DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0301
C2ESAR BORGIA’S END
261
remain in Rome, and after surrendering the chief for-
tresses of Romagna to the Pope, he went to Naples.
Here Gonsalvo de Cordova arrested him by order of
King Ferdinand of Aragon, in spite of a safe conduct
which had been given him. He was sent to Spain in
August 1504, and after languishing for two years in
prison, succeeded in making his escape from the
Tower of Medina del Campo, and fell in March 1507,
at Viana, fighting for his brother-in-law, the King of
Navarre, against Castile. So this hero of great
powers and greater audacity, whose extraordinary
career had filled Italy with amazement, and whose
name struck terror into every heart, died at the early
age of thirty-one, and the meteor which had flashed
upon the world with sudden brilliancy, vanished into
night. Six months after his father’s death he was
already forgotten in Rome. “Of Valentino,” wrote
the Mantuan envoy, Giovanni Lucido, “ one hears
no more.” To the last he remained on friendly
terms with the Gonzagas, and when he reached
Pampeluna, he wrote a long account of his escape
to the Marquis, signing himself, “Your Compare et
minore fratello” and telling him that now, after all
his labour and efforts, he was at length a free man.
And Lucrezia, in her letters to Francesco, thanks
him repeatedly for “ the singular and truly fraternal
love that you have ever shown to my brother the
Duke.”
While these strange events were thrilling the
heart of Italy, and one Pope was succeeding the
other at the Vatican, Isabella remained at Mantua,
directing the government in her husband’s absence,
and much occupied with her little son. On the
12th of November, she took the three-year-old child
261
remain in Rome, and after surrendering the chief for-
tresses of Romagna to the Pope, he went to Naples.
Here Gonsalvo de Cordova arrested him by order of
King Ferdinand of Aragon, in spite of a safe conduct
which had been given him. He was sent to Spain in
August 1504, and after languishing for two years in
prison, succeeded in making his escape from the
Tower of Medina del Campo, and fell in March 1507,
at Viana, fighting for his brother-in-law, the King of
Navarre, against Castile. So this hero of great
powers and greater audacity, whose extraordinary
career had filled Italy with amazement, and whose
name struck terror into every heart, died at the early
age of thirty-one, and the meteor which had flashed
upon the world with sudden brilliancy, vanished into
night. Six months after his father’s death he was
already forgotten in Rome. “Of Valentino,” wrote
the Mantuan envoy, Giovanni Lucido, “ one hears
no more.” To the last he remained on friendly
terms with the Gonzagas, and when he reached
Pampeluna, he wrote a long account of his escape
to the Marquis, signing himself, “Your Compare et
minore fratello” and telling him that now, after all
his labour and efforts, he was at length a free man.
And Lucrezia, in her letters to Francesco, thanks
him repeatedly for “ the singular and truly fraternal
love that you have ever shown to my brother the
Duke.”
While these strange events were thrilling the
heart of Italy, and one Pope was succeeding the
other at the Vatican, Isabella remained at Mantua,
directing the government in her husband’s absence,
and much occupied with her little son. On the
12th of November, she took the three-year-old child