Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, Volume 2 (of 3)
by James Dennistoun · English · Gutenberg #44235 · 1,032,903 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, Volume 2 (of 3)
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, Volume 2 (of 3)
Author: James Dennistoun
Editor: Edward Hutton
Release date: November 21, 2013 [eBook #44235]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44235
Credits: E-text prepared by Suzanne Lybarger, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries (https://archive.org/details/toronto)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) ***
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 44235-h.htm or 44235-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/44235/pg44235-images.html)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44235/44235-h.zip)
Project Gutenberg has the other two volumes of this work.
Volume I: see https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42560
Volume III (including the index): see https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50577
Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
https://archive.org/details/memoirsofdukeso02dennuoft
Transcriber's note:
This work was originally published in 1851. As noted below,
footnotes marked by an asterisk were added by the editor
of the 1909 edition, from which this e-book was prepared.
Obvious printer errors have been corrected without note.
Other errors are indicated by a [Transcriber's Note].
Certain spelling inconsistencies have been made consistent;
for example, variants of Michelangelo's last name have been
changed to Buonarroti. Archaic spellings in English and
Italian have been retained as they appear in the original.
The original contains several letters with non-standard
tildes. These are represented in brackets, e.g., [~v].
Full-page illustrations have been moved so as not to break
up the flow of the text.
MEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO
Illustrating the Arms, Arts & Literature of Italy, 1440-1630
by
JAMES DENNISTOUN OF DENNISTOUN
A New Edition with Notes by Edward Hutton
& Over a Hundred Illustrations
In Three Volumes. VOLUME TWO
[Illustration]
London John Lane The Bodley Head
New York John Lane Company MCMIX
William Brendon and Son, Ltd., Printers, Plymouth
[Illustration: _Alinari_
ELISABETTA DI MONTEFELTRO, DUCHESS OF URBINO
_After the picture by Andrea Mantegna in the Uffizi Gallery,
Florence_]
CONTENTS
PAGE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS OF VOLUME II. ix
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. xi
BOOK THIRD
(_continued_)
OF GUIDOBALDO DI MONTEFELTRO, THIRD DUKE OF URBINO
CHAPTER XIX
The massacre of Sinigaglia--Death of Alexander VI.--Narrow
escape of Cesare Borgia 3
CHAPTER XX
Duke Guidobaldo restored--The Election of Julius II.--The
fall of Cesare Borgia--The Duke's fortunate position--Is
made Knight of the Garter--The Pope visits Urbino 23
CHAPTER XXI
The Court of Urbino, its manners and its stars 43
CHAPTER XXII
Emilia Pia--The _Cortegiano_--Death of Duke Guidobaldo,
succeeded by Francesco Maria della Rovere 72
BOOK FOURTH
OF LITERATURE AND ART UNDER THE DUKES DI MONTEFELTRO AT URBINO
CHAPTER XXIII
The revival of letters in Italy--Influence of the
princes--Classical tastes tending to pedantry and
paganism--Greek philosophy and its effects--Influence of
the Dukes of Urbino 93
CHAPTER XXIV
Count Guidantonio a patron of learned men--Duke
Federigo--The _Assorditi_ Academy--Dedications to
him--Prose writers of Urbino--Gentile Becci, Bishop of
Arezzo--Francesco Venturini--Berni of Gubbio--Polydoro di
Vergilio--Vespasiano Filippi--Castiglione--Bembo--Learned
ladies 109
CHAPTER XXV
Poetry under the Montefeltri--Sonnets--The Filelfi--Giovanni
Sanzi--Porcellio Pandonio--Angelo Galli--Federigo
Veterani--Urbani Urbinate--Antonio
Rustico--Naldio--Improvisatori--Bernardo Accolti--Serafino
d'Aquila--Agostino Staccoli--Early comedies--_La
Calandra_--Corruption of morals--Social position of women 130
CHAPTER XXVI
Mediæval art chiefly religious--Innovations of Naturalism,
Classicism, and Paganism--Character and tendencies of
Christian painting ill-understood in England--Influence of
St. Francis 157
CHAPTER XXVII
The Umbrian School of Painting, its scholars and
influence--Fra Angelico da Fiesole--Gentile da
Fabriano--Pietro Perugino--Artists at Urbino--Piero della
Francesca--Fra Carnevale--Francesco di Giorgio 184
CHAPTER XXVIII
Giovanni Sanzi of Urbino--His son, the immortal
Raffaele--Early influences on his mind--Paints at Perugia,
Città di Castello, Siena, and Florence--His visits to Urbino,
and works there 216
CHAPTER XXIX
Raffaele is called to Rome, and employed upon the
Stanze--His frescoes there--His other works--Change in his
manner--Compared with Michael Angelo--His death, character,
and style 235
CHAPTER XXX
Timoteo Viti--Bramante--Andrea Mantegna--Gian
Bellini--Justus of Ghent--Medals of Urbino 254
BOOK FIFTH
OF THE DELLA ROVERE FAMILY
CHAPTER XXXI
Birth and elevation of Sixtus IV.--Genealogy of the della
Rovere family--Nepotism of that pontiff--His improvements
in Rome--His patronage of letters and arts--His brother
Giovanni becomes Lord of Sinigaglia and Prefect of
Rome--His beneficent sway--He pillages a papal
envoy--Remarkable story of Zizim or Gem--Portrait of
Giovanni--The early character and difficulties of Julius
II.--Estimate of his pontificate 277
BOOK SIXTH
OF FRANCESCO MARIA DELLA ROVERE, FOURTH DUKE OF URBINO
CHAPTER XXXII
Youth of Duke Francesco Maria I.--The League of
Cambray--His marriage--His first military service--The
Cardinal of Pavia's treachery--Julius II. takes the field 313
CHAPTER XXXIII
The Duke routed at Bologna from the Cardinal of Pavia's
treason, whom he assassinates--He is prosecuted, but
finally absolved and reconciled to the Pope--He reduces
Bologna--Is invested with Pesaro--Death of Julius II. 334
CHAPTER XXXIV
Election of Leo X.--His ambitious projects--Birth of
Prince Guidobaldo of Urbino--The Pontiff's designs upon
that state, which he gives to his nephew--The Duke retires
to Mantua 351
CHAPTER XXXV
The Duke returns to his state--His struggle with the
usurper--His victory at Montebartolo 372
CHAPTER XXXVI
Continuation of the ruinous contest--The Duke finally
abandons it--Death of Lorenzo de' Medici--Charles V.
elected Emperor 391
CHAPTER XXXVII
Death of Leo X.--Restoration of Francesco Maria--He
enters the Venetian service--Louis XII. invades the
Milanese--Death of Bayard--The Duke's honourable reception
at Venice--Battle of Pavia 411
CHAPTER XXXVIII
New league against Charles V.--The Duke's campaign in
Lombardy--His quarrels with Guicciardini--Rome pillaged
by the Colonna--The Constable Bourbon advances into
Central Italy--The Duke quells an insurrection at
Florence 433
APPENDICES
I. Portraits of Cesare Borgia 459
II. Duke Guidobaldo I. of Urbino, a Knight of the Garter 462
III. Giovanni Sanzi's MS. Chronicle of Federigo,
Duke of Urbino 471
IV. Epitaph of Giovanni della Rovere 480
V. Remission and rehabilitation of Duke Francesco Maria I.
in 1512-13 481
VI. Letter from Cardinal Wolsey to Lorenzo de' Medici 484
GENEALOGICAL TABLES _At end of book_
ILLUSTRATIONS
Elisabetta di Montefeltro, Duchess of Urbino.
After the picture by Andrea Mantegna in the Uffizi
Gallery, Florence. (Photo Alinari) _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
Il Castello di Sinigaglia. (Photo Alinari) 10
Pope Julius II. From the picture by Raphael in the
Pitti Gallery, Florence. (Photo Anderson) 40
Portrait of a lady, her hair dressed in the manner
of the fifteenth century. From the picture by ? Verrocchio
in Poldo-Pezzoli Collection, Milan. (Photo Alinari) 44
A lady of the fifteenth century with jewels of the
period. (Photo Alinari) 48
Count Baldassare Castiglione. From a picture in the
Torlonia Gallery, Rome 50
Hair dressing in the fifteenth century. Detail from the
fresco by Pisanello in S. Anastasia of Verona. (Photo Alinari) 54
Cardinal Bembo. From a drawing once in the possession of
Cavaliere Agricola in Rome 62
Elisabetta Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino. From a lead medal
by Adriano Fiorentino in the British Museum. By the
courtesy of G.F. Hill, Esq. 72
Emilia Pia. From a medal by Adriano Fiorentino in the
Vienna Museum. By the courtesy of G.F. Hill, Esq. 72
Hair dressing in the sixteenth century. After a picture
by Bissolo. (Photo Alinari) 76
Portrait of a lady in mourning. After the picture by
Pordenone in the Dresden Gallery. (Photo R. Tammé) 84
S. Martin and S. Thomas with Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino,
and Bishop Arrivabeni. After the picture by Timoteo Viti
in the Duomo of Urbino. (Photo Alinari) 88
Baldassare Castiglione. After the picture by Raphael in
the Louvre. 120
Madonna del Belvedere. After the fresco by Ottaviano
Nelli in S. Maria Nuova, Gubbio 190
Madonna del Soccorso. After the gonfalone by a pupil of
Fiorenzo di Lorenzo in S. Francesco, Montone 196
Raphael, aged six years. From a picture once in the
possession of James Dennistoun 216
Raphael. After the portrait by himself in the Uffizi
Gallery, Florence. (Photo Anderson) 220
Madonna and child. After the picture by Giovanni Santi,
in the Pinacoteca of Urbino. (Photo Alinari) 224
Ecce Homo. From the picture by Giovanni Santi in the
Palazzo Ducale, Urbino. (Photo Alinari) 226
S. Sebastian. After the picture by Timoteo Viti in the
Palazzo Ducale, Urbino. (Photo Alinari) 228
Margherita "La Fornarina." After the picture by Raphael
called La Donna Velata in the Pitti Gallery, Florence.
(Photo Alinari) 230
Margherita "La Fornarina." After the spoiled picture by
Raphael in the Galleria Barberini in Rome. (Photo Anderson) 232
The Sposalizio. After the picture by Raphael, once in the
Ducal Collection at Urbino, now in the Brera, Milan.
(Photo Alinari) 240
Isabella of Aragon. After the picture by Raphael in the
Louvre 246
St. Sebastian. From the picture by Timoteo Viti in the
Palazzo Ducale, Urbino. (Photo Alinari) 254
Francesco Maria I. della Rovere. After the picture by
Titian in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. (From the Ducal
Collection.) (Photo Alinari) 314
Venetian wedding-dress in the sixteenth century. After
the picture called "La Flora" by Titian in the Uffizi
Gallery, Florence. (Photo Anderson) 316
Detail of the Urbino Venus. Supposed portrait of
Duchess Leonora, from the picture by Titian in the
Uffizi Gallery, Florence. (Photo Anderson) 320
The girl in the fur-cloak. Possibly a portrait of Duchess
Leonora of Urbino. After the picture by Titian in the
Imperial Gallery, Vienna. (Photo Franz Hanfstaengl) 324
Duchess of Urbino, either Eleonora or Giulia Varana.
After the picture by Titian in the Uffizi Gallery,
Florence. Painted _ca._ 1538. (Photo Brogi) 328
Leo X. After the picture by Raphael in the Pitti Gallery,
Florence. (Photo Anderson) 352
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici, Duke of Urbino. After the
picture by Bronzino in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
(Photo Alinari) 366
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
CHAPTER XIX
A.D. PAGE
1502. Dec. Valentino marches against Sinigaglia 3
" " 28. Which surrenders 4
" " 31. Cesare massacres the confederate chiefs 4
1503. Jan. 2. His letter to the authorities at Perugia 6
" Feb. 22. Cardinal Orsini poisoned at Rome 8
" Jan. Machiavelli's indifference to the massacre 8
" " General extinction of moral feeling 10
" " 18. Further murders of the chiefs 11
" " Valentino in the Val di Chiana 11
" " Jealousy of Louis XII. 11
" " State of affairs at Urbino 12
" June. Siege of San Leo 13
" " Relieved by a dexterous stroke 13
" The Pontiff's wholesale poisonings 15
" Aug. 18. To which he fell himself a victim 16
" " The various accounts of this examined 17
" " His character 19
" " Valentino's narrow escape from the same fate 19
" " His policy 20
" " Results of the Pope's death at Rome 21
" Sep. 22. Election of Pius III. 22
CHAPTER XX
1503. Aug. 22. Urbino resumes its allegiance 23
" " Guidobaldo returns from Venice 23
" " 28. And is welcomed enthusiastically 24
" He joins the other princes in a defensive
confederacy 24
" The fortunes of Valentino rally 25
" His wavering conduct 25
" Election of Julius II. 27
" Fatal to Valentino's prospects 27
" Nov. Guidobaldo's difficult position 28
" " The Pope's negotiation with Borgia 29
1504. April. Who escapes to Naples 30
" But is sent prisoner to Spain 30
1507. Mar. 10. His death 31
1503. Guidobaldo's fortunate position 31
" Nov. 20. Summoned to Rome 32
" " His favour with the Pope 32
" " 15. The Duchess returns home from Venice 33
" " His interview with Valentino 33
" " Represented in a fresco 33
1504. He is named Gonfaloniere of the Church 34
" And invested with the Garter of England 34
" June 1. Returns home, accompanied by Count
Castiglione 34
" Feb. Strange pastimes there 34
" His brief campaign 35
" And happy residence at Urbino 35
" His installation as generalissimo of the
papal forces 36
" Sep. His nephew, the young Prefect, invested as
his heir-apparent 37
" Claims of Venice upon Romagna 38
1505. Guidobaldo summoned to visit the Pope 38
1506. July. Returns home 39
" Aug. 26. Julius sets out for Romagna 39
" Sep. 25. His magnificent reception at Urbino 39
" " Tariff of provisions there 40
" Reaches Bologna 41
" His statue there, and its fate 42
1507. Mar. 3. Revisits Urbino on his return to Rome 42
CHAPTER XXI
1507. The cultivated tastes of the princes
in Romagna 43
" The Court of Urbino described by Count
Castiglione, in his _Cortegiano_ 44
" The requisites of a lady of that court 45
" State of female refinement and morals 46
" Coarseness of language and wit 47
" Poetical and social pastimes 49
" Sketch of the prominent personages there 50
" Count Baldassare Castiglione 51
" He goes to England 52
" His marriage, and conjugal affection 53
" His portraits 53
" His death and character 55
" Giuliano de' Medici 56
" Cesare Gonzaga 58
" Ottaviano Fregoso 58
" Cardinal Federigo Fregoso 59
" Bembo's letter on his death 61
" Cardinal Bembo 62
" His attachment to Lucrezia Borgia 63
" His promotion under Leo X. 64
" His lax morals 64
" Bernardo Dovizii, Cardinal Bibbiena 65
" His ingratitude and ambition 67
" His beauty and worldly character 68
" Bernardo Accolti, l'Unico Aretino 69
" Count Ludovico Canossa 70
" Alessandro Trivulzio 71
CHAPTER XXII
1507. The Duke's declining health 72
" The court enlivened by female society 72
" Emilia Pio, surnamed Pia 75
" Her decorum and wit 76
" Her management of the social resources
of the palace 77
" The origin of Castiglione's _Cortegiano_ 78
" Guidobaldo a martyr to gout 79
1506-1508. Extraordinary derangement of the seasons 79
1508. April. He is carried to Fossombrone 80
" " 11. His great sufferings and resigned end 80
" " The paganism of his biographers 81
" " Precautions of the Duchess against
a revolution 82
" " And of the Pontiff 83
" " His body taken to Urbino 84
" " 13. The Prefect Francesco Maria proclaimed
Duke of Urbino 85
" " His visit to the Duchess 85
" " Funeral of Guidobaldo 85
" May 2. His obsequies and funeral oration 85
" His portraits 86
" His accomplishments and excellent character 86
" His patronage of Paolo Cortesio 87
" Enduring influence of his reign 88
" His widow 89
CHAPTER XXIII
1443-1508. The golden age of Italian letters and arts 93
" " Rich in scholars but poor in genius 94
" " Its prosaic tendency 94
" " The revival of learning 95
" " Promoted by the multiplicity of
independent communities 97
" " Especially by the petty sovereigns 98
" " Adulatory tendency of such literature 99
" " A narrow patriotism generated 100
" " Taste for classical erudition, philology
and grammar 101
" " The study of Latin induced pedantry and
languid conventionality 102
" " The prosaic scholarism of this period 103
" " Tending to pagan ideas 103
" " The rival philosophies of Aristotle
and Plato 105
" " Leading to fierce quarrels 106
" " Superseding Christian revelation 106
" " And eventually shaking Catholic unity 107
" " Influence of the Dukes of Urbino on letters 107
" " Mediocrity of many authors of local fame 108
CHAPTER XXIV
1412-1441. Letters of Count Guidantonio in favour
of various learned men 109
1444-1482. Duke Federigo's love for literary converse 111
" " The academies 112
" " Fulsome dedications 112
1473. Gentile de' Becci 113
1480. Ludovico Odasio 114
Francesco Venturini 114
Guarniero Berni of Gubbio 115
1470-1555. Polydoro di Vergilio 115
" " His preferments in England 115
" " His English history 117
Vespasiano Filippi 118
1478-1529. Count Baldassare Castiglione 119
" " His _Cortegiano_ 119
" " Compared with Machiavelli's _Principe_ 120
" " His letter to Henry VIII. regarding
Duke Guidobaldo 121
" " His poetry 121
1528. His letter to his children 122
1470-1547. Cardinal Bembo 123
" " His pedantry and affected imitation
of Cicero 123
" " His history of Venice 124
" " His Essay on Duke Guidobaldo 124
" " His other works 125
Learned ladies 128
CHAPTER XXV
1443-1508. Poetry under the Montefeltrian Dukes 130
" " Defects of the sonnet 131
Francesco Filelfo 131
1480. Gian Maria Filelfo, his son 132
His Martiados in praise of Duke Federigo 132
His minor poems 133
Specimen of the dedication 134
His sonnet to Gentile Bellini the painter 135
His life of Duke Federigo 136
Pandonio of Naples 136
His Feltria on Duke Federigo's campaigns 137
Specimen of it 137
Giovanni Sanzi of Urbino, father of
Raffaele Sanzio 138
His metrical chronicle of Duke Federigo 138
Various specimens of it translated 140
1428-1457. Angelo Galli from Urbino 143
Specimen of his poetry 143
Federigo Veterani, his beautiful
transcripts 144
His tribute in verse to Duke Federigo 145
Urbani of Urbino 146
Antonio Rustico of Florence 146
Naldio of Florence 146
Bernardo Accolti of Arezzo 146
His improvisation 146
Serafino di Aquila 147
Agostino Staccoli of Urbino 147
Early Italian comedies 147
La Calandra of Bibbiena 147
1513. Its performance at Urbino 148
Description of the scenery and
accompanying interludes 148
Origin of the ballet 152
Nature of the plot in La Calandra 152
Low standard of morals at that time 153
Obscene jest books 154
CHAPTER XXVI
Mediæval art almost exclusively religious 157
The introduction of types and
traditionary forms 157
A picture by Botticelli denounced as
heretical (note) 158
The choice and treatment of sacred themes 159
Modified by the personal character of
artists 160
Instances of this 161
Devotional feeling of early painters 161
Shown in the rules of their guilds at
Siena and Florence 162
Case of Giorgio Vasari 163
The gloomy character of Spanish art 163
The subject to be considered apart from
sectarian views 164
Christian art modified in the fifteenth
century 166
Gradual innovation of naturalism 167
Followed by paganism and classicism 168
Rise of the "new manner" 169
Religious prudery in Spain fatal to art 170
Von Rumohr's definition of Christian art 170
Opinions prevailing in England 171
Hogarth and Savonarola 172
Burnet and Barry 172
Reynolds and Raffaele 172
Obstacles to a due appreciation of this
subject among us 173
Mr. Ruskin and Lord Lindsay 174
Sir David Wilkie 175
It does not necessarily lead to popery 175
Nor is it a desirable "groundwork for a
new style of art" 176
