexander was deeply troubled. He had received a message from his son, and as he knelt at the altar in the basilica under the watchful eye of the Holy Madonna he tried to reason . . .
During his thirty-five years as a vice-chancellor to Popes, during his six years as Pope, and in all his years of life, Alexander had never been faced with such a terrible dilemma. His alliance with Spain had always been his strength, as a man of God and as a man of the world. He had managed to balance the foreign powers of Spain and France, and maintain support for the papacy in both countries.
But after Juan’s death his widow, Maria Enriquez, had convinced Queen