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CHAP. berated from his confinement; but Wolsey,

XIII.

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

A. At. 40.

having obtained his object, still refused to relinquish his claims to the bishoprick of Tournay; and is supposed to have stimulated his sovereign to a new quarrel with Francis, for the purpose of affording himself a pretext for retaining the emoluments of his see,

Leo X: vi.

rence.

The arrangements for the intended intersits Flo view between Leo X. and Francis I. at Bologna being now completed, Leo communicated his intention to the college of cardinals, some of whom ventured to insinuate that it would be derogatory to the dignity of the pontiff to receive the king in any other place than Rome, Without regarding their suggestions, he directed the cardinals to meet together at Viterbo on the approaching festival of All Souls ; and to the absent cardinals he addressed a circular letter to the same effect.(a) On his quitting the city, with the intention of paying a visit to Florence before he proceeded to Bologna, he intrusted the chief authority to the cardinal Soderini brother of the late Gonfaloniere, as his legate; not on account of his own attachment to him, but, as it was supposed,

(a) v. Appendix, No. CXXVII.

XIII.

A. Et. 40. A. Pout. III.

supposed, because he was apprehensive that CHAP. if the cardinal accompanied him to Florence, his presence might remind the citizens of A. D. 1515. their former liberties. It was the intention of the pontiff to have proceeded from Rome to Siena, but the number of his followers, consisting of twenty cardinals with their attendants, and an immense train of prelates and officers of the court, alarmed the inhabitants of that place, who sent a deputation to him whilst yet on the road, to apprize him, that in the scarcity of provisions under which they laboured it would be impossible for them to provide for such a multitude. He therefore changed his route and proceeded towards Cortona, where he was magnificently entertained for three days in the house of Giulio Passerini, one of the nobles attendant on his court, and gave audience to six of the principal inhabitants of Florence, who were deputed to meet and to pay him homage in the names of their fellow citizens. On leaying Cortona he passed through Arezzo, and arrived on the twenty-sixth day of November in the vicinity of Florence, where he took up his residence for a few days at Marignolle the villa of Jacopo Gianfiliazzi, until the preparations making for his reception within the city could be completed. These preparations

XIII.

CHAP. parations were much impeded by a long continuance of rainy weather, but the inclemency of the season did not prevent the inhabitants from displaying their usual magnificence and invention; and the exhibitions upon this occasion employed the talents of the first professors, in a city which was the centre of the arts and at a period when they had attained their highest excellence.(a)

A. D. 1515.
A. Pont. III

A. Et. 40.

At the approach of the pontiff the gates and

(a)" A dì 26 di Novembre arrivò (Leone X.) a Ma❝rignolle, a casa di Giacopo di Bongianni Gianfiliazzi, un "miglio lontano dalla città, e quivi dimorò tre giorni a ri66 posarsi, perchè gli apparati, e i trionfi non erano all' or"dine, per esser piovuto un mese;" Cambii, Hist. Flor, ap Moreni. The visit of the pontiff to this place, is also commemorated by the following inscription at Marignolle :

LEO X, PONT, MAX,

CUM PRIMUM PONT. FLORENTIAM VENIRET,

OB ANTIQUAM FIDEM DEVOTIONEM,

ET MERITA GIANFILIAZIE FAMILIE ET IN EA JACOBI

FILIORUMQUE EJUS,

SUBURBANUM HOC INTER TOT ALIA ELEGIT,

IN QUO TRIDUUM ESSET DUM ACCESSUS EI AD URBEM

PARARETUR

A DIE XXVII, AD XXX. NOVEMBRIS, M. D. XV.
PONT. SUI ANNO III.

Dulcis et alta quies, DECIMO pergrala LEONI,
Hic fuit; hinc sacrum jam reor esse locum,

XIII.

and part of the walls of the city were thrown CHAP. down,(a) and the exultation of the populace was unbounded, whilst his presence reminded them at the same time, of the honour which his high rank conferred on them and of the happiness which they had enjoyed under the mild and paternal authority of his ancestors. At the entrance of the city was erected a triumphal arch, richly decorated with historical sculpture, the workmanship of Jacopo di Sandro and Baccio da Montelupo. Another arch in the Piazza di S. Felice was completed by Giuliano del Tasso; in which was placed the statue of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the father of the pontiff, with a motto pathetically appropriate, although perhaps profanely applied;

(a) The pope entered the city by the gate of S. Piero Gattolini. Vasar. Ragionam. p. 92, over the portal of which is placed the following inscription:

LEO X. PRIMUS IN FLORENTINA GENTE

E NOBILISSIMA MEDICEORUM FAMILIA PONT. MAX. BONONIAM PROFICISCENS FLORENTIAM PATRIAM SUAM PRIMUS IN EO HONORE INTRAVIT,

DIRUTA HUJUS MURI PARTE

MAGNIFICENTISSIMOQ. RERUM OMNIUM APPARATU

ET LETISSIMO TOTIUS CIVITATIS PLAUSU EXCEPTUS
DIE XXX. NOVEMBRIS MDXV. PONTIFICATUS SU
SUI
ANNO III.

A. D. 1515.

A. Et. 40.

A. Pont. III.

Rejoicings

and exhibi

tions on

that occa

sion,

XIII.

CHAP. ed;(a) at the sight of which the pope appeared to be deeply affected. The same artist also exhibited at the S. Trinita a bust of Romulus and several beautiful statues, and erected in the Mercato nuovo a column resembling that of Trajan at Rome. Antonio da S. Gallo built in the Piazza de' Signori an octangular temple, and Baccio Bandinelli placed in the Loggie a colossal figure of Hercules. Between the monastery and the palace a triumphal arch was erected by Francesco Granacci and Aristotile da S. Gallo; and another in the quarter of the Bischeri by Rosso Rossi, with great variety of ornaments and figures and with appropriate inscriptions in honour of the pontiff.(b) But the work which was chiefly admired was the front of the church of S. Maria del Fiore, which was covered with a temporary façade from the design of Jacopo Sansovino, who decorated it with statues and bassi rilievi ; in addition to which the pencil of Andrea del Sarto enriched it with historical subjects in chiaro-scuro, executed in such a manner as to produce a most striking effect; a mode of or

"

nament,

A. D. 1515.

A. Et. 40.

A. Pont. III

(a) Hic est filius meus dilectus.

(b) Vasari, Vile de' Pittori, ii. 224. in vita di Andrea del Sarto.

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