The Family - Mario Puzo [41]
Duarte lowered his head and his voice. “There is more distressing news, Your Omnipotence. The French have captured Julia Farnese and Madonna Adriana on their way back from Capodimonte. They are being held at the headquarters of the cavalry, even now.”
Pope Alexander went pale with rage. For long moments he was speechless, his mind dark with worry and fear. Finally he spoke. “Duarte, the fall of Rome would be a tragedy, but if my dear Julia were harmed, it would be a complete calamity. You must arrange for her release, for they will surely wish to ransom her.”
“What are your terms?” Duarte asked.
“Pay whatever you must,” Alexander said. “For Charles now has in his hands my heart and my eyes.”
The French, as well as being fine soldiers, were also known for their chivalry. Once they captured Julia Farnese and Adriana Orsini, they released all the servants who had accompanied them. Then they tried to charm the beautiful ladies with both food and amusing stories. But when Charles found out who the captives were, he immediately ordered that they be returned to the Pope.
“For what ransom?” the chief cavalryman asked.
Charles felt generous. “Three thousand ducats,” he said.
The commander protested. “Pope Alexander will pay fifty times that.”
“But we are here to gain the crown of Naples,” Charles reminded the general, “which is worth far more.”
Within three days, Julia Farnese and Adriana were returned to Rome unharmed, accompanied by four hundred French troops. And waiting at the gates joyful and relieved was Alexander.
Later, in his chambers, dressed as a cavalier with sword and dagger at his side, wearing shiny black boots from Valencia and a black cloak with gold brocade, he made love to Julia. And for the first time since she’d been gone, he felt at peace.
Pope Alexander, given the outrageous treachery of Virginio Orsini, knew that resisting the French was now hopeless. Without his fortresses to guard the entrance to Rome, there would be no stopping Charles. He needed time to develop a strategy to outsmart the young king, rather than to try to defeat the French in battle.
With his usual farsightedness, as soon as Alexander was made Pope, he had prepared for the possibility of a foreign invasion. He had commissioned a secure corridor between the rooms in the Vatican and the Castel Sant’ Angelo which could offer him protection. He had supplied it with enough food and water to last for at least one winter, and now he resolved to resist that long if necessary.
Now, under the watchful eyes of Duarte Brandao and Don Michelotto, Alexander and Cesare instructed their servants to gather their valuables—the gold tiaras, papal jewels, relics, beds, chests and tapestries—for their retreat to Castel Sant’ Angelo, an impregnable fortress. Their families came with them; even Vanozza abandoned her palace for the safety of Sant’ Angelo. And with great wisdom and sensitivity Cardinal Farnese whisked his sister, Julia, out of Rome, preventing any opportunity for discomfort to the Pope. The confrontation between past and present mistresses could cause Alexander more distress than the arrival of King Charles, for though Vanozza accepted Julia—never quite able to take her seriously—Julia was quite jealous of the mother of the Pope’s children.
On Christmas Day, the Pope ordered all troops from Naples to leave Rome at once. They were not strong enough to overcome the French troops, and Alexander feared that their presence in the city would make Rome seem a hostile place. Then Charles might resort to sacking the city, looting and pillaging all the valuables as they took capture—or, at the very least, failing to restrain his troops as they did so.
He told Duarte, “Please get a message to Charles. Tell him His Holiness, Pope Alexander, wishes to welcome him as he passes through our city on the way to Naples.”
Duarte frowned, his eyes narrowed. “Passes through?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Alexander said, but he looked concerned when he added,