Chapter 769 The Balance of Power

Every citizen of the Florentine Republic knows that if the Republic is to be stable, the Borgia family's machinations must be stopped.

However, the Borgia family has produced several popes. Among them, Rodrigo Borgia once said: The real nobles will not discuss the moral issues of the citizens. When they start to care about the moral issues of the citizens, the aristocracy will decline. day.

Even his "sinner" can say such a thing, it is really unexpected.

But that's exactly what he said.

At the end of the 15th century, Venice was in the heyday of literature and art, but it was defeated repeatedly in the military. The mercenary system they invented had repeatedly succeeded in naval battles, but profiteers were severely pitted by more cunning Italian mercenaries in land battles. Well, the later Duke of Milan, Sforza, once played for Venice. In addition to the super annual salary of 1,000 ducats per year, they also own a super luxury house in Venice with thousands of ducats.

The captains of the mercenary squad also had an annual income of 150 ducats, while the monthly salary of Venice to noble councilors was only 10 ducats per month.

Sforza and others were not only able to rip off Venice, but also made Venice’s war investment lose everything. In 1447, Sforza’s mercenaries robbed Piacenza into white land, making Venice, which had invested a huge amount of war funds, lose everything. return.

By 1450, Francesco Sforza, one of Muzio's seven illegitimate sons, seized the position of Duke of Milan by force and marriage, and made Venice, which tried to annex Milan, burn millions of ducats in vain.

Talking about loyalty to mercenaries is simply a dream. By the end of the 15th century, Venice's debt reached 13 million ducats, and it would not be enough to sell all the real estate in Venice.

In the day-to-day wars, coupled with the city's spendthrift lifestyle, Venice finally declined.

The famous Rialtore Bridge was burned down during the turmoil of 1310, and a new one was built later. This bridge was stepped on by the wedding procession, which happened to be the family's surname Ferrara.

There are many people who can become nobles, but very few are eligible to be awarded the Golden Book. Originally, he was a small figure in the long history, but like some kind of omen, he was related to a person who indirectly destroyed Venice. The man was Eugene IV. At that time, the Turkish army had already rushed to the city of Constantinople and brought Christianity. The leaders of Eastern Christianity also fled to Rome from their ancient capital, and negotiated with the high priests of the West, hoping to unify Greek and Latin Christianity. In 1437, Eugene IV ordered the conference to move to Ferrara, a city in northern Italy, to continue.

Eugene IV was born in the Republic of Venice, but he was not a Venetian, and was elected Pope shortly after the death of Pope Martin V on February 20, 1431. Since the age of 18, Francesco has been following his father in various battles, and soon became famous for being able to bend metal rods with his arms and gradually grew into a tactical expert. After Muzio's death, Francesco served successively for the Kingdom of Naples, Pope Martin V and Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan.

After the death of Martin V, Francesco suspended the contract with the Papal State and led the Milanese army to attack Venice. The following year, Bianca Maria Visconti, daughter of Filippo, Duke of Milan, became engaged to Francesco.

Generally speaking, the object of the pope's coronation is the emperor of the empire. The pope is the spiritual leader of the Christian world, and the object of his coronation should be the secular protector of the Christian world, that is, the emperor. The coronation ceremony of the king is presided over by the religious leader of the country. It needs to be crowned, it only needs to be recognized, and the Duchy of Milan is an example.

When Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, died without a male heir, Milan declared a republic.

At this time, Francesco had acquired several cities such as Pavia and Lodi in the Duchy of Milan, and was joining forces with William VIII, Marquis of Monferrato and Venice, to overthrow the Republic and seize power.

After several years of famine and turmoil, the Milan Council decided to appoint Francesco as the Duke of Milan. Although the Italian countries gradually recognized his duke status, Francesco has never been officially authorized by the Holy Roman Empire.

First, the emperor has no jurisdiction. Second, Francesco was originally an illegitimate child. In addition, he became a duke only after marrying the daughter of the Grand Duke of Milan. There are many legal grounds to prevent him from obtaining formal authorization.

From 1433 to 1435, Francesco led the Milan army to attack the Papal State, but after occupying Ancona, Francesco changed his position and accepted the enfeoffment of Pope Eugene IV.

