Chapter XLII
Succession of Duke Guidobaldo II.--He loses Camerino and the Prefecture of Rome--The altered state of Italy--Death of Duchess Giulia--The Duke's remarriage--Affairs of the Farnesi.
The course of our narrative seems to offer a not altogether fanciful analogy to that of the Tiber. Issuing from the rugged Apennines, this, with puny rill, is gradually recruited from their many valleys until it has gained the force and energy of a brawling torrent, and has absorbed a goodly portion of the Umbrian waters. So, too, the former has brought us past scenes of martial prowess and creations of mediæval policy. It has afforded us glimpses of townships where civil institutions revived, and letters were cherished, the petty capitals from whose courts civilisation was diffused. Carrying us across the blood-watered and time-defaced Campagna, it has conducted us to Rome at the moment of her lamentable sack by barbarian hordes. Henceforward our history, like the river, will decline in interest. The sluggish and turbid stream has little to enliven that dreary and degenerate land through which it must still conduct us. This contrast will be especially irksome in the life of Duke Guidobaldo II., who kept much aloof from the few events of stirring interest which then occurred in the Peninsula. We shall therefore hasten over it, in the hope that those who favour us with their company may find, in the incidents of his successor, a somewhat renovated interest, and may be gratified to learn by what means our mountain duchy came to be finally absorbed in the papal dominions, just as the tawny river is lost in the pathless sea.
* * * * *
The birthday of Guidobaldo II. has been variously stated; most authorities fix it on the 2nd of April, 1514, although the customary donative appears from an old chronicle to have been voted by the municipality of Urbino on the 17th of March. The Prince saw the light at a moment inauspicious for his dynasty. Under the fostering care of Julius II. it had attained its culminating point; and although his successor still smiled upon the far-spreading oak of Umbria,[*45] the intrigues of Leo X. were already preparing its overthrow. The infant had scarcely passed his second year, when the ducal family were driven from their states, and sought a friendly shelter at the Mantuan capital. Before their five years of exile in Lombardy had gone by, Guidobaldo is said to have been sent to the university of Padua. His early education was committed to Guido Posthumo Silvestro, who describes him as displaying, even in childhood, the spirit of his father, and of his grand-uncle Julius II., whilst his mild temper and sweet expression were those of his mother.[46] The preceptor, a native of Pesaro, was tempted by attachment to his early patrons, the Sforza, to avenge them with his pen, on the invasion of the Duke Valentino, upon whom and whose race he charged, in some bitter lampoons mentioned by Roscoe, all those crimes which have become matter of history. But years rendered him more pliant; for when another revolution came round, the attentions he had met with at the court of Urbino did not prevent his resorting, on Duke Francesco Maria's exile, to the protection of Leo, or lavishing eulogy and flattery upon that Pontiff. At Rome, he enjoyed the consideration there freely bestowed upon poets and wits, among whom Giovio assigns him a conspicuous place; but the life of luxurious indulgence to which he was tempted having undermined his health, he died in 1521.
[Footnote *45: The Rovere were anything but an Umbrian family, as we have seen.]
[Footnote 46:
"Guidus Juliades, qui, quamquam mitis et ore Blandus, ut ex vultu possis cognoscere matrem Patrem animis tamen et primis patruum exprimit annis."
See as to Guido in ROSCOE'S Leo X., ch. xvii.]
Our authorities, barren of interest for the domestic life of Duke Francesco Maria,[*47] are altogether a blank as regards his children, and we know nothing of the Prince beyond the fact of his sharing his mother's virtual arrest at Venice in 1527. His early tastes seemed to have turned upon horses: in 1529, he ordered from Rome a set of housings for his charger, with minute instructions accompanying the pattern; ten years later, the Grand Duke Cosimo I. regretted his inability to find for him such horses as he had desired; and he appears to have paid 70 golden scudi for one from Naples. In 1843, I was shown, at Pesaro, the wooden model of a beautiful little Arab, which had long been preserved in the Giordani family, covered with the skin of his favourite charger, a fragment of which remained. We have seen Guidobaldo complimented by Clement VII. in 1529, and in that year he had a condotta from Venice, for seventy-five men-at-arms, and a hundred and fifty light horse, with 1000 ducats of pay for himself, 100 for each man-at-arms, and 50 for each horseman. In 1532, his father, on departing from Lombardy, left him regent of the duchy. The circumstances of his marriage, on the 12th of October, 1534, to Giulia Varana, then but eleven years of age, and her questionable succession to her paternal state of Camerino, have been fully detailed in our preceding chapter.[48] From 1534 till his father's death, in 1538, he seems to have exercised the rights of sovereignty, with the title of Duke of Camerino, unchallenged by the Pontiff, who had recalled his censures. But no sooner was Paul III. relieved from the influential opposition of Francesco Maria, than his designs upon that principality were firmly carried out.
[Footnote *47: For certain details of Court life, cf. VERNARECCI, Di alcune rappresentazioni Drammatiche nella Corte di Urbino in Arch. St. per le Marche e per l'Umbria, vol. III., p. 181 et seq., and ROSSI, Appunti per la Storia della Musica alla Corte di Francesco Maria I. e di Guidobaldo della Rovere in Rassegna Emiliana (Modena, 1888), vol. I., fasc. 8; also VANZOLINI, Musica e Danza alla Corte di Urbino, in Le Marche (1904), An. iv., fasc. vi., p. 325 et seq.]
[Footnote 48: In the Harleian MSS. No. 282, f. 63, is a letter from Henry VIII. of 28th November, in his 30th year [1538], to Sir Thomas Wyatt, his ambassador to the Emperor, proposing a marriage of the Princess Mary either to the young Duke of Cleves and Juliers, or to "the present Duke of Urbyne," and desiring him to sound "whether he wold be gladd to have us to wyve with any of them." Guidobaldo had been already wedded for four years!]