St. Francis of Assisi, his legends
and shrine 177
Their influence renders Umbria the cradle
of sacred art 178
Opinions of Rio, Boni, and Herbert Seymour 179
CHAPTER XXVII
The Umbrian school hitherto overlooked 184
The cathedral of Orvieto and the sanctuary
of Assisi attract many artists 185
The dramatic or Dantesque character of
Florentine painting 186
Sentimental devotion of the Sienese school 187
Influence of these on Umbrian painters 187
-1299. Oderigi da Gubbio 188
Notice of him by Dante 188
Guido Palmerucci of Gubbio 189
Angioletto, a glass-painter of Gubbio 190
1375-1444. Ottaviano Nelli of Gubbio and his pupils 190
1434. June 30. His letter to Caterina, Countess of Urbino 192
Allegretto Nuzi of Fabriano 193
1370-14. Gentile da Fabriano; he studies under 193
1383-14. Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, the Beato Angelico 194
" " A friar of holy life and pencil 194
" " Gentile called "master of the masters" 196
1370-14. His works studied by Raffaele 196
" " Goes to Venice 197
" " His taste for gaudy trappings 197
Benedetto Bonfigli of Perugia 199
1446-1524. Pietro Perugino 199
Painters in Urbino 200
-1478. Piero della Francesca of Borgo
San Sepolcro 201
" " His history obscure 201
" " His two distinct manners 202
" " His knowledge of geometry 203
" " His claims to the introduction
of perspective 203
" " These examined, and those of Luca Pacioli 203
" " His unedited writings (note) 204
" " His frescoes at Arezzo and their influence
on Raffaele 206
" " His portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo
Malatesta 208
" " His portraits of the Montefeltrian princes 209
-1484. Bartolomeo Coradino, the Fra Carnevale 210
Beautiful altar-picture near Pesaro 211
1423-1502. Francesco di Giorgio of Siena 211
His works in painting, architecture,
and engineering 212
Letter of Duke Federigo on his behalf 214
His writings 215
CHAPTER XXVIII
-1494. Giovanni Sanzi of Urbino 216
Till lately unjustly depreciated 216
His own account of himself 217
His style and works 218
His portrait of his son, the divine
Raffaele 218
1483. Apr. 6. Birth of Raffaele Sanzio of Urbino,
surnamed "the Divine" 220
Notice of his biographers 220
His appearance happily timed 221
First pictorial influences on his mind 222
1495. He goes to the school of Perugino 223
1500-1504. His earliest independent works at Città
di Castello 225
" " Returns to paint at Perugia 226
" " Visits Siena and Florence 226
" " Returns to paint at Urbino 227
" " His second visit to Florence 227
" " With a recommendation from Joanna
della Rovere 228
1504-1505. His works, patrons, and associates there 228
1505-1507. Again painting at Perugia 230
1505-1507. His intercourse with Francia 231
1503-1508. And with the polished court of Urbino 231
" " Works commissioned of him there 232
" " His recently discovered fresco at Florence 234
CHAPTER XXIX
1508. He is called to Rome by Julius II. 235
" And employed to paint in the Stanze 236
1508-1513. His plan for the frescoes there detailed
and examined 236
1513. Feb. 21. Death of Julius II. 239
1513-1520. Raffaele's powers overtaxed 240
" " He gradually falls into "the new manner" 241
" " The charge against him of a vicious life
unfounded 241
" " Question how far he imitated others 242
" " Especially Michael Angelo 243
" " No parallel between them 244
" " His diminished intercourse with Urbino 246
1520. Apr. 6. His sudden death and funeral 247
" His intended marriage and cardinal's hat 249
" His varied gifts 250
" Testimonies to his merits 250
" His sense of beauty 251
" Purity of his taste 252
CHAPTER XXX
1470-1523. Timoteo Viti 254
His picture of questioned orthodoxy 256
1444-1514. Donato Bramante 259
Confusion regarding him 259
His works at Urbino 261
Commences St. Peter's, at Rome 262
Builds at the Vatican 263
Fra Bernardo Catelani 264
Crocchia of Urbino 265
1450-1517. Francesco Francia 265
1430-1506. Andrea Mantegna 265
1424-1514. Giovanni Bellini 266
1446-1523. Pietro Perugino 266
1386-1445. Jean van Eyck 266
1474. Justus of Ghent 267
Italian portrait medallions 269
1468. Clemente of Urbino 270
Medals of Duke Federigo 270
Medal of Duchess Elisabetta 272
Medal of Emilia Pia 273
CHAPTER XXXI
1414. July 21. Birth of Sixtus IV. 277
" Origin of his family 277
1414. Omens attending his birth 278
1471. Aug. 9. His education and elevation to the papacy 278
Children of his father, and their
descendants 279
His partiality to his nephews 283
Extravagance of Cardinal Pietro Riario 284
Hospitalities of Sixtus 285
His improvements in Rome 286
Scandals regarding him 287
His patronage of art 287
And of the Vatican Library 289
Portrait there of himself and nephews 289
Painted by Melozzo da Forlì 290
His brother Giovanni della Rovere 291
1474. Oct. 12. Made vicar of Sinigaglia 291
" " 28. His marriage with Princess Giovanna
of Urbino 291
1475. Made Lord Prefect of Rome 291
His beneficial reign 292
His favour at the papal court 293
1474. The story of Zizim or Gem 293
" His ransom is seized by the Prefect 294
" Curious correspondence of the Sultan
with Alexander VI. 295
" Description of Gem by Mantegna the painter 297
1501. Nov. 6. Death of the Prefect 299
His portrait 299
His widow 300
Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere 301
His persecutions by the Borgias 301
1503. Nov. 1. His election to the Tiara 303
His character and policy 304
His patronage of art 306
His improvements in Rome 306
Parallel of him with Leo X. 307
CHAPTER XXXII
1490. Mar. 25. Birth of Duke Francesco Maria I. 313
1501. Nov. 6. He succeeds to his father's state
of Sinigaglia 313
" " He is carried to Urbino 313
1502. Apr. 24. Is made Prefect of Rome 313
" His early education and tastes 314
" His military propensities 314
" June 20. His escape from Cesare Borgia 315
1502. He is received at the court of France 315
1504. March. His return to Italy 315
" June 17. Restored at Sinigaglia 316
" Sep. 18. Invested as heir-apparent of Urbino 316
1505. Jan. Contracted in marriage to Leonora Gonzaga 316
1506. His first military service 316
1507. Oct. 6. Assassinates the paramour of his sister 317
1508. Apr. 14. He succeeds to the dukedom of Urbino 318
" " His constitutional concessions 319
" " 25. His summons to his new subjects to
swear allegiance 319
" His judicious and conciliatory measures 320
" Origin of the League of Cambray 321
" Dec. 10. It is signed 322
" " The objects of this unnatural combination 322
" Oct. 4. Francesco Maria made captain-general of
the ecclesiastical forces 323
1509. May. Elected a Knight of the Garter, but not
confirmed by Henry VIII. 324
" Dec. 24. His marriage celebrated 324
The Duchess Leonora's psalter 324
" April. He takes the field against Venice 325
" May 4. Takes Brisghella 325
" Remarkable incident in his camp 325
" The Pope's partiality for the Cardinal
of Pavia 326
" His character and intrigues against
Francesco Maria 327
" His treachery 327
" May 14. The Venetians beaten at Vaila 328
" June 11. Rimini capitulates, and the campaign
closes 329
" The Duke carries his bride to Rome 329
" He reconciles the Pope to Giuliano
de' Medici 329
" The Pope changes sides 330
" Further treachery of the Cardinal of Pavia 330
1510. July. The Duke marches against Ferrara 331
" Sep. Julius II. takes the field 331
" His suspicions of the Cardinal 332
" The council of Pisa threatened 332
" His indomitable resolution 333
CHAPTER XXXIII
1510. Dec. His ill-judged appearance at the siege
of Mirandola 334
1511. May 21. The Duke's miscarriage before Bologna
by the Cardinal's treachery 336
" " The Cardinal prepossesses the Pope
against his nephew 338
" " 24. And falls by his hand 339
" Ill-timed badinage of Cardinal Bembo (note) 339
" The Duke retires to Urbino 340
" June. And the Pontiff returns to Rome 340
" His indignation against the Duke 340
" Who is arrested, and subjected to a
complicated prosecution 341
" Defended by Beroaldo the younger 341
" Dangerous illness of Julius 342
" He is reconciled to Francesco Maria 343
" Dec. 9. And absolves him 343
" " New league against the French 343
1512. Hesitation of Francesco Maria 344
" Consequent disgust of Julius 344
" Apr. 11. The field of Ravenna 344
" Francesco Maria is reconciled to the Pope 345
" June 22. He retakes Bologna 345
" Aug. And reduces Reggio 345
" The French abandoned by their
Italian allies 346
" The Duke's fruitless attempt on Ferrara 347
" Restoration of the Medici at Florence 347
" The Duke's feeling towards them examined 347
" New projects of the Pope 348
" Lapse of Pesaro to the Holy See 349
" Oct. 23. The town reduced by Francesco Maria 349
1513. Feb. 16. He is invested with that state 350
" " 21. Death of Julius II. 350
" Mar. 16. The Duke's reception at Pesaro 350
CHAPTER XXXIV
1513. Influence of Francesco Maria in the
conclave favourable to the Medici 351
" Mar. 11. Election of Leo. X. 351
" " His singular good fortune 352
" " His character contrasted with that of
Julius by Sismondi 352
" " 19. Francesco Maria attends his coronation 353
" " And is confirmed in all his dignities 354
" Sep. His favour for Baldassare Castiglione 355
" Notice of the fief of Novilara 357
1514. Ambitious projects and intrigues of
Leo X., involving Urbino 358
" Apr. 2. Birth of Prince Guidobaldo of Urbino 359
1515. Jan. 1. Bembo's visit to that court 359
" June The Duke superseded by Leo X. in
his command 360
" Friendship of Giuliano de' Medici for him 361
" Jan. 1. Death of Louis XII., succeeded by
Francis I. 362
" The Pontiff's undecided policy 362
" Sep. 13. Battle of Marignano 364
1516. Jan. Death of Ferdinand of Spain 364
" Mar. 17. And of Giuliano de' Medici 365
" " Character of Lorenzo de' Medici 365
" " Francesco Maria exposed to the fury of Leo 366
" Apr. 27. Sentence of deprivation against him 367
" Aug. 18. And his dignities conferred upon Lorenzo 367
" April Ingratitude of Bembo 367
Lashed by Porrino 368
" May. The duchy of Urbino invaded 368
" " 31. Francesco Maria withdraws to Lombardy
with his family 369
" " The duchy surrenders to Lorenzo 369
" Sep. S. Leo surprised 370
CHAPTER XXXV
1516. Aug. 13. The peace of Noyon 372
" Attempt on his state by the Duke 372
1517. Jan. 17. His manifesto 373
" " His address to the soldiery 376
" " Alarm of the Pontiff 377
" " Gradara is sacked 377
" Feb. Partial rising in his favour 377
" " 5. Remarkable adventure of Benedetto Giraldi 378
" " " Francesco Maria enters Urbino 380
" Measures adopted by Leo 380
" The Duke challenges Lorenzo to a personal
encounter, which is declined 382
" Mar. 25. Sack of Montebaroccio 383
" " Siege of Mondolfo, where Lorenzo is wounded 384
" Its sack, with many excesses 385
" Cardinal Bibbiena appointed to the command
as legate 387
" Disorganisation of his army 388
" May 6. It is routed on Montebartolo 388
" " " The Duke's letter to his consort detailing
the battle 389
CHAPTER XXXVI
1517. Conspiracy against Leo 391
" Fate of Cardinal Adrian of Corneto 392
" June 20. Leo applies to Henry VIII. 392
" His unscrupulous measures 392
" May. Francesco Maria's expedition against
Perugia 393
" " Treason in his camp 393
" " His energetic proceedings 394
" June. Makes a foray into La Marca 395
" " A conversation with the Pope 396
" " His apprehensions 397
" July. The Duke's advantage over the Swiss at
Rimini, and march upon Tuscany 398
" Aug. Progress of negotiations 398
" Conditions granted to Francesco Maria 402
" Vile conduct of his Spaniards 402
" Curious votive inscription 403
" The Duke again withdraws from his state 403
" Immense cost of the campaign 404
" Its remote consequences upon the
Reformation 404
" The fortunes of Lorenzo de' Medici 405
1519. Apr. 28. His death 405
" Partition of the duchy of Urbino 406
1520. Mar. Fate of Gian Paolo Baglioni 406
1519. The singular good fortune of Charles V. 407
" June 28. He is elected Emperor 408
1521. Combinations for new wars in Italy 408
" Francesco Maria in the French interest 409
" He retires to Lonno 409
" Milan restored to the Sforza family 410
CHAPTER XXXVII
1521. Dec. 1. Disgust and death of Leo 411
" " Opinions as to his being poisoned 411
" " Francesco Maria returns to his state 412
" " 22. And is readily welcomed 413
1522. Jan. 5. He restores the Varana and Baglioni 413
" " And invades Tuscany 414
" " 15. His letter to the Priors of Siena 414
" Urbino invaded by the Medici 415
" Their reconciliation with the Duke 415
" His condotta by them 416
" Election of Adrian VI 416
" May 18. The Duke is reinstated in his dignities 418
" Feb. 18. His bond to the Sacred College 418
" Pretensions of Ascanio Colonna upon Urbino 418
" June 22. Murder of Sigismondo Varana 419
" The Duke refuses service with the French 420
" Aug. But aids the Pope against Rimini 420
1523. The ladies of his court return home 421
" He establishes his residence at Pesaro 421
" Hospitality of the Duchesses 421
" He goes to Rome, to wait upon Adrian 422
" New league for the defence of Sforza 423
" Francesco Maria retained by Venice as
general-in-chief 423
" French invasion of the Milanese 423
" Sep. 24. Death of Adrian succeeded by Clement VII. 423
" Death of Prospero Colonna, and his
influence on the tactics of Francesco
Maria 423
" Venetian _proveditori_ and their evils 424
1524. Lanoy commander-in-chief of the allies 426
" The Duke of Urbino hampered by the
Proveditore 426
" His tactics 427
1523. The French admiral, Bonnivet, wounded 427
" Is succeeded by the Chevalier Bayard 427
1524. Apr. 30. His heroic death 427
" The French driven out of Italy 428
" June 25. His honourable reception at Venice 429
" " 27. Made captain-general by the Signory 429
" July 3. Received into the company della Calza 430
" " 5. Returns home 431
" Oct. New invasion of Italy by Francis I. 431
1525. Feb. 25. The battle of Pavia 431
CHAPTER XXXVIII
1525. Altered policy of Clement 433
" Treason and death of the Marquis of Pescara 434
1526. Feb. 14. Letter from the Duke of Urbino to Cardinal
Wolsey 434
" May. New League against Charles V. 435
" " The Duke marches to relieve Milan 435
" June. And obtains Lodi 435
" His embarrassment from the number of
leaders in the army 436
" Sketch of Francesco Guicciardini 436
" His differences with Francesco Maria 436
" Opinions divided as to the advance on Milan 437
" The Duke's policy explained 438
" July 6. Miscarriage and retreat of the army 439
" " The prejudices of Guicciardini 439
" " 24. Milan is surrendered by Sforza 441
" " The Duke's quarrels with Guicciardini 441
" Opinions of Sismondi 442
" The Duke's illness from vexation 443
" Sep. He carries Cremona 443
" The Colonna rebel against the Pope 443
" Sep. 20. They surprise Rome, and pillage the Borgo 444
" " Francesco Maria visits his Duchess 445
" Nov. Fründesberg brings the lansquenets
into Lombardy 445
" The Duke's plans of defence considered 446
" Nov. 30. Battle of Borgoforte, and death of
Giovanni de' Medici _delle bande nere_ 446
1527. Tortuous policy of Clement 447
" Mar. 15. His truce with Lanoy 448
" " Inertness of the allies 449
" " The Constable Bourbon 449
" " His policy in this war 449
" " Inactivity of the Duke 451
" " Bourbon's advance into Central Italy 452
" " He repudiates Lanoy's truce 452
" " His progress through Romagna 453
" " Vain attempt of Lanoy to interrupt him 453
" " Feeble and selfish views of all the allies 454
" " Secret motives of the Duke 454
" Apr. 22. Bourbon crosses into Tuscany 455
" The Duke quells an insurrection at
Florence 456
" May 1. His fortresses of S. Leo and Maiuola
restored 456
" Apr. 26. Bourbon hurries onward to Rome 456
APPENDICES
Cesare Borgia's personal appearance
and portraits 459
1504. Feb. 20. Letter of Henry VIII. to Duke Guidobaldo
with the insignia of the Garter 462
" Instructions for his investiture 463
" Polydoro di Vergilio's account of it 466
1506. July 24. The Duke sends Count Castiglione to
England as his proxy 469
" Oct. 20. His reception and installation 469
1507. He is knighted, and returns to Urbino 470
Giovanni Sanzi's metrical Chronicle of
Duke Federigo 471
Fac-simile of the autograph 472
Table of the contents 472
Epitaph upon Giovanni della Rovere 480
Remission and rehabilitation of Duke
Francesco Maria I. 481
Letter from Cardinal Wolsey to Lorenzo
de' Medici 484
MEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO--II
NOTE.--The Editor's notes are marked with an asterisk.
BOOK THIRD
(_continued_)
OF GUIDOBALDO DI MONTEFELTRO, THIRD DUKE OF URBINO
MEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO
CHAPTER XIX
The massacre of Sinigaglia--Death of Alexander VI.--Narrow
escape of Cesare Borgia.
The principal object of the new combination having been attained
by the submission of Urbino, followed by that of Camerino, Borgia
hastened to anticipate the suspicions of his allies by sending
the French succours back to Milan. He however retained a body of
troops, and proposed that the chiefs should co-operate with him in
reducing Sinigaglia, which was held by the late Prefect's widow.
Accordingly, Paolo Orsini, his relation the Duke of Gravina,
Vitellozzo, and Liverotto advanced upon that town, the garrison of
which was commanded by the celebrated Andrea Doria. This remarkable
man, finding himself excluded by the state of parties at Genoa
from all prospect of preferment, had in youth adopted the career
of a condottiere. He took service with Giovanni della Rovere,
distinguishing himself greatly in the campaign of Charles VIII. at
Naples; after which he continued attached to the Prefect and his
widow, with a hundred light horse. Seeing the case of Sinigaglia
desperate, and dreading Liverotto's bitter hatred of the Rovere
race, he retired, having first sent off the Prefectess on horseback
to Florence, disguised as a friar. On the 28th of December, the
assailants took undisputed possession of the city, and sacked it.
His prey now in his toils, Valentino, who had lulled their suspicion
by keeping aloof with his troops in Romagna, flew to the spot on the
pretext of reducing the citadel, and on the 31st arrived at the town
with a handful of cavalry.
He was met three miles outside of the gate by the chiefs, and
immediately requested their attendance in the house of one Bernardino
di Parma, to receive his congratulations and thanks on their success.
At the same time he desired quarters to be provided for their
respective followings outside of the city, in order to admit his own
army, amounting to two thousand cavalry and ten thousand infantry.
Startled at the appearance of a force so disproportioned to the
service in hand, they would gladly have demurred to this distribution
of the troops, but Cesare had contrived that there should be no
opportunity for remonstrance, and resistance would have obviously
been too late. Affecting a confidence they were far from feeling, the
leaders accepted the invitation, and were received with cordiality
and distinction. After an interchange of compliments, Borgia withdrew
upon some pretext, when there immediately entered his chosen agent
of iniquity, Don Michelotto, with several armed followers, who,
after some resistance, arrested the Duke of Gravina, Paolo Orsini,
Vitellozzo, and Liverotto, with some ten others. Before morning the
two last were strangled with a Pisan cord, or violin-string, and a
wrench-pin, by the hands of that monster, in his master's presence.
