# "Venne copioso di tesoro, di gente d'arme & d'artiglieria". Charles VIII of France and Late Medieval Political Thought

Lorenza Tromboni

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Lorenza Tromboni. "Venne copioso di tesoro, di gente d'arme & d'artiglieria". Charles VIII of France and Late Medieval Political Thought. Praxis des Philosophierens, Praktiken der Historiographie: Perspektiven von der Spätantike bis zur Moderne, Karl Alber, pp.197-220, 2018, 978-3-495-48946-8. hal-05275410

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# Charles VIII of France and Late Medieval Political Thought

## Lorenza Tromboni (University of Strasbourg)

### Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between political facts and written culture in Late Medieval Europe, focusing on the Italian campaign of Charles VIII of France and the intellectual production related to it. Among others, the following texts – originating outside the academic environment – are analyzed: La Ressource de la Chrestienté by André de la Vigne, the Oratio ad Carolum Magnum Gallorum regem by Marsilio Fici- no, the De Bello Italico by Bernardo Rucellai, Girolamo Savonarola’s ser- mons, the Vulnera diligentis by Benedetto Luschino, and the anonymous Vaki’at-i sultan Cem.

## 1. Introduction: A Network of Texts

This essay presents the first results of an ongoing research project dedicated to the study of the relationship between political events and the writing of texts in late medieval Europe. The general aim of the project is to determine, where possible, lines of development, patterns and trends in medieval political thought between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, through the study of the networks of texts that developed around the major historical events of this period.<fnref n="1" /> Here we want to focus on the case of the Italian campaign of Charles VIII, king of France, as well as on the intellectual production born in relation to it, starting from the period of the preparation of the expe- dition and continuing through the years following the conclusion of

<footnote n="1">¹ The title of the project is INSPIrE – *Intellectuals in History: Political Process and Cultural Impacts in Medieval Europe (14th–15th c.)* and it has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 745584. The project is hosted by the University of Strasbourg, Faculty of Philosophy, EA 2326.</footnote>
the campaign.<fnref n="2" /> Those years saw the development of the structure that Italy would assume in the modern era, formed through a series of bloody conflicts known as the *Wars of Italy*.<fnref n="3" /> The works on which we will focus show that, even outside academia, a strong political awareness was starting to develop, alongside a series of concepts and models regarding the idea of sovereignty, of the relationship between European and extra-European powers, as well as a conception of Christian and Christianized space that would then be delivered to modernity.

The proposed methodology rests on a hypothesis that sees not so much academia or the schools of humanities, but rather a space of intellectual achievements in a broader sense, as a privileged environment of the development, change and birth of a renewed pre-modern political identity. This means that, among the many texts produced or conceived in connection with and because of the Italian campaign of Charles VIII, we will focus on textual genres such as preaching, his- toriography and, in some cases, poetry, rather than essays or com- mentaries on Aristotelian texts such as *Nicomachean Ethics* and *Pol- itics*.<fnref n="4" />

<footnote n="2">² Charles VIII, king of France from 1483, decided to invade Italy to claim back the Kingdom of Naples: his expedition inaugurated a series of conflicts among the Italian states lasting more than 50 years. Many studies on this period are available, here we specifically note: H.-F. Delaborde, *L'expédition de Charles VIII en Italie: histoire dip- lomatique et militaire*, Paris 1888, which has an Italian counterpart in the more recent study by S. Biancardi, *La chimera di Carlo VIII*, Novara 2011 (Studi, 58); D. Abulafia (ed.), *The French Descent into Renaissance Italy: 1494–1495. Antecedents and Ef- fects*, Aldershot 1995; H. Lemonnier, *Charles VIII, Louis XII et François ler: les guerres d'Italie 1492–1547*, Paris 1982; A. C. Fiorato (ed.), *Italie 1494*, Paris 1994 (Cahiers de la Renaissance italienne, 3); for the documentary sources: Y. Labande- Mailfert, *Charles VIII et son milieu (1470–1498). La jeunesse au pouvoir*, Paris 1975</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ See M. Pellegrini, *Le guerre d'Italia. 1494–1559*, Bologna 2009; J.-L. Fournel, J. C. Zancarini, *Les guerres d'Italie, des batailles pour l'Europe (1494–1559)*, Paris 2003;</footnote>

<footnote>A. Aubert, *La crisi degli antichi stati italiani (1492–1521)*, Firenze 2005; on Late Medieval Italian history, see I. Lazzarini, *L'Italia degli Stati territoriali. Secoli XIII–XV, Roma / Bari 2003 (Quadrante, 123)*; R. Fubini, *Italia quattrocentesca. Politica e diplomazia nell'età di Lorenzo il Magnifico*, Milano 1994 (Storia, 181); I. Lazzarini,</footnote>

<footnote>A. Gamberini (eds.), *Lo Stato del Rinascimento in Italia 1350–1520*, Roma 2014 (La storia. Saggi, 5).</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ A complete current study on the commentaries to the *Nicomachean Ethics* is that by D. A. Lines, *Aristotle's Ethics in the Italian Renaissance* (ca. 1300–1650). *The Universities and the Problem of Moral Education*, Leiden / Boston 2002 (Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 13), whereas for the *Politics*, see C. Flüeler, *Rezeption und Interpretation der Aristotelischen Politica im späten Mittel-</footnote>
In line with this premise, the present contribution takes into
consideration texts that arise from needs that are not purely intellec-
tual or academic, but rather of an immediate nature, conceived in a
closer and more direct relationship with historical events. First, we
want to outline the network of texts born around the Italian campaign
of Charles VIII, paying attention to the language, place and chrono-
logical moment in which they were written, as well as to the literary
genre of which they are part. Subsequently, we will focus on an area
of this network closely related to the Italian geographical setting, and
specifically to the city of Florence. Far from being a comprehensive
picture, such an overview will help to explain the concept of ›network‹
as used in reference to the intellectual production related to the des-
cent of Charles VIII into Italy.<fnref n="5" /> First of all, we can see that most of the
works belong to the historiographical genre, which is a genre fre-
quented equally by French and Italian authors, of different origins
and with different purposes, and practiced in both Latin and vernacu-
lar languages. This fact is hardly surprising: it is interesting, rather, to
note the substantial number of historiographical works that describe
Charles VIII as a messiah, and his military effort as a springboard to
a larger, more ambitious – not only in military and political terms –
campaign, namely the liberation of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
from the infidels and the reconquest of all Middle Eastern territories.

2. Prophecy as Political Device

La propagande des rois de France visant à légitimer leur action en Italie s'appuie donc essentiellement sur Dieu. Celui-ci les a choisis pour accomplir des tâches différentes, qu'il s'agisse de recouvrer la Terre sainte ou de ceindre la couronne impériale. Dès lors, la possession de la Péninsule appa- raît comme la première étape d'un projet bien plus vaste qui dépasse l'en- tendement des gens simples.<fnref n="6" />

alter, 2 vols., Amsterdam 1992 (Bochumer Studien zur Philosophie, 19); C. Flüeler, »Politischer Aristotelismus im Mittelalter. Einleitung«, in: *Vivarium* 40 (2002), 1–13.