We possess from an eye-witness these ample details as to the ceremonial of investing Guidobaldo with his hereditary succession:--"On the evening of Thursday [25th of October], the day of the Duke's interment, his son the Prince arrived at Urbino about nine o'clock, attended by all the nobility, gentry, and officials, including Stefano Vigerio, the governor, and many more, who had gone out to meet him. Dismounting in the palace-yard, he proceeded to the ducal chamber, which, as well as the great hall, was hung with black. There he dismissed the strangers to lodgings provided for them in the town, and passed next day in grief and absolute seclusion along with his consort, preparations being meanwhile made to traverse the city.[49] Accordingly, on Saturday morning, mass of the Holy Spirit having been said by the Bishop of Cagli, who thereafter breakfasted in the palace, the citizens and populace crowded to the piazza, where the doctors and nobles assembled to accompany the priors. Thither also came a hundred youths of good family, in doublets of sky-blue velvet, with gilt swords by their side, followed by a vast many children bearing olive-boughs. The new Duke having been meanwhile dressed in white velvet and satin, with cap and plume of the same colour, Captain-general Luc-Antonio Brancarini marshalled the procession. The gonfaloniere marched first, in a jerkin of black velvet under a long surcoat of black damask lined with crimson, begirt with a gold-mounted sword; his cap on his head and his mace lowered. He was followed by the nobility, the doctors, and citizens; and on entering the palace they halted in the basement suite towards the garden, which were all hung with tapestry, the windows of the great hall being occupied by the Duchess and her ladies in magnificent attire. When all was ready, the Prince issued forth into the Piazza, and advanced to the cathedral, followed by the officials and train. At the top of the steps he knelt on a rich carpet and brocade cushions, whilst the bishop, chapter, and clergy came out, and with the usual ceremonies brought him into the church, and to the high altar, before which other ceremonials were gone through, and he offered an oblation-coin of ten Mantuan ducats. Meanwhile his charger was brought to the foot of the steps, covered to the neck with a housing of silver tissue, and other trappings, including a white plume. It was led by seven lads of the chief Urbino families, Bonaventura, Peruli, Passionei, Cornei, Corboli, and Muccioli, all richly apparelled, and two of them holding goads. There was also a horse for the Gonfaloniere with velvet harness, led by two lads. The fore-mentioned hundred youths and numerous children having ranged themselves around, the Prince and Gonfaloniere descended the steps and mounted their steeds, and the latter, drawing his sword, proclaimed aloud 'THE DUKE, THE DUKE; FELTRO, FELTRO; GUIDOBALDO, GUIDOBALDO!' the cry being taken up and repeated by all. The cortège, making a circuit by Pian di Marcato, Valbona, Santa Lucia, and Santa Chiara, returned to the palace, where the Duke dismounted. His charger and mantle were then seized, as their perquisite, by the youths, who, mounting one of their number, Antonio dei Galli, again went through the city crying and making merry. The Duke, having taken his seat with his consort, received the gonfaloniere, priors, and citizens to kiss hands.
[Footnote 49: Correre la terra is the usual phrase for taking sovereign possession, like "riding the marches" of Scottish burghs.]
"On the following morning, there came in envoys from various places to offer their condolence, wearing mourning robes that swept the ground. The first who had audience were the gonfaloniere and priors of Urbino, and then those from San Marino. After breakfast, the other communities were admitted without order, in consequence of a wrangle for precedence between Gubbio and Pesaro, Cagli and Fossombrone, and this continued till seven o'clock in the evening. Next Monday being the festival of San Simone, the oath of allegiance was administered on Tuesday. A stage covered with black was erected between the two windows of the great hall, on which stood a bench with a coverlet of black velvet, and thereon an open missal, with a miniature of the crucifixion. After breakfasting, the Duke seated himself on this stage, with Messer Stefano, one of the judges; and the deputies from communes being assembled, with their commissions in their hands, Messer Stefano called upon the magistrates of Urbino with about a hundred of the citizens, desiring them to swear fidelity, as was right and customary, which they did, formally placing their hands on the crucifixion. Thereafter, the envoys of other communities were brought up and sworn; but on account of the aforesaid wrangling, those of Pesaro, Sinigaglia, Fossombrone, and Cagli were sent back to take the oaths at home. Next day, however, on their humble petition, those of Cagli and Fossombrone were received, along with some other highland deputies who had come in late; but Pesaro, Sinigaglia, and the vicariat, took the oaths before the vice-dukes in their respective cities. On the following Tuesday, there arrived four envoys from Fano, and two from Città di Castello, to offer condolence, who were honourably received; and next day came those of Camerino and Rimini, men of high station. On Thursday, Messer Quaglino, ambassador from the Duke of Ferrara, dismounted at Pesaro, to condole with the dowager Duchess, and thence proceeded with a suite of five to Urbino, where he was lodged for three days in the Passionei Palace, and had audience. At the same time, the like formalities were discharged by Vicenzo Schippo, who came with an escort of ten, as representative of the Duke of Mantua. On Sunday, deputations from all parts of the duchy went to offer their duty at Pesaro to the widowed Duchess."
The smouldering embers of the Camerino quarrel soon burst forth, when Paul III. found that the Emperor's influence and the arms of Venice were no longer arrayed against his grasping pretensions, and that the weight of the struggle had devolved from a renowned warrior to an untried youth. In order to supplement the legal deficiencies of his case, the Pontiff had in 1537 conferred certain estates upon Ercole Varana, on condition of his claims upon the succession of Camerino being assigned to his own grandson Ottavio Farnese; but the death of Francesco Maria having released him from the necessity of temporising, he at once sent a body of troops into that duchy, under Stefano Colonna or Alessandro Vitelli. The young Duke, relying on the support of Venice and the Medici, was at first disposed to resist, but finding himself deserted, soon abandoned the idea. He had in the history of his family too many examples of the perils of papal nepotism; and it was obvious that the times were past when church feudatories had anything to hope from single-handed contests with their over-lord. In the certainty that to provoke this would be to hazard all, he made up his mind to an unwilling compromise, surrendering his wife's rights to Camerino for a full investiture of his own dukedom, and the sum of 78,000 golden scudi as a poor compensation for her inheritance. This transaction was completed on the 8th of January, 1539; nor was it the only mortification he was destined to undergo from the ambition of the Farnesi. The Prefecture of Rome, although held by his father and grandfather, was a personal dignity at the disposal of the new Pope, who conferred it upon his own grandson Ottavio. In the end of 1538, he also married that youth, then but fifteen, to Margaret of Austria, natural daughter of Charles V. and widow of Duke Alessandro de' Medici, who had been slain by his cousin Lorenzino, within a year after his marriage. That imperious dame, who brought Ottavio a handsome dower in lands about Ortona on the Adriatic, wrought upon the weakness of Paul, until in 1545, she obtained for her husband's father, Pier-Luigi, natural son of his Holiness, the sovereign duchy of Parma and Piacenza. In order to put a gloss upon this dismemberment of the ecclesiastical states, and to accommodate the whole arrangement to the modified nepotism of his age, the Pontiff stipulated for a resurrender by Ottavio to the Holy See of Camerino and Nepi. These remained part of the papal temporalities, whilst their Lombard duchy gave to the Farnese family an important position among the sovereign houses of Europe.
Although the altered circumstances of Italy which humbled her pride had also arrested her convulsions, these untoward events, at the outset of his reign, proved to Guidobaldo that her few remaining principalities were far from secure. To strengthen his position became therefore a natural policy; and although neither the Emperor nor the Venetian Signory had lent a willing ear to his representations on the subject of Camerino, he sent to remind the former of his promise to give him a company of men-at-arms, whilst, with the Pope's permission, he accepted from the latter a two years' engagement. The terms of this condotta, which was dated in 1539, and continued in force until 1552, were one hundred men-at-arms and as many light cavalry, with 4000 ducats of piatto or yearly pay, and an obligation to have in readiness ten of his father's veteran captains, whose monthly pay was fixed at 15 scudi in peace, and 25 in war. Four years later he was requested by the Republic to serve them in another capacity, by complimenting Charles V. in their name on his passage into Germany, on which occasion he was accompanied by the vile sycophant Pietro Aretino.