Their death, according to Machiavelli, was cowardly, especially that
of the blood-stained Liverotto; and their bodies, after being dragged
round the piazza, were exposed for three days before burial.
That night Valentino, at the head of his Gascons, attacked six
thousand of these captains' troops, which had not dispersed on
hearing the capture of their leaders, slaughtering and plundering
them with the same barbarity they had themselves used towards the
citizens. The greater portion were cut to pieces, and those who
escaped reached their homes naked, having only straw tied round their
legs. Fabio Orsini was saved by his accidental absence from Borgia's
levee; Petrucci and Baglioni, suspicious of treachery, had avoided
their fate by previously retiring home. Against the last of these,
Borgia marched in a few days, carrying with him the remaining chiefs,
of whom he reserved the Orsini until he should hear his father's
intentions; but each night after supper he is said to have had one
of the others brought out, and put to a cruel death before him. Thus
did he, by a dexterous stroke of the most refined duplicity, turn the
tools of his ambition into victims of his vengeance, and at the same
time ridded himself of faithless adherents, whom any change in his
fortune would have again converted into overt and implacable foes.[1]
[Footnote 1: Our chief authorities for this tragic scene are
Machiavelli's despatches and separate narrative, with the Diaries of
Burchard, Buonaccorsi, and Sanuto. Some details are taken from the
Ricordi of Padre Gratio, guardian of the Monastery delle Grazie at
Sinigaglia, a contemporary, and probably an eye-witness to many of
them. Vat. Urb. MSS. 1023, art. 17.[*A]]
[Footnote *A: Cf. MADIAI, _Diario delle Cose di Urbino_,
in _Arch. St. per le Marche e per l'Umbria_, tom. III., p. 437.
Machiavelli, who was with Cesare at the time, describes the massacre
of Sinigaglia as "il bellissimo inganno di Sinigaglia." Cesare wrote
an account of it to Isabella d'Este. Cf. her letter to her husband
(D'ARCO, _Notizie di Isabella Estense_, in _Arch. St. Ital._, ser. i.,
App., vol. I., No. II. (1845), p. 262).]
Vermiglioli, in his life of Malatesta Baglioni, has printed, from
the archives of Perugia, a letter from Borgia to the magistrates of
that city, which, in consideration of the comparative obscurity of
that interesting volume, we shall here translate. It is, perhaps, the
only known document fully stating the case of the writer, and so may
be regarded as his defence from the charges we have brought against
him: the style and orthography are remarkably rude; and the matter
abounds in that common expedient, whereby bold and bad men seek to
evade merited accusations, by throwing them upon those they have
outraged.[2]
[Footnote 2: Our version is from the original letter. Nearly similar
in purport, but much shorter, is a despatch written by him to the
Doge of Venice on the very night of the raid, so anxious was he to
conciliate the Signory.]
"Magnificent and potent Lords, my special Friends and
Brothers;
"Superfluous were it to narrate from their outset the
perfidious rebellion and atrocious treason, so known to
yourselves and to all the world, and so detestable, which
your [lords, the Baglioni,] and their accomplices have
committed against his Holiness the Pope and ourselves.
And although all were our vassals, and most of them in
our pay, received and caressed by us as sons or brothers,
and favoured with high promotion, they nevertheless,
regardless of the kindness of his Holiness and our own,
as of their individual honour, banded in schemes of
overweening ambition, and blinded by greed of tyranny,
have failed us at the moment of our utmost need, turning
his Holiness' arms and ours against him and ourselves,
for the overthrow of our sovereignty and person. They
commenced their aggressions upon us by raising our
states of Urbino, Camerino, and Montefeltro, throwing
all Romagna into confusion by force and by seditious
plots, and proceeding under the mask of reconciliation to
fresh offences, until our new levies were brought up in
irresistible force. And so atrocious was their baseness,
that neither the beneficent clemency of his [Holiness]
aforesaid, nor our renewed indulgence to them, weaned them
from the slough of their first vile designs, in which
they still persisted. And as soon as they learned the
departure of the French troops on their return towards
Lombardy, whereby they deemed us weakened and left with no
effective force, they, feigning an urgent desire to aid
in our attack upon Sinigaglia, mustered a third only of
their infantry, and concealed the remainder in the houses
about, with instructions to draw together at nightfall,
and unite with the men-at-arms, whom they had posted in
the neighbourhood, meaning, at a given moment, to throw
the infantry, through the garrison (with whom they had an
understanding), upon the new town, in the narrow space
whereof they calculated upon our being lodged with few
attendants, and so to complete their long-nourished plans
by crushing us at unawares. But we, distinctly forewarned
of all, so effectively and quickly anticipated them, that
we at once made prisoners of the Duke of Gravina, Paolo
Orsini, Vitellozzo of Castello, and Liverotto of Fermo,
and discovered, sacked, and overthrew their foot and
horse, whether concealed or not; whereupon the castellan,
seeing the plot defeated, quickly surrendered the fortress
at discretion. And this we have done, under pressure
of necessity imposed by the measures of these persons
aforesaid, and in order to make an end of the unmeasured
perfidy and villanies of them and their coadjutors,
thereby restraining their boundless ambition and insensate
cupidity, which were truly a public nuisance to the nations
of Italy. Thus your highnesses have good cause for great
rejoicing at your deliverance from these dangers. And on
your highnesses' account, I am now, by his Holiness's
commands, to march with my army, for the purpose of
rescuing you from the rapacious and sanguinary oppression
whereby you have been vexed, and to restore you to free
and salutary obedience to his Holiness and the Apostolic
See, with the maintenance of your wonted privileges. For
the which causes, We, as Gonfaloniere and Captain of his
Holiness and the aforesaid See, exhort, recommend, and
command you, on receipt hereof, to free yourselves from
all other yoke, and to send ambassadors to lay before his
Holiness your dutiful and unreserved obedience: which
failing, we are commanded to reduce you by force to that
duty,--an event that would distress us on account of the
serious injuries which must thereby result to your people,
for whom we have, from our boyhood, borne and still bear
singular favour. From Corinaldo, the 2d of January, 1503.
"CESARE BORGIA OF FRANCE, DUKE OF ROMAGNA AND
VALENTINO, PRINCE OF ADRIA AND VENAFRA, LORD OF
PIOMBINO, Gonfaloniere and Captain-General of the Holy
Roman Church."
News of the Sinigaglia tragedy reached the Pope late in the evening,
and he instantly communicated to Cardinal Orsini that Cesare had
taken that city, assured that an early visit of congratulation from
his Eminence would follow. The Cardinal was perhaps the richest and
most influential of his house. He chiefly had organised the league
of La Magione, but having always contrived to keep on good terms
with Alexander, he believed in the professions of regard with which
his Holiness subsequently seduced him from that policy, and thence
reposed in him a fatal confidence. Next morning he rode in state to
pay his respects at the Vatican, where his own person and those of
his principal relations were instantly seized, whilst his magnificent
palace at Monte Giordano was pillaged by orders and for the benefit
of the Pontiff. After an imprisonment of some weeks, he was cut off
by slow poison, prescribed from the same quarter, and died on the 22d
of February. Thus did the Pope set his seal of approval on his son's
atrocities, which he justified by a poor and pointless jest, avowing
that as the confederates of La Magione, after stipulating that they
should not be required to re-enter the service of Valentino unless
singly, had thought fit to place themselves within his power _en
masse_, they merited their fate as forsworn.
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF SIGNATURES
[1. 1480]
[2. 1494]
[3. 1501]
[4. 1504]
[5. 1501]
[6. 1510]
[7. 1522]
[8. 1540]
[9. 1517]]
The massacre of Sinigaglia has been condemned by every writer except
Machiavelli, and posterity has in severe retribution suspected him
of abetting it. This charge possesses a twofold interest, as
inculpating the character of the historian, and as affecting the
morality of the age.[*3] In the latter view alone does it fall under
our consideration: yet however horrible these wholesale murders, they
are more remarkable in Italian history as the crowning crime of an
ambitious career, and as widely influencing the political aspect of
Romagna and La Marca, than from their relative enormity. The fates
of the young Astorre Manfredi of Faenza, of Fogliano of Fermo, of
the Lord of Camerino and his three sons, have all been mentioned in
these pages as occurring within a year or two of this event. It would
be easy to swell the catalogue of slaughter; and we find Baglioni
and Vitellozzo both classed with Cesare himself in the category
of murder, by a chronicler of Alexander VI., who also quotes from
the mouth of Giovanni Bentivoglio, at the diet of La Magione, this
bravado, "I shall assassinate Duke Valentino should I be so lucky as
to have opportunity."[4] The spirit of the age is further illustrated
by its unnumbered poisonings: and the fact that Machiavelli should
neither have used his influence with Valentino to avert the massacre
of the confederates, nor his pen to brand the treachery of that foul
deed, is but another link in the evidence from which we may deduce
the total extinction of moral feeling, which, anticipating the worst
doctrines of Loyola, carried them out with a selfishness, falsehood,
and cruelty unparalleled in the annals of human civilisation.[*5]
[Footnote *3: It is unlikely that Machiavelli abetted the massacre,
though he certainly approved it dispassionately enough. By it the
Papacy was rid at last of the houses of Colonna and Orsini. Cesare
met Machiavelli after the affair "with the best cheer in the world,"
reminding him that he had given him a hint of his intentions, but
adding, "I did not tell you all." He urged on Machiavelli his
desire for a firm alliance with Florence. Cf. MACHIAVELLI,
_Legazione al Valentino_, Lett. 86, and the _Modo tenuto dal Duca
Valentino nel ammazzare Vitellozzo_. See also CREIGHTON,
_op. cit._, vol V., p. 40.]
[Footnote 4: VERMIGLIOLI: _Vita di Malatesta Baglioni_.]
[Footnote *5: The schemes of Cesare were in his age no more
unscrupulously carried out than Bismarck's in his. "It is well," said
Cesare, "to beguile those who have shown themselves to be masters of
treachery."]
[Illustration: _Alinari_
IL CASTELLO DI SINIGAGLIA]
Gianpaolo Baglioni having fled to Siena, Valentino followed him in
that direction, after taking possession of Perugia, and learning
that Città di Castello, abandoned by the adherents of the Vitelli,
had been plundered by his own partizans. On the 18th of January,
hearing at Città della Pieve of the blow struck by his father against
the Orsini, and that Fabio, who escaped the snare at Sinigaglia,
was ravaging the Campagna, he handed over Paolo and the Duke of
Gravina to the tender mercies of Michelotto, whose noose quickly
encircled their necks. Invading the Sienese, he carried fire and
sword by Chiusi as far as Pienza and San Quirico, massacring even
the aged and infirm with horrible tortures. His real object, besides
revenging himself upon Petrucci and Baglioni, was to add Siena to his
territory, but his position being then a delicate one with France, he
accepted the proposal of that republic to purchase safety, by exiling
Petrucci their seigneur, and dismissing Baglioni their guest.[*6]
[Footnote *6: Cf. LISINI, _Cesare Borgia e la repubblica di
Siena_, in the _Boll. Senese di Stor. Pat._, ann. VII. (fasc. I.),
pp. 114, 115, and 144 _et seq._ for all the documents. And for a
short but excellent account in English of the whole Sienese affair,
LANGTON DOUGLAS, _A History of Siena_ (Murray, 1902), p. 206
_et seq._]
This series of rapid successes is ascribed by Machiavelli to the
policy of Valentino in ridding himself of his French auxiliaries and
his mercenary confederates, and so being enabled, during the brief
remainder of his career, to give his talents and energy full scope in
the conduct of an army entirely devoted to his views. His conquests
had now extended along the eastern fall of the Apennines, from
Imola to Camerino, and included the upper vale of the Tiber and the
principality of Piombino. He had but to add to them Siena, and the
best part of Central Italy from sea to sea would be his own. The eyes
of Louis, at length opened to a danger which he had so long fostered,
were not blinded by Cesare's affected moderation in claiming his
recent acquisitions rather for the Church than for himself, and that
monarch hastened to caution him from further hostilities against
Tuscany. The successes of Fabio Orsini around Rome at the same time
called for his presence, so he changed his route to make a foray
upon the holdings of that family about the Lake of Bracciano, with
whom the Colonna and Savelli had united against their common enemies
the Borgia. This opportunity was greedily seized by the Pontiff to
carry out his long cherished policy of breaking the power of the
great barons, and the castles of the Orsini having one after another
been reduced, their influence ceased for the future to be formidable
either to their sovereign or their neighbours.
* * * * *
But it is time we should return to Urbino, where we left the
citizens bewailing the departure of their Duke. As soon as he was
gone, Antonio di S. Savino took possession of the place in name of
Valentino, and issued a proclamation enjoining the townsfolk to
disarm, the peasantry to return home, and all to surrender whatever
they had stolen the day before from the palace. In the afternoon,
after a conciliatory harangue to the people, he took his lodging
in the palace. Next morning, after mass, the Bishop published a
general amnesty, and oaths of allegiance to the new sovereign were
administered. Towards evening the bells were rung, and a bonfire was
lit in the piazza; but these were heartless and forced rejoicings,
and no bribes could induce even the children to raise the cry of
"Valenza." Nor was this sadness without cause, for the soldiery of
Orsini and Vitellozzo, who still quartered in the town, treated all
with such outrage, that many of the inhabitants prayed for death
to close their sufferings, envying those who were summoned from
such scenes of misery. But when the troops were withdrawn, the mild
character and popular manners of Antonio the governor, skilfully
seconding the conciliatory policy which Borgia had resolved upon,
gave matters another aspect, and occasioned surprise to those who
knew the cruel perfidy of their new master. Various notorious abuses
were put down under severe penalties, especially the acceptance
of presents by judges, and the following up of private vengeance.
The deputy governor, Giovanni da Forlì, was however a man of quite
opposite temperament, whose harshness soon counteracted these gentler
influences, and occasioned general disgust. But the people heard
with satisfaction the tragedy of Sinigaglia; for to the perfidy
of the chiefs and the brutality of their army, the loss of their
independence and the whole of their late misfortunes were unanimously
ascribed; and a permission to ravage the territory of the Vitelli,
now publicly proclaimed throughout the duchy, was by many greedily
seized.
Borgia, having secured fourteen distinguished inhabitants of Urbino
as hostages, ordered that the fortresses left by agreement in
the hands of Guidobaldo should be attempted: that of Maiuolo was
accordingly surprised about the beginning of May, and easily reduced.
S. Leo being better provided, as well as considered impregnable,
its siege was more methodically undertaken, and levies were ordered
to reinforce the assailants. The amount of public sympathy with the
cause may be estimated from Baldi's assertion that, in the city of
Urbino, the utmost difficulty was experienced in raising eight foot
soldiers with one month's pay. Eight hundred Gascons in the French
service were obtained from De la Tremouille; but these, having
turned the siege into a sort of blockade, were dispersed among the
neighbouring villages, where, on the 5th of June, their revels
were suddenly interrupted by unknown assailants, who disappeared
as mysteriously as they had issued from the mountain defiles,
leaving many of the besiegers slain or wounded. The surrounding
peasantry, catching the enthusiasm, rushed to arms, and, but for
extraordinary exertions, the whole duchy would have once more
been out for their legitimate lord. News of this movement having
reached the Duke early in July, he obtained from Florence free
passage through her territory, and from the Venetians a promise of
passive support, and thereupon put himself into communication with
his principal adherents, by means of letters carried by persons of
low condition, many of which were unfortunately intercepted by the
lieutenant-governor of Urbino. His people were thus kept in a fever
of expectation; but, finally, this plan of an invasion was abandoned,
whereupon he repaired to Mantua, to his brother-in-law the Marquis,
who had been taken into the French service under De la Tremouille,
and engaged him to represent to Louis the hardships of his case, and
the danger of Borgia's excessive ambition.
Disgusted with their ignominious overthrow at S. Leo, the Gascons
assumed the habitual licence of such mercenaries, by soon taking
their departure from
"The tentless rest beneath the humid sky,
The stubborn wall that mocks the leaguer's art,
And palls the patience of his baffled heart."
The siege was nevertheless maintained by the commandant of Romagna;
but the place was ably and spiritedly defended by Ottaviano Fregoso,
who will soon attract our notice in other scenes. Marini has recorded
another act of romantic daring by the same Brizio who, in the
preceding year, had surprised the place. Fregoso's tiny garrison
being greatly exhausted by the long blockade, he, with one Marzio,
made his way, during a violent storm of rain, over the rocks, and
through the beleaguering force, and reached a castle near Mantua
where Guidobaldo then was. In vain these emissaries besought him for
a reinforcement of two hundred men; for, thinking it would only waste
their gallantry by prolonging a hopeless struggle, he thankfully
declined their proposal. At length their urgency obtained twenty-five
men who happened to be at hand, and with these they returned to
the leaguer. Marzio, boldly presenting himself to the commandant,
volunteered to join the besiegers with his little party, which being
accepted, he advanced them under the walls, whence, having been
recognised by the garrison, they made a rush to the upper gate,
and were received into the fortress ere the trick was discovered.
By this timely succour, S. Leo was enabled to hold out until the
restoration of its rightful sovereign; and its brave defenders did
not even falter at the threat of summary vengeance upon their wives
and families, who had been brought to the palace of Urbino to answer
for their obstinacy.
* * * * *
Christendom was now to be appalled by a fearful catastrophe, which
fitly closed the career of the Borgias, diverting their wonted
weapons to their own destruction, for--
"'Tis sure a law of retribution just
That turns the plotters' arts against themselves."[7]
[Footnote 7:
"Neque enim lex æquior ulla
Quam necis artifices arte perire sua." OVID. _Ar. Amat._ i. 655.]
Alexander and his son perceiving that they could no longer turn to
good account the co-operation of Louis for their grasping schemes,
began to look round for new combinations: having squeezed the orange
they were ready to throw aside the rind. But to such projects their
exhausted treasury offered serious obstacles. To supply it they
had recourse, on an extended scale, to an expedient which they had
invented, and already occasionally employed,--that of poisoning the
richest cardinals, seizing on their treasures, and selling their
vacant hats to the highest bidders. Among the most recent and wealthy
of the sacred college was Adrian of Corneto, and he was therefore
selected as next victim. On the 12th of August, the Pope and Cesare
invited him to sup in the Belvidere casino of the Vatican, and the
latter sent forward a supply of poisoned wine, in charge of his
butler, with strict injunctions not to serve it until specially
desired by himself. Several other cardinals were to partake of the
banquet, and, probably, were intended to share the drugged potion.
Alexander had been assured by an astrologer that, so long as he had
about him the sacramental wafer, he should not die; and, accordingly,
he constantly carried it in a little golden box; but, having on that
evening forgotten it upon his toilet, he sent Monsignor Caraffa,
afterwards Paul IV., to fetch it. Meanwhile, overcome by the dog-day
heat, he called for wine. The butler was gone to fetch a salver of
peaches, which had been presented to his Holiness, and his deputy,
having received no instructions as to the medicated bottles, offered
a draught from them to the Pope. He greedily swallowed it, and his
example was more moderately followed by Cesare; thus,
"Even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of the poisoned chalice
To their own lips."
Scarcely had they taken their seats at the table, when the two
victims successively fell down insensible, from the virulence of the
poison, and were carried to bed. The Pontiff rallied so far as to
recover consciousness, and to linger for about a week, but at length
sank under the shock and the fever which supervened, his age being
seventy-one, and his constitution enervated by long debauchery. The
last sacraments were duly administered, and it was remarked that,
during his illness, he never alluded to his children Cesare and
Lucrezia, through life the objects of an overweening, if not criminal
fondness, in whose behalf most of his outrages upon the peace and the
rights of mankind had been committed. His death occurred on the 18th
of August.[*8]
[Footnote *8: There is no authentic basis for this story. Rome was
in a pestilential condition in August, and the Pope, Cesare, and
the Cardinal Hadrian were all stricken with fever, which a supper
in the open air was surely not unlikely to produce. Alexander was
so detested that the strangeness of his death suggested poison at
once to his enemies. Cf. CREIGHTON, _op. cit._, vol. V., p.