<footnote n="5">⁵ We do not claim to provide here a complete list of all the texts written in these years in reference to the descent of Charles into Italy, but only a part, significant especially as regards the literary genre, language and background of the authors. A census of texts and their organization according to certain criteria is currently underway.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶ J. Dumont, *Lilia florent. L'imaginaire politique et social à la cour de France durant les Premières Guerres d'Italie* (1494-1525), Paris 2013 (Études d'histoire médiévale,</footnote>
This idea combined the prophetic tradition and the need for political and territorial reaffirmation of the French monarchy: on the one hand, until the fifteenth century, the prophetic literature had handed down the idea that a French king was destined to undertake this great campaign, according to a military and spiritual journey divided into precise stages.<fnref n="7" /> The so-called prophecy of the ›second Charlemagne‹, which had circulated in France since the end of the fourteenth century, had united several spiritual tensions and territorial needs in a short, prophetic text. This text described the progression of conquests and the spiritual growth of a young sovereign named Charles, son of Charles – hence the incipit *Karolus filius Karoli*, heir to the Carolingian dynasty, who had come to reconquer the territories taken by the infidels and ended up dying, amid all sorts of wonders, in the Holy Land.<fnref n="8" /> On the other hand, the military campaign of Charles aimed to reconquer the Kingdom of Naples, to which he claimed inheritance rights, and the venture was actually undertaken, even though it was supposed to be a high-risk objective. The ideal continuation of this march towards the Mediterranean was a Crusade, invoked several times in different parts of Europe in the second half of the fifteenth century, especially after the siege and fall of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, in 1453.<fnref n="9" /> From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Innocent VIII strongly advocated the undertaking of a

<footnote n="15">15), 270–271; see also Y. Lignereux, *Les rois imaginaires. Une histoire visuelle de la monarchie de Charles VIII à Louis XIV*, Rennes 2016 (Histoire).</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷ O. Niccoli, »L’arme des prophéties et des pronostics dans les guerres italiennes, du XVe au XVIIe siècle«, in: A. Redondo (ed.), *La prophétie comme arme de guerre des pouvoirs (XVe-XVIIe siècle)*, Paris 2000 (La modernité aux XVe–XVIIe siècles, 5), 202–219.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸ The oldest version of the prophecy found so far. dated about 1380, has been edited by M. Chaume, »Une prophetie relative à Charles VI«, in: *Revue du Moyen Âge latin* 3 (1947), 27–42. Other versions are kept in Italian and French libraries; for a census see M. Reeves, *The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages. A Study in Joa-chimism*, Oxford 1969, 532. On this topic, see C. Beaune, N. Lemaître, »Prophétie et politique dans la France du Midi au XVe siècle«, in: A. Vauchez (ed.), *Les textes pro-phétiques et la prophétie en Occident (XIIe–XVIIe siècles)*. Special issue of Mélanges de l’Ecole française de Rome 102/2 (1990), 597–616; G. L. Potestà, *L’ultimo messia. Profezia e sovranità nel Medioevo*, Bologna 2014; L. Tromboni, »La leggenda del sec-ondo Carlomagno: il percorso di una profezia tra Francia e Italia (secoli XIV–XV)«, in: A. Rodolfi, G. Garfagnini (eds.), *Profezia, filosofia e prassi politica*, Pisa 2013 (Philo-sophica, 121), 79–92.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">⁹ See Y. Labande-Mailfert, *Charles VIII*, Paris 1986; Lignereux, *Les rois imaginaires*; more generally on the image of royalty, see E. Kantorowicz, *Les deux corps du roi*.</footnote>
new Crusade and built up an extensive diplomatic network to con-
vince all the rulers and domains of Europe to agree upon this idea.¹⁰
In fact, Innocent himself asked Charles to come to Italy in order to
solve the Neapolitan question, even if the king moved to Italy only in
1494.¹¹ Innocent counted on Charles’s ambition, and as soon as it
was clear that the French king would come to Italy, the pope
resumed his propaganda for the proposed Crusade, also taking into
account the presence in Rome of an illustrious guest, Prince Cem,
brother of Sul- tan Bayezid II.¹²

Moving closer to the works written during these years, within
the historiographical genre, on the French side, we mention *La Ressource de la Chrestienté* and *Le voyage de Naples* by André de la
Vigne (1470–1526), secretary to Queen Anne of Brittany. He com-
posed, during the years of the campaign, works that combined histor-
ical narration and poetry with a strong prophetic-messianic character
related to the figure and campaign of Charles.¹³ In *La Ressource de
la Chrestienté*, Christianity itself is personified as the protagonist of
the story, in the guise of a female figure who decides to take refuge
in France under the protection of Charles, called »le roi très
chrétien«. Also of great interest is the work of Robert Gaguin (1433–
1501), a French theologian and humanist, general of the Trinitarian
Order,

*Essai sur la théologie politique au Moyen Âge*, Paris 1989 (Bibliothèque des Histoires).

¹⁰ On the Crusade in this period, see N. Housley (ed.), *The Crusade in the Fifteenth Century: Converging and Competing Cultures*, Abingdon / New York 2017 (Crusades. Subsidia, 8); M. Pellegrini, *La crociata nel Rinascimento. Mutazioni di un mito 1400–1600*, Firenze 2010 (Le vie della storia, 84); B. Weber, *Lutter contre les Turcs. Les formes nouvelles de la croisade pontificale au XVe siècle*, Roma 2013 (Collection de l'École française de Rome, 472).

¹¹ For a reconstruction of this period of diplomatic exchanges, see K. M. Setton, *The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571*, vol. 2: *The Fifteenth century*, Philadelphia 1978; and K. M. Setton, *Europe and the Levant in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance*, London 1974 (Variorum Collected Studies, 29).

¹² We will later revisit the events concerning Prince Gem and the texts related to them.

¹³ The most recent edition is André de la Vigne, *La Ressource de la Chrestienté*, ed. C. J. Brown, Montréal 1989 (Inedita et rara, 5); whereas *Le voyage* is published in André de la Vigne, *Le voyage de Naples*, ed. A. Slerca, Milano 1981 (Scienze filolo-giche e letteratura, 20). Both works were later published together under the title *Vergier d'honneur*; see F. Lestringant, »André de la Vigne et le Vergier d'honneur«, in: J.-E. Giron (ed.), *Le poète et son oeuvre. De la composition à la publication*, Gen-ève 2004 (Études de Philologie et d'Histoire, 68), 199–214.
who taught at the Sorbonne and had Erasmus of Rotterdam and Jo-
hannes Reuchlin as pupils. Gaguin took up several state offices and he
explicitly declared, during a diplomatic mission to England, that
Charles was ready to recover the Kingdom of Naples and subse-
quently leave for Greece or Constantinople.<fnref n="14" /> He wrote both in
French and in Latin, and composed his *Compendium de Francorum
origine et gestis* between 1483 and 1495, the date of the *editio prin-
ceps*.<fnref n="15" /> A few years after Gaguin’s death, between 1502 and 1506,
Bernardo Rucellai (1448–1514) narrated the story of the end of the
fifteenth century, in Latin, in his *De Bello Italico*, written while he was
traveling between Italy and France.<fnref n="16" />

As we have mentioned, the prophetic element is very much pre-
sent in the military campaign of Charles VIII, both from the point of
view of the propaganda issued at the time of the expedition, as well as
in the narrative recounting of the expedition itself, years after the
fact. In the prophetic field, we deal with texts composed in France
and in Italy, some of which were written several decades after 1494,
all referring to the image of Charles as new Charlemagne with mes-
sianic traits, destined to achieve the highest feat in Christendom,
namely the reconquest of Jerusalem. The *Vision divine* by court phy-
sician Jean Michel<fnref n="17" /> and the *Prophétie du Roy Charles huitième de ce
nom* by Guilloche de Bordeaux,<fnref n="18" /> both composed just before the Ita-

<footnote n="14">¹⁴ See Biancardi, *La chimera di Carlo VIII*, 180; see Y. Labande-Mailfert, *Charles VIII et son milieu (1470-1498)*. *La jeunesse au pouvoir*, Paris 1975.</footnote>

<footnote n="15">¹⁵ In the absence of a recent edition, the edition of reference is Robert Gaguin, *Com- pendium de origine et gestis Francorum*, Parisiis 1500; an accurate study of the author and the work is that of F. Collard, *Un historien au travail à la fin du XVe siècle: Robert Gaguin, Genève 1996* (Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance, 301). Also Benedetto Croce recalls Gaguin regarding the death of Charles the Reckless of Burgundy (1477), see B. Croce, *Vite di avventure di fede e di passione*, ed. G. Galasso, Milano 2002, 142.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">¹⁶ Published in Bernardo Rucellai, *De bello Italico. La guerra d’Italia*, ed. D. Coppini, Firenze 2011 (Biblioteca di storia, 10); on this topic see M. Comanducci, «Politica e storiografia nella visione di un oligarca fiorentino», in: *Annali dell'Istituto italiano per gli studi storici* 13 (1995-1996), 361-400.</footnote>

<footnote n="17">¹⁷ See C. Beaune, »Visionnaire ou politique? Jean Michel, serviteur de Charles VIII«, in: *Journal des savants* 1 (1987), 65-78. The text was published in Lyon in 1495 and was part of the occasional writings that circulated in great numbers in these years. See J.-P. Seguin, »L'information à la fin du XVe siècle en France«, in: *Art et traditions populaires* 4 (1956), 309-330; 5 (1957), 46-74, here 65-66.</footnote>