In our fourteenth chapter, we had occasion to consider the change which military affairs underwent in Italy about the time of the first French invasion, and we have seen in Duke Federigo of Urbino one of the last condottieri of the old sort. But it was not until the fall of Rome and Florence had extinguished Italian independence, that military adventure was entirely abolished; and it is curious to find in his grandson Duke Francesco Maria I., not only the latest captain who gathered laurels under that system, but to see him joining with the Pope and the Medici to exterminate those armed hordes which survived its mercenary armaments, and which, like the restless spirits of a departed generation, troubled the repose of their degenerate sons.[50] Their occupation was indeed gone. Tamed by invaders whom they were powerless to resist, domestic broils no longer demanded their services. Their forays were become intolerable in a land where peace was the price of freedom. How far the earlier adoption of Machiavelli's plans of defence might have availed against ultramontane hosts were now a vain speculation; they were only destined for trial after the sacrifice had been consummated. The national militia suggested by him was not enrolled until there was no longer a nationality to defend--until it was needed but as an armed police under foreign control.
[Footnote 50: RICOTTI, IV., p. 129, quoting Adriani Storie, lib. II.]
This new force had been embodied in our duchy under the name of the Feltrian Legion, by a proclamation dated 1st of March, 1533, and it so fully satisfied the late Duke's expectations that he gradually increased his militia to five thousand men in four regiments. Such was the description of troops which henceforward maintained order at Urbino, or were subsidised on foreign service. But their sinews, hardened by a rude climate and rugged homes, maintained for them the reputation gained by their ancestors; and although Duke Guidobaldo II. lived in quiet times, and pretended to no heroic aspirations, we find him accepting of commands offered chiefly for the sake of securing his hardy mountaineers.
* * * * *
The abject position in which Italy was left after the wars of Clement VII. has already been noticed. Her internal conflicts were at an end. Of those states whose struggles for independence or for mastery had during long ages convulsed her, the lesser had been absorbed by the more powerful, and these in their turn had bowed to foreign dominion or foreign influence. She was tranquillised but trodden down, pacified but prostrate. Her history became but a series of episodes in the annals of ultramontane nations, on whom her few remaining princes and commonwealths grew into dependent satellites. Even the popes, no longer arbiters of European policy, sought a reflected consequence by attaching themselves to the interests of France, Spain, or the Empire. Nor were they losers by the change to the same degree as other Peninsular powers. The papacy was indeed shorn in part of its temporal lustre. It no longer directed the diplomacy of Christendom, nor did it waste its resources upon bloody and bootless campaigns. But as its energies were gradually weaned from general politics, they became more concentrated upon ecclesiastical affairs. The small speck on the horizon towards which Leo X. had scarcely directed a look or an anxiety, was now rapidly overspreading the sky, and already excluded the rays of Catholicism from a large portion of Central Europe. His successors, threatened with the loss of spiritual as well as temporal ascendancy, had the wisdom to make a stand for maintenance of the former, leaving the latter to its fate. The spirit of popery from aggressive became conservative; its military tactics gave place to theological weapons. It was by Paul III. that a vigorous opposition was first made to the Reformation, the primary steps taken towards that Catholic reaction, which Paul IV. and Pius V. afterwards so successfully promoted, as not only to check the rapid progress of Protestantism, but to regain a portion of the lost ground. Seconding the zeal of the old monastic orders, which had been revived in the Theatines,[*51] he, in 1540, recruited to it the cold clear-sighted cunning of the Jesuits. Two years afterwards he re-established the Inquisition,[*52] and in 1545 opened the Council of Trent, whose sittings were not finally closed until eighteen years later, when it had completed that bulwark which still constitutes a stronghold of the Roman church. Extirpation of heresy henceforward became the pervading principle of the papacy, and the engrossing dogma of its zealots; the object for which councils deliberated, pontiffs admonished, legates intrigued. For an end so sanctified no means were accounted base. When argument failed threats were at hand. From reason an appeal lay to the rack. Thus was the wavering power of the Keys restored or confirmed over much of Europe, and an alliance was effected between political and spiritual despotism for their mutual maintenance and common defence. The success which crowned these new efforts far exceeded any that mere mundane aims had ever attained. The re-influx of Catholicism was in some instances more signal, as it was more inexplicable, than had been the recent spread of the Reformation.[*53] Although fatal to freedom of thought, its influence proved highly favourable to morals. The revival of religion was attended with a happy reformation of manners, after examples emanating from high places. The sins, or at least the scenes, that had disgraced the Borgian and Medicean courts no longer met the eye, but were replaced by a semblance of ascetic virtue. The new religious orders, being of more rigid rule, tended by precept and example to restore discipline, and to purify, at least externally, the cup and the platter. Prelatic luxury was curtailed, brazen vice retired from public view, and the free exercise of papal nepotism was finally restrained by Pius V., who, in 1567, prohibited the alienation by his successors of church property or jurisdictions. But in these themes our narrative has no part. The battles of orthodoxy were chiefly fought beyond the Alps; the reformed morality of the papal court was exampled in its own capital: in neither had Urbino any near interest.
[Footnote *51: The Theatines were a congregation of Clerks Regular, founded by Gaetano Tiene, a Venetian nobleman, in 1524. They are under the rule of S. Augustin. S. Gaetano Tiene died in 1547. In 1526 Matteo di Basso of Urbino founded a reform of Franciscan Observants, giving his followers a long-pointed hood, which he believed to be of the same shape as that worn by S. Francis. These friars became known as Cappuccini or Capuchins. At first they were merely a company of hermits devoted to the contemplative life. They remained, in fact, under the Observants till 1617. They are now a separate order governed by a general. They live in absolute poverty.]
[Footnote *52: The Inquisition was revived by a Bull of Sixtus IV. in 1478. Two years later it was reinstated in Spain by the Catholic kings. In 1526 it was established in Portugal; but it was only introduced into Italy in 1546, at Naples, and came into Central Italy only with many restrictions.]
[Footnote *53: It might seem that those parts of Europe securely within the Roman Empire of antiquity eventually remained Catholic.]
