eagues. When Ascanio
Sforza saw that he could not ensure his own election, he threw his whole
influence on the side of Borgia, who lavished his gold and promises
freely among the other members of the Sacred College, with the result
that he was elected on the 11th of August, and proclaimed Pope under the
title of Alexander VI. The secret Archives of the Vatican[28] give full
particulars of this election, which was obtained by the most flagrant
simony, and proved a prelude to the days of confusion and misery which
Fra Girolamo Savonarola, the Dominican of Florence, daily prophesied
were in store for the Church. Ascanio Sforza was the first to reap the
reward of his base compliance. The new Pope loaded him with favours, and
openly acknowledged his indebtedness both to him and Lodovico, while at
Milan the event was hailed with public rejoicings, and joy-bells and
solemn processions celebrated the accession of this pontiff, who was
destined to prove the most bitter enemy of the House of Sforza.

"Signor Lodovico," wrote the Ferrarese envoy, our old friend Giacomo
Trotti, to his master, "is in the highest spirits at the success of his
brother's efforts. Cardinal Ascanio is likely, people say, to administer
all the papal estates, and will be every bit as much pope as if he sat
in Alexander's chair."

Isabella's letters to her husband give the same impression. On the 19th
of August she wrote from Pavia--

"To-day I dined with Signor Lodovico and my sister in their rooms,
according to our usual habit of taking our meals together, sometimes in
my rooms, sometimes in theirs. After dinner he dismissed all the
company, excepting the Duke and Duchess of Milan, myself, and my
companions, whom Signor Lodovico invited to remain, and with his own
lips he read aloud a letter from his ambassador in Rome, saying that His
Highness had sent for him, and addressed him in the following terms:
'Take note of my words. I acknowledge that I have been made pope by the
action of Monsignore Ascanio, contrary to all expectations, and in a
truly miraculous manner. I mean to show myself the most grateful of
popes. It is my pleasure that he should sit in my chair, and dispose of
my spiritual and temporal estate as if I were myself,' with many other
affectionate words. Cardinal Ascanio has already received the first
proofs of his gratitude, since, besides the vice-chancellorship, the
Pope has given him his own furnished house in Rome, as well as the city