<footnote n="18">¹⁸ Published by Marquis de la Grange, *La Prophécie du roy Charles VIII de Maitre Guilloche Bourdelois*, Paris 1869, and in Chaume, »Une prophetie relative à Charles VI«, 32-34.</footnote>
lian campaign, recall the above-mentioned fourteenth-century pro-
pecity of *Karolus filius Karoli*: Guilloche de Bordeaux accurately and
Jean Michel according to a more complex re-elaboration full of sym-
bols. Jean Thénaud (1480–1542) also elaborated upon the idea of
Charles as triumphant in *Le triumphe des vertuz. Troisième traité:
the triumphe de Justice*.<fnref n="19" />

At the same time and according to the same model, albeit with
different purposes, in Italy Girolamo Savonarola told the Florentine
people the content of his visions: a French king would come through
the Alps and punish Florence for its sins, allowing the city it to be
born again as a New Jerusalem. The *Oratio ad Carolum magnum
Gallorum regem* by Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), a protagonist of the
intellectual life of fifteenth-century Florence, also dates back to 1494:
it is an oration, but it is also a request for peace and mercy for a city
that does not deserve to be destroyed by the one who is called upon
to reconquer Jerusalem.<fnref n="20" /> The prophetic portrait conceived by
Savonarola, certainly well-known to Ficino, reappears in the *Vulnera
diligentis* by the *piagnone*<fnref n="21" /> Benedetto Luschino (1470–post 1551), a
work in dialogue form written in vernacular between 1518 and 1520, at
a time when the followers of Savonarola were looking for a new
political and religious space within the Medici Signoria.<fnref n="22" /> Even the
humanist and Latinist Battista Spagnoli Mantovano (1448–1516)
used prophetic terms in reference to the campaign of Charles VIII. In
his *Fastorum libri XII ad Leonem X*, Spagnoli added a reference to the
prophecy of Saint Angelus, namely a thirteenth-century poem

<footnote n="19">¹⁹ Jean Thénaud, *Le triumphe des vertuz. Troisième traité: le triumphe de Justice*, eds. T. J. Schuurs-Janssen, R. E. V. Stuip, Genève 2007 (Textes Littéraires Français). The first two essays were published respectively in 1997 (*Premier traité: le triumphe de Prudence*) and 2002 (*Second traité: Le triumphe de Force*), while the fourth one (*Le triumphe de temperance*) was published in 2010 by the same editors, Schuurs-Janssen and Stuip. In 2014 I. Fabre organised a *journée d'études* on the importance of Thénaud as a transitional figure between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: *Regards croisés sur Jean Thenaud (c. 1480-1542: un acteur important au carrefour du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance* (Montpellier, 7 février 2014), see the program here: http://cemm.hypotheses.org/977i.</footnote>

<footnote n="20">²⁰ Marsilio Ficino, *Oratio ad Carolum Magnum Gallorum regem* in: *Marsilii Ficini Opera*, Basileae 1575, 960–961.</footnote>

<footnote n="21">²¹ *Piagnone* is the Italian word used to indicate the followers of Girolamo Savonarola.</footnote>

<footnote n="22">²² Benedetto Luschino, *Vulnera diligentis*, ed. S. Dall'Aglio, Firenze 2002 (Savonarola e la Toscana, 17).</footnote>
that foretold the advent of a French king who would redeem the
whole world and liberate Jerusalem from the Turks.<fnref n="23" />

3. Commynes, Guicciardini, Burckardt and Aytinger

There is also a relevant number of works that deal with Charles' ex-
pedition without focusing on it: these texts include a narrative ac-
count of the years 1494–1495, but have a wider objective, or even
just tangentially touch upon the figure and campaigns of Charles VIII.
On the historiographical side, for instance, let us consider the
*Mémoires* by Philippe de Commynes (1447–1511) or the works by
Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540), written in two different
moments and with different intentions. Commynes, considered a
very reliable source, was a diplomat faithful to Louis XI: he had tried
to mediate the diffi- cult relationship between Louis and young
Charles. Upon the death of Louis XI, Commynes fell into disgrace,
was arrested, and then came back to court only after the death of
Charles, with the accession of Louis XII. The *Mémoires*, composed
during the author's ten years of imprisonment between 1489 and
1498, give us much information re- garding the end of the fifteenth
century; the campaign of Charles is mentioned in the last two books,
the seventh and the eighth, and the story continues up to the king's
death.<fnref n="24" /> Francesco Guicciardini began to write the *Storia d'Italia* in
1538, and the narration starts with the Italian situation in 1490,
whereas he composed the *Storie fiorentine* between 1508 and 1509,
covering the period from the *Tumulto de' Ciompi* (1378) up to 1509.<fnref n="25" />
The entry of Charles into Italy is ob- viously part of the narration of
both works, but it is not the focus. Within the genre of essays, we
should certainly mention the works of Niccolò Machiavelli, who
narrates Charles' descent into Italy from more points of view – above
all military and political – and considers

<footnote n="23">23 Johannes Battista Spagnoli Mantovano, *Opera omnia*, vol. 2, Antverpiae 1576, 236v–387r. See the entry »Baptista Mantuanus« in: C. Leonardi, M. Lapidge, G. Gar- fagnini (eds.), *C.A.L.M.A. Compendium auctorum latinorum Medii Aevi*, vol. 1/5, Firenze 2003, 631–650.</footnote>

<footnote n="24">²⁴ Philippe de Commynes, *Mémoires*, ed. J. Blanchard, Genève 2007; J. Blanchard, *Commynes l'Européen. L'invention du politique*, Paris 1999 (Publications Romanes et Françaises, 216).</footnote>

<footnote n="25">²⁵ Francesco Guicciardini, *Storia d'Italia*, ed. S. Seidel Menchi, Torino 1971; Francesco Guicciardini, *Storie fiorentine*, ed. A. Montevecchi, Milano 1998.</footnote>
it the decisive watershed in the history of the peninsula, a land ravaged because of the ineptitude of the Italian states.<fnref n="26" /> A text containing a wealth of news regarding the Roman Curia of the time is the *Liber notarum* by Johannes Burckardt (1450–1506). A very peculiar author, originally from Alsace and driven out of Strasbourg after charges of theft and counterfeiting, he managed to land in Rome, where he became papal Master of Ceremonies and was accorded a considerable number of benefits. The *Liber notarum* collects the most remarkable facts of the years in which Burckardt held the role of Master of Ceremonies: it records the entry of Charles VIII into Italy and, in more detail, his entry into the city of Rome.<fnref n="27" /> On the prophe- tic ambit of the Germanic area, we recall the *Tractatus super Metho- dium* by Wolfgang Aytinger, an author originally from Augsburg, probably born after 1460, about whom we do not have significant biographical information.<fnref n="28" /> The *Tractatus* is one of a range of works written in the second half of the fifteenth century on the subject of fear of the Saracens. Although it does not explicitly refer to Charles, it was written in 1496, i. e. shortly after the failure of the Italian campaign and the consequent end of the hopes for a new Crusade. Moreover, Aytinger treats the thorny subject of the dangers internal to Christianity, namely the sins and thirst for power of the rulers, which could cause the reconquest of the Holy Land to fail.<fnref n="29" />

### 4. André de la Vigne and the French Context

Therefore, the network of texts is quite varied from the point of view of genre, as well as from that of the geographical location of the

<footnote n="26">²⁶ We will not dwell on the works by Machiavelli, whose study deserves closer attention than we can give it here. See G. M. Barbuto, *Machiavelli*, Roma 2013 (Profili, 57); F. Bausi, *Machiavelli*, Roma 2005 (Sestante, 9).</footnote>

<footnote n="27">²⁷ Johannes Burchard, *Liber notarum ab anno MCCCCLXXXIII usque ad annum MDVI*, ed. E. Celani, Città di Castello (then Bologna) 1907–1942 (Rerum Italicarum Scriptores 32/1); the Italian translation is published in Giovanni Burcardo, *Alla corte di cinque papi. Diario 1483–1506*, ed. L. Bianchi, Milan 1988 (Cento libri, 60).</footnote>

<footnote n="28">²⁸ It is not without reason that the text is edited in Methodius, *Revelationes divinae a sanctis angelis factae*, Augsburg 1496. The incunable GW M23054 (ISTC n. im00522000) has been recently studied by J. E. Schnapp, *Prophéties de fin du monde et peur des Turcs au XVe siècle*. Ottomans, Antichrist, Apocalypse, Paris 2017 (His- toire culturelle, 4).</footnote>

<footnote n="29">²⁹ Schnapp, *Prophéties de fin du monde*, 143–169.</footnote>
authors; both Latin and vernacular languages were used to talk about
the French expedition and its consequences, and also about the figure
of Charles, in both its historical reality and symbolic form. To show an
example of the dynamics that exist between the historical event and
the written works that comprise the relative textual network, we will
focus on a part of this network. In addition to illuminating the
aforementioned relationship, we will show that strong links – concep-
tual, typological, geographical and chronological – also exist between
the texts themselves.

