well as those of
her mother, brother, sister-in-law, and her sister Madonna Anna, wife of
Alfonso d'Este. There was a special message to Beatrice, begging her for
some perfumes and powders, a ball of musk, and a bunch of heron's
plumes. And there was another for Lodovico, asking him to try and
procure a certain set of pearls from Bianca's half-sister, Caterina
Sforza, the famous Madonna of Forli. Last of all, there was an earnest
request that the duke would entreat her lord the Most Serene King to
come to Italy, and write urgently to him on the subject, without,
however, letting it appear that the suggestion had proceeded from Bianca
herself.

In these communications between the empress and her family there is no
trace whatever of any ill-will to Lodovico and Beatrice, far less any
suspicion that her uncle had hastened her brother's death, although some
chroniclers allude to a report that Maximilian's wife held Lodovico to
be guilty of this crime. The fact that some rumour of this kind had
reached the imperial court seems probable from the Latin letter which
Lodovico himself addressed in December, 1494, to the Bishop of Brixen,
one of the delegates who were afterwards sent to Milan with the imperial
privilege. In this letter the Moro refutes the calumny which he hears
had been brought against him in certain quarters, and points out that
his nephew's death had been due to natural causes, that the late duke
had been ill for many months, and that he had been assiduously attended
by his devoted wife and the most skilful doctors, three of whom had
known him from his cradle. He alludes to the visit paid to Giangaleazzo
a few days before his death by His Most Christian Majesty, and explains
that he himself was only prevented from being present at his nephew's
death-bed by the necessity of attending on the French king. "Nothing,"
he adds, "could be more contrary to our nature than so great a crime."
In conclusion, he dwells on the fatherly love which he had always shown
his nephew, and renews his protestations of devotion to His Most Serene
Majesty the King of the Romans. In point of fact, as both Maffeo and
Brasca informed their master the subject which disquieted Maximilian at
this moment far more than poor Giangaleazzo's death, was the rapid
advance of the French king. A rumour had reached the German court that
Charles aspired to the imperial title, and intended to make the Pope
crown him in Rome. This report filled the empe