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XVIII.

A. JEt. 44.

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dominions or distinguished by his personal CHAP. merit. The first object of Leo, whilst he appeared to maintain a perfect neutrality between A. D. 1519. the parties was, therefore, to encourage Fran- A. Pont.VII. cis to persevere in his pretensions, for which purpose he sent as his confidential envoy, his near relation Roberto Orsini, archbishop of Reggio, with directions to exhort the king to maintain his pretensions; but with secret instructions, that when a proper opportunity occurred he should alarm the French king with doubts of his success, and should endeavour to prevail upon him as the next desirable measure, to frustrate the election of Charles by proposing to the choice of the electors, and supporting with all his influence, one of the inferior princes of the German empire. Nor can it be denied that if Francis had consulted his true interests, this would have been the proper conduct for him to adopt. As sovereign of a rich and powerful kingdom and surrounded by a loyal and warlike people, he would still have enjoyed a degree of consideration and of influence superior to that which Charles could have derived from his scattered possessions, or a subordinate German prince from the mere splendour of the imperial crown. In executing the first part of his task Orsini found no difficulty;

but

XVIII.

CHAP. but ambition is not easily stayed in its career, and it required more skill and address than he seems to have possessed to prevent its exceed

A. D. 1519.

A. Et. 44.

A. Pont. VII. ing its proposed limits. Instead of listening to

the voice of prudence, Francis endeavoured by the most shameless bribery to influence the electors in his favour. (a) But as the deliberations

(a) "As the expeditious method of transmitting money, and
"the decent mode of conveying a bribe by bills of exchange,
"( was then little known, the French ambassadors travelled
"with a train of horses, loaded with treasure; an equipage
66 not very
honourable for that prince by whom they were
"employed, and infamous for those to whom they were
"sent!" Robertson's Life of Charles V. book i. vol. ii. p.
52. Nor did Charles scruple to forward his cause by simi-
lar methods. In particular he sent a large sum of money
to Frederick elector of Saxony, the great patron of Luther,
to whom the imperial crown had been offered by his associ-
ates, and who after having magnanimously rejected it, and
given his vote to Charles, was not likely to disgrace himself
by accepting such a reward. "Hieri non so come, o per
"qual nuovo motivo, fu dato l'Imperio al Duca Federico di
"Sassonia, il quale magnanimamente lo ha rifiutato, et dato
"il suo voto a Carlo; rifiutando parimente una gran som-
"ma di danari, che alcuni ministri di Carlo gli havevano

66

portato a donare, per gratitudine di questo suo sì buon "animo et altissimo servigio; ed ha commandato stretta"mente a tutti i suoi, che non piglino cosa alcuna ancor ❝essi, per quanto temono la sua disgrazia." Lettera a Papa Leone X. Luglio 1519. Lellere di Principi. i. 73. Henry

XVIII.

A. Et. 44.

tions of the electors grew more critical, Charles CHAP. adopted a yet more effectual method. Under the pretext of securing the freedom of election, A. D. 1519. he suddenly marched a powerful body of A. Pont. VII. troops into the vicinity of Franckfort, where the members of the diet were assembled. After this measure their debates were not of long continuance, and on the twenty-eighth day of Election of June, 1519, Charles, then only nineteen years of age, was proclaimed king of the Romans, or emperor elect; a title which he, however, transposed into that of emperor elect of the Romans, in which he has been imitated by his successors; except that they have since omitted as superfluous the derogatory phrase, elect.

the empe

ror Chas. V.

The secret but severe disappointment which Leo experienced from the result of this election, was preceded by a domestic misfor- duke of

Death of Lorenzo

Urbino.

tune

Henry VIII. who had flattered himself with some distant hopes of the imperial dignity, sent his agent Richard Pace to the diet, who applied to the elector of Saxony, and offered his master's interest if he would accept the imperial crown; otherwise requesting the vote of the elector for the king his master. Ex. MS. Spalatini ap. Seckend. lib. i. sec. xxxiii. p. 123. and v. Lord Herbert's Hist. of Hen. VIII. p. 74.

XVIII.

CHAP. tune which had occasioned him great anxiety.. On the twenty-eighth day of April, 1519, his nephew Lorenzo duke of Urbino died at Florence, of a disorder which is said to have been the consequence of his licentious amours during his visit to France. His wife Madelaine of Tours, had died in childbed only a few days before him, leaving a daughter named Catherina, who by a concurrence of events which cannot with truth be called fortunate, rose to the dignity of queen of France, and became the mother of three kings and a queen of that country and of a queen of Spain. The death of Lorenzo greatly deranged the projects of the pontiff, who now found himself the only legitimate surviving male of the elder branch of the house of Medici, as derived from Cosmo the father of his country. An illegitimate offspring was not, however, wanting. Of these, the eldest was the cardinal Giulio de' Medici, whose origin was derived from the elder Giuliano who fell in the conspiracy of the Pazzi. The younger Giuliano, brother of the pontiff, usually called duke of Nemours, had also left a son by a lady of Urbino, who was born about the year 1511, and named Ippolito. It was generally believed that the inhuman mother had exposed her child; from the perils of which situation

he

A. D. 1519. A. Pont. VII.

A. Et. 44.

Ippolito
de' Medici.

XVIII.

he had been preserved by the care of Giu- CHAP. liano, who is said however not to have been without his suspicions that he was the offspring of a rival.(a) At the age of three years, this infant was sent to Rome, where he was received under the protection of Leo X. and gave early indications of a lively and active disposition. The pontiff took great pleasure in observing his childish vivacity, and at his request the portrait of Ippolito, as engaged in his sports, was painted by Raffaelle and placed in one of the apartments of the Vatican.(b) The education which Ippolito here received, brought those talents with which

VOL. III.

M M

(a) Ammirato, Ritratti d' Uomini di Casa Medici in Opusc. iii. 134.

(b) This early favourite of fortune, is often mentioned in the letters of the cardinal da Bibbiena, written to Giuliano de' Medici, about the year 1515. "Hippolito si "degnò pur venire stamane a desinar meco, et habbiam "fatto la pace insieme. Dio vi conceda gratia d'haver "presto di Madama un figliuolino, acciochè. Hippolito "resti del tutto libero a me." And in another letter. "Hippolitino sta bene, et dice ad ogni huomo che lo do"manda ove è andato il Signor suo padre. E andato a con"durre quà Madonna mia madre. Rispose cosi al Papa, "et Sua Santitâ fu per creppar delle risa." Lettere di Principi, i. 16, 17.

A. D. 1519.

A. Et. 44.

A. Pont. VII.

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