Let us begin at a text that is chronologically very close to the
historical event in question, namely *La Ressource de la Chrestienté*
by André de la Vigne. A work in verse and prose, it was begun in
1494, while Charles was in Lyon to prepare his Italian campaign.
The work tells the story of a woman who is the personification of
Christianity and laments her difficult situation, oppressed by the in-
fidels and in need of help. She is welcomed by Lady Nobility (*dame
Noblesse*), a figure characterized by symbols that refer to Charles
VIII (a winged deer) and Anne of Brittany (an ermine), and who takes
Christianity to expose her situation to the Royal Majesty. Here, also
thanks to Good Advice (*Bon Conseil*), it is decided that the Royal
Majesty should undertake a war against the infidels. The author ex-
plicitly appealed to Charles VIII, offering his skills as a historian in
service to the royal house: Charles accepted this offer and de la
Vigne became part of his retinue. Therefore, *La Ressource de la
Chrestienté* is a work written shortly before the event to which it
refers, i. e. the Italian campaign, and yet is strongly influenced by it,
since it helps to create and disseminate the image of Charles as a
savior, a champion of Christianity against the infidels, and bearer of
change. Lilies bloom at his feet and France is the safest place for
Christianity to take refuge, not least of all due to its climate –
temperate and mild.<fnref n="30" /> On his return to France in 1495, as a member
of the retinue of Charles, de la Vigne composed *Le voyage de
Naples*, a work that exhibits many features typical of the genre of
chronicles but is also encomiastic, rich in ele- ments that facilitate a
historical reconstruction of the Italian cam- paign.<fnref n="31" /> Another member
of Charles’ retinue was Guilloche de Bor-

<footnote n="30">³⁰ See Dumont, *Lilia florent*.</footnote>

<footnote n="31">³¹ C. J. Brown, »The evolution of André de La Vigne’s *La ressource de la chrestienté*:
from the Manuscript Tradition to the *Vergier d’Honneur* Editions«, in: *Bibliothèque
d’Humanisme et Renaissance* 45 (1983), 115–125. See A. Slerca, »La prima
fortuna</footnote>
deaux, a poet who almost literally translated the Latin prophecy of
the second Charlemagne into French and put it in poetic form in his
*Prophétie du Roy Charles huitième de ce nom*. Crowned in 1484 at
the age of fourteen, Charles VIII had embodied all the French
messia- nic expectations since his election and perfectly fulfilled the
character- istics described in *Karolus*, but it was on his Italian
expedition that the texts in his honour began to proliferate.<fnref n="32" />
Guilloche sees Florence as one of the critical places in the passage
of Charles, and states that the monarch »par feu et par sang
destruira une autre cité qui sera nommé la cité de péchié«<fnref n="33" />: the city,
however, will be freed from sin. In addi- tion to the strong anti-Italian
sentiment, one can sense here a refer- ence to the hostility shown by
Piero de' Medici towards the French king, but also, perhaps, an echo
of Savonarolian preaching, which in France was quite well known.<fnref n="34" />

Also in the retinue of Charles VIII was Jean Michel, a court phy-
sician and the author of the short text *Visio revelata*, which was part
of those pièces d'actualité printed and distributed during the military
campaign of Charles, along with many other documents, such as let-
ters and dispatches, that had wide circulation.<fnref n="35" /> An expression of the
French myth that saw Charles as the conqueror of Jerusalem and
reformer of the Church, the *Visio* is significantly different from Guil-
loche's poetry, but in the same way uses the subject of faith as a key
to political propaganda and the figure of the sovereign.<fnref n="36" />

5. Marsilio Ficino and Girolamo Savonarola

As planned, Charles led his army over the Alps to Italy and arrived in
Florence in November 1494. Here Marsilio Ficino, the Neoplatonic
philosopher and founder of the so-called ›Platonic Academy‹, a
trans-

del *Voyage de Naples* di André de la Vigne*, in: *Contributi dell'Istituto di filologia moderna*, ser. fr., 8 (1975), 1-28; Lestringant, »André de la Vigne«.

<footnote n="32">³² In fact, the prophecy reads: »Karolus filius nomine Karoli, nacione illustrissima Liliij [...] circa XIIIII annum suum coronabitur [...]«; see Chaume, »Une prophétie relative à Charles VI«.</footnote>

<footnote n="33">³³ Chaume, »Une prophétie relative à Charles VI«, 32.</footnote>

<footnote n="34">³⁴ See S. Dall'Aglio, *Savonarola in Francia. Circolazione di un'eredità politico-religiosa nell'Europa del Cinquecento*, Napoli 2006 (Miscellanea, 2).</footnote>

<footnote n="35">³⁵ Seguin, »L'information à la fin du XVe siècle en France«.</footnote>

<footnote n="36">³⁶ Beaune, »Visionnaire ou politique«.</footnote>
lator from the Greek and author of the first full Latin version of the
works of Plato, welcomes the French king – who will enter Florence
on November 17, 1494 – with an oration entitled *Ad Carolum Num
Gallorum regem*, in which the following passages appear:<fnref n="37" />

Veri namque simile est & Christianissimum Gallorum Regem a Christo
mitti, & Carolum præ cæteris insignem pietate regem, Christiana
pietatem duci præsertim cum iter opusquem tantum ea mente sis
aggessus, ut sanc- tam Ierusalem sæuissimis Barbaris occupatam,
summo humani generis re- demptori, denique redimas. Regnum
profecto sanctum speramus te facile redempturum. Recepto prius ob iter
hæreditario regno, siquidem hoc itin- ere passim pro uiribus uestigia
Christi sequaris. Christus rex pacificus pa- cem uolentibus sæpe
promittit, idem tu quoque rex Christianissimus singu- lari pietate præditus
promittis, (ut audimus, atque ut speramus) profecto præstabis, idque
reuera facies, quod pio quondam Aeneæ, Aeneadumque generi
mandatum est a patre. [...] Florentinam ciuitatem tuam mirifica pie- tate
uises, Florentinam a flore, idest, a lilio dictam, liliarium ubique plenam. [...]
Carolus charus nobis, excelsus, rex pacificus. [...] Quoniam excelsus
Carolus uidetur missus esse diuinitus ad domandos Turcos, & ad
sanctam Ierusalem sic a manifestis hostibus uindicandam, sicut ipse
Deus omni- potens humanum genus ab occultis hostibus liberauit.<fnref n="38" />

Ficino, obviously concerned about the entry of Charles into Florence,
speaks to »the most Christian king« with a mixture of fear and hope.
He compares his mission – which is military to all intents and pur-
poses – to the mission of peace and civilization undertaken by Aeneas
and his lineage, masking the fear that was shared by all Florentines
and Italians with praise for the pacifying qualities of the sovereign.
Ficino repeats, at the end of the brief oration, that Charles is called
upon to tame the Turks, defeat them, and free Jerusalem from infidel
enemies. Marsilio Ficino had been a prominent intellectual of the
time of Cosimo the Elder, who had entrusted him with the mission of
translating Plato, and he had continued his activity as a philosopher
linked to the Medici family even in the Laurentian period, although
with a less significant role. In 1494, like many others, he had consid-

