and Bartolomeo d'Alviano, were declared outlawed
for having borne arms with France against the Church, and their
possessions were confiscated to the State. This decree was to be
enforced by the sword, and, for the purposes of the impending war, the
Duke of Gandia was recalled to Rome. He arrived early in August, having
left at Gandia his wife Maria Enriquez, a niece of the Royal House of
Spain. It was Cesare Borgia who took the initiative in the pomp with
which his brother was received in Rome, riding out at the head of the
entire Pontifical Court to meet and welcome the young duke.
In addition to being Duke of Gandia, Giovanni Borgia was already Duke
of Sessa and Prince of Teano, which further dignities had been conferred
upon him on the occasion of his brother Giuffredo's marriage to Donna
Sancia. To these the Pope now added the governorship of Viterbo and of
the Patrimony of St. Peter, dispossessing Cardinal Farnese of the latter
office to bestow it upon this well-beloved son.
In Venice it was being related, a few months later,--in October--that
Gandia had brought a woman from Spain for his father, and that the
latter had taken her to live with him. The story is given in Sanuto,
and of course has been unearthed and served up by most historians and
essayists. It cannot positively be said that it is untrue; but it can
be said that it is unconfirmed. There is, for instance, no word of it
in Burchard's Diarium, and when you consider how ready a chronicler
of scandalous matter was this Master of Ceremonies, you will no doubt
conclude that, if any foundation there had been for that Venetian story,
Burchard would never have been silent on the subject.
The Pope had taken into his pay that distinguished condottiero, Duke
Guidobaldo of Urbino, who later was to feel the relentless might
of Cesare. To Guidobaldo's command was now entrusted the punitive
expedition against the Orsini, and with him was to go the Duke of
Gandia, ostensibly to share the leadership, in reality that, under so
able a master, he might serve his apprenticeship to the trade of arms.
So on October 25 Giovanni Borgia was very solemnly created Gonfalonier
of the Church and Captain-General of the pontifical troops. On the same
day the three standards were blessed in St. Peter's--one being the Papal
Gonfalon bearing the arms of the Church and the other two the personal
banners of Guidobaldo and Gandia. The two condottieri attended the
ceremony, arrayed in
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