of Modena.

[91] Bartolomeo de' Cavallieri to Ercole, Lyons, June 22, 1501.

[92] Ercole to Giovanni Valla, July 8, 1501. Ercole to the Cardinal of
Rouen, July 8, 1501.

[93] Despatches of Bartolomeo de'Cavallieri, Ferrarese ambassador at the
court of France, to Ercole, July 10, 14, and 21, 1501.

[94] Despatch of the same, undated.

[95] Ercole to Giovanni Valla, his special envoy to the Cardinal of
Rouen, in Milan, July 21 and 26, 1501.

[96] Da Roma accertasi, che la figliola del papa ha partorito.... Giov.
Alberto della Pigna to the duke, Venice, March 15, 1498. Archives of
Modena.

[97] One of the first statements that Caesar was his brother's murderer
is found in a despatch of the Ferrarese ambassador at Venice. De novo ho
inteso, como de la morte del Duca di Candia fo causa el Cardinale suo
fratello. Pigna's despatch to Ercole, Venice, February 22, 1498.

[98] The Malipiero letter (Archiv. Stor. It. VII, i, 490) contains the
following: Si dice, que il sig. Giovanni Sforza ha fatto questo effetto
(the murder of Gandia) perche il Duca (di Gandia) usava con la sorella,
sua consorte, la qual e fiola del Papa, ma d'un altra madre (which was
incorrect). The Venetian ambassador, Polo Capello, refers to this rumor
(si dice) in his well known Relation of September, 1500.

CHAPTER XX

NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE HOUSE OF ESTE

The hereditary Prince of Ferrara made a determined resistance before
yielding to his father's pressure, but the latter was now so anxious for
the marriage to take place that he told his son that, if he persisted in
his refusal, he would be compelled to marry Lucretia himself. After the
duke had overcome his son's pride and secured his consent, he regarded
the marriage merely as an advantageous piece of statecraft. He sold the
honor of his house at the highest price obtainable. The Pope's agents in
Ferrara, frightened by Ercole's demands, sent Ramondo Remolini to Rome
to submit them to Alexander, who sought the intervention of the King of
France to secure more favorable terms from the duke. A letter from the
Ferrarese ambassador to France to his master throws a bright light on
this transaction.

MY ILLUSTRIOUS MASTER: Yesterday the Pope's envoy told me
that his Holiness had written him about the messenger your
Excellency had sent him demanding two hundred thousand ducats, the
remission of the annual tribute, the granting of the _jus
patronatus_ for the bishopr