<footnote n="37">³⁷ Extended references on Marsilio Ficino are available; here we just mention P. O. Kristeller, *Il pensiero filosofico di Marsilio Ficino*, Firenze 1988; M. J. B. Allen (ed.), *Studies in the Platonism of Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico*, Abingdon / New York 2017 (Variorum Collected Studies); S. Howlett, *Marsilio Ficino and his world*, New York 2016; J. Hankins, F. Meroi (eds.), *The Rebirth of Platonic Theology*, Firenze 2013 (Villa I Tatti Series, 30).</footnote>

<footnote n="38">³⁸ Ficino, *Oratio ad Carolum Magnum Gallorum regem*, 960–961.</footnote>
ered the prophetic guidance of Savonarola to be a solution to the
crisis affecting Florence and the whole of Italy, but the way in which
he expresses himself is never political, but rather philosophical-
theolo- gical. The speech in itself reflects the argumentative habit of
an author who lives in contact with power, and yet keeps well away
from the possibility of direct involvement. On the contrary, Girolamo
Sa- vonarola emerged politically, even if he never had official duties,
in the entire French affair. In the Savonarolian preaching of 1494, the
figure of Charles VIII is central, since the French sovereign is an in-
strument of the divine will necessary to complete the process of pe-
nance and rebirth that will bring Florence into its new dimension as a
celestial city. Savonarola acknowledges the prophetic motive of Ka-
rolus, but in a peculiar way: he does not refer to a future universal
emperor, rather identifying Charles VIII as the one who can trigger
the process of renewal within Florentine society and among the Ita-
lian populace at large. Described as a novel Cyrus, the sovereign is
considered by the friar to be the fulfilment of a biblical design, which
he constantly reaffirms in both his preaching and in the Compendium
of Revelations, a work written in 1495, in which he tells of the visions
he had between 1492 and 1493.<fnref n="39" /> Among these, there is the famous
image of the angels dressed in white who come to Earth to distribute
white robes and red crosses to men, as well as the vision of the
Advent of 1492, which inaugurates the cycle of prophecies related to
the new Cyrus.

Vidi dunque ne l'anno 1492, la notte precedente a l'ultima predicazione
che io feci quello avvento in Santa Reparata, una mano in cielo con una
spada, sopra la quale era scritto: *Gladius Domini super terram cito et
velociter*, e sopra la mano era scritto: *Vera et iusta sunt iudicia Domini*.
[...] Dette queste parole, parvemi di veder tutto il mondo e che li angeli
descendessino

<footnote n="39">³⁹ See J.-L. Fournel, »Les temps de la prophétie dans la Florence savonarolienne (auto- mne 1494-été 1495)«, in: Redondo (ed.), *La prophétie comme arme de guerre des pouvoirs*, 191-202; G. C. Garfagnini, »Savonarola e la profezia tra mito e storia«, in: *Studi Medievali*, III s., 29 (1988), 173-201; sulla concezione tomistica della profezia, ripresa da Savonarola, G. C. Garfagnini, »Alle origini dell'impegno politico savonaro- liano: la profezia«, in: G. C. Garfagnini (ed.), *Una città e il suo profeta. Firenze di fronte a Savonarola*, Firenze 2001 (Savonarola e la Toscana, 15), 97-107; G. C. Gar- fagnini, »La luce dell'anima: Savonarola e la profezia«, in: *I castelli di Yale* 8 (2005- 2006), 45-59; C. Leonardi, »La crisi della cristianità medievale, il ruolo della profezia e Girolamo Savonarola«, in: G. C. Garfagnini, G. Picone (eds.), *Verso Savonarola: mis- ticismo, profezia, empiti riformistici fra Medioevo ed Età moderna*, Firenze 1999 (Sa- vonarola e la Toscana, 8), 3-23.</footnote>
di cielo in terra vestiti di bianco con moltitudine di stole candide in spalla e croce rosse in mano, e andavano pel mondo proferendo a ciascuno uomo una veste bianca e una croce; alcuni uomini le accettavono e d'esse si vestivono; alcuni altri non volevono accettarle, benché non impedissino gli altri che le accettavono; altri né le volevono accettare né permettevono che li altri le accettassino: e questi erano e' tiepidi e sapienti di questo mondo, e' quali se ne facevono beffe e si sforzavono di persuadere il contrario. Da poi questo la mano rivolse la spada verso la terra, e subito parve che si ranugolassi tutto lo aere e che piovesse spade e gragnuola con gran tuoni e saette e fuochi; e fu in terra fatto guerra, pestilenzia e carestia e gran tribulazione.<fnref n="40" />

Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 BC and put an end to the ›Babylonian captivity‹ of the Jewish people, allowing the Jews to go back home and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem: in a similar fashion, the Florentines, thanks to Charles VIII, will be able to rebuild their city inspired by the Christian principles of charity and faith. The scourge in Savonarola's vision, openly narrated only in 1495, symbolizes destruction and renewal at the same time: Charles VIII breaks up the old political order of Florence and of Italy as a whole, and Savonarola sees this event as a unique opportunity, both politically and spiritually:

> E però mi fu detto che io esortassi e' populi a pregare Dio che mandassi el timore suo in terra e renovassi l'amore e la memoria di benificii della Pas- sione del Figliuolo di Dio ne li cori umani e che mandassi buoni pastori e predicatori, li quali pascessino il suo gregge e non sé medesimi. Di poi dissi, ancora illuminato da Dio, che passerebbe gli monti uno a similitudine di Ciro, del quale scrive Isaia: *Haec dicit Dominus Christo meo Cyro, cuis apprehendi dexteram, ut subiciam ante faciem eius gentes et dorsa regum vertam, et aperiam coram eo ianuas, et portae non claudentur.* [...] E dissi che la Italia non si confidasse né in rocche né in fortezze, perché lui le pi- glierebbe [sic] con le meluzze, idest senza difficoltà. Dissi a' Fiorentini (intendendo io massimamente di quegli che governavano a quel tempo) che loro piglierebbono el consiglio al contrario, idest che e' s'accosterebbono con quello che doveva esser perdente; dissi che sarebono come ebrii e che e' perderebbono ogni consiglio. Le quale cose loro non credevano etiam quan- do le cominciavono ad approssimarsi e io dicevo che la sapienzia umana gli ingannerebbe. Io lascio stare le cose particolare, le quale non dissi in pub- blico per non generare scandolo, ma io le dissi a certi miei familiari, come fu il tempo determinato della morte di Innocenzio VIII e di Lorenzo de' Medici

<footnote n="40">⁴⁰ Girolamo Savonarola, *Compendio di rivelazioni. Testo volgare e latino, e Dialogus de veritate prophetica*, ed. A. Crucitti, Roma 1974, 12–13.</footnote>
e la revoluzione del stato di Firenze, la quale dissi che sarebbe quando il
Re di Francia sarebbe in Pisa; e simile altre cose particolare, le quale,
perché io non dissi in pubblico, forse non sarebbe creduto che io le
avessi dette, scri- vendole al presente. Appropinquandosi poi el Re di
Francia e la revoluzione del stato fiorentino, benché io avessi visto sopra
della città di Firenze la spada e molto sangue sparso, pur, considerando
che Dio la avea eletta a udir prenunziare tutte queste cose, mi venne
grande speranza che questa profezia fussi condizionata e che, se loro
facevano penitenzia, Dio li perdonerebbe almeno in parte.<fnref n="41" />

Penance and prayer are not enough to prevent the arrival of Charles,
but are sufficient, from Savonarola's perspective, to avoid the plunder
and destruction of the city of the flower, the city where the ideal time of
prayers and visions is to coincide with the march of the French king
through Italy. Such an encounter brings with it the fulfilment of a
political prophecy, structured over the years by Savonarola and based
upon visions, knowledge of the Florentine people, and a prophetic-
literary heritage of French origin. After him, many continued to talk
about his prophecies: among them, Benedetto Luschino helped to pro-
vide significant elements concerning the reading of the figure of
Charles as it was passed down as a legacy to the sixteenth century.