Guidobaldo's condotta from the Signory being renewed in 1546 upon more favourable terms (namely, 15,000 scudi of pay for his company, and 5000 of piatto for himself), he was invested about midsummer, by an imposing ceremonial pompously described in the letter of an eye-witness among the archives of Urbino. His jewelled cap and diamond collar are mentioned as superb, and his sword is valued at 700 scudi. After high mass in St. Mark's, the great standard being unfurled and supported by three bearers, and the baton of wrought silver placed in his hands, the Doge thus addressed him: "Lord Duke, we presented to your Excellency this standard of our St. Mark the Evangelist, in the wonted form, and in token of supremacy; and we pray the Lord our God that it tend to the weal and service of all Christendom, but especially to the defence of this state. We give it to your Excellency, confiding in your loyalty and prudence, well assured that you will use it with courage and faith conformable to your deserts. And we hand to your Excellency the baton, therewith designing you head and governor of our forces, and transferring to you the obedience of all our military: it is our will that you be obeyed, honoured, and respected by our several condottieri and soldiery, as representing our Signory itself. May it please the Divine Majesty that all be well ordered, to the well-being and furtherance of the Christian community, and of this our serene Republic." The Duke replied, "I most willingly accept, most Serene Prince, the distinction granted me by your Serenity, and with the sure hope of maintaining the good opinion you repose in me, which shall be nowise disappointed. I shall ever pray our Lord God graciously to vouchsafe me an early occasion of honourably serving your serene government, that I may thereby prove my good will. And I feel sure that your Serenity will have cause to be well satisfied at giving me this rank, which, without reserve of life or fortune, like one aware of his obligation to your Serenity, it will be my care so to hold as to augment my claims upon your favour." The function being over, the Duke was escorted by an imposing military pageant to his palace, where a splendid banquet was set out, of which, however, the jealous regulations of the Republic did not permit her officials to partake.
The court having gone to spend Christmas of 1547 in the mild climate of Fossombrone, the Duke, in January, 1548, again repaired to Venice, intending to return home for carnival. On the frontier he was met by news of his consort's serious illness, and immediately sent expresses to summon from Padua and Ferrara, Frigimiliza and Brasavolo, two famous physicians. Under them and her own doctors, the Duchess rallied for a time, but died on the 17th of February,--"a very religious, charitable, and lettered lady, and a great loss to the state." Her body was borne by torchlight to Urbino with the usual solemnities, and, after lying in state, was entombed in Santa Chiara on the 19th. The funeral service was performed at Urbino the 24th of March, with due pomp, and a ceremonial preserved by Tondini. The procession consisted of the Duchess's household, twenty-two in number, with thirty-nine of the Duke's; Guidobaldo and his brother; the ambassadors of five friendly states; twenty-two principal nobility of the duchy; forty captains; the municipality of Urbino, with seventy leading citizens; deputies from thirty-six other towns; in all, about three hundred and sixty persons. The obsequies were celebrated in the cathedral, which was illuminated by a hundred and eighty-six wax lights of four pounds each, and above two hundred torches. The funeral oration was pronounced by Sperone Speroni, and is published among his works.
Although, in somewhat startling contrast to these details of death, we here introduce a letter written by the Duchess, which may interest our lady readers. It is addressed to Marchetti, her steward of the household, then at Venice, and is printed in his life by Tondini:--
"Master Steward, our well-beloved,
"This is to inform you that, on your return with his Excellency, our Lord and Consort, you must by all means bring as much of the finest and most beautiful scarlet serge, such as is made on purpose for the cardinals, as may suffice to make us a petticoat, taking care that it be at once handsome, good, and distingué. You can ascertain the necessary quantity. Here they tell us that if the stuff be two braccie [a yard and a quarter] wide, at least eight braccie will be required, and more if narrower, say nine or ten. See that you get full measure, and let the quantity be ample rather than deficient, so that we may not have to mar it for want of cloth. And if you cannot find such serge, bring some beautiful, good, and thin Venice cloth, being careful that it be light in texture, and that the colour be of the most bright and lively scarlet that can be found. Use all diligence that we be well suited and satisfied, if you would do us a grateful service. Bring also some of those books and rosettes, as they are called, which are commonly made there of thin white wax tapers; and so good health to you. From Fossombrone, the 6th of October, 1541.
"JULIA DUCHESS OF URBINO."
The Duchess had given birth to a son in 1544, but was survived only by a daughter Virginia: her marriage had been interested, and her lord lost no time in contracting another from similar motives, on the excuse of requiring a male heir. In August he went to kiss the Pope's feet at Rome, on occasion of negotiating a new matrimonial alliance with his granddaughter, Vittoria Farnese. On the 30th he returned home, and next month again met his Holiness at Perugia. The nuptials were interrupted by the assassination of the bride's father, Duke Pier-Luigi, whose son had supplanted Guidobaldo at Camerino, and whose tyranny in his new state of Parma sharpened the daggers of his outraged nobles. The ceremony, however, took place on the 30th of January, 1548, when Vittoria, who had been previously affianced to Duke Cosimo I., was twenty-eight years of age. On the 2nd of February she visited Urbino, amid many demonstrations of respect, among which was a muster of forty lads in her livery of yellow velvet, to each of whom an allowance of seven scudi had been voted by the city; but it was the Duke's pleasure that they should pay for their own dress. Art, too, had contributed its honours, and Vasari narrates how Battista Franco aided in decorating the triumphal arches designed by Girolamo Genga for her reception. Similar welcome was given her at Gubbio, where the youths wore purple velvet with white sleeves and white lilies.[*54] Coincident with, and in consequence of, this marriage, the Duke received from Paul a new investiture of his states, and a cardinal's hat, with the title of S. Pietro in Vinculis, for his brother Giulio, who, though but in his fifteenth year, was soon after named Legate of Perugia. On the 20th of February, 1549, there was born a prince, who succeeded to the dukedom as Francesco Maria II., and the grateful people manifested their loyalty by customary congratulations and donatives.[55] These happy events were, ere long, interrupted by the death of Paul III. on the 10th of November, followed by that of the dowager Duchess of Urbino, on the 14th of February, thereafter.
[Footnote *54: Cf. PELLEGRINI, Gubbio sotto i Conti e Duchi d'Urbino in Bolletino per l'Umbria (Perugia, 1905), vol. XI., p. 236 et seq.]
[Footnote 55: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 934, is an elaborate exposition of the devices and mottoes displayed on this august occasion.]
The little state of San Marino forms a solecism in the polity of Europe, having preserved its petty limits and its purely popular government during many centuries, whilst all the other republics of Italy successfully yielded to personal ambition or foreign conquest.[*56] For its independence during the ceaseless changes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was debtor to the Dukes of Urbino, whose aid was ever at hand when their name proved an inadequate safeguard. The nature of the protection which they accorded to that republic is shown in the subjoined document, which seems worthy of insertion from its resemblance to those letters of maintenance usually granted about the same period by the greater barons of Scotland, in favour of less powerful neighbours and friends, among the minor nobility, and even the burgh communities.
[Footnote *56: Cf. FATTORI, Delle cause che hanno conservata la Repubblica di S. Marino (Bologna, 1887).]