From 1436 to 1439, Francesco served various parties, including Florence and Venice.

During this period, Eugene IV's main enemy was the Ottoman Empire, and he had no time to deal with the mercenary leader.

And Francesco is not an ordinary warrior, he is the first ruler in Europe to establish a foreign policy based on the balance of power. Francesco's enfeoffed land was in Naples. In 1440, Francesco's fiefdom in the Kingdom of Naples was occupied by King Alfonso V of Aragon. In order to regain the territory, Francesco and his old enemy Filippo reach a settlement.

Eugene IV is a more serious person, at least he is more like a saint than the Pope of the Borgia family. The Orthodox Church’s habit of eating caviar is because fasting does not allow meat to be eaten. Everyone eats caviar on the sidelines. That is Greece According to the news from over there, Catholicism prohibits marriage, and Eugene IV's wish to unify Latin and Greece in the face of foreign aggression looks very good.

The Basel Conference initiated and ongoing by Martin V was to determine the supremacy of the pope. The old pope died. Under the plan of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, bishops of many countries tried their best to weaken the power of the pope. , The *** hit Constantinople, and in a rage, Eugene IV announced the dissolution of the Basel Conference and went to Ferrara for a meeting. He hoped that the Roman Church could obtain the primacy of Christianity through the Ferrara Conference.

But the reality is that most of the bishops obeyed the order, and 7 bishops were unwilling to go, forming a residual meeting, and the residual meeting made a resolution: "Eugene IV is a rotten diehard, a determined rebel, in the Church of God An incorrigible demagogue who spreads vicious remarks and instigates people to commit crimes." Announced the suspension of Eugene IV's papacy. Eugene IV excommunicated these bishops, and the bishops announced the deposed Eugene, and announced that Duke Amedeo VIII of Savoy, who was in secular Italy, would succeed him as Pope Felix V. He was the last hostile pope in the history of the pope. Eugene IV died on February 23, 1447. The Holy See elected Nicholas V as the new pope. He abdicated, and the Remnant Conference ended that same year.

How simple and straightforward it is for the Chinese to encounter this kind of situation—military remonstrance, foreign enemies are of course unanimous at the moment, and after the foreign war is over, they will deal with internal problems. What an enviable unity.

In 1439, the Black Death broke out again and affected Ferrara. The Ferrara meeting could not continue. Cosimo de' Medici invited the meeting to move to Florence to continue. They gladly went, and Eugene also went to Florence together. .

Cosimo de' Medici invited the meeting to continue in Florence, and they gladly went, and Eugene went with him. Cosimo and his friends treated them with great respect and hospitality. Eugene also had his secretary, Frevio Bonndu, Leonardo Bruni, and some other Italian literary scholars attend the meeting, and negotiated with the Greeks in Greek. The homeless theologians finally agreed to the unity of organization and dogma of the Greek and Roman churches, but the clergy and people of the Eastern world opposed this agreement.

Relying on the achievements of the Ferrara-Florence Conference, Eugene IV declared that "the devils of the whole world are densely packed in the den of Basel", and determined to abandon the remaining conferences and rebuild the authority of the Pope.

Joan of Arc is a French military strategist, a Catholic saint, and the goddess of liberty in the hearts of the French people. Regarded as a national hero by the French, she is also the only girl in history who can command the national army at the age of 17.

In the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, she led the French army against the British invasion, supported the coronation of Charles VII, and made great contributions to the victory of France. He was captured by the Principality of Burgundy and soon bought by the English with a lot of money. He was framed as a heretic and a witch by the Inquisition under the control of the English authorities and sentenced to be burned at the stake.

The one who burned her was Eugene IV.

In 1441, Francesco married Bianca. Eugene IV did not recognize his status as the successor to the title of Grand Duke.

After the Civil War, the Duchy of Milan developed rapidly under Francesco. He promoted agriculture, ended the famine, and established an effective tax policy that brought a lot of income to the Duchy.

But Francesco was never officially authorized by the Holy Roman Empire. This situation lasted until 1494, when the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I formally granted Francesco's son Ludovico Sforza the title of Duke of Milan.

His son, nicknamed "the Moor", tried his best to shelter artists and scientists, making the court of Milan the most splendid place in Europe. Artists, poets, and musicians abound, including Leonardo da Vinci and architect Donato Bramante.