49. An excellent essay on _The Poisonings attributed to the Borgia_
will be found in CREIGHTON, _op. cit._, vol. V., p. 301 _et
seq._]
Such is the account of this awful retribution given by Tommasi,
from which most other narratives but slightly deviate as to dates
or immaterial details. Another version, however, occurs in Sanuto's
Diaries, which, being contemporary, and probably supplied from the
diplomatic correspondence of the Signory, merits notice, and has
not been hitherto published. The Cardinal of Corneto, who figures
prominently in this narrative, was made collector for Peter's pence
in England, and Bishop of Hereford, from whence he was translated
to Bath and Wells. We shall find him compromised in Petrucci's
conspiracy against Leo X., but the following charge of pope-poisoning
is new.
"The Lord Adrian Castillense of Corneto, Cardinal Datary, having
been desired by the Pope to receive him and Duke Valentino at supper
in his vineyard, his Holiness supplying the eatables, this Cardinal
presumed the invitation to be planned for his death by poison, so
that the Duke might obtain his money and benefices, which were
considerable. In order to save himself there seemed but one course,
so, watching his opportunity, he summoned the Pontiff's steward,
whom he knew intimately, and on his arrival received him alone in
a private chamber, where 10,000 ducats were laid out: these he
desired him to accept for love of him, offering him also more of his
property, which he declared he could continue to enjoy only through
his assistance, and adding, 'You certainly are aware of the Pope's
disposition, and I know that he and the Duke have designed my death
by poison through you; wherefore I pray you have pity on me and spare
my life.' The steward, moved with compassion on hearing this, at
length avowed the plan concerted for administering the poison; that,
after the supper, he was to serve three boxes of confections, one
for the Pope, another for the Duke, and a third for the Cardinal,
the last being poisoned; so they arranged that the service of the
table should be contrived in such a way that the Pontiff might eat
of the Cardinal's poisoned box, and die. On the appointed day, the
Pope having arrived at the vineyard with the Duke, the Cardinal
threw himself at his Holiness' feet and kissed them, saying he had
a boon to request, and would not rise until it were granted. The
Pope assuring him of his consent, he continued, 'Holy Father! on the
lord's coming to his servant's house, it is not meet that the servant
should sit with his lord; and the just and proper favour I ask is
permission for the servant to wait at the table of your Holiness.'
The supper being thus served, and the moment arrived for giving the
confections, the box having been poisoned by the steward as directed
by the Pope, the Cardinal placed it before his Holiness, who, relying
on his steward, and convinced of the Cardinal's sincerity by his
service, ate joyfully of this box, as did the Cardinal of the other,
which the Pontiff believed the poisoned one. Thereafter, at the hour
when from its nature the poison took effect, his Holiness began to
feel it, and thus he died: the Cardinal being still alarmed, took
medicine and an emetic, and was easily cured."
The death of Alexander by poison is generally credited, although
Raynaldus and Muratori, willing to mitigate so heinous a scandal,
incline to the few and obscure authorities who attribute it to
tertian fever. It was natural that the truth should be glossed over,
especially in despatches addressed to the court of his daughter
Lucrezia, to which the latter annalist probably had access. But
though the earliest intelligence of the event forwarded by the
Venetian envoy alludes to the Pope's seizure as fever, his subsequent
letters, quoted by Sanuto, thus loathsomely confirm the current
suspicion of poison having been administered. "On this day [19th] I
saw the Pontiff's corpse, whose apparel was not worth two ducats.
He was swollen beyond the size of one of our large wine-skins. Never
since the Christian era was a more horrible and terrible sight
witnessed. The blood flowed from ears, mouth, and nose faster than
it could be wiped away; his lips were larger than a man's fist, and
in his open mouth the blood boiled as in a caldron on the fire, and
kept incessantly flowing as from a spout; all which I report from
observation."[9]
[Footnote 9: This passage appears conclusive as to the fact of poison
having been taken by the Pontiff; and it will be observed that
Sanuto's story of the confection-boxes in no way accounts for the
illness of Valentino, which is equally passed over in another totally
different statement of this affair, given in the Appendix to Ranke's
_History of the Popes_, section i. No. 4,--omissions to be kept
in view in testing the probability of these conflicting accounts.
Roscoe seems to have subsequently abandoned the doubts thrown upon
the poisoning in his first edition, although ever prone to extenuate
vices of the Borgia: witness his elaborate defence of Lucrezia, or
his views as to the Duke of Gandia's murder and the massacre of
Sinigaglia. Voltaire treats the question like a habitual doubter,
with the ingenuity of a critic rather than the matured judgment of a
historian. He is answered, with perhaps unnecessary detail, by Masse,
to whom Sanuto was unknown.]
The character of Alexander VI. as a man and as a sovereign admits of
no question, and is thus forcibly summed up by Sismondi. "He was the
most notoriously immoral man in Christendom; one whose debauchery
no shame restrained, whose treaties no good faith sanctioned, whose
policy was never guarded by justice, to whose vengeance pity was
unknown."[*10] As a pontiff he must be tried by a different test,
and those ecclesiastical writers, who attempt not to defend his
morals or example, assert the orthodoxy of his faith and doctrine,
and commend the wisdom of his provisions for maintenance of that
religion which regarded him as its head. He was the first to
establish the censorship of books,[*11] an important bulwark of the
Roman Church; and among the orders which he instituted or protected
was that of S. Francesco di Paolo. Nor can it be doubted that his
ambitious nepotism eventually aggrandised the temporal possessions
of the papacy, by quelling the mutinous barons of the Campagna, and
by so crushing the more distant seigneurs as to render their states
a speedy and easy prey to Julius II. On the other hand, the openly
simoniacal practices which prevailed during his reign, the strong
measures adopted to raise money for his private ends by a lavish
scale of indulgences, and, generally, the unscrupulous employment of
the power of the keys and the treasures of the Church for unworthy
purposes, all tended to alienate men's minds, and to stir those
doubts which the different, but not less injudicious, policy of his
immediate successors ripened into schism.
[Footnote *10: This is probably an exaggeration. Alexander VI. was
without reticence in his sins, and so has not escaped whipping. I
append a brief list of authorities for the Borgia:--
CERRI, _Borgia ossia Alessandro VI._ (1858).
ANTONETTI, _Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara_ (1867).
SCHUBERT-SOLDERN, _Die Borgias und ihre Zeit_ (Dresden, 1902).
CITADELLA, _Saggio di Albero Genealogico della Famiglia Borgia_ (1872).
GREGOROVIUS, _Lucrezia Borgia_ (1874).
---- _Geschichte der Stadt Rom._, tom. VII. (1880).
ALVISI, _Cesare Borgia_ (Imola, 1878).
NEMEC, _Papst Alexander VI. eine Rechtfertigung_ (1879).
LEONETTI, _Papa Alessandro VI._ (1880).
D'EPINOIS, in _Revue des Questions Historiques_ (April, 1881).
VEHON, _Les Borgia_ (1882).
MARICOURT, _Le Procès des Borgia_ (1883).
YRIARTE, _César Borgia_ (1887).
---- _Autour des Borgias_ (1891).]
[Footnote *11: I am not quite clear what this means. The Inquisition
was introduced into Italy in 1542, and the _Index Librorum
Prohibitorum_ was established. But the congregation of the Index
was not established till the Council of Trent. Magical books were
prohibited as early as the Council of Nice, 325.]
Favoured by youth, constitution, and energy of mind, Cesare Borgia
wrestled successfully with the deadly ingredients which he had
inadvertently swallowed. He is said to have been saved by being
frequently placed in the carcass of a newly-killed bullock or mule,
and, whether in consequence of this treatment, or of the inflammatory
nature of the potion, to have lost the whole skin of his body. He had
flattered himself that, foreseeing every possible contingency which
his father's death could develop, he had so planned his measures
as to secure, in any event, his own safety, and the maintenance of
his authority. But, never having anticipated being disabled from
action at that very juncture, his well-laid schemes fell to the
ground, a signal illustration of the proverb, "Man proposes, God
disposes." By means of Don Michelotto, he was, however, able to draw
round the Vatican a body of twelve thousand devoted troops, and that
unscrupulous agent executed his instructions by seizing about 500,000
ducats in money, jewels, and valuables, from the Pope's apartment,
before his death was published.
The Diaries of Sanuto give a lively description of the immediate
effects of Alexander's death on Lower Italy,--the exultations of the
people, the prompt movements of the Campagna barons, the hesitation
of Valentino, the intrigues of the cardinals. As soon as the good
news transpired, Rome rose in arms against the Spaniards; and the
Colonna and the Orsini, entering at the head of their troops,
willingly aided in spoiling and slaughtering these countrymen of
the Borgia, who "could nowhere find holes to hide in." Even their
cardinals narrowly escaped a general massacre; and on the 8th of
September, a proclamation by the College cleared the city of these
foreigners on pain of the gibbet. Duke Valentino, although prostrated
in strength, and "seeming as if burnt from the middle downwards,"
was not without formidable resources. His hope was, that in the
distracted state of Rome, the cardinals would provide for their
personal safety by holding the conclave in St. Angelo, where the
election would be in his own hands. This calculation was, however,
defeated by their assembling at the Minerva convent, guarded by the
barons of Bracciano and Palestrina, with the bravest of the citizens,
and protected by barricades which withstood an assault by the
redoubted Michelotto. Still his troops were staunch, the Vatican and
St. Angelo were his, and he had secured the treasure of the Holy See.
But his nerve gave way, and after turning the castle guns against the
Orsini palace on Monte Giordano, he fled in a litter to the French
camp without the gates, on the 1st of September, and thence made his
way to the stronghold of Nepi. This vacillation brought its fitting
recompense, and lost him the advantages of his position. Hesitating
betwixt the Colonna and Orsini factions, wavering between Spanish and
French interests, his friends dropped off, his forces melted away,
and he lost the favourable moment for swaying the papal election.
The rival parties in the conclave, having had no time to mature their
plans, in consequence of the late Pontiff's sudden decease, trusted
to strengthen their respective interests by delay, and so were
unanimous in choosing, on the 22nd of September, the most feeble of
their body, the respected Piccolomini, who survived his exaltation
as Pius III. but twenty-six days. The state of matters at Naples
added to the general embarrassment. The ceaseless struggles for that
crown had of late taken a new turn, the contest being now between
Louis of France and Ferdinand of Spain. The Borgia, long adherents
of the former, had recently inclined to the Spanish side; but their
influence was now irretrievably gone.
*NOTE.--The following is a list of the chief
conquests of Cesare:--
City. Family. Date. Campaign.
Imola Riarii Nov. 27, 1499 First.
Forlì Riarii Jan. 12, 1500 First.
Rimini Malatesta Oct. 10, 1500 Second.
Pesaro Sforza Oct. 21, 1500 Second.
Faenza Manfredi April 25, 1501 Second.
Piombino Appiani Sept. 3, 1501 Second.
Urbino Montefeltri June 21, 1502 Third.
Camerino Varani July 29, 1502 Third.
Sinigaglia Roveri Dec. 28, 1502 Third.
Città di Castello Vitelli Jan. 2, 1503 Third.
Perugia Baglioni Jan. 6, 1503 Third.
Siena Petrucci Jan. (end), 1503 Third.
Cf. BURD, ed. _Il Principe_ (Oxford, 1891), p.
218, note 15.
CHAPTER XX
Duke Guidobaldo restored--The election of Julius II.--The
fall of Cesare Borgia--The Duke's fortunate position--Is
made Knight of the Garter--The Pope visits Urbino.
Whilst Valentino and his partizans thus had their hands full at Rome,
Romagna and his recent conquests threw off his rule. His officers had
concealed the first news of the tragedy at the Vatican, but, on the
22nd of August, authentic intelligence of the death of Alexander and
the illness of his son having reached Urbino, through some emissaries
of Guidobaldo who announced that the moment for action had arrived,
the people ran to arms. The governor fled to Cesena; his lieutenant
was slain in the tumult; the siege of S. Leo was raised; and in one
day the entire duchy, except one unimportant castle, returned to its
lawful sovereign.[*12]
[Footnote *12: During the Duke's absence an interesting
correspondence passed between Isabella d'Este and Cardinal Ippolito
d'Este in Rome concerning a Venus and a Cupid of the Duke's. The
Venus was a torso and antique, but the Cupid was the work of
Michelangelo. Cf. GAYE, _Carteggio d'Artisti_, vol. II.,
p. 53; ALVISI, _Cesare Borgia_, p. 537; LUZIO, in _Arch. St. Lombardo_
(1886), and JULIA CARTWRIGHT, _Isabella d'Este_ (Murray, 1903), vol. I.,
p. 230 _et seq._]
On hearing that the Pope and Cesare were both ill, the Duke of Urbino
hastily quitted Venice, his honourable and secure retreat, leaving
behind, in the words of Bembo, "a high reputation for superhuman
genius, for admirable acquirements, for singular discretion." As
a parting favour, that republic advanced him 3000 or 4000 ducats,
towards the expenses of his restoration. He wrote desiring his
nephew Fregoso to send over a detachment from S. Leo, to maintain
order in his capital, and himself following upon the steps of his
messenger, reached that fortress on the 27th of August. Next day he
proceeded to Urbino, where, Castiglione tells us, "he was met by
swarms of children bearing olive-boughs, and hailing his auspicious
arrival; by aged sires tottering under their years, and weeping for
joy; by men and women; by mothers with their babes; by crowds of
every age and sex; nay, the very stones seemed to exult and leap."
Women of all ranks flocked in from the adjacent townships, with
tambourines played before them, to see their sovereign, and touch his
hand; whilst popular fury spent itself upon the usurper's armorial
ensigns, which had been painted in fresco over the city gates a few
months before by Timoteo Vite, at the rate of from one to four ducats
each.[*13]
[Footnote *13: Cf. MADIAI, _Diario delle Cose di Urbino_, in
_Arch. St. per le Marche e per l'Umbria_, vol. III., p. 444.]
The example of Urbino was quickly followed by Sinigaglia, Pesaro,
and the other principalities; and by October, a confederacy for
their common maintenance and defence, under oaths and a mutual bond
of 10,000 ducats, was organised by these three states, along with
Camerino, Perugia, Piombino, Città di Castello, and Rimini, in all
which the exiled seigneurs had resumed their ascendancy.
It was a condition of this league, that no step or engagement should
be taken by any of the parties without the sanction of Guidobaldo,
who a month before had strengthened his position by accepting service
from the Venetians. The Signory engaged to protect him during life in
his state, against all attacks, and to pay him annually 20,000 scudi,
he maintaining for them a hundred men-at-arms, and a hundred and
fifty light cavalry, besides placing at their disposal, for instant
service, two thousand foot. These were forthwith sent to ravage the
neighbourhood of Cesena, which remained faithful to Valentino, and
thereafter, co-operating with other forces of the new league under
Ottaviano Fregoso, they attacked in succession such citadels and
castles as were held for the usurper.
The star of Borgia seemed once more in the ascendant. Early
in October Cesare, now able to bestride a mule, returned to
Rome, attended by a hundred and fifty men-at-arms and a hundred
halberdiers, where he patched up a reconciliation with the Orsini
faction, then dominant. From motives which it would now be difficult
to trace, the new Pontiff received him with favour, and named
him captain-general of the Church. But in this crisis of his
destiny he displayed no elevation of character. Disconcerted by
the embarrassment of his position, perhaps by the admonitions of
conscience, uncertain where to repose confidence or look for support,
he quickly repented having trusted himself in the city, and longed
to escape from its incensed populace and exasperated factions to
the shelter of his strongholds in Romagna. Humbling himself before
Gian-Giordano Orsini, the enemy of his race, he obtained a promise of
his escort across the Campagna; but perceiving, ere he had cleared
the gate, that he was in the hands of men by whom old grudges were
not forgotten, he fled in panic to the Vatican. There he crouched
beneath the doubtful favour of Pius, and the waning influence of the
Spanish cardinals, who vainly sought to protect his property from
pillage, and to expedite his escape in disguise, until the Holy See
was again vacated by its short-lived occupant.[14]
[Footnote 14: In the communal archives of Perugia, there is a brief
addressed to the authorities of that town by Pius III., dated 17th of
October, 1503, "before his coronation," but in fact the day preceding
his death, which must have been obtained by the influence of Cesare,
and which speaks a language very different from what his Holiness
would probably have adopted had his life been spared. Its object
was to prohibit certain "conventicles" which Gianpaolo Baglioni
was reported to be holding in Perugia, for the purpose of plotting
against the person of the Duke of Valenza and Romagna, and to desire
that he be charged to avoid all courses tending to the prejudice of
Borgia.]
Thus was that make-shift policy defeated by which the late conclave
had sought time for strengthening their interests and maturing their
intrigues: a new election was at hand ere its elements had subsided
from their recent turmoil. The Orsini were paramount in the city,
the Spaniards in the Sacred College. A struggle ensued whether the
former should obtain an order for Valentino's departure, or should
themselves withdraw from Rome before the conclave was closed. Victory
declared for the Iberian cardinals, by aid of Ascanio Sforza, who
sought to conciliate their suffrages for himself. Once again the
bantling of fortune had the game in his hand, again to play it
away. Holding, as was supposed, at his absolute disposal the votes
of the Borgian cardinals, he was courted by all who aspired to the
tiara; and in hopes of retrieving his affairs by the election of a
friendly pope, he took measures for throwing his whole influence
into the scale of Amboise, Cardinal of Rouen, as organ of the French
party. But that strong will and indomitable resolution which had
triumphantly carried him through many crimes were now wanting. From
day to day his plans faltered and his policy wavered; finally his
efforts failed. Men were wearied of the feeble counsels, the selfish
epicureanism, the public scandals of recent pontiffs. To rescue
the Church from utter degradation, a very different category of
qualifications was required, and even the electors felt that they
must find a pope in all respects the reverse of Alexander.
There was no member of the Sacred College whom Valentino had such
reason to fear and hate, none of whose domineering ambition the
Consistory stood in such awe, as Giulio della Rovere. Yet did his
master-spirit overcome all opposition. On the day preceding the
conclave he effected a reconciliation with the Spaniards, and his
ancient rival Ascanio Sforza sought his friendship. As he rode to
enter upon its duties, the cortège of attendant prelates equalled
that which usually swelled the train of an elected pope. Before
the door was closed, bets of eighty-two to a hundred were made on
his success, one hundred to six being offered against any other
candidate. It was, therefore, scarcely matter of surprise that within
an hour or two thereafter Julius II. was chosen by acclamation,
without a scrutiny.[15]
[Footnote 15: Our information is in many respects deficient regarding
the numerous and complicated events occurring at Rome between the
poisoning of Alexander and the final departure of his son Cesare,
and authorities are frequently irreconcileable. We are indebted to
Sanuto's Diary for many unedited particulars, especially of the papal
elections, but the most distinct account of these transactions, and
on the whole trustworthy, which we have met with, is given by Masse.]
