reserved in
the archives of the association, and is as follows:

We must not forget the endowments made by the respected and honored
lady, Madonna Vannozza of the house of Catanei, the happy mother of
the illustrious gentlemen, the Duke of Gandia, the Duke of
Valentino, the Prince of Squillace, and of Madonna Lucretia,
Duchess of Ferrara. As she wished to endow the Company with her
worldly goods she gave it her jewels, which were of no slight
value, and so much more that the Company in a few years was able to
discharge certain obligations, with the help also of the noble
gentlemen, Messer Mariano Castellano, and my dear Messer Rafael
Casale, who had recently been guardians. She made an agreement with
the great and famous silversmith Caradosso by which she gave him
two thousand ducats so that he with his magnificent work of art
might gratify the wish of that noble and honorable woman. In
addition she left us so much property that we shall be able to take
care of the annual rent of four hundred ducats and also feed the
poor and the sick, who, unfortunately, are very numerous. Out of
gratitude for her piety and devout mind and for these endowments
our honorable society unanimously and cheerfully decided not only
to celebrate her obsequies with magnificent pomp, but also to honor
the deceased with a proud and splendid monument. It was also
decided from that time forth to have mass said on the anniversary
of her death in the Church del Popolo, where she is buried, and to
provide for other ceremonies, with an attendance of men bearing
torches and tapers, in all devotion, for the purpose of commending
her soul's salvation to God, and also to show the world that we
hate and loathe ingratitude.

Thus this woman's vanity led her to provide for a ceremonious funeral;
she wanted all Rome to talk of her on that day as the mistress of
Alexander VI and the mother of so many famous children. Leo X bestowed
an official character upon her funeral by having his court attend it; by
doing this he recognized Vannozza either as the widow of Alexander VI
or as the mother of the Duchess of Ferrara. As the Company of the
Gonfalone was composed of the foremost burghers and nobles of Rome,
almost the entire city attended her funeral. Vannozza was buried in S.
Maria del Popolo in her family chapel, by the side of her un