Everyone knows the Mona Lisa, in addition to the "Mona Lisa", "The Woman Holding an Ermine" is also very famous, she is the mistress of Ludovico Sforza.

Rodrigo Borgia used his wealth to open the door for his later purchase of the papacy. At the same time, he regarded himself as the ruler of the Holy See, and lived a life of luxury and lust with his mistress, Vanessa Catane.

His previous love affairs had left him with many children, and Vanoza gave him four more illegitimate children in the next 20 years. The corrupt life of Alexander VI was well known on the streets of Rome. His dishes are inlaid with gold, his clothes are made of embroidered silk, his collection of books is especially suitable for the status of emperor or pope, his luxurious bed decorations, saddlebags and other gold and silver jewels, silk and satin make him more beautiful. People are dazzled.

After a lavish and extravagant coronation, Alexander VI began to flex his muscles in his new office. He replaced his long-standing mistress, Vanosa Cattane, with a younger, fresher Julia Farnese. The girl was sixteen, and the pope was in his sixties. Gigiulia was immediately dubbed "the pope's whore" and "the bride of Christ" by the Roman populace, but her position aroused her influence and led her brother to a well-paid job. Episcopal office, her brother later became Pope Paul III.

Get money by appointing new bishops. It is said that once the other party pays the money, the pope will use "Borgia poison" to poison him to make room for others to buy. The exception is Caesar Borgia, the son of Alexander VI. Became a bishop without a flower.

A cardinal named Ferrari died suddenly, which gave the family of Alexander VI 500,000 ducats. In April of the following year, the god of death suddenly took Cardinal Mikiyaki away. When the pope's men rushed into his courtyard and snatched his property of about 150,000 ducats, the body of the deceased was not yet frozen.

In order to occupy the territory of a certain secular duke, the pope adopted the method of marriage, and tried to annex it when the time was right. If he encountered resistance, he used murder to solve it, and then transferred his daughter to another hunting target. The daughter was engaged 2 times and married 3 times for this.

"Borgia Poison" means that Pope Alexander VI used the opportunity of hosting a banquet to put poison in the wine of the guests to poison the other party. It was a stratagem of the pope, to seize for himself the property of some of the cardinals of the papacy, to make a fortune by selling vacant seats, and to legally transfer the richest churches and their estates of the dukes. All of this is for the purpose of satisfying his own luxurious life and licentious indulgence, as well as being addicted to the military expansion of the Papal State.

In 1503, the 73-year-old Pope died mysteriously, and his assistant John Birchard vividly recorded the scene at that time.

"The Pope writhed back and forth on the bed, had difficulty swallowing, his face turned the color of mulberries, the skin around his body began to peel off, the fat on his stomach turned into water, and his intestines gushed out. Alexander VI struggled for several hours before dying, But the humiliation he needed to face was just beginning. Just when his black body started to ooze, his tongue suddenly swelled up and pushed his mouth back."

The Venetian ambassador wrote: "It is the ugliest, most grotesque, most horrific corpse that anyone has ever seen, and it is not human in any way."

It is as if the devil showed his original form.

Some people can't believe the devil's words, but sometimes he still tells the truth.

The common people learn from the life of the aristocrats, and the common people are what the nobles are like, just like children are the mirror of their parents.

"Do you like this kind of bed?" Severus put his arm around her waist from behind and asked in her ear when visiting the bedding in the palace. What they had in front of them was a very ordinary double bed without a four-poster bed So gorgeous, it looks cold and unpopular.

"I think the purpose of them showing us this is not to make us yearn for the aristocratic life, but to serve as a warning."

He kissed her earlobe as if he didn't hear what she was saying at all.

"Why don't today end early?" she asked.

"Your ears are burning," he said.

"That's because the earrings you gave me have black magic on them," she said.

"not comfortable?"

"There is a little bit, and it is still within the tolerable range."

"Me too." He said softly, "It's still within the tolerable range."

"This is a public place," she reminded.

"This is a bedroom, how can it be a public place," Severus said.

"Want to watch an episode at the pharmacy upstairs?" she asked.

"Why is there a pharmacy in this house?" Severus asked.