At the last moment, Borgia's adherents, finding opposition vain,
thought it best to lay the new occupant of St. Peter's chair under
the obligation of their suffrages, a policy which Machiavelli had
justly condemned as the greatest blunder ever committed by their
leader. Some historians allege that their support was gained by an
offer of Julius to maintain him in his dignities and investitures,
betrothing his infant daughter to his own nephew the young Lord
Prefect. Unlikely as this may seem, there is much apparent
inconsistency in the Pontiff's treatment of him, which, if our
authorities are to be trusted, showed nothing of that choleric
temperament and energetic firmness which habitually characterised
him. Within two days of his election, when speaking of Valentino
to the Venetian envoy, he said, "We shall let him get off with all
he has robbed from the Church in his evil hour, but would that
the towns of Romagna were taken from him." Yet a change appears
to have supervened, induced perhaps by Cesare's representations,
which had formerly been successful with Pius III., that, under his
sway, the influence of the Church in that province of her patrimony
would be far better maintained than by handing it again to the old
dynasties, whom he had with difficulty eradicated, and who had ever
been turbulent vassals of the Apostolic Chamber. The now manifest
intention of the Venetians to obtain a footing in that quarter, upon
various pretexts founded on claims of the Manfredi and others of the
dispossessed lords, gave cogency to this reasoning in the eyes of
Julius, whose paramount policy of at all hazards aggrandising the
keys, rendered Valentino's sovereignty preferable to such extension
of their dominion, and may have somewhat extenuated the Borgian
policy in his eyes. He therefore brought the usurper from St. Angelo
to lodge in the Vatican, and entered with seeming cordiality into
his views. But the lapse of a few days found his Holiness in another
mood, declaring that his guest should not hold a single battlement
throughout Italy, but might be thankful if spared his life and the
treasures he had plundered, most of which were however already
dissipated. From that moment the prestige of his position was at an
end, and he remained at the palace "in small repute."
The crisis soon became urgent, for the Venetian troops were pouring
upon Romagna, whilst the few fortresses that still owned Borgia as
their master were gradually falling to the confederate chiefs, led
by Guidobaldo. On the 9th of November, letters, demanding these
captured castles in the name of the Signory, found the latter ill
of gout; but in reply he expressed surprise at the summons, seeing
that he had wrested them from the usurper, and hoped to hold them
for the pope elect, and in security for the valuables of which he
had been pillaged. In consideration, perhaps, of his being then
actually in pay of the Republic, he agreed to deliver up Verucchio
and Cesenatico, whereupon the messenger reported him to the Doge as
"a good Christian, but in want of some one to counsel him."
In this exigency, Cesare proposed to surrender to the Pope the
citadels of Cesena, Bertinoro, Forlì, and Forlimpopoli, as a means
of immediately arresting the progress of their assailants, and of
cutting short the schemes of Venice, offering to serve the Church
during the rest of his life in any capacity that was thought
expedient. This offer Julius declined, but gave him liberty to
repair to the scene of action, and act for the best with what
troops he could raise. He accordingly went to Ostia on the 19th
of November, meaning to take shipping for Upper Italy; but on the
21st the Pontiff, alarmed at the progress of the Venetians, and
influenced by Guidobaldo, who, arriving on that day, had demanded
justice upon Borgia, thought better of it, and sent to get from
him the countersigns of his citadels. These Valentino refusing,
he was brought back to Rome under arrest on the 29th, and, after
much temporising, ultimately gave the necessary passwords for the
surrender of his last hold upon his recent dominions.
Such seem the admitted facts of the Pope's treatment of Borgia.
His change of conduct may have been dictated by new circumstances
coming to his knowledge, or it may have been part of a systematic
deception, in order to turn Valentino's influence to his own
purposes. The opinions of Giovio and De Thou show that such treachery
as Guicciardini charges upon Julius, and as Cesare met soon after
from Gonsalvo di Cordova, was regarded by the lax public and private
morality of the age as justified by his own infamous perfidies. On
the other hand, it is admitted that the Cardinal della Rovere's high
reputation for good faith was one of his recommendations to the
conclave. Bossi, in an additional note to vol. IV. of his translation
of _Leo X._, considers this dark passage of history to be cleared up
by the narrative of Baldi, regarding Guidobaldo's generous treatment
of the enemy of his house, to which he attributes the moderation of
his Holiness; but this view does not seem borne out either by dates
or by Baldi's words.[*16]
[Footnote *16: Cf. the latter, in which an account of the interview
between Cesare and Guidobaldo is given, UGOLINI, _op. cit._, vol. II.,
p. 523. It does not bear out Giustiniani's account (q.v. ii., 326) of
what Guidobaldo said to him, and is probably mere rhetoric.]
Thus terminated Duke Valentino's connection with the immediate
subject of this narrative. A few words will suffice to trace the
remainder of his fluctuating fortunes. Having been again transmitted
to Ostia, he remained there a sort of prisoner at large until
April, 1504, when his escape to Naples was connived at. There he
was received with distinction by Gonsalvo di Cordova, viceroy of
Ferdinand II.; but soon after, an order arrived from that king to
send him prisoner to Spain. With this command, suggested probably by
a brief from Julius, which Raynaldus has printed, the Great Captain
at once complied, although Borgia held his safe-conduct,--a breach of
faith which the Spanish historians justify by the alleged detection
of schemes and intrigues, originated by Cesare and perilous to the
ascendancy of his Catholic Majesty. Yet we learn that the Viceroy's
last hour seemed troubled by repentance for this stain upon his
conscience, which even in his day of pride one chivalrous spirit had
dared thus to question. Baldassare Scipio of Siena, a free captain
long in Cesare's service, publicly placarded a challenge to any
Spaniard who should venture to maintain "that the Duke Valentino had
not been arrested at Naples, in direct violation of a safe-conduct
granted in the names of Ferdinand and Isabella, to the great infamy
and infinite faithlessness of all their crowns." On reaching the land
of his fathers, this incarnate spirit of a blood-stained age was
confined in the castle of Medina del Campo, and the interest used for
his release by the Spanish cardinals, and by his brothers-in-law the
King of Navarre and the Duke of Ferrara, who offered their guarantee
for his good behaviour, was, during three years, unavailing on the
ground of his dangerous character. At length he made his escape by
a rope-ladder or cord, under circumstances so fool-hardy as to be
ascribed by the country people to supernatural aid, and reached the
King of Navarre, who gave him the command of an expedition against
the Count de Lérin. On the 10th of March, 1507, he fell into an
ambuscade near Viane, and was cut to pieces fighting desperately. By
a singular coincidence, his stripped and plundered body, having been
recognised by a servant, was interred in the church of Pampeluna, the
archbishopric of which had been his earliest promotion. Short as was
his life (for he seems to have died under thirty) he had survived all
his dignities and distinctions, realising the distich of Sannazaro,
"CÆSAR, he aimed at all, he vanquished all;
In all he fails, a CYPHER in his fall."[17]
[Footnote 17:
"Omnia vincebas, sperabas omnia Cæsar;
Omnia deficiunt, incipis esse nihil."]
Valentino's was a character peculiar to Spain, with which Pizarro
alone seems to have matched. His boundless ambition was profoundly
selfish and utterly unscrupulous; his energy of purpose owned no
impulse but egotism; his capacity was marred by meanness; his
splendid tastes served but as incentives to spoliation. The demands
of honour, the compunctions of conscience, the value of human
life availed nothing in his eyes. In him foresight became fraud,
calculation cunning, prudence perfidy, courage cruelty. His daring,
his constancy, his talent were devoted to murder, rapine, and
treachery. His campaigns were massacres, his justice vengeance, his
diplomacy a trick. Generosity was a stranger to his impulses, remorse
to his crimes.
* * * * *
Fortune, so long adverse to Guidobaldo, at length smiled upon him.
The election to the tiara of his relative and confidential friend,
Cardinal della Rovere, freed him from anxiety as to the restoration
of his duchy, and promised him a long career of prosperity and
honour. His policy of supporting the Venetians in their views upon
Romagna thus not only became superfluous as a check upon Borgia,
but seemed not unlikely to place him in a dilemma with the Camera.
The new Pontiff, therefore, lost no time in removing him from a
position of such delicacy, by summoning him to Rome. The invitation
found him encamped before Verucchio, whence he immediately set out;
and, after devoting two days at Urbino to public thanksgivings and
festivities for his own restoration and for the election of Julius,
he performed the journey in a litter, his gout preventing him from
riding. On the eleventh day, being the 20th of November, he was met
at the Ponte Molle by a superbly caparisoned mule, and on it was
painfully but honourably escorted by an imposing cortège to his
apartment in the Vatican, under a salute from the artillery of St.
Angelo. Notwithstanding his fatigue, he was bidden by the impatient
Pontiff to supper that evening, and was received by his Holiness on
the landing-place with equal favour and distinction.
In the explanations which followed, their mutual views were frankly
stated. The claim which the Venetians had upon Guidobaldo, from
extending to him their hospitality and support in almost desperate
circumstances, was fully allowed by the Pope, and his avowal that, in
co-operating with them in an invasion of Romagna, he conceived they
were thwarting Borgia, not the Church, was accepted as satisfactory.
But his Holiness intimated, with reference to the future, that the
vassal of the Apostolic See had duties paramount to all foreign ties;
and that, since the rights of the Camera over that province admitted
of no compromise, he would do well to resign the service of the
Republic, and recall his consort to administer his affairs at home,
whilst he remained in Rome for the winter. To these suggestions the
Duke agreed, and wrote in most grateful terms to the government of
Venice, explaining the obstacles which had unexpectedly arisen to his
repaying at that moment the obligations he had incurred. We learn
from Sanuto that on the 10th of October the Duchess with her ladies
went into college, and being seated near the Doge, thanked the
Signory in her lord's name for the favour, command, and protection
granted to him, to which the Doge replied blandly, asserting the love
borne him by the Republic. Again, on the 15th of November, there came
into the cabinet of the Signory "the Duchess of Urbino with Madonna
Emilia and her company of damsels to take leave, for she is departing
early to-morrow morning for her duchy; she goes in a barge by the Po
as far as Ravenna, and from thence on horseback: and the Doge spake
her fair, and having taken leave, we sages of the orders accompanied
her as far as the palace-gates, and she proceeded along the Mercery,
reaching home on the 2d of December."
Borgia took the opportunity of Guidobaldo's visit to make advances
for a reconciliation, having reason to dread his influence with
the Pope. These were received with courtesy; but, in the words of
the Venetian chronicler just quoted, "the Duke was resolved to
have his own again, especially the library, which was promised
him without damage, with the tapestries, although the Cardinal of
Rouen had already got a good share of them." According to Baldi's
elaborate and somewhat too dramatic description of their interview,
he magnanimously forgave the extraordinary injuries he had received
from his now humbled adversary. On the authority of private letters,
an anonymous diary, already noticed, states that the usurper threw
himself, cap-in-hand, at the Duke's feet, beseeching mercy and
pardon, and excusing his conduct on the plea of youth, the brutality
of his father, and the persuasions of others. This incident was
represented in a fresco by Taddeo Zucchero, which I saw at Cagli in
1843, and which had been cut from the villa built at S. Angelo in
Vado, by Duke Guidobaldo II. Cesare is a slight figure handsomely
dressed, with long sharp features, a high nose and reddish hair. He
kneels before the Duke of Urbino, raising his cap, whilst one notary
appears to read aloud an act of surrender, and another makes an
instrument upon the transaction.[18]
[Footnote 18: Considering that Borgia was probably dead half a
century before this painting was commissioned, little reliance can be
placed upon the likeness. *This is the account alluded to in note *1,
page 29.]
Even after Valentino had given authority for a surrender of the
citadels in Romagna, they were held by his officers upon the plea
that he was not a free agent, and the bearer of his missive was
hanged by the castellan of Cesena. At length the Pope ordered
Guidobaldo to reduce them by force. For this purpose he named
him gonfaloniere of the Church, retaining him and four hundred
men-at-arms, with a year's pay of 7000 ducats in advance. It was
about this time that he was invested with the insignia of the Garter,
to which illustrious order he had been elected in February. His
acquisition of this dignity, and Count Baldassare Castiglione's
mission to London as proxy at his installation, form an episode of
so much interest to an English reader that we have gleaned every
possible notice of these events, and have arranged them in II. of the
Appendix.
The Duke left Rome for his command, accompanied by his nephew the
Prefettino, as he was then usually called from his youth, who had
returned from France three months before to wait upon his Holiness.
They were attended by Castiglione, who, after charming Julius by
his polished society, was permitted by him to transfer his services
to the court of Guidobaldo, of which he became the ornament and
commentator. On the 1st of June they reached Urbino, and found the
Duchess re-established among an attached people, who, to drive away
sad recollections of their recent sufferings, had amused her during
the preceding carnival with scenic imitations of the principal events
of the usurpation! One of these was the comedy (so called rather
in a Dantesque than a comic sense) of the Duke Valentino and Pope
Alexander VI. In it were successively represented their plotting the
seizure of the state, their sending the Lady Lucrezia to Ferrara,
their inviting the Duchess to her wedding, the invasion of the duchy,
the duke's first return, and his redeparture, the massacre of the
confederates, the death of the Pope, and the Duke's restoration to
his rights.
The garrisons of Cesena and Bertinoro had surrendered ere Guidobaldo
took the field, that of Forlì came to terms as soon as his troops
appeared. With it passed the last wreck of the Borgian substantial
power and vast ambition, within a year from the death of Alexander,
leaving to future times no memorial but a name doomed to lasting
execration. Guidobaldo had at the same time the satisfaction of
recovering most of the valuables that had been pillaged from his
palace, estimated by him at not less than 100,000 ducats, especially
a large proportion of his father's celebrated library.
On the 6th of September the Duke retraced his steps to Urbino, and
there at length renewed the long-suspended joys of his secure and
tranquil residence. Few, perhaps, of their rank and age, less needed
such rough discipline to inculcate moderation, than this exemplary
couple. Yet must the lessons of adversity have been ordained for some
purifying purpose, and we may indulge the hope that they were not
sent in vain. The Duke devoted his earliest leisure to signalise his
gratitude for the unflinching loyalty of his subjects by conferring
upon their several municipalities various privileges and immunities,
and remitting their fiscal arrears. The Duchess expressed her
thankfulness by many works of piety, by liberal charities, and by
instituting a three days' fair on the anniversary of her lord's
restoration. Their domestic circle was agreeably enlarged by the
arrival of the Lady Prefectess, as the widow of Giovanni delle Rovere
was entitled, who, on returning from a similar exile, and after
paying her reverence to her brother-in-law the Pope, hastened to join
her son at her brother's court. We have noticed the services which
when assailed by Valentino, she received from Andrea Doria; they
were now acknowledged by Guidobaldo with the castle of Sassocorbaro,
and other holdings. Another guest at Urbino was Sigismondo Varana,
the young heir of Camerino, who arrived with his mother Maria, sister
of the Prefettino, and with his uncle and guardian Giovanni Maria,
who afterwards supplanted him in that state.
Urbino was now enlivened by an event which proved of paramount
interest to its sovereign, and was destined by providence to carry
forward its independence and glories under a new dynasty. We have
seen how it had been proposed between the Cardinal della Rovere and
Guidobaldo, in 1498, that the latter should adopt the young Prefect
as his heir, and procure from the Pope a renewal of the Dukedom and
investitures to his favour.[19] The simulated sanction of Alexander
to this arrangement led to no result; but, as soon as Julius was
fixed in the seat of St. Peter, he took measures for placing his
nephew's prospects beyond question. In the natural course of events
the state of Urbino would lapse to the Holy See on the Duke's death,
and, as the uniform policy of this Pontiff was to unite to it as many
such fiefs as the failure of their seigneurs or the force of his
arms brought within his grasp, his making an exception of the most
valuable of them all in favour of his own nephew gave rise to not a
few strictures. It is, however, the only instance in which nepotism
can be laid to his charge, and the precedents left him by recent
Popes may be pleaded in justification of a comparatively trifling
abuse.
[Footnote 19: See vol. I., p. 371.]
On the 14th of September the Archbishop of Ragusa arrived at
Urbino as papal nuncio, charged with brieves for the completion
of this affair, and also with the ensigns of command for the Duke
as generalissimo of the ecclesiastical troops. The ceremonials
consequent upon the implement of his mission have been detailed by
Baldi, and are characteristic of the times we are endeavouring
to depict. The nuncio and his splendid suite were received with
distinction, and next day, being Sunday, was fixed for Guidobaldo's
installation. The whole court and principal inhabitants being
assembled in the cathedral, high mass was performed by him, after
which, standing in front of the altar, he laid aside his mitre, and
pronounced a solemn benediction on the two standards of the Church,
which were held furled by a canon, whilst he waved incense over them,
and sprinkled them with holy water. This ended, he desired them to
be mounted on their staves, and having sat down and resumed his
mitre, he presented them to the Duke, who received them, devoutly
kneeling on the altar-steps, and handed one to Ottaviano Fregoso, the
other to Morello d'Ortona. He then received the baton, with the like
ceremonies, and rose, after kissing hands; whereupon the audience
dispersed amid strains of martial music and popular acclamations.
Upon the 18th, there assembled in the Duomo a still more numerous
and distinguished auditory; when, after celebration of mass by the
nuncio, he seated himself before the altar, with the Prefect on his
right, and the Duke on his left, and in an elegant Latin discourse,
set forth the desire of the latter to make sure the succession by
adopting his nephew, and the approval of the Pope and college of
cardinals to that substitution, in evidence of which the brieves and
other formal documents were read. A magnificent missal,--perhaps
that painted for Matthew Corvinus King of Hungary, which adorns the
Vatican Urbino Library,--was then placed in the hands of Francesco
Maria, opened at a miniature of the holy sacrament, and upon it
deputies from the communities of the duchy took the oath of fidelity
and homage to him as their future sovereign; all which having been
regularly attested in notorial instruments, the solemnity ended.[*20]
[Footnote *20: Cf. MADIAI, _op. cit._, in _Arch. cit._, vol.
_cit._, p. 451-2.]
These events served to aggravate the jealousy of the Venetians
against the claims of Julius upon their recent acquisitions of
Romagna, which they regarded as fairly conquered from Borgia. They
possessed in this way the states of Ravenna, Faenza, and Rimini, and
had gained footing upon the territories of Imola, Forlì, and Cesena,
the inhabitants of which loudly complained of their aggressions.
Of all these places the Church was the acknowledged superior, and
the old investitures held under her by their respective princely
families had been annulled by Alexander, in order to make way for
his son. Some of these dynasties had died out, and Julius showed
no disposition to restore the others, his leading object being the
temporal aggrandisement of the papacy. At this juncture his Holiness
sent for Guidobaldo, to consult with him; and in order to facilitate
his arrival, presented him with a commodious litter swung between
two beautifully dappled horses. The winter journey was, however,
disastrous to his dilapidated frame, and he was laid up for nine
days at Narni with gout, complicated by fever and dysentery, and
consequently did not reach Rome with his nephew and Castiglione
until the 2nd of January, when they slept outside of the gate, and
next morning made a solemn entrance. It was the great object of the
Republic to be received as vicar or vassal of the Holy See in the
three first-mentioned states, and for this end they were willing to
abandon all claims and attempts upon the remaining three. Guidobaldo,
interposing as a mediator to prevent an open breach between parties
so mutually deserving of his friendship, persuaded the Signory to
abandon the latter places, and trust to the justice of Julius for the
fulfilment of their desires. To procure this, they sent, in April,
a splendid embassy to Rome of eight commissioners, with two hundred
attendants, headed by Bembo, who, passing by Urbino, received from
the Duchess a princely welcome. But no benefit accrued from this
measure, for the Pontiff's ultimatum was announced to the senate
through Louis XII., giving them Rimini and Faenza, during his life
only, a result highly unsatisfactory to the Republic.
The Duke's prolonged residence in Rome, where his company became
greatly prized by the Pope, was little relished by his consort or his
people; so, to maintain them in good humour, his Holiness announced
a plenary indulgence for all their broken vows and deeds of violence
during the late usurpation, to such as should devoutly observe the
Easter ceremonies. The alms collected at this jubilee, amounting to
2265 florins, were expended upon the duomo of Urbino. At length, in
the end of July, 1506, he obtained leave to return home, on the plea
that change of air was advisable for his health.[*21]
[Footnote *21: Cf. MADIAI, _op. cit._, in _Arch. cit._, vol.
