It was impossible to tell whether Sigismund revered Hus or despised him, whether he sought Church reform or would stop it. The man was the shiftiest kind of a, fool, Cossa saw.
`Why not?' he, said.
`Enough of Hus. We should speak of Benedict and, Gregory.'
`The – ah -. anti-popes.'
`Then call them by name – Da Luna and Corrario.'
`Precisely. I propose to call on Corrario at Rimini. He must attend Kostanz.'
`All that is necessary is that he resign,'' Cossa said.
`Oh. Well! All three popes must resign,' Sigismund said piously. `So that we may begin again,' he added brightly.
As Sigismund's force of arms moved out of Lodi then northwards to cross the Alps, the Holy Father returned to Bologna on the Ides of March, which was the marchesa's birthday. On his arrival he was given the news that Ladislas had announced in Perugia that he would sack Bologna and take Cossa prisoner. The anxiety in Bologna was so great that the cardinals and the curia sent their gold and jewels to Venice for safe-keeping: Cossa raged at the marchesa even as he sank into the torpor of Neapolitan fatalism. `You are wasting my life with your schemes,' he snarled at her. `All these elaborate plans to draw in the protection of the mighty Sigismund! Then, when you have almost destroyed me by such a prolonged exposure to the insufferable boob, two days after he disappears with his army over the Alps, Ladislas gets ready to attack me. What was the use of Sigismund but to bring about a council which will not only lead to general reform. of a perfectly sound institution, but will undoubtedly clamour for my resignation as well? Whose side are you on? Ladislas will probably have crucified me in St Peter's Piazza before word can even reach Sigismund that our common enemy is advancing on Bologna.'
'There is nothing wrong with your alliance with Sigismund,' the marchesa told him. `The fault here is with Ladislas. He is insane. He cannot be allowed to continue his constant wars, The pox has affected his brain.'
`Then stop him.'
'Cosimo wants him stopped. You want him stopped. There will probably be no Council of Konstanz unless he is stopped.'
'We have talked enough about it,' Cossa said roughly. `Go to Perugia and see that it is done. Take Palo. Take anyone or anything you need. We should have thought of this long ago: Stop him.'
"You are asking me to undergo considerable risk.'
'I am only telling you to stop him.'
'If I am capable of stopping; him at the moment when he brings great danger to your papacy, then it becomes a business matter.
Your business is threatened, so you choose me as your specialist to remove the threat. That is worth something.'
`I'll pay you three thousand florins.'
`Who else can do this for you? Palo? Can Palo as much as approach the King of Naples?'
`How much do you want?'
`It is your papacy, Cossa. You must know how much it is worth to you.'
`Five thousand florins!' he snapped. `Ten thousand.'
`Seven thousand.' `Ten Thousand.'
`You guarantee that I will be rid of him?'
`As always, dear man, that is our understanding. If I fail to provide what you wanted to buy, then I cannot charge you for, it.'
`We are not talking about money any more. Will you pluck Ladislas off my back?'
`I have a double incentive now, haven't I? You should have thought of this much sooner.'
45
The marchesa held an open safe conduct to Perugia from King Ladislas of Naples which Rosa had obtained during, the time in which Spina had been Gregory's ambassador to the Neapolitan court. She rode in among her bodyguard through Perugia's north gate, beside my own bulky, white-bearded civilian presence – not on that day in my capacity as a member of the sacred college of cardinals – to her villa on the outskirts of the city. As we travelled„ I took occasion to ask her why she had requested me for the journey – that is, I could understand why she would feel, that she needed me, but why as a civilian? Why not as a cardinal?
'Because you are a superb actor, Franco Ellera,' she said. `And, being such a distinguished man yourself, it is all, the better for our plan that you play the part of a distinguished man…' I understood her.
After two days of resting she sent a note to the local physician, Dott. Ezio Bazoni. `Dear Master,' the letter said. `For a short time, it will be my privilege to entertain as guest at my house the celebrated Jean-Marie de Valhubert, physician to the King of France and to the Duke of Burgundy, as well as being Chancellor of the Department of Medicine at the University of Paris. While in Perugia, he has expressed the wish to meet you, hoping to exchange views with you upon the state of the arts of medicine, so I intrude upon your busy life, to invite you and your daughter Elvira to dine with us in two days' time. I remain, your votary, Decima di Artegiana.'
`Esteemed Marchesa,' Dott. Bazoni replied. `The reputation of Jean Marie Valhubert is esteemed throughout Europe. I am overwhelmed with honour that he should wish to exchange views with me. Although my daughter devoutly hopes to be able to attend you at dinner in two days' time, her duties at the court may prevent this. Your faithful servant who kisses your hand, Ezio Bazoni.'
`It will be useless to have him here without her,' the marchesa said to me.
'Perhaps -if you would explain what we are doing?' `Who is Cossa's worst enemy?'
`Cossa, I suppose.'
`No, no – who beside himself?'
`Ladislas?'
`Yes. And the daughter of this man,' she held up Bazoni's note, `is Ladislas's lover. Through her, we will, remove Ladislas as Cossa's enemy.
'Remove?'
She shrugged. `We do it for Cossa's papacy and to ensure the possibility of the Council of Konstanz.',
'Why do you keep saying we? This is: the first I've heard about it.'
`You have a small part to play. Surely you would do that to help your friend.' The girl will do everything, actually.'
Elvira Bazoni came to dinner at the Villa di Artegiana with her lather. She was a tiny, full-bosomed and wondrously stupid woman of sixteen, whose masses of dense curls were grape-red. She resembled Ladislas in other ways. She had crafty eyes, sharp elbows and an astonishing basso voice. Her father had impressed her with the fame of the great physician Jean-Marie Valhubert, even though he had never heard of the man. Dott. Bazoni considered that omission to bet normal enough thing for a man who had left Perugia only twice in his life. The marchesa, who knew everyone and everything, had told him who Valhubert was, and if the marchesa. said it that was enough to make Dott. Bazoni drunk on Valhubert's reputation.
As the royal physician, I was grave and not forthcoming. I refused to speak of medicine at first but gradually, as the marchesa drew, me out about my travels and my practices, it was revealed that the circumstances of contemporary life had forced me into pre-eminence for the treatment of the pox. As I told the Bazoni of treating Pope Benedict, the Doge of Venice and the Duke of Burgundy for the pox, Elvira Bazoni became thoughtful and more attentive. Dott. Bazoni became distracted. Immediately after dinner, the Bazoni apologized that they must leave at once because they were expected at the palace to attend the king.