"Protection under which, at the instance of the Liberty of S. Marino, pressed by its envoys, the Lord Duke Guidobaldo II. assumes the aforesaid Liberty, its men and territory, following therein in this the course adopted by Duke Federico, Guido I., Francesco Maria his father, and others of his house: promising to the best of his ability, and at all times, to defend, protect, and guard it against all persons whatsoever who may seek or wish to injure it, whether in respect to its possessions, subjects, state, or pre-eminence, holding its enemies for his enemies, and its allies for his allies; and further, undertaking to accord to it all possible aid and favour in the maintenance of its independence and freedom: the said envoys, on the other part, obliging themselves to the Lord Duke, in name of the foresaid, with all their exertion and power to assist, uphold, and preserve the subjects, state, honours, and dignity of the said Lord Duke, against whatsoever person, state, or potentate who may make attempts against him; promising to hold the friends of his Excellency as their friends, and his foes as their foes, and to pay him at all times the respect due to a faithful and good protector. At the requisition of Ser Bartolo Nursino, 20th May, 1549."
It was Guidobaldo's policy to maintain with the Holy See those amicable relations which his second marriage had established, and he had accordingly, on the death of Paul III., sent some troops to Perugia, in order to secure the quiet succession of Julius III. This being effected, he went to Rome on a visit of congratulation to the new Pontiff, accompanied by Aretino, whose venal appetites were ever on the watch for opportunities of bringing his sycophancy to a good market. The Pope disappointed him of the anticipated guerdon, but, aware of the ready transition from adulation to slander, disarmed his tongue of its venom by a gracious accolade, kissing the forehead of this "scourge of princes." The first token of favour bestowed on the Duke by his Holiness was his nomination as governor of Fano in 1551. In the following year he spent some time at Verona with the Venetian army, accompanied by his boy, who there had an illness which occasioned him much anxiety. This command was a somewhat anomalous one, with the title of Governor of the Republican forces, which he vainly negotiated to exchange for that of General. Disgusted by this refusal, he listened to an overture from his brothers-in-law for transferring his services to the French King. Ottavio Farnese, now Duke of Parma, apprehending some hostile intentions from the imperialists, had applied, in 1551, to the Pope for succours, in order to guarantee his possession of that state; but, unable to spare reinforcements or money, Julius had recommended him to take his own measures for defence. Acting on this advice, he had recourse to Henry II., from whom he accepted a condotta, on condition of Parma being supplied with a French garrison. Such a step could not fail to alarm the Emperor, who, representing that Ottavio had, in fact, made over his duchy to France, brought upon him the thunders of the Vatican. The inducement offered to Guidobaldo by the Farnesi for following them into Henry's service was that the King should renounce the supposed claims upon Urbino competent to his wife Caterina de' Medici, in right of her father Lorenzo, its usurping Duke. But the decided measures adopted by the Pontiff cut short this negotiation, and we hear no more of pretensions which were doubtless vamped up to serve a temporary purpose. Although the Pontiff was nominally a party to the petty war which ensued in Lombardy, it was, in fact, but a chapter in the prolonged struggle between the houses of Hapsburg and Bourbon, with which our narrative has no concern. Another episode in the same contest was more alarming to Central Italy, and, when Tuscany became involved in the strife, it seemed well for Julius to stand on the defensive. Accordingly, in January, 1553, he named Guidobaldo captain-general of the Church, who, in April, proceeded to Rome for his installation; and accompanied by a brilliant staff, reviewed the pontifical troops.
Siena, originally Ghibelline, had, during the recurring convulsions of a nominally democratic government, remained in some measure devoted to the imperialist party. But, irritated by the licence of their Spanish garrison, and alarmed at a rumoured intention of Charles V. to seize their state, and exchange it with the Farnesi for that of Parma, the citizens, in 1552, foolishly listened to the intrigues of French emissaries, and, with the Count of Pitigliano's aid, ousted their oppressors. In the campaign which followed, Siena was under French protection, whilst Florence efficiently co-operated with the imperialists against her, the Pope maintaining an armed neutrality. The duties of Guidobaldo were thus limited to an occupation of Bologna, in order to protect the ecclesiastical territories and his own state, on the passage of French troops into Tuscany. That his wishes favoured the independence of Siena appears from his having, at the election of Marcellus II., in April, 1554, recommended an intervention in its favour; but it was too late, as the city had already capitulated, and was soon after finally annexed to Florence.
The successor of Julius III., who died in March, 1555, was Marcello Cervini, Bishop of Gubbio; and the Duke of Urbino congratulated himself on seeing a personal friend mount the throne of St. Peter. But his satisfaction was transient. Popular superstition awarded an early death to any Pontiff who should take for title his Christian name: the fate of Adrian VI. had verified the omen; and, after a reign of but three weeks, Marcellus was carried to the tomb. Guidobaldo immediately took armed possession of the Roman gates for protection of the conclave; but the election of Cardinal Caraffa as Paul IV. passed off satisfactorily, and his energy was rewarded by a confirmation in his command, and the restoration of the Prefecture of Rome, with reversion to his son, an honour which, though long held by his father and grandfather, had been enjoyed for the last seventeen years by the Farnesi.
Chapter XLIII
The Duke's domestic affairs--Policy of Paul IV.--The Duke enters the Spanish service--Rebellion at Urbino severely repressed--His death and character--His children.
This somewhat barren portion of our narrative may be appropriately enlivened by the marriage of Princess Elisabetta, sister of Guidobaldo, to Alberico Cibò, Prince of Massa. The bride left Urbino on the 26th of September, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess, and remained at Castel Durante for two days. She was convoyed for some miles farther by the court, and parted from her family with copious tears on both sides. That night she slept at S. Angelo, and next day reached Città di Castello, escorted by an immense train of the principal residents to the Vitelli Palace. There she was entertained at an almost regal banquet, with about fifty gentle dames, each more beautiful than the other, and all richly dressed; after which there followed dancing, to the music of many rare instruments and choruses, till near daybreak. Travelling in a litter by easy journeys, she reached Florence in four days, and was welcomed with magnificent public honours. She entered the city in a rich dress of green velvet, radiant with jewels, and passed two days there, the guest of Chiappino Vitelli, who spent 2000 scudi upon four entertainments in her honour, including a ball and masquerade. On going to court, she was received by the Grand Duke and Duchess as a sister, with much kindness, and a world of professions. Near Pisa she was met by her bridegroom, at the head of a cavalcade which resembled an army marching to the assault of the city; and his mother, though almost dying, had herself carried to the bed in which the bride had sought repose, to embrace her with maternal affection. More acceptable, perhaps, than this singular visit, was the present received from her in the morning, of two immense pearls, and a golden belt studded with costly jewels. The pair entered the capital next day, amid a crash of artillery, martial music, and bells, preceded by fifty youths in yellow velvet and white plumes. The festive arches delighted the narrator, but still more the palace furniture, "where nothing was seen but armchairs brocaded in silk and gold, and one everywhere stepped on the finest carpets." The community offered six immense vases, and a donative of bullocks, fowls, and wax. "But all this is nothing to the excessive affection which the Lord Marquis bears to his most illustrious consort: he does not merely love her, he adores her. May God continue it, and maintain them in happiness."[57] This kind wish had scanty fulfilment, for the Princess died nine years later, her husband surviving to the patriarchal age of ninety-six.