_cit._, p. 455. This Diary says that the Duke returned at the end of
February, 1506.]
Julius, having announced to the consistory his intention of extending
the temporal sovereignty of the Church over such portions of the
ecclesiastical territory as were possessed by tyrants (for so he
called the vicars and other lords who ruled their petty states as
feudatories of the Holy See), carried his design into effect with
characteristic energy. He set out for Perugia on the 26th of August,
after having directed the Duke of Urbino and his nephew to march
thither, each with two hundred men-at-arms, and expel its seigneur
Gianpaolo Baglioni. Here Guidobaldo again appeared as mediator, and,
persuaded by him to submit with good grace to a fate that he could
not avert, the Lord of Perugia gave up his fortresses, and was taken
into the pay of Julius for his expedition against Bologna. The Pope,
elated by the ease with which so formidable an opponent had been
disposed of, pressed on preparations for attacking the Bentivoglii.
He reached Urbino on the 25th of September, accompanied by twenty-two
cardinals, with a suitable cortège, and a guard of four hundred men.
Beyond the walls he was received by forty-five noble youths, dressed
in doublets and hose of white silk, who, on his alighting, seized as
their perquisite his richly caparisoned mule, which was afterwards
redeemed from them for sixty golden ducats. The gates were thrown
down to receive him, and he was there met by the Duke, disabled from
dismounting; by the magistracy, who presented the keys; and by the
court and clergy. A rich canopy shaded him, as the holy sacrament
was borne before him to the cathedral; and after devotion there, he
entered the palace, which next evening was illuminated, along with
the citadel, fireworks being displayed in the piazza. Some singular
usages of hospitality were adopted on this occasion. The Duke
presented to his Holiness a hundred sacks of flour, as much barley
and corn, with a proportionate quantity of live stock and poultry,
to the value in all of 800 ducats.[*22] This donative was accepted,
and part of it was handed over to the hospital of the Misericordia.
In anticipation of the Pope's advent, the roads were repaired and
smoothed, triumphal arches and statues were erected, flowers and
evergreens were strewn before him, the streets were adorned with gay
hangings and shaded by linen awnings, the palace was arrayed in those
rich tapestries, pictures, and furniture, which the taste of Federigo
and his son had accumulated. Next evening, the palace roofs and the
citadel were illuminated, and over the latter was hung a brilliant
cross of fire. Deputations arrived from Pesaro, and the principal
places in the duchy, with gifts of provisions; but large supplies had
been previously laid in by the Duke for so vast an influx; and in
order to regulate prices, the following tariff, calculated at about
half the current value, was proclaimed.
Wheat, per staio or bush 45 bolognini.
Barley " " 36 "
Oats " " 24 "
Wine, per somma 54 "
Ditto, new " 27 "
Mutton, per lb. 1 "
Veal, per lb. 10 "
Ox flesh " 8 "
Salt meat " 1 to 7 "
Capons, per pair 9 "
Fowls " 4 to 7 "
Pigeons " 4 to 7 "
Wood pigeons, per pair 1 to 7 "
Eggs, seven for 1 "
Cheese, per lb. 1 to 7 "
Hay, per cwt. 4 to 7 "
Wood, per somma 1/2 carlino.[23]
[Footnote *22: Cf. MADIAI, _op. cit._, _Arch. cit._, vol.
_cit._, p. 456-7.]
[Footnote 23: These, and many other particulars interwoven with our
narrative, are taken from the anonymous Diary, Vat. Urb. MSS. No.
904. During the preceding year of scarcity, wheat had varied in
different parts of Italy from four to twelve golden ducats, each
of forty bolognini, a price scarcely credible. Riposati quotes a
document proving that in 1450 a florin contained forty bolognini of
Gubbio, of which twenty-nine and a half were coined from an ounce of
silver, with 9/48 of alloy. Although it seems right to insert the
above tariff, most of the prices appear enormous, beyond all belief.
See the Preface to this work, for the comparative value of money.
*This diary is the one quoted under MADIAI.]
[Illustration: _Anderson_
POPE JULIUS II
_From the picture by Raphael in the Pitti Gallery, Florence_]
On the 29th of the month, his Holiness set out for Bologna, and,
avoiding the territory held by the Venetians, reached Cesena on
the 2nd of October by mountain tracks through Macerata and S. Leo.
Thence he summoned the Bentivoglii to surrender their city to him as
its lawful sovereign, and ordered the people on pain of interdict
to abandon their cause, and open the gates. These chiefs had made
great preparations for defence, but subsequently, on finding
themselves deserted by Louis XII., offered terms, to which Julius,
elated at the prospect of French succours, would not listen. The
war, which promised to be obstinate, passed off in a revolution; for
the Bentivoglii, losing heart, made their escape, to the delight
of the citizens, who, thus saved from a siege, threw open their
gates, and hailed the Pope as their liberator. He made his entry
on Martinmas-day, and at once confirmed this favourable impression
by abolishing various grievances, and by scattering in the streets
4000 golden scudi bearing the legend "Bologna freed from its tyrant
by Julius."[24] The mob showed their zeal by demolishing the
palace of their late rulers, one of the most beautiful in Italy,
wherein miserably perished many treasures of art; and its ill-fated
master and mistress soon after died of broken hearts in Lombardy.
But fortune is fickle, and the breath of popular favour still more
changeful. Four years and a half from this date the war-cry of
"Bentivoglio" again rang through these streets; the same mob strained
their brawny sinews to level the citadel which Julius had erected
to curb them, and to shatter the colossal statue of him with which
Michael Angelo had adorned their piazza; the same Pontiff saved
himself from capture, and his legate escaped from the popular fury
to fall by the dagger of a friend. Such are the retributions of
HIM "whose ways are unsearchable, and whose thoughts are
past finding out."[25]
[Footnote 24: In the same feeling, though of later date, a copy of
Raffaele's speaking portrait of his Holiness, now in the Torlonia
Gallery, and attributed to Giulio Romano, is inscribed, "The author
of freedom, for the citizens he saved." This conquest became a
triumph of art as well as of arms; the colossal statue of Julius,
begun by Michael Angelo in Nov. 1506, was erected in February, 1508.
It weighed 17,500 lb. of bronze, and cost about 12,000 golden ducats,
of which 1000 went to the artist.]
[Footnote 25: See ch. xxxiii. of this work.]
The Pope remained until late in February to settle his new conquest,
keeping the Duke near him as a friend and counsellor, and on the
3rd of March, in defiance of the inclement season, repeated his
visit to Urbino for one day, with a smaller company, while on his
return to Rome. His host, after conveying him as far as Cagli on the
5th, pleaded his constitutional malady, and returned home with the
Prefect. As this was the period selected by Count Castiglione for
portraying the ducal court, it will be well to pause for a little,
and consider the representation he has left us of it.
CHAPTER XXI
The Court of Urbino, its manners and its stars.
The taste for philosophy, letters, and arts, and the patronage of
their professors which Cosimo de' Medici and his son Lorenzo the
Magnificent had introduced among the merchant-rulers of Florence,
were, as we have already seen, adopted by several petty sovereigns of
the Peninsula, but chiefly by those in the district of Romagna.[26]
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta was the first to engraft these fruits
of peace upon a military despotism, which his restless ambition and
fierce temper ever rendered the torment of his neighbours, and the
scourge of his people. The d'Este of Ferrara, the Sforza of Pesaro,
but, above all, Duke Federigo of Urbino, improving upon his example,
had shown how mental cultivation might be brought to modify, or, as
the Latin idiom has it, to humanise, without enervating, a martial
character. The reign of Guidobaldo was peculiarly favourable to
the development of this new and attractive principle; for though
enabled partially to sustain the fame in arms which his father had
bequeathed him, his feeble health gave him greater opportunity for
the cultivation of letters, and for the society of the learned,
to which he was naturally partial. Seconded by the sympathies of
his estimable Duchess, his palace became a resort of the first
literary and political celebrities of the day, who during the few
years that succeeded his restoration, diffused over it a tone of
refinement elsewhere unrivalled. To fix for the contemplation of
posterity those graceful but transient images which flitted across
this gay and brilliant society was the pleasing task undertaken by
Castiglione,[*27] one of its most polished ornaments.
[Footnote 26: See above, ch. viii., ix., x.]
[Footnote *27: The following is a short bibliography of _Il
Cortegiano_, and of works relating to it:--
SALVADORI, _Il Cortegiano_ (Firenze, 1884).
CIAN, _Il Cortegiano_ (Firenze, 1894).
OPDYCKE, _The Book of the Courtier_ (New York, 1901).
BOTTARI, _Studio su B.C. e il suo Libro_ (Pisa, 1874).
LUZIO E RENIER, _Mantova e Urbino_ (Torino, 1893).
CIAN, in _Giornale Stor. d. Lett. It._, vol. XV. fasc. 43 e
44.
CIAN, _Un Codice ignoto di Rime volgari app. a B.C._ in
_Giornale cit._, vol. XXXIV., p. 297, XXXV., p. 53.
SERASSI, _Lettere_, 2 vols. (Padova, 1769-71).
RENIER, _Notizia di Lettere ined. di B.C._ (Torino, 1889).
MARIELLO, _La Cronologia del Cortegiano_ (Pisa, 1895).
JOLY, _De B.C. opere cui titulus Il Cortegiano_ (Cadomi,
1856).
TOBLER, _C. und sein Hofmann_, in Schweizer Museum, 1884.
VALMAGGI, _Per le fonti del Corteg._, in _Giornale cit._,
XIV., 72.
GERINI, _Gli scrittori pedagog. ital. d. Sec. XVI._ (Torino,
1897), p. 43.]
The title _Il Cortegiano_,[*28] literally the Courtier, may be
appropriately translated, "the mirror of a perfect courtier."
The author intended it, to use the words of his preface, "as a
portraiture of the court of Urbino, not by the hand of Raffaele or
Michael Angelo, but by an inferior artist, whose capacity attains no
further than a general outline, without decking truth in attractive
colours, or flattering it by skilful perspective."[*29] But laying
aside metaphor, he thus accounts for the origin of his undertaking.
"After the death of the Lord Guidobaldo of Montefeltro Duke of
Urbino, I, with several other knights who had been in his household,
remained in the service of Duke Francesco Maria della Rovere, his
heir and successor in that state. And as the fragrant influence
continued fresh upon my mind of the deceased Duke's virtues, and of
the pleasure I had for some years enjoyed in the amiable society of
the excellent persons who then frequented his court, I was induced
from these reflections to write a treatise of THE COURTIER.
This I accomplished in a few days, with the intention of subsequently
correcting the errors incidental to so hasty a composition."
[Footnote *28: In the _Lettera Dedicatoria_. Cf. Ed. Cian, _op.
cit._, p. 4.]
[Footnote *29: This is the opening of the _Lettera Dedicatoria_ to
Don Michel de Silva, Bishop of Viseo.]
[Illustration: _Alinari_
PORTRAIT OF A LADY, HER HAIR DRESSED IN THE MANNER OF THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY
_From the picture by ? Verrocchio [Transcriber's Note: now attributed
to Piero del Pollaiolo] in Poldo-Pezzoli Collection, Milan_]
The point which he undertakes is "to state what I consider the
courtiership most befitting a gentleman in attendance on princes,
whereby he may best be taught and enabled to perform towards them all
seemly service, so as to obtain their favour and general applause; to
explain, in short, what a courtier in all respects perfect ought to
be."[*30]
[Footnote *30: Opening paragraph of first book. Ed. Cian, p. 11.]
We cannot here follow the Count into the wide field which he thus
indicates, nor is it necessary, since his own work is accessible in
several languages. But from various passages we may offer a sketch of
the manners approved at the pattern court of Urbino, which will not
be deemed misplaced in these pages. The men who figured there were
chiefly distinguished in arms or letters. Whilst the former spent
their leisure in recollections of war and love, or in the congenial
pastimes of the field and the chase, the conversation of the
latter was often warped towards scholastic disputation, or tainted
by classic pedantry. Such manners have often been described, and
their interest has long passed away; but in a society where female
influence prevailed, and in an age when female intellect was fruitful
in prodigies, it may be well to see what were the graces expected
from a palace-dame.[*31]
[Footnote *31: Concerning Elisabetta Gonzaga. Cf. LUZIO E
RENIER, _Mantova e Urbino, Isabella d'Este, ed Elisabetta
Gonzaga_ (Torino, 1893).]
At the head of a string of common-place endowments we find a noble
bearing, an avoidance of affectation, a natural grace in every
action. Beauty is considered as most desirable, not indispensable;
and its improvement by such artificial means as painting and
enamelling the face, extirpating hairs on the eyebrows or forehead,
is derided. White teeth and hands are fully appreciated, but
their frequent display is censured. A neat _chaussure_ is lauded,
especially when veiled by long draperies. In short, natural elegance
and the absence of artifice are primary qualifications. A high-born
lady must be circumspect even beyond suspicion, avoiding ill-timed
familiarity, and all freedom of language verging upon licence; but
when casually exposed to discussions tending to pruriency, a modest
blush would be becoming, whilst shrinking or prudery might expose her
to sneers. Willingly to listen to or repeat slander of her own sex
is a fatal error, which will always be harshly construed by men. Her
accomplishments and amusements should ever be selected with feminine
delicacy, verging upon timidity; her dress chosen in tasteful
reference to what is most becoming, but with apparent absence of
study. In conversing with men she should be frank, affable, and
lively; but modest, staid, and self-possessed, with a nice observance
of tact and decorum. Noisy hilarity, a hoyden address, egotism,
prolixity, and the unseasonable combination of serious with ludicrous
topics are equally objectionable, but most of all affectation. Yet
she ought to be witty, capable of varied conversation in literature,
music, and painting, skilled in dancing and festive games. Nor should
that of a good housewife be wanting to her other qualities. In short,
the theory of a paragon lady of the 1500 might equally suit for one
of the present day. We should come to a very different conclusion
as to her real character, were we to test it by some passages of
the _Cortegiano_, wherein the Duchess Elisabetta, in chastity the
mirror of her age, listens approvingly with her courtly dames to long
passages of prurient twaddle, ever skirting and often overstepping
the limits of decency. Nor were the morals around her conformable to
her own pure example, and that of the immaculate Emilia Pia.[*32]
One sad instance in the ducal family we shall have to note, while
narrating the early life of Duke Francesco Maria I.; another,
remarkable from the subsequent status of the personage to whose birth
the scandal attaches, will immediately be mentioned in connection
with Giuliano de' Medici.[33]
[Footnote *32: This lady was the inseparable companion of the Duchess
Elisabetta. She was the daughter of Mario Pio, of the Lords of
Carpi. Early the widow of Antonio of Montefeltro, natural brother
of Guidobaldo, she remained at Urbino. She died, as it seems, a
true lady of the Renaissance. "Senza alcun sacramento di la chiesa,
disputando una parte del Cortegiano col Conte Ludovico da Canosso."
Cf. Rossi, _Appunti per la storia della musica alla Corte d'Urbino_,
in Rassegna Emiliana, Ann. I. (fasc. VIII.), p. 456, n. 1.]
[Footnote 33: See below, p. 57.]
But it would not be just, after adorning our narrative with
flattering sketches from Castiglione's pencil, to exclude one or
two anecdotes of the manners actually permitted among the polished
society he professes to portray, although their coarseness and
vulgarity, scarcely redeemed by their humour, may be considered as
staining our pages. They occur in some memorials of the conversation
of Francesco Maria, noted by a contemporary from personal
observation.[34]
[Footnote 34: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 1023, art. 21. There is a copy of
this MS. in the library of Newbattle Abbey, Scotland.]
The subject of discussion happening to be Mark Antony's weakness
in permitting Cleopatra to accompany him to the fight of Actium,
the Duke said, "My father-in-law, the Marquis of Mantua, being at
Mortara, in the service of France, Ludovico il Moro was in the
camp with his Duchess, and one day, seeing the Marquis suffering
from violent pain in the shoulder, said to him, 'Sir, I have
the Duchess here, what shall I do with her?' The Marquis, being
otherwise occupied, and suffering great pain, replied, 'How can I
tell? send her to a brothel!' an answer quite off-hand, and truly
appropriate"--from the brother of our paragon Duchess Elisabetta.
Niccolo de' Pii, a condottiere in the service of the Duke's father,
was very fat and overgrown. Dining one day with some Spanish
officers, after finishing a trout, he sent the head and back-bone
to one of them called Pedrada, who thereupon caustically retorted,
"It is yourself that has more want of head than of stomach," a reply
applauded as most cutting, for, "having more size than sense, he
needed the brains rather than the belly." The same Spaniard one day,
at a cardinal's reception, began to eat a candle, which, though
apparently of wax, was in the centre of tallow; finding it greasy
between his teeth, he seized the candlestick, and dashed it on the
floor, muttering, "I swear to God it is not silver:" the candle being
counterfeit, he fancied the candlestick must needs be so too. When
talking of absent men, the Duke told these anecdotes of Ottaviano
Fregoso, a star of the Urbino circle. As he conversed with his aunt
Duchess Elisabetta, holding her hand, his mind wandered to other
matters, and he began to twist about her fingers as he would have
done a switch, finally thrusting one of them into his nose, when a
burst of laughter from the bystanders recalled his thoughts. Dining
one day at the table of Julius II., he sheathed and unsheathed his
poignard, jingling the handle, until the Pope, losing all temper,
exclaimed, "Begone to a brothel, pox take you! Be off, and the
devil go with you!" Whereupon Signor Ottaviano began to make humble
excuses for his natural defect of recollection, to the infinite
glee of many church dignitaries who witnessed the scene. Yet only
two days thereafter, chancing to converse in the papal antechamber
with an ambassador who wore a massive gold chain, he, in a fit of
abstraction, thrust his finger into one of the links. Just then,
his Holiness appearing, the courtiers drew aside to make way, and
Fregoso was dragged along, throwing them all into confusion; nor
could he get free until he had well "salivated" his finger. Yet when
his wits were not a wool-gathering, this was considered the most
finished gentleman in Italy, and the most ready in reply. Thus, his
uncle, Duke Guidobaldo appearing one day in a violet satin jerkin
of unexceptionable fit, Ottaviano exclaimed, "My Lord Duke,
you really are _the_ handsome Signor!" "How disgusting are dull
flatterers who thus openly display their adulation," was the stinging
reply. "My Lord Duke," rejoined the courtier, "I meant not to say
that you are a man of worth, though I pronounced you a fine man and a
handsome nobleman;" an answer which made the Duke wince, and brought
credit to its author.
[Illustration: _Alinari_
A LADY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY]
But enough of this gossip: the reader of the _Cortegiano_, and its
author's charming letters, will find there many more attractive
and not less veracious touches of the Montefeltrian court, where
learning and accomplishment were often called upon to give dignity
and grace to social pastimes. Thus, the Duchess is represented as
singing to her lute those verses from the fourth _Æneid_, in which,
at the moment of self-immolation, Dido apostrophised the garments
forgotten by her faithless lover when he fled from her charms, until,
Orpheus-like, she had wiled the savage animals from their lairs, and
set the stones in sympathetic movement. At her court there were no
lack of pens to clothe in verse the passing fancies of the hour, and
adapt them to the musical or melodramatic tastes which gave a tone
of refinement to its amusements. Thus, for the carnival of 1506,
Castiglione and his messmate Cesare Gonzaga composed the pastoral
eclogue of _Tirsis_, which was acted by them before the court, with
choruses and a brilliant moresque dance. The personages of the
dialogue are Iola (Castiglione) and Dameta (Gonzaga), who describe
to Tirsi, a stranger shepherd, the ducal circle of Urbino, with the
Duchess at its head as goddess of the river Metauro. The Moresca, so
named from its supposed Moorish origin, was perhaps borrowed from
the ancient Pyrrhic dance, and consisted in a sort of mock fight,
performed to the sound of music with measured tread, and blunted
poignards. Next spring a somewhat similar pastoral, from the pen of
Bembo, was recited by him and Ottaviano Fregoso to the same audience.