6. The *Vulnera diligentis* by Benedetto Luschino and the
De Bello Italico by Bernardo Rucellai

Benedetto Luschino combines the militancy in the party of Savonaro- la
with an attempt to describe the »gran cose adcadute al mondo dal
1490 per insino al 1523«<fnref n="42" />, which, together with a reconstruction of
the life of Savonarola, constitute the thematic nucleus of the *Vulnera
diligentis*.<fnref n="43" /> Born in Florence in 1470 and linked to the environments
and figures associated with the Medici retinue, Luschino led a rather

<footnote n="41">⁴¹ Savonarola, *Compendio di rivelazioni*, 14–16.</footnote>

<footnote n="42">⁴² Benedetto Luschino, *Vulnera diligentis*, 3.</footnote>

<footnote n="43">⁴³ See also the introduction to the publication for information about the author, along with S. Dall'Aglio, »Riflessioni sulla figura di B. di Paolo Luschino«, in: *Memorie Domenicane* 39 (1998), 453-483; L. Lazzerini, »Simul iustus et peccator». Passione e morte di Girolamo Savonarola secondo i *Vulnera diligentis* di Benedetto Luschino«, in: *Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa* 39 (2003), 541-559, while for the author in general and his Latin works, we refer to the studies mentioned in »Benedictus de Florentia«, in: C. Leonardi, M. Lapidge (eds.), *C.A.L.M.A, Compendium auctorum latinorum Medii Aevi*, vol. 2/5, Firenze 2005, 215-216.</footnote>
dissolute and irregular life before the famous sermon on the Ark that
Girolamo Savonarola held in Florence during Lent in 1494. This was
the turning point of Benedetto's life. Luschino represents an integral
part of the attempt to transmit the memory and perpetuate the cult of
Savonarola in the sixteenth century, challenging the restoration of the
Medici who, after returning to Florence, tried to normalize and
neutralize the diffusion of prophetic and reformative ferment, linked to
the figure of the Ferrara-born friar. In the *Vulnera diligentis*, Lus-chino
provides a positive image of Charles, in line with Savonarolian
preaching, which had portrayed the monarch as an instrument of the
divine will, as well as of the rebirth of Florence as a heavenly Jerusa-
lem. This portrait is even more significant in light of the fact that the
text dates back to the period 1518-1520, i.e. more than two decades
after the Italian campaign of Charles, corroborating the centrality of
this event around which the tale of those years is structured, in parti-
cular for a *piagnone*:

[...] il quale re di Francia venne circa l'anno seguente che questo segno
acchadde. Et venne splendido, glorioso & con gran romore di suono ad
modo del prefato segno, perché venne copioso di tesoro, di gente d'arme
& d'arti- glieria, et venne con tanta fama & credito che tucta l'Italia
tremava alla sua venuta. Epso, come aveva prevedo in verbo Domini el
propheta, era mini-stro di Dio & suto electo da Dio ad fare grande cose
al mondo in bene uni-versale della Chiesa, così fra' christiani come fralli
infedeli, d'un modo che nella sua electione & ministerio si portassi come
vero & buon christiano, ad ciò non fusse reprobato da Dio.<fnref n="44" />

The fear caused by the entrance of Charles held the whole of Italy in suspense until the sovereign went back to France. Nevertheless, from Luschino's words – together with the frightening memory of those days – emerges a clear feeling of hope and expectation about the arrival of the new Cyrus. Faith, which in the Savonarolian perspective was the key issue of this event, was the weak point of the king, since he, as explained by Luschino, did not behave like a good Christian: he did not entirely live up to his words, and for that reason he lost the kingdom he had come to conquer. Through the character of the farmer Agricola, the author tells of one of the supernatural phenomena that occurred in Florence when Girolamo was still alive: the vision of a light that mysteriously appeared and quickly disappeared one night

<footnote n="44">⁴⁴ Luschino, *Vulnera diligentis*, III, cap. 20, 264.</footnote>
in 1493 near the church of San Pier Maggiore.<fnref n="45" /> One of the possible explanations of this phenomenon holds that it is symbolic of the story of Charles VIII from his arrival in Italy until his death. If one considers the appearance of light representative of the arrival of the French king, the light's sudden dissolution is a reflection of the unworthy end of Charles, also described in this chapter of the *Vulnera diligentis* as a sort of parable:

> [...] perché non si portò bene nella sua election et perché fu mancatore di fede et fece innocentissimamente molti mali alla città di Firenze, dalla quale non haveva mai ricevuto se non bene, et, che è peggio, non apprezò anzi disprezò il parlare del propheta & non observò le imposizioni & comanda- menti & sua divini consigli; per questo adunque epso re, ad similitudine del prefato segno celeste, mancò prestamente di luce & di regno spirituale & temporale, & etiam di vita corporale, imperò che Dio prestamente gli fece rebellare & perdere tucto il reame di Napoli, che senza difficoltà haveva obtenuto. Dipoi gli amazò l'unico suo figliuolo, et dipoi lo percosse nella propria persona & miseramente lo fece di mala morte perire, idest di morte subitanea nella città dove nacque [...] allato di una stalla di cani & bracchi da salvaggioine [...] et così Dio lo fece miseramente morire in quello fetore senza confessione & comunione & senza spatio alcuno di penitentia.<fnref n="46" />

In Luschino’s conception, the military and personal destiny of Charles are intimately connected with his messianic destiny, which

<footnote n="45">⁴⁵ Luschino, *Vulnera diligentis*, III, cap. 20, 262–263: »Negli anni del Signore 1493, cioè due anni prima che io lasciassi el seculo & venissi alla religione, andando io una nocte per la città di Firenze ad sollazo & solo [...] acchadde che essendo io prossimo alla chiesa di Sancto Pietro Maggiore [...] ecco che subito io incominciai ad vedere l’aria diventar chiara ad modo che fa quando apparisce l’alba del giorno [...] Et io, in questo così grande acceleramento di luce, incominciai alquanto ad temere, & mi turai mezo el volto con la cappa e lassai gli occhi scoperti per vedere, & tamen io non vedevo persona alcuna salvo che questa gran luce. [...] Ma non havendo io ardire d’alzare gli occhi al cielo per vedere che romore & che grande luce fussi questa, ecco che la luce incominciò alquanto addeclinare, & el grande romore dell’aria incominciò ad lontanarsi dal mio audito, et in uno subito cessò il romore & mancò la luce et diventò nocte tenebrosissima come prima«.</footnote>

<footnote n="46">⁴⁶ Luschino, *Vulnera diligentis*, III, cap. 20, 264. Charles VIII in fact died near the stables, a few hours after banging his forehead on the lintel of a door. See Y. La-bande-Mailfert, *Charles VIII. Le vouloir et la destinée*, Paris 1985, 451–452. Many were the accounts and explanations of the causes of the death of the king; see Bian-cardi, *La chimera di Carlo VIII*, 777–779. The son to whom Luschino refers is Charles Orland, born in 1492 and died in 1495. On the funeral ceremony of Charles, see</footnote>

<footnote>A. Boureau, *Le simple corps du roi. L’impossible sacralité des souverains français, XVe-XVIII siècle*, Paris 1988, 24–42.</footnote>
in turn depends on the sovereign's degree of faith, as well as on his willingness to adapt to the design that God has established for him. Since Charles cannot stay true to the divine will, he also loses everything that depended on it, that is the kingdom, the family - which represents the possibility of continuity in the kingdom - and even life itself. These things are lost in a despicable way, amid the stench of the stables, next to a pack of barking hunting dogs.

