Part 7 - 1484
Just days after the coronation of Elizabeth as Queen of England and Maximilian as King of England jure-uxoris and the official announce of the second pregnancy of the young Queen more good news arrived in September. Pope Sixtus IV had died in the middle of August and the election of his successor at the end of that month, during one of the shortest and most packed papal conclaves, in the middle of the worst civil unrest Rome had ever seen during the sede vacante, signed by the open conflict between the Orsini and the Colonna families, more-or-less aligned with the two factions of Cardinals leaded by Cardinal Rodrigo Borja, Vice Chancellor of the Holy See (who wanted preserve peace in Italy) and Cardinal nephew Giuliano della Rovere, Dean of the College of Cardinals (who wanted instead affirm the papal power over the preservation of the peace) plus the danger of the election of the Venetian Cardinal Marco Barbo (Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals) in a moment in which the majority of the Cardinals was favorable to continue the isolation of Venice. Thanks to the decisive intervention of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza - uncle of the reigning Duke of Milan, who had become Cardinal only at the beginning of the year and received the formal investiture at his arrive in a Rome less than a month earlier - and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Cybo, who both pointed on the good relationship who the cardinal had in half-Europe, Vice Chancellor Rodrigo Borja was in the end elected as Pope, taking the name of Alexander VI. Comments on the corruption of that conclave were made and quickly forget as that was ordinary administration for the papal election and for that reason nobody was surprised in seeing Cardinal Cybo replacing the new Pope as Vice Chancellor or Cardinal Sforza becoming quickly one of the principal advisors of the new Pope...
Still in England, together with the news of his election arrived the information who Pope Alexander VI had read the files send by Cardinal Bourchier’s investigators and officially confirmed the validity of Edward IV’s wedding to Elizabeth Woodville and the full legitimacy of their children, together with the recognition of their eldest daughter Elizabeth as only legitimate sovereign of England.
Another well gradite news was the success of young Archduchess Marguerite at the French court: her fiancé King Charles VIII had taken a great liking of her and also the regent Anne de Beaujeu at least apparently was quickly becoming fond of her ward and future sister-in-law.
Still in England, together with the news of his election arrived the information who Pope Alexander VI had read the files send by Cardinal Bourchier’s investigators and officially confirmed the validity of Edward IV’s wedding to Elizabeth Woodville and the full legitimacy of their children, together with the recognition of their eldest daughter Elizabeth as only legitimate sovereign of England.
Another well gradite news was the success of young Archduchess Marguerite at the French court: her fiancé King Charles VIII had taken a great liking of her and also the regent Anne de Beaujeu at least apparently was quickly becoming fond of her ward and future sister-in-law.
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