An excerpt from The Pope’s Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice della Rovere by Caroline P.
Murphy. Read last week’s exceprt HERE.
Unlike his predecessor, the new Pope had no ties to Felice and no interest in developing any. For Hadrian, Felice was no treasured memento of Rome’s golden age. She was, rather, a symbol of papal corruption, a reminder of the carnality of one predecessor and the greed of another who had conspired with her to sell offices. Consequently Hadrian had no intention of supporting her. Conscious that Felice was now without a papal protector, Napoleone, supported by his greatest ally, Renzo da Ceri, wasted no time in flexing his muscles and trying to frighten her into granting him concessions.
Renzo da Ceri had been Leo’s military commander and he advised Napoleone how to attack Felice. It was a delicate matter, as they could not do anything to jeopardize the safety of her young sons, who were Orsini heirs after all, and damaging Orsini property would be the equivalent of attacking themselves. But they did identify a point of vulnerability in Felice’s castle of Palo, which, following Leo’s demise, was currently unoccupied. As Orsini men, it was an outrage that the castle, which had once been Orsini property, should now be in her sole possession. It was a point of honour for them to reclaim it, on the grounds that it was not hers by right.
On 13 January 1522, the Urbino ambassador in Rome, Gian Maria della Porta, wrote to his master, Felice’s cousin, Francesco Maria della Rovere, ‘Madonna Felice had received news that the Abbot has gone to take Palo with the complicity of Signor Renzo. She is very unhappy and afflicted more that ever . . . She bought Palo with money given to her by Pope Julius.’ Felice had confided her fears to Gian Maria as a friend. She mentioned nothing of what had occurred in the letters she wrote simultaneously to Francesco Maria herself, knowing that she must not appear to have lost control in any way. Instead, she discussed with him some of the final details of the restitution of his estates, for if Leo had been a good friend to her, he had not been a good friend to Francesco Maria. As general of the papal troops, Renzo da Ceri had led an attack on Urbino to oust Francesco Maria and place Leo’s nephew Lorenzo in his place. Francesco Maria had only just returned to the Duchy of Urbino. Attempts to reach an accord between the Medici and the della Rovere were now made. One suggestion was to betroth Lorenzo’s infant daughter, Catherine de’ Medici, to Francesco’s infant son, Guibaldo. Catherine was by then an orphan and in fact, in January 1522, she was placed in Felice’s care, until the betrothal fell through. As Felice wrote to Francesco Maria, ‘Maestro Ridolfi came to see me last Monday on behalf of the Cardinal of Cortona, and demanded that I give back the baby girl.’ A rueful second letter remarks, ‘These things are being managed by persons of much higher rank and respect than myself.’
Despite her attention to other matters, Felice did take certain precautions. For example, she left her most valuable possessions in the care of the Abbot of the church of San Salvatore in Laura, adjacent to Monte Giordano in Rome, in case Napoloene should attempt an attack in Rome. Napoleone continued his
campaign. On 22 February 1522, when Felice was absent from Bracciano, Napoleone paid a visit to the
castle. Gian Maria reported, ‘The Lady Felice is very unhappy, troubled because one of her dearest
servants at Bracciano has been imprisoned in Rome, and he has taken the castle, and she is worried because all the most important accounts and documents are there. Recently the Abbot has made threats around the estates in the cruellest manner possible, saying he will bring death to all of those who are her servants. If Felice worried in private, she did not express her anxiety publicly; this was important for her public persona, her bella figura. She was aware that Napoleone did not have the manpower, nor, as yet, the experience to prolong such an offensive indefinitely. She was proved right. After a couple of months, Napoleone’s forces weakened and fragmented. Palo was returned to Felice’s possession, and he was forced to abandon Bracciano.
If Napoleone expected such tactics to have an effect on his stepmother, he was to be proved wrong. Felice had been standing up to the Orsini for over a decade now, and she was not about to change her ways. She continued writing to him in the same firm tone, demanding to see records of the accounts at Farfa and receive any revenue she felt rightfully belonged to the Orsini estate and not to him personally. After one request in June 1522 that Napoleone evidently found too much to bear, he exploded, sending her in return a letter full of invective and righteous self-pity:
Illustrious Mistress, My Honourable Mother. I received your letter and response to me. Truthfully, ever
since the death of my father, I do not seem to be a brother to the sons of Signor Gian Giordano, but a true
bastard. Everyone can see that you have enjoyed and taken not only my paternal patrimony but the
ecclesiastical one as well. For the two years that I have held my abbey I have seen you take the fruit of it.