Completely different is the portrait of Charles presented by Bernardo Rucellai in the *De Bello Italico*, which stands out in the network of texts we are dealing with. Rucellai was a Florentine diplomat and, among his many duties, he also took part in the delegation sent to meet Charles VIII in Naples; he was one of the first to realize the enormous importance this event would have for the destiny of Florence. A contemporary of Lorenzo the Magnificent and member of an important family of Florentine merchants, Bernardo opposed the Savonarolian-inspired reforms, as well as the vision that underpinned them. From his work, a nostalgia for the time of Lorenzo and contempt for the weakness of Piero is evident,<fnref n="47" /> but he ascribed much of the responsibility for the coming of Charles to Pope Alexander VI.<fnref n="48" /> Written in Latin, with frequent references to classical culture and quotations from Sallust, Cicero and Pliny, Rucellai's work is far from subscribing to the prophetic ideal of Charles as a messiah and liberator of Christianity, a fact evidenced in the beginning of the text, where the French king is described as a »prodigious monster«:

> Res gestas memoria nostra scribere aggressus, doleo non et mihi licere quod Phidiae ac Praxiteli ceterisque Graecis hominibus in fingendo pingendoque libuit, quibus praecipuum fuit ut potius deorum, regum atque imperatorum quam portentosi monstri effigiem exprimerent.<fnref n="49" />

Later, Rucellai recalls the physical characteristics of the king by relating them to the way in which his father Louis XI had raised him, far

<footnote n="47">⁴⁷ Bernardo Rucellai, *De bello Italico*, cap. 10, 52.</footnote>

<footnote n="48">⁴⁸ Bernardo Rucellai, *De bello Italico*, cap. 11, 52.</footnote>

<footnote n="49">⁴⁹ Bernardo Rucellai, *De Bello Italico*, cap. 1, 43. The expression »portentosi monstri« refers to the qualities and actions of Charles, but also to his appearance: Charles's ugliness is described in most of the contemporary sources. See C. De Frede, »Più simile a mostro che a uomo». La bruttezza e l'incultura di Carlo VIII nella rappresentazione degli italiani del Rinascimento«, in: *Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renais-sance* 6 (1982), 545-585; Biancardi, *La chimera di Carlo VIII*, cap. 1; Lignereux, *Les rois imaginaires*, 21-37; S. Bertelli, »Li portamenti del Re Carlo«, in: Fiorato (ed.), *Italie 1494*, 121-141.</footnote>
from the Paris court, almost hidden, entrusted to men of humble
origins:

Fuit Carolus Alovysii filius, eius qui carolum Belgarum principem, animo simul et armis invadentem Galliam, Helvetiorum virtutem oppressit. Is, propterea morbo comitali diu laborasset, filium haud iusto corporis habitu genuit, deditque educandum procul a cultu regio fidis hominibus humilique fortuna ortis, qui tantummodo eius regerent.<fnref n="50" />

As reported by Bernardo, some say that his father kept him hidden
because of his deformity. According to others, it was the religious
spirit of Louis that pushed him to keep his son away from the eyes of
the court, to create a sort of mystery around the young prince, a
superstition, an almost religious belief in the figure of Charles:

Hic varia fama est: alii quod indecentis formae ac paene monstruosum
puer- um successorum regno in publico conspici rex gravaretur, humiliter
educan- dum fuisse aiunt; alii, ut erat Alovysius ingenio callido atque
religionis ostentator, servandam quasi in arcanis altam indolem voluisse
ad iniicien- dam superstitionis populis religionem inesse aliquid numinis
adulto filio. Ea enim gens Gallica est ut superstitione ducatur regesque
suos quasi diis prog- natos pie sancteque veneretur.<fnref n="51" />

Although in his youth he showed himself to be a noble soul, Charles
behaves like a fierce and violent plunderer in Italy, especially in Cam-
pania:

At Gallus, natura ferox, vehemens, plurimum interesse putavit ad confi-
ciendum bellum si obstinatum oppidanorum animum truculento excidio
testaretur direptioneque sibi obstringeret militum voluntates, quo promp-
tiores ad omnia pericula subenda foret.<fnref n="52" />

Bernardo studs the beginning of his work with black portraits, telling
the story with an air of negativity and pessimism. Charles, a barbar-
ian destroyer, is not even the absolute protagonist of this event of
devastation: the politics of the Italian states is insufficient, deficient,
weak, and the actors are inept individuals ruled by their passions
and thirst for wealth, none more so than Piero de' Medici and
Alessan- dro VI. Moreover, according to Rucellai, the Borgia pope is
primarily responsible for what happened: his actions, coupled with
his greed, are the root of the ruinous events that followed.

<footnote n="50">⁵⁰ Bernardo Rucellai, *De bello Italico*, cap. 15, 56.</footnote>

<footnote n="51">⁵¹ Bernardo Rucellai, *De bello Italico*, cap. 16, 58.</footnote>

<footnote n="52">⁵² Bernardo Rucellai, *De bello Italico*, cap. 94, 122.</footnote>
7. Charles VIII in the Vaki'at-i Sultan Cem

The shadow that hangs over Alexander VI never leaves him in the *De Bello Italico*, and comes back in a passage of considerable interest for this study, a passage in which Rucellai recalls the story of Prince Cem, who in 1494 was in Rome as a hostage in the hands of the pope:

His diebus paucis quibus haec acta sunt, accidit quod memoratu dignum existimavimus, cum ad maximam Caroli gloriam, Alexandri vero insigne scelus spectet, quo ipse gravi diuturnaque infamia flagravit. Aderat tum romae lemin Othoman, Mahometi regis filius, qui, Constantinopoli de Graecis capta, in Europa magnum atque latum imperium sibi comparavit.

53

A privileged source of knowledge of the goings-on regarding Cem is a work that has a peculiar origin, at least from the geo-cultural point of view, and shares with the aforementioned texts the idea of Charles as a savior or a liberator. It is the Vaki'at-i Sultan Cem, a text written in Turkish in 1514 by a member of the retinue of Sultan Cem who unfortunately remained anonymous. <fnref n="54" />

Cem – also referred to as Djem or Zizim – was the son of the Sultan Mohammed II, who at his death in 1481 had left open the question of succession to the imperial throne. It was the eldest of his sons, Bayezid II, who prevailed, while Cem decided to leave his land to take refuge, after some wandering, in the Rhodes headquarters of the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. This attempt to seek protection, even in view of a new confrontation with his brother, proved very ill-conceived, since the Knights of Rhodes kept Cem prisoner in exchange for a considerable amount of money paid by the acting sultan. The agreement signed with Bayezid II between 1482 and 1483 effectively made Prince Cem an instrument by which to carry out military exchanges and diplomatic or economic agreements

<footnote n="53">53 Bernardo Rucellai, *De bello Italico*, cap. 92, 118.</footnote>

<footnote n="54">⁵⁴ The text in Turkish is included in Vaki’at-i sultan Cem, ed. M. Arif, Istanbul 1914. A critical edition, following a sole manuscript (Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 53, XV sec.), has been published by N. Vatin, *Sultan Djem. Un Prince Ottoman dans l’Europe du XVe siècle d’après deux sources contemporaines: Vaki’at- i Sultan Cem, Œuvres de Guillaume Caoursin*, Ankara 1997, together with a French translation. The goings-on regarding Prince Cem are collected in chronological order, with some documents published in the appendix, in the volume by L. Thouasne, *Djem-Sultan. Fils de Mohammed II, frère de Bayezid II* (1459–1495), d’après les documents originaux en grande partie inédits. *Études sur la question d’Orient a la fin du XVe siècle*, Paris 1892.</footnote>
between the Ottoman Empire and Europe until his death in Italy in 1495.<fnref n="55" /> The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem worked to isolate Cem so that he could not establish diplomatic relations with representatives of other countries. Such isolation was particularly evident in the years that the prince spent in France, from 1483 to 1489, a period in which he never managed to meet Charles VIII, despite repeated attempts.<fnref n="56" /> After the French years, Cem was sold to Pope Innocent VIII<fnref n="57" />, who exploited his presence in Rome to keep the Bayezid II's expansionist designs at bay, threatening to send the prince and potential heir to the throne back to his homeland. Furthermore, Innocent VIII, and later Alexander VI, associated the presence of Cem in Italy with the plans for a new Crusade to free the Holy Land from the infidels. References to such plans, which were both political and ideological-spiritual, continued to be used and perceived as a diplomatic tool to arouse interest or threaten military actions, both internationally – between France and Turkey – and nationally, between the different domains of the Italian peninsula. As regards the text, the most interesting part for our study is that which comes just before the death of Cem, namely the moment when, while in Rome, the sultan manages to get in touch with Charles VIII, who was pre-

<footnote n="55">⁵⁵ On the subject of diplomatic relations between East and West in this period, in particular with France, see C. Isom-Verhaaren, *Allies with the Infidel. The Ottoman and French Alliance in the Sixteenth Century*, London / New York 2011, which devotes an interesting chapter to the case of Cem from the diplomatic point of view and as a protagonist of the *Vaki’at-i*. Among the most relevant studies, we can surely mention that of Setton, *The Papacy and the Levant*; see also G. Káraman, R. G. Păun (eds.), *Europe and the Ottoman World: Exchanges and Conflicts: Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries*, Istanbul 2013; on the crossed contacts and travel reports, see *Turcs et turqueries, XVI-XVIIIe siècles*, Paris 2009.</footnote>