Such and such-like were the favourite court diversions of Urbino.
Their stately conceits and solemn pedantry suited the spirit of that
classic age and the genius of a pomp-loving people; but it would be
scarcely fair to regard them as fully embodying the tone of manners
prevalent in the palace of Guidobaldo. In it were harmoniously
mingled the opposite qualities which then predominated at the various
Italian courts. Scholastic pretensions, still esteemed in many of
them, here thawed before the easier address of the new school.
Those abstruse studies which the Medici had brought into vogue were
eclipsed by a galaxy of brilliant wits. Even the ruthless bearing of
the old condottieri princes mellowed under the charm of female tact,
while the sensual splendour indulged by recent pontiffs was chastened
by the exemplary demeanour of the ducal pair.
Our appreciation of this picture would, however, scarcely be
correct or complete, did we not bear in mind the inner life of
contemporary sovereigns. We need not dwell on the contrasts afforded
in other Peninsular capitals, for these were rather of degree than
character, and would only show us the prevalence here of a gentler
courtesy and more pervading refinement. But we may fairly compare
the palace-pastimes of Urbino with those held in acceptance by
the princes and peerage of northern states, where deep potations
dulled the senses, or brutalised the temper; where intellect rarely
sought a more refined gratification than the monotonous recital
of legendary adulation; and where wit was monopolised by dwarfs
and professional jesters. In order better to preserve the form and
fashion of this pattern for princes, we shall transfer to our pages,
from Castiglione's groupings, some outlines of its chief ornaments,
beginning with himself.[35]
[Footnote 35: Castiglione was related through his mother to several
of the Urbino stars,--the Fregosi, Trivulzio, and Emilia Pia.]
* * * * *
[Illustration: COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE.
_Raffaele pinx._ _L. Ceroni sculp._
_From a picture in the Torlonia Gallery, Rome_]
From CASTIGLIONE, in Lombardy, sprang the ancestry of
COUNT BALDASSARE, and among them were numbered not a few
names of note in church and state. His father was no mean soldier,
in times when the captains of Italy bore a European reputation;
his mother, a Gonzaga of the Mantuan house, was descended from the
haughty Farinato degli Uberti, who, when accosted by Dante in _The
Vision_,--
"His heart and forehead there
Erecting, seemed as in high scorn he held
E'en hell."
The Count was born at Casatico, in the Mantuese, on the 6th of
December, 1478.[*36] His education, besides including the various
studies and accomplishments usual to an Italian gentleman of the
fifteenth century, was specially directed to those classical
attainments which entered into the literary pursuits of the age. The
death of his father left him early master of a handsome patrimony,
and he at once embraced that courtier-life for which he was
peculiarly fitted,--a life, which in a land subdivided into petty
sovereignties, constituted the only profession open to civilians of
noble birth and distinguished endowments, and on which his pen was
destined to confer perpetual illustration. After a brief visit to
Milan,[*37] and a short campaign in Naples with his relative the
Marquis Francesco of Mantua, he repaired to Rome in 1503, where, by
discretion and winning address, he quickly gained the new Pontiff's
favour. In Count Castiglione, the penetration of Julius recognised
a fit instrument for promoting his favourite scheme of securing
Urbino to his nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere; and by attaching
him to Guidobaldo, he fixed at that court a friend whose influence
was certain to extend itself, and whose example would benefit his
youthful relation.
[Footnote *36: For the biography of Castiglione, see
MARLIANI in the Cominana edition of the _Opere Volgari_
(Padua, 1733), and SERASSI, in _Poesie volgari e latine del
Castiglione_ (Roma, 1760), as well as the following works:--
MAZZUCHELLI, _Baldassare Castiglione_ (Narducci, Roma).
MARTINATI, _Notizie Stor. bibliogr. intorno al Conte B.C._
(Firenze, 1890). Cf. on this CIAN, in _Giorn. St. della
Lett. It._, XVII., 113.
BUFARDECI, _La vita letter. del c. B.C._ (Ragusa, 1900). Cf.
on this _Giorn. St. della Lett. It._, XXXVIII., 203.
CIAN, _Candidature nuziali di B.C._ (Venezia, 1892, per
nozze Salvioni-Taveggia).]
[Footnote *37: He was educated at Milan, where he probably learned
Latin from Giorgio Merula, and Greek from Demetrio Calcondila, and
cultivated at the same time the _poesia volgare_ (see CIAN,
_Un Cod. ignoto_, cited on p. 44, note *1). While he was still very
young he was attached to the Court of Il Moro. His father died in
1499 from a wound got at the battle of the Taro. He returned to
Casatico on the fall of Sforza, and then joined Marchese Francesco.]
The court of Urbino had already been for half a century the brightest
star in the constellation of Italian principalities, and under
its fostering influence were fully developed those fine qualities
which nature and early training had formed in Castiglione. His
first essay was as captain of fifty men-at-arms, with 400 ducats
of nominal pay, besides allowances; and his earliest exploit in
this new service was the reduction of Forlì, in 1504. The finances
of Guidobaldo were necessarily at a low ebb, and it is amusing to
find Baldassare's frequent lamentations to his mother, over the
arrears of his pay:--"Our doings are jolly but inconsiderable, that
is, on small means; we have never yet seen a farthing, but daily
and most devoutly look for some cash." It was not, however, till
nearly a year later that he received twenty-five ducats to account,
having often in the interval asked her aid, representing himself as
penniless, and living upon credit. In 1509,[*38] after returning
from his mission to England, which peculiarly required the graces
of a finished cavalier, and of which some account will be found in
II. of the Appendix, he attached himself to the Duke's immediate
person during the brief remainder of his life, and when it closed,
was sent to Gubbio, to maintain the interests of the succession, in
event of any popular outbreak. The favour which he had enjoyed from
Guidobaldo was amply continued under his nephew, whose fortunes he
followed during several years, sharing his successes in the field,
and sustaining him under his disgrace at the pontifical court. These
events must, however, be here touched with a flying pen, that we may
not anticipate details on which we shall afterwards have to dwell.
His reward was a grant of Novillara, near Pesaro; and when Francesco
Maria had exchanged sovereignty for exile, he returned to the service
of his natural lord, the Marquis of Mantua, whom he long represented
at the court of Leo X. To this Pontiff, Baldassare had nearly become
related, by a marriage with his niece Clarice de' Medici, which was
greatly promoted by Giuliano, during their residence at Urbino.
The negotiation was, however, broken off in January, 1509, by the
intrigues of her aunt, Lucrezia Salviati, who persuaded her uncle,
the Cardinal Giovanni, that, by bestowing her hand upon Filippo
Strozzi, he would strengthen the interest of his family at Florence.
The match having been, according to Italian usage, an interested
arrangement, its dissolution was borne with great philosophy by the
intended bridegroom; who some seven years later married Ippolita,
daughter of Count Guido Torelli, a celebrated condottiere, by
Francesca, daughter of Giovanni Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna.[*39]
The ceremony was performed at Mantua, and was celebrated with
tournaments and pompous shows, in which the court and people took a
lively interest. But their happy union was of brief duration. The
Countess died four years after, in childbed of a daughter. Her name
has been embalmed in a beautiful Latin ode, wherein her husband
embodied those laments for his absence which he doubtless had often
heard from her lips, expressing all the tenderness of nuptial love,
and adorning a woman's pathos with a poet's fire. Nothing can be more
beautiful than the allusion to her husband's portrait:--
"Your features portrayed by Raffaele's art
Alone my longings can solace in part:
On them I lavish jests and winning wiles,
As if their words could echo back my smiles;
At times they seem by gestures to respond,
And answer in your wonted accents fond:
Our boy his sire salutes with babbling phrase.
Such are the thoughts deceive my lingering days."
[Footnote *38: He was in England in 1506. Guidobaldo died in 1508. It
was to Duke Francesco he attached himself on his return.]
[Footnote *39: On the various designs for Castiglione's marriage, see
CIAN, _op. cit._, p. 46, note 1.]
In her epitaph, the Count summed up his wife's character and
endowments, with a doubt whether her beauty or her virtue were more
remarkable; to which her eulogist, Steffano Guazzo, has added a third
grace--her learning. During the first anguish of widowhood he was
supposed to have turned his thoughts to ecclesiastical orders; but
whatever views of that nature he may have entertained were speedily
abandoned; and in 1523 we find him again in Lombardy, with his
gallant company, under the banner of the Gonzagas.
On the accession of Clement VII., the Marquis of Mantua again sent
him to represent his interests at Rome, where he was not long in
obtaining from the new Pope the same favour which he had enjoyed
under his uncle, Leo X. His diplomatic talents were now acknowledged
as of the first order; and Clement, foreseeing, perhaps, the
impending difficulties of his position with the Emperor, prevailed
upon Castiglione to accept the nomination of nuncio to Madrid. His
courtly qualities were not less agreeable to Charles V. and the
grandees of Spain than they had been in Italy; and in the romantic
project by which the Emperor proposed to decide in single combat
his unquenchable rivalry with Francis I., the Count was selected as
his second,--an honour which his diplomatic functions prevented his
accepting. Even while the troops and name of Charles were used by
Bourbon to inflict upon the Apostolic See the greatest blow which
its capital had suffered since the temporal power of the Church
rose on the ruins of the Roman empire, the Nuncio was receiving new
honours at Madrid, and was only prevented by his own scruples
from obtaining the temporalities of the bishopric of Avila, one of
the richest in Spain. In this most delicate position he retained
the confidence of his master, who seems to have been satisfied that
to no remissness on his part were owing the horrors of the sack of
Rome. But these miserable results of jealousies between the Pope
and the Emperor, which all his tact and influence were powerless to
remove, rendered his position anything but enviable, and appear to
have preyed alike upon mind and body. He sank under a short illness
at Toledo, on the 2nd of February, 1529,[*40] and was lamented by
Charles as "one of the best knights in the world." A letter of
condolence, written to his mother by Clement, affords ample evidence
that the fruitless results of his diplomacy in Spain had nowise
diminished the Pope's confidence in his good service and attachment
to his person.
[Footnote *40: He died on February 7th, not 2nd.]
[Illustration: _Alinari_
HAIR DRESSING IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
_Detail from the fresco by Pisanello in S. Anastasia of Verona_]
In the _Cortegiano_ of Castiglione we are furnished with an
elaborate, and in the main faithful, delineation of the men, the
manners, and the accomplishments which rendered the court of Urbino
a model for his age, and also with an interesting picture of the
immediate circle which Guidobaldo and his estimable Duchess formed
around them. We have drawn upon it amply for this portion of our
volumes, but the notices which it affords of the Duke are of the
most vague and disappointing character. This deficiency would be
of little consequence, did the accounts which the same author
has left in a Latin letter to Henry VIII. do full justice to his
early patron. But from one whose opportunities of collecting ample
and authentic particulars were unusual, the passing allusions to
many momentous incidents are truly unsatisfactory. His details of
scholarship and accomplishments would be more valuable, if divested
of an air of exaggeration which even solemn asseverations of veracity
scarcely remove. With all their faults, these are preferable to the
compilation of Bembo, to which we shall in due time more particularly
advert. Those who wade through its laboured and redundant expletives
will probably come to the conclusion that Castiglione has preserved
whatever they contain worthy of notice.
The Count was a finished gentleman, in an age when that character
included a variety of mental acquirements, as well as many personal
accomplishments. His verses in Latin and Italian breathe a fine
spirit of poetry; his letters merit a distinguished place as models
of correspondence; his diplomatic address was highly approved by
the sovereigns whom he served, as well as by those to whom he
was accredited; he has been complimented as the delight of his
contemporaries, the admiration of posterity.
* * * * *
GIULIANO DE' MEDICI was third son of Lorenzo the
Magnificent, and was known in the circle of Urbino by the same
appellation. Born in 1478, he passed at that court several years
of his family's exile from Florence; nor was he ungrateful for the
splendid hospitality he there enjoyed, for, while he lived, his
influence with his brother, Leo X., averted those designs against
the dukedom, which were directed to his own aggrandisement. After
the restoration of the Medici, Leo confided to him the government of
Florence, which he endeavoured to administer in the spirit of his
father, and succeeded in gaining the good will of the people. But
the Pope was not satisfied with the re-establishment of his race as
sovereigns of that republic; and the fine qualities and vast ideas
of Giuliano suggested him as a fit instrument of further grasping
schemes. To realise these, Leo coquetted between France and Spain,
and, like his predecessors, sacrificed the peace of Italy. The prizes
which he successively proposed for Giuliano, who, by resigning
Florence into the hands of his nephew Lorenzo, the heir-male of his
house, was free to accept whatever sovereignty might be had, were
the duchy of Milan, a state in Eastern Lombardy and Ferrara, or the
crown of Naples. In June, 1515, the Pontiff conferred on him the
insignia of gonfaloniere and captain-general of the Church; but he
was prevented from active service by a fever which cut him off in
the following March, when only thirty-eight, not without suspicion
of poison at the hands of his nephew Lorenzo. His name is enshrined
in Bembo's prose and Ariosto's verse, whilst his tomb by Michael
Angelo in the Medicean Chapel, which Rogers, with a quaint but happy
antithesis, calls "the most real and unreal thing which ever came
from the chisel," is one of the glories of art.[*41] Shortly before
his death he had married Filiberta of Savoy, whose nephew, Francis
I., created him Duke of Nemours, and, had his life been prolonged,
would probably have aided him to further aggrandisement.
[Footnote *41: Giuliano was not so bad a poet himself. Cf. on this
subject SERASSI, in the Annotazioni to the _Tirsi_ of Castiglione at
stanza 43, and the five sonnets contained in _Cod. Palat._, 206 (_I
Cod. Palat. della Nazionale Centrale di Firenze_, vol. I., fasc. 4),
and the six of _Cod. Magliabech._ II., I., 60 (BARTOLI, _I manoscritti
della Bib. Nazionale di Firenze_, tom. I., p. 38).]
During his residence at Urbino, from an intrigue with Pacifica
Brandani, a person of high rank or base condition, for both extremes
have been conjectured to account for the mystery, there was born to
him a son, who, after being exposed in the streets in 1511, was sent
to the foundling hospital, and baptized Pasqualino. Removed to Rome
and acknowledged in 1513, the child received an excellent education;
and under the munificent patronage of the Medici became Cardinal
Ippolito, whose tastes were more for arms than mass-books, and whose
handsome features and gallant bearing, expressive of his splendid
character, are preserved to us in the Pitti Gallery by the gorgeous
tints of Titian, alone worthy of such a subject.
* * * * *
The next personage of this goodly company was CESARE
GONZAGA, descended from a younger branch of the Mantuan
house, and cousin-german of Count Baldassare, whose quarters he
shared in 1504, when they returned together from the reduction of
Valentino's strongholds in Romagna, where he had the command of fifty
men-at-arms. We know little of him beyond his having been a knight of
St. John of Jerusalem, and ambassador from Leo X. to Charles V.[*42]
Baldi describes him as not less distinguished by merit than blood,
and Castiglione assigns him a prominent place in the lively circle
whose amusements he depicts. He was no unsuccessful devotee of the
muses: a graceful canzonet by him is preserved in the Rime Scelte of
Atanagi, and he shares the credit of the eclogue of _Tirsis_ already
alluded to, and printed among the works of Castiglione. Recommended
by military talent, as well as by diplomatic dexterity and business
habits, he remained in the service of Duke Francesco Maria during his
early campaigns; and in September, 1512, after reducing Bologna to
obedience of the Pope, died there of an acute fever in the flower of
his age.
[Footnote *42: SERASSI, in _Poesie volgari e latine del B.C.
aggiunti alcune Rime e Lettere di Cesare Gonzaga_ (Roma, 1760), gives
a full notice of his life, and CASTIGLIONE, in the Fourth
Book of the _Cortegiano_, speaks affectionately of him.]
* * * * *
The brothers OTTAVIANO and FEDERIGO FREGOSO were
of a Genoese family, who for above a century had distinguished
themselves in the military, naval, and civil service of their
country, and had given several doges to that republic. Their father,
Agostino Fregoso, had married Gentile, natural daughter of Duke
Federigo, and the young men were consequently much brought up at
the court of Urbino, where their sisters Margherita and Costanza
were long in attendance on Duchess Elisabetta. In 1502, Ottaviano
accompanied his uncle on his first return from Venice, and we have
seen him then defending S. Leo during a lengthened siege, sustained
with great gallantry and skill. For that good service he had from
the Duke the countship of Sta. Agatha in the Apennines, afterwards
confirmed to him by an honourable brief of Leo X., and continued to
his descendants, with the title of Vicar, until their extinction in
the third generation.
The latter period of Ottaviano's life was actively passed in his
native city. From 1512 his endeavours were directed to abolish the
French domination maintained at that time by aid of the Adorni,
long hereditary rivals of his family. In this he finally succeeded,
and next year was elected doge, the only one, in Litta's opinion,
"who gloriously manifested a desire for the public weal." He held
that dignity during two years of tranquillity to his country, over
which the benign influence of his mild and impartial sway diffused a
temporary calm, long unknown to its factious inhabitants. So obvious
were these beneficial results, that Francis I., on becoming master
of Genoa in 1515, continued to him a delegated authority as its
governor. But, seven years later, the restless Adorni, having adhered
to the Emperor, aided the Marquis of Pescara to carry the city,
with an army of imperialists, who mercilessly sacked it. Ottaviano
remained a prisoner in the enemy's hands, and died soon after. He is
called in the _Cortegiano_ "a man the most singularly magnanimous
and religious of our day, full of goodness, genius, prudence, and
courtesy; a true friend to honour and virtue, and so worthy of praise
that even his enemies are constrained to extend it to him." The
revolution effected by Andrea Doria, in 1528, forcibly closed the
feuds of these rival families, which, during a century and a half,
had outraged public order, and, both being compelled to change their
name, the Fregosi adopted that of Fornaro.
* * * * *
FEDERIGO FREGOSO, the younger brother of Ottaviano,
born in 1480, was educated for holy orders under the eye of his
maternal uncle Guidobaldo. In the lettered society of Urbino he
perfected himself in various accomplishments, as well as in a
thorough knowledge of the world, which enabled him afterwards to
acquit himself usefully and creditably in many diversified spheres
of action. It was to the great satisfaction of that court that in
April, 1507, Julius II. conferred upon him the archbishopric of
Salerno, a benefice which the opposition of Ferdinand II., founded
on his leaning to French interests, apparently prevented him from
enjoying. His life of literary ease remained uninterrupted until
his brother's elevation as doge of Genoa in 1513, when he hastened
to support him by his counsels and influence. During the next nine
years he alternately commanded the army of the republic, led her
fleet against the Barbary pirates, whom he annihilated in their own
harbours, and represented her as ambassador at the papal court.
The revolution of 1522 compelled him to fly from his native city,
and, taking refuge in France, he received protection and preferment
from Francis I. He returned to Italy in 1529, and was appointed to
the see of Gubbio, where his piety, and devotion to the spiritual
and temporal welfare of his flock, were equally commendable, and
gained him the appellation of father of the poor and refuge of the
distressed. A posthumous imputation of heretical error cast upon his
name had no better foundation than the accident of his discourse
upon prayer happening to be reprinted along with a work of Luther,
which occasioned their being both consigned to the Index. In 1539 he
was made cardinal by Paul III., and died at Gubbio two years after.
