scheme for the marriage would have fallen through if the
subject of the French expedition against Naples had not just then come
up. There is ground for believing that the Pope's consent was made
contingent upon the King's agreeing to the marriage.

June 13, 1501, Caesar himself, now created Duke of Romagna by his father,
came secretly to Rome, where he remained three weeks, exerting all his
efforts to further the plan. After this, he and his men at arms followed
the French Marshal Aubigny, who had set out from near Rome for Naples,
to engage in a nefarious war of conquest, whose horrors, in the briefest
of time, overwhelmed the house of Aragon.

As early as June the King of France yielded to the Pope's solicitations,
and exerted his influence in Ferrara, as appears from a despatch of the
Ferrarese ambassador to France, dated June 22d. He reported to Ercole
that he had stated to the king that the Pope threatened to deprive the
duke of his domain if he did not consent to the marriage; whereupon the
king replied that Ferrara was under his protection and could fall only
when France fell. The envoy feared that the Pope might avail himself of
the question of the investiture of Naples--upon which the king was
determined--to win him over to his side. He finally wrote the duke that
Monsignor de Trans, the most influential person at the king's court, had
advised him to agree to the marriage upon the conditional payment of two
hundred thousand ducats, the remission of Ferrara's annual dues, and
certain benefices for the house of Este.[90]

Amboise sent the Archbishop of Narbonne and other agents to Ferrara to
win over the duke; the King of France himself wrote and urged him to
give his consent, and he now refused Don Alfonso the hand of the French
princess. While the French ambassador was presenting his case to the
duke, the Pope's messengers and Caesar's agents were also endeavoring to
secure his consent. Caught in a network of intrigue, fear at last forced
Ercole to yield.

July 8th he had Louis XII notified that he would do as he wished, if he
and the Pope could agree upon the conditions.[91] He yielded only to the
demand of the king, who advised the marriage solely because he himself
had need of the Pope. All the while he was urging Ercole to give his
consent, he was also counselling him not to be in too great haste to
send his son Don Ferrante to Rome to conclude the matter, but to hold
him back as long as possible--until