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COMMISSION AND INSTRUCTIONS TO NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, SENT TO SIENNA BY THE TEN OF LIBERTY AND PEACE. - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, vol. 3 (Diplomatic Missions 1498-1505) [1498]

Edition used:

The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, tr. from the Italian, by Christian E. Detmold (Boston, J. R. Osgood and company, 1882). Vol. 3.

Part of: The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, 4 vols.

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COMMISSION AND INSTRUCTIONS

TO NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, SENT TO SIENNA BY THE TEN OF LIBERTY AND PEACE.

Resolved 26 April, 1503.

Niccolo, —

You will proceed by post to Sienna with all possible speed, and before anything else you will present yourself to the Magnificent Pandolfo, for whom you will have letters of credence. And after the customary and necessary formalities due to the friendship existing between us, and respecting which we need not give you any special instructions, you will make known to his Magnificence that the object of your mission is to inform him of what is taking place, and mainly of those matters that are of importance to him; and that it is proper at present to let him know that for some time past we have been urged by his Holiness the Pope and the Duke Valentino to conclude an alliance with them, and to form a league with all the other members of the house of Borgia; and that they are pressing it at this moment with more warmth and urgency than ever. As it may happen therefore that such an alliance is concluded, inasmuch as his Majesty the king of France has some interest in the matter, it seems necessary to us that his Magnificence should be informed of it, so that he may in return communicate to us his views with regard to it; and that it is for that purpose that we have sent you to perform this office of good friends.

You will also have letters of credence to the Balia of the city of Sienna, which you will present or not according as may seem fit to the Magnificent Pandolfo; and in all matters connected with this mission you will act in such manner as he may deem best. You will likewise have a letter for Messer Francesco da Narni, to whom you will explain the object of your mission. You will tell him of the confidence which we have in his Lordship, and of our hopes of obtaining through him the object respecting which we have spoken with him. You will urge him to do all he can, and to lose no opportunity of doing it; and you will communicate to him all the preparations and provisions we have made, and you will tell him of our relations with France and with Rome, so far as may seem to you to be advisable. The conditions of the league which it has been proposed to form with the above-named parties for the common defence of the states which they have in Italy, are the following, viz.: — That we are to keep five hundred men-at-arms, and they six hundred men; but until we shall have recovered the places which we have lost we shall not have to furnish more than three hundred men-at-arms, and they likewise, so that the obligation shall be equal on both sides. But after recovering what we have lost, both parties will have to furnish their full quota. The friends and enemies of both shall be common friends and enemies, without in any way derogating from any other special treaties which any of the parties may have with his Majesty the king of France. And if any of the contracting parties acts adversely to his Majesty, then the league becomes thereby null and void. Within the period of one month, the parties must make known their adherents and clients; but neither party can protect rebels or banish persons. And any difficulties that may arise shall be subject to the decision of the king, whose consent to the treaty is an indispensable condition.

And so soon as you shall have executed and carried into effect the above instructions, you will immediately return, unless there should be some special reason why you should write to us and await our answer.*

From the Florentine Palace on the day and date above written.

Decem Viri Libertatis et Baliæ
Republ. Florent.

Marcellus.

lf0076-03_figure_002

>Seal of the Magistrates of the Ten of Liberty and Peace.

MISSION TO THE COURT OF ROME.

October 24, 1503.

The object of this mission of Machiavelli to Rome was nominally to present to the Florentine Ambassador at Rome, Francesco Soderini, Cardinale di Volterra, certain modifications in the engagement of Gianpaolo Baglioni to serve the king of France in his contest with the Spaniards under the famous Captain Gonsalvo de Cordova in the kingdom of Naples. This engagement of Baglioni had been negotiated by the Cardinal Volterra, and was to be paid for by the Florentine government, and was to be credited to the Florentines on their indebtedness to the king of France, and at the same time was to secure to the Florentines the aid and support of King Louis XII. against the aggressions of the Venetians. If the proposed modifications were accepted, then Machiavelli was to ratify the agreement; but if not, then he was to leave the agreement unratified, etc.; in all of which, however, he was to be governed by the advice of the Cardinal Volterra. At the same time Machiavelli was specially instructed to keep the Signoria of Florence diligently informed from day to day of all that occurred worthy of note. The events then transpiring at Rome were of the utmost interest and importance. After the death of Pius III., who had occupied the Papal chair but twenty-six days, Giuliano della Rovere, Cardinal of San Pietro in Vincola, was elected Pope. Cesare Borgia had supported the candidacy of Giuliano della Rovere, and induced his friends the Spanish cardinals to vote for him in the conclave, expecting that in return the new Pope would not only support his claims to the Romagna, but would also give him the appointment of Captain-General of the Papal forces, which he claimed to have been promised to him by Giuliano prior to his election. As we have seen in Machiavelli’s despatches during his mission to the Duke of Valentinois, the military successes and the rapid rise of Cesare Borgia, so we see in his despatches during this mission to Rome the equally rapid decline of the Borgia’s fortune. He had come to Rome to aid in the election of Julius II., not thinking that he thereby placed himself in the power of a man of greater duplicity and craftiness than himself. For besides his implacable enmity and personal hatred of Cesare Borgia, Julius II. considered the Romagna as the legitimate property of the Church, which he was resolved to recover for the Church at any cost; and therefore he not only disregarded the promises made to Cesare Borgia before his elevation to the pontificate, but actually had him arrested and imprisoned in the Castel San Angelo because Cesare Borgia refused to give up the passwords for entering into the several strongholds which he still held in the Romagna, and which the Pope had demanded of him. Meantime the Venetians, ever eager to extend their dominion over the Romagna, took advantage of the absence of the Duke of Valentinois to seize Faenza and some other smaller towns in the Romagna, and at the same time threatened the adjoining possessions of the Florentine republic. It was one of the objects of Machiavelli’s mission to endeavor through the Cardinal d’Amboise, then at Rome, to obtain the aid and support of the king of France in their efforts to resist the aggressions of the Venetians; and at the same time, in conjunction with the Florentine Ambassador, the Cardinal Volterra, to urge the Pope to active measures against the Venetians.

[* ]Machiavelli returned immediately to Florence, without writing any letters from Sienna.