His attainments in philology were eminent, including a profound
knowledge of Hebrew, with the study of which he is said to have
consoled his exile in France. Equal cultivation might have gained
him much fame as a poet, but the works he has left are chiefly of
a doctrinal character, and his eminence in the literary circle of
his day rests more upon the correspondence of Bembo, Sadoleto, and
Cortesio than upon his own writings.[*43] By the first of these, the
sparkle of his measured wit, the general moderation and suavity of
his manners, his gentle consideration for other men's habits, his
personal accomplishments, and the zeal displayed in his studies,
are all spoken of with warm admiration. The following letter of
sympathy, addressed to the dowager Duchess by that rhetorician is an
interesting though mannered tribute to his long friendship:--
"My most illustrious and worshipful Lady,
"I had somewhat dried the tears elicited by the death
of our very reverend Monseigneur Fregoso, so suddenly
and inopportunely taken from us, when your Excellency's
autograph letters recalled them to my eyes, and still
more abundantly to my heart, on finding that you condoled
with me so sensibly, and with so much unction. Not only,
indeed, has your Ladyship been bereaved of a rare friend
and relative, a most wise and religious gentleman, but,
as you observe, all Christendom has thus sustained a loss
incomparably great in times so evil and convulsed. Of
myself I shall say little, having already written a few
days ago to your Excellency; and, knowing the affection
and respect mutually existing between you, I appreciate
the weight of your grief from my own. Nor can I doubt
that your Ladyship is aware of my emotion consequent upon
his long kindness towards me, and my respectful but warm
affection for him, sentiments never interrupted by a single
word on either side, from his early youth and my manly age
down to this day. I am further pained to observe that your
Ladyship, lamenting for long years your Lord's death of
happy memory, and now that of the Cardinal, entertains an
impression your life will be short. This is no fruit of
that good sense I have ever noticed in you, and which the
Cardinal himself inculcated; for the more your Ladyship
is left alone to promote the welfare and advantage of the
tender plants by your side, you should be more anxious to
live on; for, while life is given you, you may benefit
their souls by prayers and good deeds, as well as promote
the interests of many who look to your pious spirit for the
prosperity of their lot. Let not, therefore, your Ladyship
speak thus, but bless (_si conforti_) the Heavenly King
that he has so willed it, and conform yourself to his
infallible will and judgment. As to your observation that
I am left to you, in place of this good gentleman, as a
protector, father, and brother, be assured that the day
shall never come when it will not be my desire to dispose
of myself in all respects according to your Excellency's
pleasure, yielding therein not even to your [late] most
reverend brother. Your Ladyship will consider me as truly,
really, and justly your own, to use and dispose of me
unreservedly; and for this end I give, grant, and give over
to you full leave and power, not to be reclaimed by any
change of fortune so long as life remains to me. In return
I shall now pray you to attend to your health, and not only
to live on, but live as happily as you can, thus avenging
yourself of fate, which has done so much to vex you....
From Rome, the 2nd of August, 1541."
[Footnote *43: Cf. TIRABOSCHI, _Storia della Lett. Ital._
(ed. Class. It.), vol. VIII., p. 3.]
* * * * *
PIETRO BEMBO[*44] was born at Venice in 1470, and had the
first rudiments of education at Florence, whither his father Bernardo
was sent as ambassador from the Signory. Having learned Greek at
Messina under Constantin Lascaris, and studied philosophy at Padua
and Ferrara, he devoted himself to literary pursuits. At the court
of the d'Este princes, where he was introduced by his father then
resident as envoy from Venice, he met with the consideration
due to his acquirements, and found a brilliant society, including
Sadoleto, the Strozzi, and Tibaldeo. There he was residing when the
arrival of Lucrezia Borgia threatened to establish for it a very
different character; but the dissolute beauty seems to have left
in the Vatican her abandoned tastes, and adopting those of her new
sovereignty she became distinguished as a patroness of letters.
The intimacy which sprang up between this princess and Bembo has
given rise to some controversy as to the purity of its platonism, a
discussion into which we need not enter. The life of the lady, the
writings of the Abbé, and the morals of their time combine to justify
suspicion, where proofs can hardly be looked for.[*45]
"But if their solemn love were crime,
Pity the beauty and the sage,--
Their crime was in their darkened age!"
[Footnote *44: For a splendid account of Bembo, cf. GASPARY,
_Storia della Lett. Ital._ (Torino, 1891), vol. II., part II., pp.
60-7, and the _Appendice Bibliographica_ there, pp. 284-5.]
[Footnote *45: This is altogether unfair, uncalled for, and untrue.
Dennistoun is not to be trusted where a Borgia is concerned; like
Sigismondo Malatesta they hurt the Urbino dukes too much.]
[Illustration: _Anon. des._ _L. Ceroni sculp._
CARDINAL BEMBO
_From a drawing once in the possession of Cavaliere Agricola in Rome_]
Their correspondence lasted from 1503 to 1516, and many of his
letters are published.[*46] The prevailing tone of these is
rhetorical rather than passionate, and is quite as complimentary
to her virtues as to her beauty. The Ambrosian Library at Milan
possesses nine autograph epistles in Italian and Latin from Lucrezia,
addressed "to my dearest M. Pietro Bembo," with the dates supplied in
his hand. A tress of fair auburn hair, originally tied up with them,
and doubtless that of the Princess, is now shown in the adjoining
museum. That her tastes and accomplishments were not unworthy of such
a friendship appears from many dedications of works to her while
Duchess of Ferrara, including the Asolani of her admirer.
[Footnote *46: Cf. MORSOLIN, _P. Bembo e Lucrezia Borgia_,
in the _Nuova Antologia_ (Roma, 1885), and BEMBO, _Opere_
(Venice, 1729), vol. III., pp. 307-17; also CIAN, in _Giorn.
Stor. della Lett. Ital._, XXIX., 425.]
In 1505 Bembo repaired to Urbino, and sojourned chiefly at that court
during the next six years, where his varied attainments were highly
prized, and where his philological pedantry was probably regarded
as ornamental. Besides enjoying the converse of many congenial
spirits, he there formed a friendship with Giuliano de' Medici, to
which he owed many subsequent honours. Accompanying him to Rome in
1512, he was recommended by him to his brother, the Cardinal, whose
first act on being chosen Pope in the following year, was to name
Bembo his secretary, jointly with his friend Sadoleto. For this
situation he was in many respects well fitted, by the happy union
of great learning with an extensive knowledge of men and manners,
which his residence at Ferrara and Urbino had not failed to impart.
The laxity of his morals, and the paganism of his ideas, were
unfortunately no disqualifications under Leo X. He continued to earn
his master's confidence in the discharge of his regular duties, as
well as in occasional diplomatic missions, but, as Roscoe truly
observes, his success as a negotiator did not equal his ability in
official correspondence. The pensions and benefices which rewarded
his services enriched him for life, and even before that Pontiff's
death he sought at Padua an elegant literary retirement, refusing
from Clement VII., and from the Signory of Venice, all offers of
public employment. He surrounded himself with a most select library,
including many invaluable manuscripts, and a precious collection
of medals and other antiquities, which, with the society of the
learned whom he attracted to his board, gave to his house a wide
celebrity. It was not regarded as at all degraded by the presence
of an avowed mistress at its head, with whom he openly lived for
many years, and had several children; and neither this scandal,
nor the gross indecency of some of his writings, prevented Paul
III. from conferring upon him a scarlet hat in 1539. He is said to
have accepted this dignity unwillingly, but having done so, he had
the good sense at all events to "cleanse the outside of the cup
and platter." His mistress was now dead; he laid aside poetry,
literature, and pagan idioms, and, devoting himself to theological
studies, at which he had formerly sneered in the habit of an abbé,
he entered holy orders at the mature age of sixty-nine. In 1541 he
succeeded Fregoso, his early companion at Urbino, in the bishopric
of Gubbio, to which was added that of Bergamo. How little these
preferments contributed to his comfort appears from a letter to
Veronica Gambara in December, 1543. "Often," he there says, "do I
desire to be the unfettered Bembo of other days, rather than as
I now am. But what better can one make of it? Man's existence,
abounding more in crosses than in gratifying incidents, will have it
so; and wiser he who least desponds and best puts up to necessity,
than one that less conforms to it. Yet I own myself unable to do
this amid these privations, and exiled in a manner from myself.
For verily I am neither at Venice nor Padua, as your Ladyship
supposes, but at my church of Gubbio, a very wild place to say the
truth, and offering few conveniences." He died at Rome six years
after, in his seventy-seventh year, and was buried in the church of
the Minerva, between his patrons Leo X. and Clement VII., where a
modest flag-stone is all the memorial that his natural son and heir,
Torquato, bestowed on one of the most famous men of his age.
* * * * *
At the town of Bibbiena, in the upper Val d'Arno, there were born
about 1470, of humble parentage, two brothers, whose business talents
procured them remarkable advancement. The elder, Pietro Dovizi,
became a secretary of Lorenzo de' Medici, into whose family he
introduced his brother BERNARDO. There this youth gained
for himself so good a reputation, that he was allowed to share the
instructions bestowed upon his patron's younger son Giovanni. A close
intimacy gradually sprang up between these fellow students, which
the similarity of their talents, their tastes, and their pursuits
ripened into lasting friendship. Identifying himself with the
Medici, he followed their fortunes into exile, and attended Giuliano
to Urbino, where he was received with the welcome there extended to
all who, like him, combined the scholar and the gentleman. But this
hospitality met with a very different return from these two guests.
Of Giuliano's generous forbearance to second the evil designs of his
brother, the Pope, against the state which had sheltered him, we have
lately spoken. When we come to narrate the usurpation of the duchy by
the Medici in 1516-17, we shall find in command of their invading army
"That courteous Sir, who honours and adorns
Bibbiena, spreading far and high its fame,"
and who had adopted that town as a substitute for his own
undistinguished patronymic. This ingratitude was the more odious if,
as it was probable, he owed to Guidobaldo, or his nephew, the favour
of Julius II., who first brought him forward in the public service.
At that Pontiff's death he was acting as secretary to his early
friend, the Cardinal de' Medici, and in that capacity was admitted
to the conclave. The intrigues which there effected his patron's
election have given rise to various anecdotes and controversies,
which we pass by with the single remark that, by all accounts, the
address of Dovizi was not unimportant to the success of Leo X. In
return, he was included in the first distribution of scarlet hats
as CARDINAL BIBBIENA. In this enlarged sphere his talents
and tastes had full room for exercise. He was selected for various
important diplomatic trusts, besides filling the offices of treasurer
and legate in the war of Urbino. With his now ample means, his
patronage of letters and arts had ample scope, and he was regarded
as the Maecenas of a court rivalling that of Augustus. Raffaele
enjoyed his particular regard, which he would willingly have proved
by bestowing on him the hand of his niece.
His ambition is alleged to have exceeded even the rise of his
fortunes, and to have prompted him to contemplate, and possibly to
intrigue for, his own elevation to the chair of St. Peter, in the
event of a vacancy. His sudden death in 1520, soon after a residence
of above a year as legate to Francis I. (who had conferred upon him
the see of Constance), when coupled with such reports, was construed
as the effect of poison administered by Leo. Indeed, his friend,
Ludovico Canossa, observed that it was a received dogma among the
French at that very time that every man of station who died in Italy
was poisoned. But such vague conjectures, however specious under
Alexander VI., are less credible in other pontificates; and if the
Cardinal were poisoned, that practice was then by no means limited
to popes. He was an accomplished dilettante when the standards of
beauty were of pagan origin; and his intimacy with Raffaele dated
after the painter's Umbrian inspirations had faded before a gradual
homage to the "new manner." Like his friend Bembo, his morals were
epicurean to the full licence of a dissolute age. His famed comedy
of the _Calandra_,[*47] which was brought out at Urbino in 1508,
and which gave full play to his exquisite sense of the ridiculous,
justifies this charge, and all that we have so often to repeat of the
laxity then prevalent in the most refined Italian circles. A notice
of this, the only important production of his pen, and an account of
its being magnificently performed before Guidobaldo, will be found
in our twenty-fifth chapter. Those who regard the pontificate of Leo
X. as the classic period of Italian letters must feel grateful to
Cardinal Bibbiena for developing a portion of its lustre; the sterner
moralist, who brands its vices, will charge him with pandering
freely to the licence of a court of which he was a notable ornament.
Castiglione tells us that an acute and ready genius rendered him the
delight of all his acquaintance; and Baldi adds, that by practice
in the papal court he so improved that gift, that his tact in
business was unrivalled, to which his mild address, and happy talent
of seasoning the dullest topics with graceful pleasantry, greatly
contributed.
[Footnote *47: For all concerning this play and its performance at
Urbino in 1513, see VERNARECCI, _Di Alcune Rappresentazioni
Drammatiche alla Corte d'Urbino nel 1513_ in _Archivio Storico per
le Marche e per l'Umbria_, vol. III., p. 181 _et seq._ The original
prologue, by Bibbiena, was only recently made known by DEL
LUNGO, _La Recitazione dei Menaechmi in Firenze e il doppio
prologo della Calandria_, in the _Arch. Stor. Ital._, series III.,
vol. XXII., pp. 346-51. Machiavelli's estimate of Bibbiena will be
found in _Lettere Famil. di N. Machiavelli_, Firenze, 1883, p. 304,
"Bibbiena, hora cardinale, in verità ha gentile ingegno, ed è homo
faceto et discreto, et ha durato a' suoi di gran fatica."]
His personal beauty obtained for him the adjunct of _bel_ Bernardo,
and he is represented in the _Cortegiano_ as saying, in reference to
the amount of good looks desirable for a gentleman, "Such grace and
beauty of feature are, I doubt not, mine, in consequence whereof,
as you know, so many women are in love with me; but I have some
misgivings as to my figure, especially these legs of mine, which, to
say the truth, don't seem to me quite what I should like, though I am
well enough satisfied with my bust, and all the rest." This, however,
having been introduced as a jest, may perhaps be understood rather as
complimentary to his person, than as a sarcasm on his vanity.
A contemporary and unsparing pen thus sketches his qualities, in a
manuscript printed by Roscoe, from the Vatican archives:--"He was a
facetious character, with no mean powers of ridicule, and much tact
in promoting jocular conversation by his wit and well-timed jests.
He was a great favourite with certain cardinals, whose chief pursuit
was pleasure and the chase, for he thoroughly knew all their habits
and fancies, and was even aware of whatever vicious propensities they
had. He likewise possessed a singular pliancy for flattery, and for
obsequiously accommodating himself to their whims, stooping patiently
to be the butt of insulting and abusive jokes, and shrinking from
nothing which could render him acceptable to them. He also had much
readiness in council, and was perfectly able seasonably to qualify
his wit with wisdom, or to dissemble with singular cunning." Bembo,
with more partial pen, says in a letter to Federigo Fregoso, "The
days seem years until I see him, and enjoy the pleasing society, the
charming conversation, the wit, the jests, the features, and the
affection of that man."
* * * * *
Among the distinguished literary names which have issued from Arezzo,
several members of the ACCOLTI family were conspicuous in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. BERNARDO,[*48] of whom we are now to speak,
had a father noted as a historian, a brother and a nephew who reached
the dignity of cardinal, and were remarkable in politics and letters.
He obtained from Leo X. the fief of Nepi, as well as various offices
of trust and emolument; of these, however, his wealth rendered him
independent, enabling him to indulge in a life of literary ease. His
poetical celebrity exceeded that of his contemporaries, and seems
to have been his chief recommendation at the court of Guidobaldo.
There, and at Rome, he was in the habit of reciting his verses in
public to vast audiences, composed of all that was brilliant in
these cultivated capitals. Nor was his popularity limited to a
lettered circle. When an exhibition was announced, the shops were
closed, the streets emptied, and guards restrained the crowds who
rushed to secure places among his audience. This extraordinary
enthusiasm appears the more unaccountable, when we find his printed
poetry characterised by a bald and stilted style, which leaves no
pleasing impression on the reader. The mystery seems explained by a
supposition that his talent lay in extemporary declamation.
[Footnote *48: On the Unico Aretino Bernardo Accolti, see especially
D'ANCONA, _Studi sulla Lett. Ital. de' primi secoli_ (Ancona, 1884),
in the essay, _Del Seicentismo nella poesia cortigiana del Secolo XV._,
pp. 217-18. He professed an extraordinary devotion for the Duchess of
Urbino.]
Instances are far from uncommon in Italy, of similar effects produced
by the _improvisatori_, whose torrent of melodious words, directed
to a popular theme, and accompanied by music and impassioned
gesticulation, hurries the feelings of a sympathising auditory to
bursts of tumultuous applause, whilst on cool perusal, the same
compositions fall utterly vapid on the reader. Be this as it may,
the success of Accolti had the common result of superficial powers,
and so egregiously inflated his vanity, that he assumed as his usual
designation "the unique Aretine," by which he is always accosted
in the _Cortegiano_. Nine years later we find him devoting to
Duchess Elisabetta attentions which were attributed to a passion
more powerful than gratitude, but which, knowing as he well did,
her immaculate modesty, could only have been prompted by despicable
vanity, and hence exposed him to keen ridicule.
* * * * *
To few of the pedigrees illustrated by Sansovino is there attributed
a more remote origin, or a brighter illustration, than to that of
CANOSSA.[*49] A younger son of the family was COUNT LUDOVICO, who,
being cousin-german of Castiglione's mother, was perhaps by this
means brought to Urbino, and thence recommended to Julius II., under
whose patronage he entered upon an ecclesiastical career. From Leo
X. he obtained the see of Tricarico, and was sent by him as nuncio
to England and France, a service which earned him promotion to the
bishopric of Bajus. Adrian VI. and Clement VII. continued him in this
post; and during a long residence at the French court, he entirely
gained the confidence and favour of Francis I. Many of his diplomatic
letters are printed in various collections; and to him is addressed
Count Baldassare's curious description of the performance of the
_Calandra_, at Urbino.
[Footnote *49: For Canossa, cf. LUZIO E RENIER, _op.
cit._, p. 87, and especially ORTI-MANARA, _Intorno alla
vita ed alle gesta del Co. Lodovico di Canossa_ (Verona, 1845), and
CAVATTONI, _Lettere scelte di Mons. L. di Canossa_ (Verona,
1862).]
* * * * *
ALESSANDRO TRIVULZIO was nephew of Gian Giacomo, the
distinguished Milanese general of that name, and himself a famous
captain in the service of Florence, and of Francis I. Sigismondo
Riccardi, surnamed the Black, Gasparo Pallavicini, Pietro da
Napoli, and Roberto da Bari,--the last of whom died in the camp of
Duke Francesco Maria, in 1510,--are mentioned among the military
notorieties of the Feltrian court. Giovanni Cristoforo, the sculptor,
may be added to the list of its literary dilettanti; and among its
musical ornaments were Pietro Monti and Terpandro, with Niccolo
Frisio, a German, long resident in the land of song, whose exertions
were often in request by Monti and Barletta, both dancers of note.
CHAPTER XXII
Emilia Pia--The _Cortegiano_--Death of Duke Guidobaldo,
succeeded by Francesco Maria della Rovere.
Such were the eminent men, with whom Guidobaldo is described in the
_Cortegiano_ as living in easy but dignified familiarity, joining
their improving and amusing conversation, or admiring their dexterity
in exercises which his broken constitution no longer permitted him
to share. Thus passed the days in the palace; and, when the Duke was
constrained by his infirmities to seek early repose, the evenings
were spent in social amusements, over which the Duchess gracefully
presided, with her ladies Margherita and Costanza Fregoso, the Duke's
nieces, Margherita and Ippolita Gonzaga, the Signor Raffaella, and
Maria Emilia Pia.
[Illustration: ELISABETTA GONZAGA, DUCHESS OF URBINO
_From a lead medal by Adriano Fiorentino in the British Museum_]
[Illustration: EMILIA PIA
_From a medal by Adriano Fiorentino in the Vienna Museum_]
Of the social position of Italian women in this century[*50] we
may gather many particulars from Ludovico Dolce's _Instituto delle
Donne_: for although, like most writers on similar themes, he
represents them "not as they are, but as they ought to be," still,
knowing the then received standard of female perfection, we can form
a pretty accurate estimate of their actual qualities. His views
as to education are exceedingly orthodox. The Holy Scriptures,
with the commentaries of the fathers, Ambrose, Augustin, and
Jerome, ought to be day and night before a girl, and suffice for
her religious and moral discipline. She should be familiar with her
own language and with Latin, but G
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/44235