mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Eleanor Herman
abandon her own antechamber.” 11 Finally, the beating heart of the
Vatican had been transferred to Olimpia’s own house.
But it did not last long. Cardinal Camillo, at least, had been a goodlooking
man with refined manners, dignified in his crimson robes.
When he had managed to climb out of bed, he had politely discussed
art, poetry, and gardening, though politics had seemed to escape him.
But poor little Cardinal Maidalchini was hopeless. Confronted with
experienced diplomats of the most powerful sovereigns in Europe, he
sat numb with terror as they spoke of treaties, trade agreements, war,
and taxation. His memory was awful, and he had a hard time sputtering
out the statements Olimpia had taught him the night before.
Olimpia persuaded her nephew to espouse the cause of Spain. “But
finding by degrees the little esteem the Spaniards had for him,” Leti
explained, “by their several times neglecting to call him to their Assemblies,
in which the intrigues of that Court were transacted, and all because
they knew he had not judgement enough to give them any
Councel, he turned to the French, who receiv’d him very readily, if for
no other reason to secure his voice in the Conclave.” 12 One good thing
did result from his hobnobbing with the French. Over time, Cardinal
Maidalchini picked up a veneer of French elegance, and his conversation
began to improve.
The Spaniards weren’t the only diplomats who found they were
wasting their time talking to a pimple-faced boy in a cardinal’s costume.
Other than the French, they all began sidestepping him and went
right to Cardinal Panciroli in the Vatican.
As a reward for Olimpia’s invaluable aid in obtaining the red hat for
Michel Mazarin, the queen of France suggested sending her a splendid
tapestry and a silver dinner service. But Mazarin, in a rare and egregious
miscalculation, instead sent Olimpia a large trunk of the queen’s
old clothes. The gowns, of the finest materials edged with the richest
lace, were valued at four thousand scudi, a significant sum. Perhaps the
prime minister thought Olimpia would be honored to have the clothes
of a queen who, a widow like her, always wore black. But he was dead
wrong, and Olimpia was highly insulted to be given hand-me-downs
from a queen or anyone else.
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