She broke out in such a ripple of sweet laughter that he became confused. `Not at all, Majesty,' she said.
`Then I confess, that I am perplexed.: Will you take me through it again?'
`There is nothing new here, Majesty. Certain things develop best secretly. Wherever there seems to be no apparent solution, as would seem to be the case here – where the pope certainly will not consent to call a council which could depose him, while at the same time you have no means to convoke such a meeting-` then, under such theoretical, circumstances, my special services become invaluable.'
`How invaluable?''
`Do you mean – how costly?'
`Well – yes.'
`It is negotiable. Always.'
'Do you assure results?'
`You pay me only when there are results.'
`I will tell you that all this interests me, Marchesa. I therefore commission you to convince the pope that he must meet with me to discuss my protection of the Church and his person – and the details of calling a council. For this I will pay you a retainer of a thousand florins and five thousand more to be paid on the day the pope and I agree to call a council.'
`I see.'
`One more thing: I must control the meeting place for the council itself. It must be held outside Italy.'
`That is intricate work for a mere thousand florins.' She groaned deeply within herself as she thought of the effort it would require to convince Cossa that such a council which would most certainly move to depose him should meet outside Italy, his own Italy, where; by numbers of his own clergy alone, he could overwhelm any vote. She felt certain that the matter of talking to Sigismund about calling a council at all would be considered treason by Cossa but she knew, and Cosimo di Medici knew, and Giovanni di Bicci di Medici knew, it was necessary for the common good of the entire European business community, if not for Cossa's.
`A mere thousand florins?'
`We have to settle the matter of expenses,' she said languidly.
Expenses?'
`Travel. Wear and tear. The maintenance of style. The presents and, bribes which will be necessary. All those things must be a part of our contract.'
42
At dawn the next day, the marchesa, Maria Louise, their household of ninety-one people and her colourfully uniformed escort of forty soldiers, my household of thirty-four people, including a somewhat drably uniformed-escort, rode out of Chur to travel across the Alps through Milan, where our parties would separate – the marchesa going on to Florence, I to Bologna. Cossa was no longer at San Antonio; he had returned to Bologna, Malatesta's forces having been driven out of the city by its soldiers and citizens, so great was the force of their economic need for their pope.
I had been instructed by the marchesa just to sit quietly and play the cardinal during the meetings with Sigismund, but that is not my way and I believe I conducted myself with considerable effect. There could be no doubt that King Sigismund would remember me, even if it did irritate her.
Maria Giovanna told me years later that, when the marchesa's households reached Florence, her mother bathed and slept for the remainder of the night – from six o'clock in the evening until dawn -sending word to Cosimo through Maria Giovanna, at whose house she was resting, to ask him to meet with her in the early morning. Cosimo came to Maria Giovanna's house shortly after dawn.
The marchesa told him of the outcome of the meeting. `Sigismund has retained me to arrange a meeting with Cossa so that he may persuade Cossa to call a council which would act to end the schism,' she said with more than a touch of arrogance.
`I don't know how you do it, Decima. My father will be enormously pleased.'
`You don't really want to know how I do it as long as I get it done.'
He smiled. `We have to be sure that Cossa thinks Sigismund is being drawn into his scheme for the protection of Cossa's papacy.'
`I may have done that already. I should think the, first shock for Cossa wail be when Sigismund tells him that a council must be called to reform the Church as the only way to dissolve the schism.'
That is a good risk. Cossa is desperate. Ladislas turned him into the papal waif of San Antonio.'
`He is a man. He wants to believe in himself, and the basis of his belief is the awe and respect in which he holds his cunning. He will feel – and I will help him along in that feeling – that he can agree to the meeting to get, Sigismund's protection, then that he can outmanoeuvre Sigismund when it comes to calling a council.'
`You can always point to the Council of Pisa to reassure Cossa. No prince had his way at Pisa. No reform resulted from Pisa. Only cardinals can make reforms and accept the resignations of popes. You can certainly feed all that to him. Cossa knows that he controls the cardinals – or believes that he does. He will assume that Sigismund will be powerless. He will feel safe.'
'I wish he were in different work,' the marchesa said wistfully. `I am fond of Cossa: I wish he had stayed in his family's business. It will be hard for him when, once the council gets into full sway, everything is reversed and he loses the cardinals.'
`Don't worry about Cossa. The bank will take care of Cossa. Have you found the way to subvert the cardinals?'
'Yes,' she said (almost) sadly. `We will need to instruct the bank's inside man at the council whoever he will be – to organize the nations to isolate the cardinals… Who is our man?'
'Two. D'Ailly and Spina.'
`D'Ailly has the eloquence. And Spina, God knows, has the deviousness. All they have to do is to see that the council decrees that only the vote of nations can carry any reforms, not any majority of cardinals or Italian prelates. The nations, must see to it that the three popes resign.
`You really do have a knack for these things, Decima,' Cosimo said admiringly.
`There is other business today.'
`What else?'
`Ladislas wants to negotiate a loan of one hundred thousand florins so: that he can continue his war against Cossa. It is important.
Cossa has to be kept stretched on the rack so that he needs the protection of Sigismund and so that, because of his fear of Ladislas, he will agree to call a council.'
`How did it come to you?'
`From Ladislas to Spina to Rosa.'
Who will negotiate the loan? It must be a secret thing.'
Rosa will go to Naples on her honeymoon with Pippo Span. She has explained that she must arrange for the shipment of her clothing and furniture. Rosa will negotiate the loan.'
`Tell her to encourage him to ask for double the amount.'
'No. Keep it at a hundred, thousand. 'I don't want Ladislas to be able to crush Cossa… You will need him to call the counciclass="underline" '
Cosimo grinned at her. `You are right. Better yet, tell Rosa to negotiate a loan for half as much as Ladislas wants.'
Cosimo told me about that conversation three months ago, ten years after it happened. He was as self-righteous as always, saving the Church from Cossa, its enemy whom he had put into the papacy – never remembering that what he was saving was the Medici bank and its branches, so that it could become bigger and bigger until some day it must own the earth.
The marchesa returned to Bologna two days later, taking Maria Louise with her. She joined Cossa and me for dinner at three o'clock in the morning in a small chamber which adjoined the working area in the papal palace and paid out to him a series of half-truths and flat lies about Sigismund and why he wanted to meet with Cossa. She told him that the king was obsessed with ending the schism and that he had volunteered that, should such a council demand the resignation of all three popes to restore unity, then he would unite the German vote with the Italians to see that Cossa would be immediately re-elected.