The Borgias Read Free Page B

not to be trusted? You may have the promise but it is the Cardinal of Avignon who will have the post, for what has been promised to you has also been promised to him,’ he said, adding wisely, ‘Will a Frenchman be more friendly to a Frenchman or to a Catalan?’
    The next day after Mass, the cardinals assembled in the papal chapel to cast their votes, and when they had written their choices on slips of paper, they rose, one by one, in order of rank, and walked across to the altar, where they placed their votes in the gilded ceremonial chalice. The voting over, the cardinals resumed their seats and the names on each ballot paper were solemnly read out. ‘There was not a cardinal in the room who did not take note of those named, to ensure that there was no chance for trickery.’ Much to everyone’s surprise, it was found that Piccolomini had amassed nine votes, d’Estouteville had just six, and several others had one or two. As neither of the front-runners had achieved the necessary two-thirds majority, the cardinals decided to see if it would be possible to elect the new pope that morning by the method known as ‘accession.’
    ‘All sat in their places, silent and pale, as though they had been struck senseless. No one spoke for some time, no one so much as moved a muscle apart from his eyes which glanced first to one side, then to the other. The silence was astonishing. Suddenly the young Rodrigo Borgia stood up: “I accede to the Cardinal of Siena,” he announced.’ But after this declaration, all fell into silence once more, until two cardinals, reluctant to commit themselves, hurriedly left the others, ‘pleading the calls of nature.’
    Then another cardinal rose to announce his support for Piccolomini. Yet even this did not secure the necessary two-thirds majority. One more vote was still required. No one spoke; no one moved. At length the aged Prospero Colonna rose unsteadily to his feet and ‘was about to pronounce his vote’ for the cardinal of Siena when ‘he was seized about the waist’ by the wily, ambitiousFrenchman Guillaume d’Estouteville, archbishop of Rouen, and by Cardinal Bessarion, who still entertained hopes of being elected himself. They rebuked Cardinal Colonna harshly; and when he persisted in his intention to vote for Piccolomini, they tried to remove him from the room by force. Provoked by this indignity, Colonna, who had voted for d’Estouteville in the scrutiny, now called out in loud protest, ‘I also accede to Siena and I make him Pope.’
    ‘Your Holiness, we are thankful for your election and we have no doubts that it is of God,’ Cardinal Bessarion equivocated, after the election had been ratified according to custom. ‘The reason we did not vote for you was your illness; we thought that your gout would be a handicap for the Church which stands in much need of an active man with physical strength,’ he explained. ‘You, on the other hand, need rest.’ Piccolomini responded with dignity: ‘What is done by two-thirds of the Sacred College is surely the work of the Holy Spirit,’ he said, before removing his cardinal’s red robes and donning the ‘white tunic of Christ.’ When he was asked by what name he wished to be known, he announced ‘Pius,’ and his election was proclaimed to the crowds gathered in the piazza in front of St Peter’s.
    That night of August 19, 1458, there was great rejoicing in the streets and piazzas of Rome, as men and women celebrated the news that an Italian had been chosen rather than a Frenchman or another Spaniard:
    There was laughter and joy everywhere and voices crying ‘Siena! Siena! Oh, fortunate Siena! Viva Siena!’ . . . As nightfell, bonfires blazed at every crossroads . . . men sang in the streets; neighbour feasted neighbour; there was not a place where horns and trumpets did not sound, nor a quarter of the city that was not alive with public joy. The older men said they had never seen such popular rejoicings in Rome