The General Council, to whom the results of these proceedings were communicated, published an edict of outlawry against Massimiliano and his three bravi.  A price of 500 crowns was put upon the head of each, wherever he should be killed; and 1,000 crowns were offered to any one who should kill Massimiliano within the city or state of Lucca.  At the same time they sent an envoy to Rome requesting the Pope’s permission to arrest Umilia, on the ground that she was gravely suspected of being privy to the murder, and of entering the convent to escape justice.  A few days afterwards, the miserable witnesses, Carli and Coreglia, were beheaded in their prison.

The Chancellor, Vincenzo Petrucci, left Lucca on June 12, and reached Rome on the 14th.  He obtained an audience from Clement VIII. upon the 15th.  When the Pope had read the letter of the Republic, he struck his palm down on his chair, and cried:  ’Jesus!  This is a grave case!  It seems hardly possible that a woman of her birth should have been induced to take share in the murder of her husband.’  After some conversation with the envoy, he added:  ’It is certainly an ugly business.  But what can we do now that she has taken the veil?’ Then he promised to deliberate upon the matter, and return an answer later.  Petrucci soon perceived that the Church did not mean to relinquish its privileges, and that Umilia was supported by powerful friends at court.  Cardinal Castrucci remarked in casual conversation:  ’She is surely punished enough for her sins by the life of the cloister.’  A second interview with Clement on June 21 confirmed him in the opinion that the Republic would not obtain the dispensation they requested.  Meanwhile the Signory of Lucca prepared a schedule of the suspicions against Umilia, grounded upon her confused evidence, her correspondence with Massimiliano, the fact that she had done nothing to rescue Lelio by calling out, and her sudden resort to the convent.  This paper reached the Pope, who, on July 8, expressed his view that the Republic ought to be content with leaving Umilia immured in her monastery; and again, upon the 23rd, he pronounced his final decision that ’the lady, being a nun, and tonsured and prepared for the perfect life, is not within the jurisdiction of your Signory.  It is further clear that, finding herself exposed to the calumnies of those two witnesses, and injured in her reputation, she took the veil to screen her honor.’  On August 13, Petrucci returned to Lucca.

Clement conceded one point.  He gave commission to the Bishop of Lucca to inquire into Umilia’s conduct within the precincts of the monastery.  But the council refused this intervention, for they were on bad terms with the Bishop, and resented ecclesiastical interference in secular causes.  Moreover, they judged that such an inquisition without torture used, and in a place of safety, would prove worse than useless.  Thus the affair dropped.