[Footnote 57: TONDINI, Memorie di Franceschino Marchetti, App., p. 16.]
In 1556, Guidobaldo finished the citadel and fortifications of Sinigaglia, which had occupied him during ten years, and which were considered an important bulwark against Turkish descents on the Adriatic coast. There also he instituted a college for the study of gunnery; and he commemorated the completion of these establishments by striking four medals, of which three are described by Riposati; none of them, however, merit special notice, the beauty of Italian dies being already on the wane. The court was now for the most part resident at Pesaro, a situation excelling in amenity and convenience the original capital of the duchy. Among its attractions may be numbered the palace-villa of Imperiale, which has been described; but it became necessary to provide a town residence, that in the citadel, which had sufficed for the Sforza, being far too restricted for the demands of growing luxury. Of the palace at Pesaro, Guidobaldo II. may be considered the entire author,[*58] and if it seem scarcely suited for the accommodation of so famed a court, we must recollect that the golden days of this principality were already passing away, that the military qualities of its sovereigns and people had become less gainful, and the devotion of its dukes to letters and arts was beginning to languish. Although extensive, the aspect of this residence is mean, its buildings rambling. It exhibits no appearance of a public edifice except the spacious loggia or arcade. Over this, its single external feature, is the great hall, measuring 134 by 54 feet, and of well-proportioned height. Here we find some interesting traces of the della Rovere, in those quaint and significant family devices which it was their pride unceasingly to repeat. The manifold compartments of its richly stuccoed ceiling contain their heraldic badge, the oak-tree; the ermine of Naples; the half-inclined palm-tree; the meta, or goal of merit, and similar fancies.[59] These recur among delicately sculptured arabesques on the internal lintels, and ornament the imposing chimney-pieces, varied by figures of Fame strewing oak-leaves and acorns. This palace was later the winter residence of the cardinal legates of Urbino and Pesaro, of whom portraits, from the Devolution of the duchy to the Holy See, in 1626, surround the great hall. In 1845, Cardinal della Genga was the forty-eighth of this long succession.
[Footnote *58: It was probably the work of Girolamo Genga (1476-1551) and his son Bartolomeo (1518-58). It is now the Prefettura. It has never struck me as "mean," but rather as being a somewhat imposing building.]
[Footnote 59: See these devices explained in No. V. of the Appendix to Vol. I. The respective importance of the ducal residences is marked by their colloquial epithets,--the corte at Urbino, the palazzo at Pesaro, the casa at Gubbio.]
Paul IV. was seventy-nine years of age when he assumed the triple tiara. His life had been one long exercise of holy zeal and ascetic observance, and the Romans, again sunk in those habits of luxury and indulgence from which Bourbon's army had roused them, saw with little satisfaction the accession of one so intolerant. But they were ill-prepared for a turbulence unparalleled during many years. His policy leaned to the once favourite, but long dormant, idea of expelling the Spaniards from Lower Italy; while, to the astonishment of mankind, the almost abandoned pretensions of nepotism were revived with unflinching fierceness by this octogenarian founder of the strictly devotional order of Theatins. A trumpery outrage on the French flag by the Sforza of Santa-fiore,[*60] in which the Colonna were alleged to have participated or sympathised, supplied a pretext for putting the latter to the ban; and their vast possessions, which in the ecclesiastical states alone numbered above a hundred separate holdings, were conferred upon the Pope's nephew, Giovanni Caraffa, Count of Montorio. The Colonna flew to arms, and, being under the avowed protection of Spain, were supported by troops from Naples, against whom the Duke of Urbino was ordered to march; but fortunately the ashes of civil broils were nearly cold, and peace would have continued undisturbed, had not Paul, in the following year, issued his monitory against Philip II. Although the Spanish intervention in behalf of the Colonna formed an ostensible ground for this aggression, its true motives are traced by Panvinio to more remote and personal considerations, dating from the viceroyalty of Lautrec, by whom the Caraffa, always adherents of France, had been harshly treated. Reverting to the papal policy of half a century before, Paul sought to avenge this quarrel through French instrumentality, and although a pacification of unusual solemnity had been concluded in February of this year between Charles V. and Henry II., preparatory to the former retiring from the cares of sovereignty, he contrived, by successful intrigues, to bring the two great European powers once more into hostility, and to revive in the Bourbon King those ambitious projects which had formerly brought his predecessors across the Alps for the conquest of Naples.
[Footnote *60: For all that concerns Santa Fiora and the Sforza-Cesarini, see a forthcoming work by EDWARD HUTTON, with notes by WILLIAM HEYWOOD, entitled In Unknown Tuscany (Methuen). It deals with the whole history of Mont'Amiata and its castles and villages.]
Anticipating this threatened danger, the Duke of Alva marched an army of fourteen thousand men into the Comarca, which he overran in September, occupying Tivoli on the one hand, and Ostia on the other, whilst Marc-Antonio Colonna scoured the Campagna, to the gates of Rome. Guidobaldo, who appears to have been about this time superseded, and his truncheon of command transferred to the Pontiff's favourite nephew, contented himself with sending a contingent of two thousand troops, under Aurelio Fregoso, for his Holiness's support. The efforts made on all sides to conclude a harassing and useless war, were rendered unavailing by the Pope's obstinacy and ambition; the only terms he would agree to including an investiture of his nephew as sovereign of Siena, in compensation for the Colonna estates.
During the winter months, a horde of northern barbarians were once more mustered to invade unhappy Italy. Fourteen thousand Gascons, Grisons, and Germans, under command of the Duc de Guise, marched early in the spring upon Romagna, which, though a friendly country, they cruelly ravaged. Faenza having escaped their brutality by denying them entrance, its citizens testified their gratitude for the exemption, by instituting an annual triduan thanksgiving, and dotation of two of their daughters. The Duke of Urbino did his best to secure his people during the transit of this army, which crossed the Tronto in April. It would be tedious to follow the fortunes of a campaign in which he took no part, and which, whoever gained, was the scourge of Italy. On the 26th of August, the Duc de Guise placed his scaling ladders against the San Sebastiano gate, and Rome had nearly been carried by a coup-de-main. At length the representations of Venice and Florence, which had remained neutral, prevailed with his Holiness, and, on the 14th of September, peace was restored, leaving matters much on their former footing. Riposati assures us that during this war the French monarch would gladly have secured the services of Guidobaldo, now free from his engagements to the Pontiff, but that Duke Cosimo of Florence interested himself to procure for him an engagement from Spain. This was at length arranged, in the spring of 1558, previously to which Charles V. appears to have bestowed on him the Golden Fleece, the highest compliment at his disposal.[61]
[Footnote 61: Some authorities represent him as receiving this Order eleven years later from Charles V., but that Emperor died in this very year. He is said to have had knighthood from the Pope in 1561.]
