The Borgias by Christopher Hibbert Page A

said that he wished to escort the king back to the royal apartments, but this Charles VIII ‘categorically refused to allow.’ He was therefore accompanied by the cardinals as far as the entrance, where they left him. The doors were guarded by Scottish mercenaries, who had the special duty of guarding the French king and allowed none to enter except for members of the royal household.
    Two days later, on January 18, having managed neatly to side-step two of Charles VIII’s demands – the calling of a council to address the issue of the reform of the church and papal recognition of his claim to Naples – Alexander VI did give him formal permission to pass freely through the Papal States, a somewhat Pyrrhic victory for the young king, who already held most of the territory north of Rome and knew that the pope did not have the forces necessary to prevent him from taking the rest, if he wanted it. In return, the pope had extracted a promise from Charles VIII that he would profess his obedience to the pope in public.
    This was a diplomatic triumph for Alexander VI. A month earlier he had been under siege, his city in an uproar, his hold on power tenuous at best; now he had fully reestablished his authority. The terms of the agreement were formally read out and written up, ‘in French for His Majesty and in Latin for the Pope.’

— C HAPTER 7 —
     

The Conquest of Naples
    ‘T HEY RAPED THE WOMEN , THEN ROBBED THEM ’
     
    O VER THE NEXT FEW DAYS , Charles VIII was seen to adhere to his side of the bargain. On January 19, 1495, Burchard noted, ‘the Sala Regia in the Vatican was prepared in the traditional way for the public consistory in which the King of France would take his solemn oath of obedience.’ When everything was ready, the pope asked Burchard to inform the king, ‘whom we found beside the fire in his room, wearing his doublet and his boots still not laced.’ On being told that his presence was requested, the king, wiser than before, replied that he still ‘had to dress, and when he had done so, he intended to hear mass in St Peter’s, and then to dine and that after this he would come to His Holiness.’ When the cardinals, who were to escort Charles VIII to the Sala Regia, arrived at his rooms, they found him still at table and were forced to wait, seated on the window seats. He further delayed by insisting that Burchard repeatagain and again the order of the ceremony, and it was some two hours before the royal party finally arrived.
    In the magnificent setting of the Sala Regia, designed specifically for the reception of kings and emperors, or their ambassadors, Charles VIII addressed the pope: ‘Most Holy Father,’ he intoned, ‘I have come to render homage and reverence to Your Holiness in the same way as my predecessors the Kings of France have done.’ On January 28, when Charles VIII took leave of Alexander VI, they parted in sincere amity or, as Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere thought, in abject surrender on the part of the king. The master of ceremonies described their parting:
    King and Pope remained closeted together for a short time, and were then joined by Cesare Borgia for a further quarter of an hour after which His Majesty was escorted by the Pope and his cardinals as far as the passage leading to the upper apartments of the palace. There the King knelt down, bareheaded, and the Pope, removing his own cap, kissed him, but refused quite firmly to allow the King to smother his feet with kisses, which His Majesty seemed to want to do. The King then departed.
     
    Leaving with Charles VIII, to accompany the king to Naples in the guise of a papal legate, though in reality a hostage for Alexander VI’s good behaviour, was Cesare. He kept the king waiting while he returned briefly to his apartments: ‘At last Cesare appeared, wearing his cardinal’s hat, and, with His Holiness’s permission, mounted his horse beside the King. To His Majesty he presented six exceedingly beautiful horses,