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XIII.

CHAP. spect this avowed hostility was, however, serviceable to the king, as it enabled him, under the pretext of opposing the Swiss, to carry on, without exciting the jealousy of surrounding states, those formidable preparations which he intended to direct towards another quarter.

A. D. 1515. A. Pont. III.

A. Et. 40.

Leo X.

wishes

remain neu

ter.

Under this alarming aspect of public affairs, which evidently portended new calamities to Europe, Leo availed himself of the friendly terms which he had cautiously maintained with the contending powers to decline taking an active part in favour of any of them, whilst he continued as the chief of christendom to administer his advice to all. In this conduct, which was no less consistent with the dignity of his office than with his own private interest, he was for some time encouraged to persevere by the open sanction or the tacit assent of all parties. Francis I. instead of pressing him to favour an enterprise towards the success of which he well knew the pope was decidedly adverse, contented himself with sending an embassy to request that he would not enter into any engagements which might prevent those friendly connexions that would probably take place between them, in case his expedition against Milan should prove success

ful;

A: Et. 40. A. Pont. III.

ful:(a) and to assure him that there was no one who esteemed more highly the favour of the holy see, or who would make greater sa A. D. 1515. crifices for the service of the pontiff and the honour of his family, than himself.(b) This communication, which in fact left the pope at full liberty to preserve his neutrality until the event of the contest was known, induced him to decline the offers which were made to him about the same period, by the em peror elect, the king of Aragon, and the Helvetic states, to enter into the league which they had lately concluded for the defence of the Milanese, and in which a power had been reserved for the pope to accede to it within a limited time. By this treaty it had been agreed that the Swiss should send a pow-erful body of troops to the defence of Milan, and should at the same time march an army into

(a) Leo had written to Francis I. soon after his accession, congratulating him on that event, and assuring him of his perfect confidence in his good intentions towards the holy see; at the same time requesting him to confer on the cardinal Giulio de' Medici the archbishoprick of Narbonne, with which the king complied. App. No. CXXII.

(b) Guicciard. Storia d'Ital. lib. xii. v. ii. þ, 84.

CHAP.
XIII.

XIII.

CHAP. into the duchy of Burgundy for the purpose of occupying the French monarch in the defence of his own dominions; for which services they were to receive a monthly subsidy of forty thousand crowns. Ferdinand, on his part, undertook to attack the dominions of Francis on the side of Perpignan and Fontarabia; whilst Maximilian on this as on other occasions seemed to consider the imperial sanction as a sufficient contribution, in lieu both of money and troops.(a).

A. D. 1515.

A. t. 40.

A. Pont. III.

Marriage In determining the pope to the neutrality of Giuliano which he manifested on this occasion, other de' Medici reasons of no inconsiderable importance conwith Filiberta of Sa- curred. Early in the month of February, voy. -1515, the matrimonial engagement which had been entered into at the close of the preceding year between Giuliano de' Medici and Filiberta of Savoy, sister of Louisa duchess of Angoulême the mother of Francis I. was carried into effect; on which occasion Giuliano paid a visit to the French court, where he so far obtained the favourable opinion of Francis, that he declared he esteemed the connexion as highly as if it had been formed with the

most

(a) Ligue de Cambray, liv. iv. tom. ii. p. 405.

most powerful sovereign. Besides the revenues of Parma and Piacenza, which Leo had already conferred on his brother and which amounted to the clear annual sum of twentyeight thousand ducats, he assigned to him the income to arise from the city of Modena, which was supposed to amount to about twenty thousand more. He also conferred on him the title of captain general of the church, to the exclusion of the duke of Urbino, to which he added a monthly salary of four hundred and eight ducats, whilst a separate revenue of three hundred ducats per month was granted to the bride for her own use, although in respect of her high alliances she had been received without a portion.(a) Other considerable sums were disbursed in preparing a suitable residence for Giuliano and his bride at Rome where it was intended they should maintain a secular court; and in the rejoicings which took place in that city on their arrival, the pope is said to have incurred the enormous expense of one hundred and fifty thousand ducats.(b) Extraordinary festivals were: also

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(a) Lettera del Card, da Bibbiena a Giuliano de' Med. Lettere di Principi. i. 15.

(b) Muratori, Annali d' Ital. x. 110.

CHAP.

XIII.

A. D. 1515.

A. Et. 40.

A. Pont. III.

XIII.

CHAP. also celebrated at Turin, where Giuliano and his wife resided for a month after their marriage; and again at Florence, where all the inhabitants, either through affection or through fear, were anxious to shew their respect to the family of the Medici. But in case the king proved successful in his enterprise against Milan, the territory from which Giuliano derived a great part of his revenues lay at the mercy of that monarch, and it would therefore have been not only indecorous but imprudent in the pope, at such a juncture, to have espoused the cause of his adversaries and blighted the expectations which Giuliano might reasonably form from the continuance of his fa

vour.

A. D. 1515: A. Pont. III

A. Et. 40.

Confiden

to him from

biena.

During the absence of Giuliano de' Medici tial letter from Rome, he received frequent information the cardi- respecting the critical state of public affairs nal da Bib- and the dispositions and views of the European powers, as well from Lodovico Canossa the pontifical legate at the court of France, as from the cardinal da Bibbiena at Rome. The letters from Canossa on this occasion contain the fullest assurances of the kind dispositions, as well of the king as of his mother Louisa towards the family of the Medici; and the strongest exhortations to him not to neglect so favourable

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