These paintings may not have totally surprised Fichard when he entered the loggia. A long inscription alluding to their theme on the castle’s entrance tower may have prepared him. The inscription stated that Pope Alexander VI had reinforced and fortified the stronghold for the safety of the Holy Church and the Roman people “in the year of our redemption 1495, the third year of his pontificate, in which time Charles VIII, king of the French, publicly promised faithfulness and obedience.”8 There is, however, something strange about the combination of this inscription and the paintings. Both present the king as a respectful monarch who is showing piety and reverence by coming to demonstrate his obedience to the pope. Why, then, did the pope need to stress so explicitly that he had Castel Sant’Angelo fortified and expanded immediately after Charles’s visit?
II
The goal of Charles’s expedition through Italy with an army of forty thousand men was not Rome but Naples, as is explained in the caption to the first painting.9 Already in 1435, when the Neapolitan Queen Johanna II died without issue, a related branch of the house of Anjou from France had laid claim to this kingdom south of Rome. After a struggle that lasted several years, however, Naples fell into the hands of Alfonso V of the Spanish house of Aragon, who then became King Alfonso I of Naples (1442–58). The death of Alfonso’s son and successor King Ferrante I on January 25, 1494, was the immediate cause for Charles VIII to challenge the new Neapolitan King Alfonso II and revive the French claim to Naples by bringing up his Angevin inheritance. Officially, however, Naples was a papal fiefdom, and consequently the pope’s position in this dispute was of great importance. Initially Alexander tried to stay out of this conflict, but after a period of hesitation he chose the side of the house of Aragon. An important reason for this choice was his fear of French dominance over Italian and consequently papal affairs. In a papal bull of March 22, 1494, he tactfully stated that his predecessor, Pope Innocent VIII, had already committed himself to granting Naples as a fief to Alfonso II and that he, Alexander, was not authorized to undo this.10
In response, Charles threatened to convoke a church council that would put Alexander’s deposition on its agenda, under the pretext that Alexander had not been elected legally but through simony. When Charles learned that on May 8 Cardinal Juan Borgia, in the name of the pope, had crowned Alfonso II king of Naples and Sicily, he decided to invade Italy, and in September 1494 French troops, led by their king, crossed the Alps.
The invading army advanced rapidly. A treaty with the Duke of Milan and the neutrality of the Venetians secured the French a fast passage through northern Italy. They passed by Florence, which was struggling with internal political problems, without much delay, and in December were already on their way to the eternal city. Diplomatic missions and proposals to negotiate had no effect. Charles stuck to his decision to spend Christmas in Rome, where he could personally urge the pope to support his claims to the Neapolitan throne.
In Rome, meanwhile, tension rose to desperation.11 The pope did not have enough troops to defend the city and started to inquire about taking refuge in Naples. Those cardinals who from the start had endorsed the French claims now began to receive increasing support from their colleagues. The population grew frantic, and representatives of the people threatened to open the city gates if the pope did not come to an agreement with the French king within two days. On December 18, everything in the Vatican except beds and tableware was packed and prepared for a flight. Valuables had been moved to Castel Sant’Angelo, and the cardinals’ horses were harnessed. Finally, on Christmas Eve, the pope decided to resist the king no longer, and three days later the first French troops marched into the city. On December 31, the king himself entered Rome, followed in his retinue by a number of cardinals. He received the keys of the city from the authorities and took up residence in the Palazzo di San Marco, the present Palazzo Venezia, in the very center of Rome. There all but two of the cardinals came to pay him homage.
Yet the fear and nervousness in the city kept growing. The French troops were hard to control and committed vandalism, creating much commotion. On January 7, 1495, Pope Alexander, together with a small number of loyal cardinals, decided to seek refuge in Castel Sant’Angelo. To add to his sense of safety, he had “the Most Sacred Body of Christ” (that is, a consecrated host), the holy sweat cloth, the heads of Saints Peter and Paul, and other relics placed on the walls of the castle, hoping that King Charles would live up to his title of “most Christian king” and, out of respect for these holy objects, abstain from attacking the fortress.12 Yet the French intensified their pressure on the pope and threatened to start bombardments.
Then, on the night of January 10, a portent occurred—at least, that is how Pope Alexander may have seen it. A part of the castle’s walls suddenly collapsed, killing three people. Whether because he considered it a premonition from God or simply out of fear, he decided to start negotiations with the king.13
Alexander could boast long political experience, having been one of the highest-ranking cardinals for more than thirty years before his election.14 Charles, on the other hand, was an unrealistic young man barely twenty-five years old who had been king for only three years. During the negotiations, which were pursued by diplomats, the pope made concessions on a number of issues, but managed, with long and vague formulations, to evade the main point: support of Charles’s claim to Naples. It was agreed that the French troops would have free passage through papal territory, that the cardinals who had sided with the French would not be punished, and that Cardinal Cesare Borgia—a son of Pope Alexander—would accompany the French king for four months as cardinal-legate (which meant in practice that he would be the king’s hostage). Moreover, it was arranged that the Turkish Prince Djem would be handed over to the French (fig. 26).15 The French, from their side, had to concede that Castel Sant’Angelo would not be handed over to them, that the king would no longer urge for a church council, and that he would properly show his obedience to the pope. Thus, the main issue remained unsettled.
The way was now free for a personal meeting of the pope and the king. This took place in one of the gardens of the Vatican on January 16, when Alexander was leaving Castel Sant’Angelo to return to the papal palace. Charles took advantage of the occasion by requesting that Guillaume Briçonnet be created a cardinal.16 This was done on the spot. Two days later the agreements were officially sanctioned, and on January 19, during an official ceremony, the king promised obedience to the pope (fig. 27). From then on the pope and the king would see each other almost daily. On January 20, a Mass in honor of King Charles was celebrated in Saint Peter’s, on the twenty-first yet another cardinal was created at the king’s request (fig. 25),17 and on the twenty-fifth the king attended a papal Mass at Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls. Three days later, on January 28, the king and his troops left for Naples, accompanied by his hostages Cardinal Cesare Borgia and Prince Djem.
On February 22, Charles and his troops entered Naples without meeting any resistance. The cardinal-legate Cesare Borgia,