The Pope had achieved a stunning string of victories.
First he had convinced King Louis to return to France for the summer. Julius had sent Cardinal Alidosi to pay a visit to Louis in Milan. Alidosi assured Louis that the business with the Venetians was well in hand, and that there was no reason Louis could not spend the summer at home. Alidosi promised that Julius would defend all French possessions in Italy, and that the pope would never remove the interdict on Venice given that it would be an admission of wrongdoing.
King Louis XII
Meanwhile, Julius opened negotiations with Maximilian and Ferdinand.
Maximilian still longed to be crowned the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the pope in Rome, while Ferdinand still wanted to be invested as the rightful ruler of the Kingdom of Naples. These were favors Julius was happy to grant if the two were willing to come to his aid, if needed, in war against the French.
At the same time Julius continued to press hard on the Venetians. He demanded they pay back all of the revenue plus interest that was lost to the church when Venice held Romagnol cities. For that, he promised, he would absolve them and sign a truce with them.
Such a truce would invite the wrath of Louis, which was part of the plan.
If Louis came back to Italy and attacked Venice, Julius planned to switch sides and fight with the Venetians, against the French. He would only do that, however, after he extracted everything he could out of the Venetians.
The Venetians held firm until late fall, when word came from France that Louis was planning to return in the spring to finish off Venice. They needed Julius now, especially after he used to daughter Felice buy off the Orsini condottiere whom the Venetians were counting on for protection.
Felice della Rovere Orsini
Julius knew he was in a good position. He wrung every last ducat he could from the Venetians, and prepared to face up to the French.
The treaty with Venice was signed in Rome on 24 February 1510. The Venetians and the pope and all of his cardinals celebrated with a great mass in the Sistine Chapel.
Michelangelo was there too, looking down from the scaffold. As Julius embraced the Venetian ambassador he looked up at the painter and smiled.
