of
ceremonies, laid down the rules for all the functions in which the
Pope's daughter took part. He must have called upon her frequently, but
she could scarcely have foreseen that, centuries later, this Alsatian's
notes would constitute the mirror in which posterity would see the
reflections of the Borgias. His diary, however, gives no details
concerning Lucretia's private life--this did not come within his duties.

Never did any other chronicler describe the things about him so clearly
and so concisely, so dryly, and with so little feeling--things which
were worthy of the pen of a Tacitus. That Burchard was not friendly to
the Borgias is proved by the way his diary is written; it, however, is
absolutely truthful. This man well knew how to conceal his feelings--if
the dull routine of his office had left him any. He went through the
daily ceremonial of the Vatican mechanically, and kept his place there
under five popes. Burchard must have seemed to the Borgias a harmless
pedant; for if not, would they have permitted him to behold and describe
their doings and yet live? Even the little which he did write in his
diary concerning events of the day would have cost him his head had it
come to the knowledge of Alexander or Caesar. It appears, however, that
the diaries of the masters of ceremony were not subjected to official
censorship. Caesar would have spared him no more than he did his father's
favorite, Pedro Calderon Perotto, whom he stabbed, and Cervillon, whom
he had killed--both of whom frequently performed important parts in the
ceremonies in the Vatican.

Nor did he spare the private secretary, Francesco Troche, whom Alexander
VI had often employed in diplomatic affairs. Troche, according to a
Venetian report a Spaniard, was, like Canale, a cultivated humanist, and
like him, he was also on friendly terms with the house of Gonzaga. There
are still in existence letters of his to the Marchioness Gonzaga, in
which he asks her to send him certain sonnets she had composed. She
likewise writes to him regarding family matters, and also asks him to
find her an antique cupid in Rome. There is no doubt but that he was one
of Lucretia's most intimate acquaintances. In June, 1503, Caesar had also
this favorite of his father strangled.

Besides Burchard and Lorenz Behaim, there was another German who was
familiar with the family affairs of the Borgias, Goritz of Luxemburg,
who subsequently, during the reigns of Julius II and Leo