The terms upon which the Duke took service under Philip II. are thus stated in a letter of Bernardo Tasso. The King guaranteed him protection for his territories against all hazards, and bound himself to supply and maintain for him a body-guard of at least two hundred infantry, besides a company of a hundred men-at-arms, and another of two hundred light horse. He further engaged to pay him monthly 1000 golden scudi for his appointments as captain-general, besides maintaining for him four colonels and twenty captains. In return, the Duke took an oath to serve his Majesty faithfully against all potentates, the pontiffs alone excepted. The political results of this arrangement were strongly and painfully felt by Bernardo, who regarded it as establishing the tranquillity of Naples, the security of Tuscany, and, in a word, the Spanish domination in Italy. Inclined to the French interests (for there was no longer an Italian party in existence), he would have gladly seen the sovereign of a highland population, whose warlike sinews were not yet quite relaxed, preserve his neutrality, or rather, like his father, attach himself to the republic of Venice, which still possessed much external power and internal independence. Indeed, he laments the short-sighted policy of the Signory, in omitting this opportunity of securing, as an available check upon Spanish influence, an able confederate, and corn-growing neighbour; a blunder which was the more unaccountable, as, in the opinion of Mocenigo, who was Venetian envoy at Urbino many years later, the prepossessions of Guidobaldo were even then in favour of a connection which had hereditary claims upon his preference. On the first days of May the convention was published at Pesaro, after solemn thanksgiving to the Almighty for a dispensation so acceptable to the Duke.[62] The importance to Spain of this condotta may be understood from a fact mentioned by Riposati, that Gubbio alone sent forth, between 1530 and 1570, three captains-general, two lieutenants-general, six colonels, and sixty-five captains of note. Mocenigo says, there were in 1570 twelve thousand soldiers in the duchy, ready at call.
[Footnote 62: From an account of this engagement preserved among the Oliveriana MSS., and slightly differing from that by Bernardo Tasso (II., letter 166), we learn that the pay of officers was from 15 to 40 scudi a month, that of cavalry privates 5, and of infantry 3 scudi. It appears to have been worth to Guidobaldo in all about 35,000 scudi a year, but to have been irregularly received.]
Our notices of Guidobaldo become ever more barren. In 1565 the armament of Sultan Solyman against Malta spread consternation throughout Western Europe, and, by desire of Philip II., the Duke of Urbino sent four or five thousand troops to aid in the defence of the knights. Prince Francesco Maria asked leave to accompany the expedition, but his father, considering his time better bestowed in visiting courts, sent him in this year to Madrid, with commission to recover a long arrear of his own military allowances. In this he was successful, but the sum scarcely sufficed to clear the expenses of his journey. Particulars of this visit, and of his marriage in 1571, will be told from his own pen in next chapter. But there was no lukewarmness on his father's part on the question of the Cross against the Crescent. After the Prince returned from the naval action off Lepanto, which will also be narrated from his Autobiography, Guidobaldo prepared a Discourse on the propriety of a general war against the Turks, the means of conducting the proposed campaign with due regard to the security of Italy, the preparation of adequate munitions, and the best plan for carrying the seat of war into the enemy's country. It is unnecessary to dwell upon a matter now so completely gone by: the paper emanates from a mind capable of enlarged views, and fully conversant with the belligerent resources and general policy of his age, as well as experienced in military operations.[63]
[Footnote 63: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 2510, f. 201.]
The Relazioni of the Venetian envoys supply us with some notices of Urbino about this time, and prove that the Duke's expenses were very great, partly from frequent calls upon his hospitality by visitors of distinction, but still more from his maintaining separate and costly establishments for himself, the Duchess, the Prince, and the Princess.[64] Mocenigo estimates his income from imposts, monopolies, and allodial domains, at 100,000 scudi; adding that, "should he think proper to burden his people, this sum might unquestionably be greatly augmented, but, choosing to follow the custom of his predecessors, in making it his chief object to preserve the affection of his subjects, he is content to leave matters as they are, and live in straits for money."[65] He also tells us that, though poor in revenues, he was master of his people's affections, who on an exigency would place life and substance at his disposal. The accuracy of these impressions is in some degree impugned by what we are now about to relate.
[Footnote 64: That of Mocenigo, 1570, is printed by Vieussieux, second series, vol. II., p. 97, and in the Tesoro Politico, II., 169; that of Zen or Zane, 1574, in the same volume of Vieussieux, p. 315.]
[Footnote 65: Of several statements as to the ducal revenue and expenditure which I have seen, none is distinct or satisfactory. The most detailed is in a MS. in the public library at Siena, K. III., No. 58, p. 240, but the sums have been inextricably blundered by the transcriber. See Appendix VIII.]
* * * * *
The most remarkable incident in Guidobaldo's reign was an outbreak of the citizens of Urbino, dignified in its municipal history by the name of a rebellion, which acquires a factitious importance as the only symptom of discontent that troubled the peace of the duchy, from the death of Oddantonio in 1443, to the extinction of its independence in 1631. We shall condense its incidents from the contemporary narrative of Gian-Francesco Cartolari, who designated himself agent of the Duke, and who, notwithstanding his official position, writes with apparent frankness and impartiality.[66]
[Footnote 66: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 3142, f. 165, and Oliveriana MSS. No. 390, p. 63.]
In August, 1572, the Duke intimated to the council of Urbino that he had received authority from Gregory XIII. to impose a tax of one quatrino per lb. on butchers' meat, and of two bolognini upon every staro of grain and soma of wine;[67] and in October he made proclamation throughout the duchy of these new imposts. It being rumoured that the envoys of Gubbio had obtained for that community a suspension of the obnoxious duties, discontent began to prevail, and on the 26th December one Zibetto, a cobbler, in an inflammatory harangue, at a public assembly dignified with the name of general council, declared that these were exactions under which the poor could not exist.[*68] On his proposal, forty delegates were chosen from the nobility, and sworn to represent the matter to the Duke in person. They repaired to Pesaro, and, on the 29th, had an audience to present the memorial agreed to by the council, which Guidobaldo received, and desired them to go home, promising that an answer would be transmitted when he had considered their statement. They, however, stayed a week, vainly looking for his reply, during which the council met daily at Urbino, and at length they were recalled by an express from the Gonfaloniere. Meanwhile a vice-duke had been sent thither, who, on the 1st of January, 1573, published a suspension of the new imposts throughout the whole state. This concession, however, did not satisfy the discontented, who, in another general council, accredited two envoys to Prince Francesco Maria, begging his intervention to procure an answer to their memorial. Having failed in this object, and finding that troops were being secretly organised to garrison their city, the people of Urbino rushed to arms, closed the gates, and, having mustered above a thousand men, began to strengthen the defences and lay in stores. The Vice-Duke being thereupon recalled, the general council assembled daily in such numbers, that adjournments to one of the largest churches were found necessary, and the inhabitants, setting aside private rivalries, co-operated with one mind for the public safety, mounting guard, and making every exertion to render their city tenable. The impossibility of doing so against the Duke's military levies being however quickly apparent even to the insurgents, an embassy of six was despatched to Rome to beseech the Pope's mediation. Nor did the reaction stop there; a general cry rose for the Prince, or his brother the Cardinal, the opportune arrival of either of whom would have ended the émeute. On the 29th, however, the Duchess came with a small suite, and was received with cries of "Long life to the Duke, but death to the gabelle!" The efforts of the magistracy and popular leaders to make their peace were unavailing, in consequence of their having sent representations to the Pontiff, and, on the 3rd of February, the Duchess departed without effecting any arrangement, to the infinite annoyance of all parties. The envoys could get no other reply from his Holiness but that they must go home and make submission, and they were followed by a brief from him, enjoining them to lay down arms and seek his Excellency's unconditional pardon. As soon as this had been publicly read by the Gonfaloniere, the people piled their arms in the piazza, and the peasantry dispersed to their country homes.
