della Rovere, Cardinal of S.
Pietro in Vincoli, concluded the terms of an agreement with the Duke of
Valentinois and the latter's following of Spanish cardinals, by which
he undertook that, in consideration of his receiving the votes of these
Spanish cardinals and being elected Pope, he would confirm Cesare in his
office of Gonfalonier and Captain-General, and would preserve him in the
dominion of the Romagna. And, in consideration of that undertaking, the
Spanish cardinals, on their side, promised to give him their suffrages.

Here are the precise words in which Burchard records the transaction:

"Eadem die, 29 Octobris, Rmus. D. S. Petri ad Vincula venit in
palatio apostolico cum duce Valentino et cardinalibus suis Hispanis et
concluserunt capitula eorum per que, inter alia, cardinalis S. Petri ad
Vincula, postquam esset papa, crearet confalonierium Ecclesiae generalem
ducem ac ei faveret et in statibus suis (relinqueret) et vice versa dux
pape; et promiserunt omnes cardinalis Hispani dare votum pro Cardinali
S. Petri ad Vincula ad papatum."

If that does not entail simony and sacrilege, then such things do
not exist at all. More, you shall hunt in vain for any accusation so
authoritative, formal and complete, regarding the simony practised by
Alexander VI on his election. And this same Julius, moreover, was the
Pope who later was to launch his famous Bull de Simoniaca Electione, to
add another stain to the besmirched escutcheon of the Borgia Pontiff.

His conciliation of Cesare and his obtaining, thus, the support of the
Spanish cardinals, who, being Alexander's creatures, were now Cesare's
very faithful servants, ensured the election of della Rovere; for,
whilst those cardinals' votes did not suffice to place him in St.
Peter's Chair, they would abundantly have sufficed to have kept him out
of it had Cesare so desired them.

In coming to terms with Cardinal della Rovere, Cesare made the first
great mistake of his career, took the first step towards ruin. He
should have known better than to have trusted such a man. He should have
remembered the ancient bitter rancour; should have recognized, in the
amity of later times, the amity of the self-seeker, and mistrusted it.
But della Rovere had acquired a reputation for honesty and for being
a man of his word. How far he deserved it you may judge from what is
presently to follow. He had acquired it, however, and Cesare, to his
undoing, attached faith to that reputatio