When you came into the house of Orsini you received many benefits, and were elevated and exalted, that
you cannot deny. But other women who came benefited and exalted our house, such as my mother, who
exalted and benefited the house in a way I do not need to tell you. She brought with her 33,000 ducats, and
the favour of such a king as was her father who raised our house to the heavens. I mention this dowry and
other things, because it is well known that you can take pleasure in the possession of your dowry and other
things. I have been deprived of my paternal state and my mother’s dowry, and these are my displeasures
and bad tidings, which injure me. And what brings me sadness is that I have been forbidden to live with
my brothers. They are alienated from me and I from them, instead of feeling the charity and love there
should be among three brothers.
And then you accuse me of absorbing all of the estate, when in fact it is to the contrary, that I have only 30
ducats a month, which reduces me to eating snails in the valley, whereas you are assigned to the usufruct of
your dowry, and you hold Palo apart and with its produce . . . I have always thought there is more hate than
love in you to me, and Signor Renzo concurs. You know how he has worked on our behalf and has borne
the love of a father towards me and my brothers. Leaving him aside, you have said that you have been a
good mother to me. I have been a good son to you and patiently I have tolerated all these injustices.
As for the Abbey, the holy memory of Pope Julius may have given this benefice to the house of Bracciano,
but he gave a lot more to the other barons’ houses, benefices and bishoprics and cardinals’ hats, and other
things that make this estate look like nothing . . .’
Other members of the Orsini family privately shared Napoleone’s opinion of Felice, that she was a mere
prelate’s daughter who had brought no illustrious bloodline with her and who had exploited the house of
Orsini for her own ends. But to put such thoughts in writing was a dangerous breach of decorum. Felice
now had documentary evidence of the depth of her stepson’s resentment of and hatred for her, proof of the
extent of his fury, which was now approaching madness.
Over the summer of 1522, Napoleone continued to cause trouble for Felice. She had just taken into her
care Francesco Maria’s niece, Bartolomea Varana, who had just lost her brother, Sigismondo. ‘I believe
that poor Madonna Bartolomea will consume herself with endless tears and affliction,’ wrote Felice to
Francesco Maria. ‘I am full of maternal love and compassion for her.’ But she also feared for Bartolomea’s
safety. With Napoleone on the loose, none of the Orsini properties were secure. Gian Maria della Porta
wrote to Francesco Maria on 3 September 1522, ‘Madonna Felice has sent me word that Madonna
Bartolomea must leave, as she is afraid that the Abbot will attempt to come and ravish her, and she does not
want to run this risk. There was a sufficient vestige of feudal attitudes in sixteenth-century Italy that were
such a rape to take place, Napoleone would have the right to claim Bartolomea as his own. So Bartolomea
was removed from Felice’s care. Despite the turbulent times, she clearly remembered the months she had
spent with her cousin with great affection. A few years later, she wrote her a charming letter, excited about
the young husband chosen for her, Gaspare Pallavicino, who was, Bartolomea told Felice, ‘of no small
importance, and intelligent, literate and musical, and he seems handsome to me. I think you would be
pleased for me.’ She also wanted Felice to send her the same kind of white and gold embroidered slippers
Felice had given her own daughter Julia when she got married.
The following year, Napoleone changed his tactics. He had travelled to Venice, from where, he wrote to
his stepmother on 4 May 1523, ‘Because my father, God rest his soul, destined me to become a priest, and
recognizing that it is not useful for the house that I do not have the literary principles, and neither does it
honour me, I have decided to remain a few years in Padua [the seat of a university].’ Felice wrote
Francesco Maria, who was captain of the Venetian Army, ‘My son the Abbot has written me in the past few
days about being in Padua, with the desire to pursue a course of study, and finds himself there with little
family. He has ordered four of his servants to go there, and they are setting out on horseback. I ask your
lordship to allow them safe passage. Nothing else occurs to me at this time.’ Felice’s letter is mild and
neutral, seemingly solicitous for Napoleone. But Francesco Maria was now apprised of her stepson’s
movements, and could keep an eye on him, in case, as was more than likely, her stepson the Abbot was up
to no good.
Recent Comments
There are currently no comments.