DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0151
DEATH OF LEO X.
127
Castiglione, along with the Venetian envoy, spent
most of the night in anxious suspense in Giberti's
rooms in the palace, and wrote the following letter to
his master, two hours before dawn on December 2 :
' ILLUSTRIOUS LORD AND DEAR MASTER,
' Yesterday and during the past night I wrote
to tell you His Holiness was in great danger. This
morning I have to tell you that at midnight he
passed away, contrary to the expectation of all here.
No one dreamt that he would die so soon. The whole
court is filled with consternation. Exactly a week
ago he returned from La Magliana with as much joy
and triumph, he told me himself, as when he was
made Pope. The whole world came out to con-
gratulate him, and troops of children waving olive-
branches in their hands. To-day there will be another
and a very different pomp. So Fortune does what
she will with us poor mortals, and our Lord God
shatters our vain plans as He sees fit. I will not
fail to tell V. E. day by day what is passing here,
and if the Legate leaves I will write to Mantua.
'Your Excellency's most faithful servant,
'B. CP
While Castiglione was writing these lines in the
chill hours of the December morning, the dead Pope's
relatives and servants were already carrying off
whatever jewels and valuables they could lay hands
on, and his sister Lucrezia and favourite Chamberlain,
Serapica, had stripped the palace of its contents before
the Cardinals arrived. Then with due solemnity the
Pontiff's body was borne to St. Peter's, where
thousands came to kiss the feet of the Pope whom
they had seen a week before in his most glorious and
triumphant homP The same evening Castiglione
i Contin, 19. ^ Sanuto, xxxii. 42; Alberi, iii. 71.
127
Castiglione, along with the Venetian envoy, spent
most of the night in anxious suspense in Giberti's
rooms in the palace, and wrote the following letter to
his master, two hours before dawn on December 2 :
' ILLUSTRIOUS LORD AND DEAR MASTER,
' Yesterday and during the past night I wrote
to tell you His Holiness was in great danger. This
morning I have to tell you that at midnight he
passed away, contrary to the expectation of all here.
No one dreamt that he would die so soon. The whole
court is filled with consternation. Exactly a week
ago he returned from La Magliana with as much joy
and triumph, he told me himself, as when he was
made Pope. The whole world came out to con-
gratulate him, and troops of children waving olive-
branches in their hands. To-day there will be another
and a very different pomp. So Fortune does what
she will with us poor mortals, and our Lord God
shatters our vain plans as He sees fit. I will not
fail to tell V. E. day by day what is passing here,
and if the Legate leaves I will write to Mantua.
'Your Excellency's most faithful servant,
'B. CP
While Castiglione was writing these lines in the
chill hours of the December morning, the dead Pope's
relatives and servants were already carrying off
whatever jewels and valuables they could lay hands
on, and his sister Lucrezia and favourite Chamberlain,
Serapica, had stripped the palace of its contents before
the Cardinals arrived. Then with due solemnity the
Pontiff's body was borne to St. Peter's, where
thousands came to kiss the feet of the Pope whom
they had seen a week before in his most glorious and
triumphant homP The same evening Castiglione
i Contin, 19. ^ Sanuto, xxxii. 42; Alberi, iii. 71.