<footnote n="56">⁵⁶ See D. Delhoume, *Le Turc et le chevalier. Djem Sultan, un prince ottoman entre Rhodes et Bourganeuf au XVe siècle. The Ottoman prince and the knight*, Limoges 2004. It was Pierre d'Aubusson, Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, who made the agreement with Bayezid II to keep Cem prisoner for six years in the castles of the order in France, as well as to mediate for the transfer of the hostage to the pope. This mediation gave d'Aubusson the cardinalate in 1489; see the documents edited by J.-B. de Vaivre, L. Vissière (eds.), »Tous les deables de l'Enfer». *Relations du siège de Rhodes par les Ottomans en 1480*, Genève 2014; Thouasne, *Djem-Sultan*; Setton, *The Papacy and the Levant*.</footnote>

<footnote n="57">⁵⁷ H. Inalcik, »A Case Study in Renaissance Diplomacy: The Agreement between In- nocent VIII and Bayezid II Regarding Djem Sultan«, in: H. Inalcik (ed.), *The Middle East and the Balkans under the Ottoman Empire. Essays on Economy and Society*, Bloomington 1995 (Indiana University Turkish Studies, 9), 342–368.</footnote>
paring his military campaign in Italy at the time. Here, the history of
the French king is reconstructed and fictionalized in light of the pre-
sence of Cem at the papal curia. In keeping with what really hap-
pened, the French king is said to have been kept away from Cem on
purpose, and the *Vaki'at-i* emphasizes the bond of spontaneous sym-
pathy that existed between them. Thanks to a *kapudan*, i. e. a guar-
dian assigned to Cem when he left France for Rome, he manages to
clarify the misunderstandings that had hindered relations with
Charles<fnref n="58" /> and he begins to engage him in a friendship that will cause,
in the fiction of the story, the king to invade Italy to finally free the
Turkish prince. The *kapudan* assumes the role of mediator between
two figures who are historical and symbolic at the same time. Their
dialogue is a sign of the need for an exchange between East and West,
a relationship that goes further than mutual threats and aggression,
and the sort of deep diplomatic bond that would materialize later,
during the reign of Francis I of France.<fnref n="59" /> As for the relations described in
the text between Cem and Charles, there is a sort of crescendo:
firstly, the *kapudan*, and then another messenger, describe the prai-
seworthy personality of the Turkish prince to the French king, who
asks the pope to give him custody of the prisoner. Faced with the
umpteenth refusal, the king takes up arms:

Il [i. e. Charles] destitua ces beys qui lui trompaient, et envoya à
nouveau au pape un capitaine de confiance en demandant le bey [i. e.
Cem]. Celui-ci arriva et fit connaissance avec le défunt, dont il devint
l'ami de tout son coeur. À nouveau le pape renvoya d'une manière ou
d'une autre, et celui-la aussi revenu auprès du bey de France lui loua si
bien le défunt, décrivit si bien ses qualités dignes de louange que
l'affectueux intérêt du roi pour le

<footnote n="58">⁵⁸ Vaki’at-i Sultan Cem, in: Vatin, *Sultan Djem*, 218–220: »Quand ce roi de France demandait à ses beys de lui amener le fils du bey Turc pour qu’il le vît, ils [i. e. the knights] répondaient invariablement par la mensonge suivante: C’est un être sau-vage. Quand on mentionne en sa présence le roi de France, il insulte le roi et notre religion et dit: Je n’irai pas là-bas. Cela m’ennuie [...] De son côté, au fur et à mesure che le défunt [i. e. Cem] se sentait mal à l’aise, il disait: Conduisez-moi auprès du roi de France, que je lui expose ma situation. Jusqu’à quand subirai-je ainsi la prison? [...] Ils disaient: Hélas mon sultan, le roi de France ne veut pas qu’un Turc entre dans sa ville. Il dit que dans son pays un pied Turc ne doit pas fouler le sol, et interdit que vous y marchiez«. See also the following pages, 222–224, in which it is said that Cem decides to give Charles one of the two white horses received as a gift from the pontiff, as a sign of friendship.</footnote>

<footnote n="59">⁵⁹ See Isom-Verhaaren, *Allies with the Infidels*, and Setton, *The Papacy and the Levant*.</footnote>
bey défunt devint plus grand encore. Quand pour finir le roi de France fut informé des vices et des impostures de ces gens-là, il rassemblea son armée, et fit mouvement sur Rome.<fnref n="60" />

According to the facts as represented by this work, the most-Christian King Charles decides to invade Italy to rescue an Ottoman prince, an infidel according to the common definition. Even Pope Alexander VI plays a negative role, a surprising depiction given that, theoreti-cally, one would expect him to side with the king who was defending Christianity: therefore, not only does a Christian king intervene in favor of a Turkish prince, but he also does so against the will of the pontiff, a corrupt figure who is severely judged by Rucellai and by the anonymous author of the *Vak'iat-i*, both of whose reports caused scandal in relating the story of the ceremony of the gestatorial chair, as well as the much-freedissipated customs of the pope.

It is an upheaval that concerns the whole context of the military action of Charles. It is no longer merely his claims to the throne of Naples or his project to free the Holy Land that are at stake. The prevailing attitude towards Cem is that it is necessary to restore freedom and dignity back to a noble man like him, a victim of injustice and economic and political interests, even if he is of a different religion and culture. Once he had arrived in Rome, in fact, as several contemporary historians record, Charles took care of Cem, who followed him during his campaign. Upon the king's entrance to the city, the pope asks Cem: »Le roi de France veut vous emmener avec lui. Quelle est votre volonté, mon bey?« and after some days of mediation »on le remit au roi«.<fnref n="61" />

Unfortunately, the prince fell ill and soon died. The death of the sultan, which Rucellai blames on poisoning by Alexander VI, is described in this source with an inexorable succession of rapidly worsening symptoms: King Charles calls the best doctors and tries to encourage him to heal, reminding him that he is now a free man. It is a useless freedom at this point, but one regained nonetheless thanks to the most-Christian Charles VIII of France.

<footnote n="60">⁶⁰ Vaki'at-i Sultan Cem, in: Vatin, *Sultan Djem*, 224–226.</footnote>

<footnote n="61">⁶¹ Vaki'at-i Sultan Cem, in: Vatin, *Sultan Djem*, 230.</footnote>
8. Conclusion

With this survey of texts, we wanted to outline the way in which
historical events affected intellectual production between 15th and
16th centuries: authors with different purposes and cultural back-
grounds were influenced by political facts and figures, as their works
testify. In an era in which the rebirth of classical Latin was celebrated,
and the ancient sources helped to shape a vision of reality and history,
vernacular language – in this case Italian, French and Turkish – main-
tained its prerogative and strengthened its presence in the context of
political thought and historical narration. Putting aside the works
commonly considered philosophical, such as the treatises and com-
mentaries on Aristotelian texts, we wanted to show that other textual
genres are better suited to incorporating the immediacy and urgency
of the historical facts, as well as the needs, which such texts represent.
Our case deals with a precise idea of regality and power, namely the
formation and consolidation of a royal figure who has the traits of the
leader and is characterized by a mission that is both political and re-
ligious, who is endowed with the messianic traits of the second Char-
lemagne, i. e. the king-savior and king-liberator of the Holy Land.
The writing of the texts follows the progression of the military cam-
paign. It begins in France during the preparations for the expedition
and continues towards Italy, following the army, with a concentration of
texts in the area of Florence. Such a city is an ideal place, indicated in
the prophecy of *Karolus* and in the Savonarolian visions, as well as
being a real stage of the French march. It is a point at which history
and prophecy meet, in the name of a faith that is secular and religious
at the same time, and sees the secular actions of the sovereign as help-
ing to secure the salvation of the whole of Christianity. Utopia and
history seem almost to meet in these texts, mutually nurtured in the
reconstruction and narration of the past and the future.