Lucretia Borgia | Page 9

from Florence, Genoa, and Siena, while numerous papal office-holders,
as well as the most famous courtesans dwelt there. On the other hand,
the number of old, noble families in Ponte was not large, perhaps
because the Orsini faction did not permit them to thrive there. These
powerful barons had resided in this quarter for a long time in their vast
palace on Monte Giordano. Not far distant stood their old castle, the
Torre di Nona, which had originally been part of the city walls on the
Tiber. At this time it was a dungeon for prisoners of state and other
unfortunates.
It is not difficult to imagine what Vannozza's house was, for the Roman
dwelling of the Renaissance did not greatly differ from the ordinary
house of the present day, which generally is gloomy and dark. Massive
steps of cement led to the dwelling proper, which consisted of a
principal salon and adjoining rooms with bare flagstone floors, and
ceilings of beams and painted wooden paneling. The walls of the rooms
were whitewashed, and only in the wealthiest houses were they covered
with tapestries, and in these only on festal occasions. In the fifteenth
century the walls of few houses were adorned with pictures, and these
usually consisted of only a few family portraits. If Vannozza decorated
her salon with any likenesses, that of Cardinal Rodrigo certainly must
have been among the number. There was likewise a shrine with relics
and pictures of the saints and one of the Madonna, the lamp constantly
burning before it.
Heavy furniture,--great wide beds with canopies; high, brown wooden
chairs, elaborately carved, upon which cushions were placed; and
massive tables, with tops made of marble or bits of colored wood,--was

ranged around the walls. Among the great chests there was one which
stood out conspicuously in the salon, and which contained the dowry of
linen. It was in such a chest--the chest of his sister--that the unfortunate
Stefano Porcaro concealed himself when he endeavored to escape after
his unsuccessful attempt to excite an uprising on the fifth of January,
1453. His sister and another woman sat on the chest, better to protect
him, but the officers pulled him out.
Although we can only state what was then the fashion, if Vannozza had
any taste for antiquities her salon must have been adorned with them.
At that time they were being collected with the greatest eagerness. It
was the period of the first excavations; the soil of Rome was daily
giving up its treasures, and from Ostia, Tivoli, and Hadrian's Villa,
from Porto d'Anzio and Palestrina, quantities of antiquities were being
brought to the city. If Vannozza and her husband did not share this
passion with the other Romans, one would certainly not have looked in
vain in her house for the cherished productions of modern art--cups and
vases of marble and porphyry, and the gold ornaments of the jewelers.
The most essential thing in every well ordered Roman house was above
all else the credenza, a great chest containing gold and silver table and
drinking vessels and beautiful majolica; and care was taken always to
display these articles at banquets and on other ceremonious occasions.
[Illustration: TRAJAN'S FORUM, ROME.]
It is not likely that Rodrigo's mistress possessed a library, for private
collections of books were at that time exceedingly rare in bourgeois
houses. A short time after this they were first made possible in Rome
by the invention of printing, which was there carried on by Germans.
Vannozza's household doubtless was rich but not magnificent. She
must occasionally have entertained the cardinal, as well as the friends
of the family, and especially the confidants of the Borgias: the
Spaniards, Juan Lopez, Caranza, and Marades; and among the Romans,
the Orsini, Porcari, Cesarini, and Barberini. The cardinal himself was
an exceedingly abstemious man, but magnificent in everything which
concerned the pomp and ceremonial of his position. The chief
requirement of a cardinal of that day was to own a princely residence

and to have a numerous household.
Rodrigo Borgia was one of the wealthiest princes of the Church, and he
maintained the palace and pomp of a great noble. His contemporary
Jacopo of Volterra, gave the following description of him about 1486:
"He is a man of an intellect capable of everything and of great sense; he
is a ready speaker; he is of an astute nature, and has wonderful skill in
conducting affairs. He is enormously wealthy, and the favor accorded
him by numerous kings and princes lends him renown. He occupies a
beautiful and comfortable palace which he built between the Bridge of
S. Angelo and the Campo dei Fiore. His papal offices, his numerous
abbeys in Italy and Spain, and his three bishoprics of Valencia, Portus,
and Carthage yield him a vast income, and