Chapter 6: Old Injuries
Cardinal Tondolo’s funeral was held with solemn simplicity. In accordance with his will, his estates, castles, and other fixed assets were inherited by his eldest son, young Tondolo. Half of his 9,800 gold florins went to his eldest son, and the other half was divided equally among his remaining children. For this, they also paid the Pope a “notarization fee” of 11,000 gold florins.
The Pope’s income came from many sources. The main income was naturally the annual tithes and taxes from dioceses in various countries and the revenue from churches. Other sources included the regular position-retention fees paid by the clergy to Florence, the numerous taxes levied by Florence, and the fact that if a cleric died without a will, all their property would be confiscated by the Papal treasury.
However, just before his death, Pope Leo VI had gifted all the cash in the papal treasury to his relatives and children, leaving Rafael with a nearly bankrupt papal palace. The 11,000 gold florins in income only barely covered the shortfall from the papal coronation ceremony, leaving countless gaps in the funding for the Florence city guard, the papal guard, the salaries of the papal palace servants, and so on.
A pile of parchment scrolls covered the oak desk. A luxurious, long-haired carpet covered the entire room. Servants entered silently, turned a few valves, and the hissing of air passed through pipes buried in the ground and walls. The wicks in the glass covers suddenly lit up, and dozens of wall lamps emitted orange light one after another. Through the refraction of the gems on the lampshades, the study was enveloped in a dazzling glow.
The Pope, sitting behind the desk, held a beauty more dazzling than the light. He had taken off the gorgeous robes he wore when presiding over the funeral during the day, and was only wearing a simple white robe, with an ermine blanket draped over his knees. He held a quill in his left hand, and his right hand was pressed under the blanket, his brows slightly furrowed.
His recently washed long, golden hair was still damp, bound by a gold ring at the back of his head. The dampness had soaked through the thin clothing on his shoulders, but Rafael didn’t notice. He gripped his quill and signed the parchment.
At the beginning of his reign, there were holes everywhere that needed to be filled. Pope Leo VI had been very thorough, having distributed all of the Pope’s disposable assets to his relatives in various ways.
In fact, this was not surprising.
Most popes would do everything they could to enrich themselves, creating new taxes or establishing new dioceses and appointing new bishops, all of which were good ways to make money. Of course, they wouldn’t kindly give this money to their successors. Before being called by the Lord, every pope would plunder the papal treasury clean.