, and found ready acceptance among both
French and Italians, who alike hated the Moro with deadly hatred.

"And if the duke were dispatched by poison, there was none," wrote the
Florentine historian, "that held that his uncle was innocent, and either
directly or indirectly, as he, who not content with an absolute power,
but aspiring, according to the common desires of great men, to make
themselves glorious with titles and honours, and especially he judged
that both for his proper heritage and the succession of his children,
the death of the lawful duke was necessary, wherein ambition and
covetousness prevailed above conscience and law of nature, and the
jealous desire of dominion enforced his disposition, otherwise abhorring
blood, to that vile action."

The careful examination of the various documents connected with
Giangaleazzo's death has led recent historians to a different
conclusion. "Nothing is further from the truth," writes Magenta, in his
history of the "Castello di Pavia," "than that Giangaleazzo died of
poison." And Delaborde, Porro, Cantu, as well as those able and learned
scholars, Signor Luzio and Signor Renier, all endorse these statements,
and ascribe the duke's death to natural causes. Even Paolo Giovio, who
hated the Moro as the man who had betrayed his country to the French,
owns that there is much reason for doubting the truth of the accusation
brought against him in this instance. Charles VIII., it is plain, did
not himself believe in Lodovico's guilt. When the news of Giangaleazzo's
death reached him, he caused a solemn requiem mass to be held in the
Duomo of Piacenza, and distributed liberal alms to the poor of the town
in memory of his dead cousin. And Galeazzo di Sanseverino, who had
remained in attendance upon the king, informed Lodovico, in one of his
letters, that the only remark which His Most Christian Majesty had made
on the subject was to express his sorrow for the duke's orphan children,
and to say that he hoped Signor Lodovico would treat them as his own, to
which Galeazzo replied that he might rest assured they would want for
nothing. But the suspicion that the duke's end had been hastened by his
uncle's act found general acceptance in the French army, and deepened
the distrust with which Lodovico was already regarded. At this critical
moment, the unexpected action of Piero de' Medici helped to bring about
a breach between the Moro and his allies.

When, on the 31st of October, the