domain to
such as wished to come to him, especially when they were people of
importance, and we used every argument to defend him. His Holiness,
however, seemed displeased by our defense of the marchese. Your
Excellency may, therefore, make such arrangements as in your wisdom
seem proper. And so we, in all humility, commend ourselves to your
mercy.

ROME, _September 23, 1501_.[111]

As a result of Ercole's insistence, the question of the reduction of
Ferrara's yearly tribute as a fief of the Holy See from four hundred
ducats to one hundred florins was brought to a vote in the consistory,
September 17th. It was expected that there would be violent opposition.
Alexander explained what Ercole had done for Ferrara, his founding
convents and churches, and his strengthening the city, thus making it a
bulwark for the States of the Church. The cardinals were induced to
favor the reduction by the intervention of the Cardinal of Cosenza--one
of Lucretia's creatures--and of Messer Troche, Caesar's confidant. They
authorized the reduction and the Pope thanked them, especially praising
the older cardinals--the younger, those of his own creation, having been
more obstinate.[112]

The same day he secured possession of the property he had wrested from
the barons who had been placed under his ban August 20th. These domains,
which embraced a large part of the Roman Campagna, were divided into two
districts. The center of one was Nepi; that of the other Sermoneta--two
cities which Lucretia, their former mistress, immediately renounced.
Alexander made these duchies over to two children, Giovanni Borgia and
Rodrigo. At first the Pope ascribed the paternity of the former child to
his own son Caesar, but subsequently he publicly announced that he
himself was its father.

It is difficult to believe in such unexampled shamelessness, but the
legal documents to prove it are in existence. Both bulls are dated
September 1, 1501, and are addressed to my beloved son, "the noble
Giovanni de Borgia and Infante of Rome." In the former, Alexander states
that Giovanni, a child of three years, was the natural son of Caesar
Borgia, unmarried (which he was at the time of its birth), by a single
woman. By apostolic authority he legitimated the child and bestowed upon
it all the rights of a member of his family. In the second brief he
refers to the proceedings in which the child had been declared to be
Caesar's son, and