The marvel is rather that the fact should have roused so many speculations.

Alfonso was an autocratic princeling.

His favorite minister Montecatino fell in one moment from a height of power to irrecoverable ruin.

The famous preacher Panigarola, for whom he negotiated a Cardinal's hat, lost his esteem by seeking promotion at another Court, and had to fly Ferrara.

His friend, Ercole Contrario, was strangled in the castle on suspicion of having concealed a murder.