[Footnote 67: The staro or stajo corresponded to a bushel; the amount of a soma is doubtful. A quatrino is 1/5 of a bajocco, that is, of a halfpenny in present value. A bolognino was about 7-1/3 farthings. See vol. II., p. 259.]
[Footnote *68: In 1562 Guidobaldo had augmented the tax on grain by leave of Pius IV. Cf. UGOLINI, op. cit., vol. II., p. 28, and PELLEGRINI, Gubbio sotto i Conti e Duchi d'Urbino in Boll. per l'Umbria, vol. XI., p. 239 et seq., and esp. CELLI, Tasse e Rivoluzione (Torino, 1892), p. 39.]
Notwithstanding this surrender, Guidobaldo advanced upon the city, quartering his troops in the surrounding villages, so as to blockade it, and all the public functionaries were superseded. Dreading a sack, the citizens rushed to the monasteries with their valuables, and, about the middle of February, sent fifty of the nobles to crave pardon of their sovereign. After waiting at Pesaro for three days, these were admitted to tender submission on their knees, and were then placed under arrest at their inn for twenty days, notwithstanding incessant petitions from their fellow citizens for their release. Six of them were then committed to the castle, and from time to time other leaders were brought from Urbino to share their imprisonment. So terrified were the insurgents by these measures, that those most compromised fled from the duchy, and but few remained in their houses; a proclamation was therefore issued that all exiles should return home within two months, under penalties of rebellion. The property of the prisoners and exiles was confiscated; the city was disarmed; public assemblies were prohibited; and the magistracy were discharged from their duties.[69] Such rigorous measures having inspired a general panic, the imposts were again proclaimed at Easter, to include retrospectively the previous year. These severities were perhaps scarcely beyond the exigencies of the case; at all events, they cannot be justly regarded as an extreme exercise of the despotic authority which the Duke undoubtedly possessed; but those which ensued must be viewed with abhorrence, alike from their own enormity, and from their prejudicial influence in confounding vengeance with justice.
[Footnote 69: The magistrates of Urbino were four in number, a gonfaloniere chosen from the city nobles, a prior to represent the merchants, and two priors of the trades. The general council seems to have been open to all citizens.]
A judge was brought from Ferrara to sit upon the prisoners, and on the 1st of July nine of them were beheaded in the castle at midnight; their bodies, after being flung out and exposed beyond the city, were huddled together into an unconsecrated pit, until some days later they were taken up by order of the Bishop of Pesaro, and received Christian burial. Nor was the indignation of their sovereign appeased by these revolting cruelties: others implicated were sent to the galleys or died of hard usage. A commission sat at Urbino for two months to realise the estates of those attainted, whose widows and children were deprived of their dowries, and in some instances their very houses were razed to the ground. The results were fatal to the whole community, for magisterial business was suspended, the schools were left without teachers, the town without medical practitioners, trade of every sort at a stand. At length, in December, permission was obtained to hold a general council, at which it was determined once more to send ambassadors to intercede for mercy. For this purpose about eighty of the principal nobility were selected to accompany the Gonfaloniere and priors to Pesaro, their cavalcade amounting to above a hundred persons on horseback. On the 27th of December, they were admitted to an audience in presence of the whole court, and the Gonfaloniere, after a very judicious speech, presented to his Excellency a petition couched in the following terms:--
"Most illustrious and most excellent Lord Duke, our especial lord and master! Inspired by a most ardent desire for your illustrious Excellency's favour and good will, and having ever felt the utmost grief and regret for the recent events, the city of Urbino, with entire devotion and alacrity, has resolved to send to your illustrious Excellency its magistrates, and the present numerous embassy, in order that with every possible humility, they in our name, and we likewise for ourselves, may supplicate you, with all reverence and submission, to accord us grace and pardon, entirely forgetting the provocations received, and, as our clement father and master, full of charity towards us, to deign willingly to comfort us, and receive us again, and restore us to your love and benign grace; assuring your most illustrious Excellency, that this your city will never, in fidelity, love, and obedience towards your most illustrious person and house, yield to any other in the world, and that it is, and ever will be, most prompt at all times and occasions to expose our lives, and those of our children, and our whole goods and possessions, in your service and honour; so that, in the event of our receiving, as we desire and hope, forgiveness from your infinite bounty and magnanimity, we, the humblest and most faithful of your servants, thanking God with sincerely joyful hearts, may return, singing in chorus--'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath visited and redeemed his people,' and may ever keep in remembrance this trusted day of grace, and render it a gladsome festival in all time to come."
To this petition the Duke returned the following gracious answer:--"I hear with much good will and satisfaction the duty which you pay, the free pardon which you ask, and the penitence which you exhibit, all which induce me to confirm to you, as I now do most willingly, the forgiveness I already have accorded: and the promise which you make, of being ever faithful and loyal to me, proves you ready to second your words with good purposes, as I readily believe you will do. I also promise you from henceforward entirely to forget the past, and to receive you into my pristine affection; and had it pleased God that the warnings and persuasions which you received from my lips had been taken by you at first, you would have been spared many evils, annoyances, and losses, and I much displeasure. Nevertheless, take courage, and, as I have already said, so long as you do your duty, you will find me as loving in time to come as I have ever been, all which you will report to your city."[70]
[Footnote 70: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 3141, ff. 160, 165, dated December 27, 1573.]
This reply gave great satisfaction to the deputation, and after being suitably acknowledged by their head, all of them knelt to their Sovereign, the Duchess, and the Prince, kissing the hems of their garments in humble attitude. Next day they returned home, and summoned a general council, to which there was read a letter from Guidobaldo, reinstating the city in its former privileges, and removing the obnoxious imposts. Four deputies having been commissioned to thank his Highness for these demonstrations of returning favour, they were honourably received and entertained at Pesaro. The council next voted a peace-offering of 50,000 scudi towards paying the Duke's debts, which had been the primary root of the evil; but, in consideration of their recent sufferings, he accepted of but 20,000, payable in seven years. Although there remained some symptoms of smouldering sedition, the Duke on the 14th of June suddenly started for Urbino, and was welcomed by a deputation, and such other marks of respect as the short notice would permit. During a residence of twelve days, he renounced 8000 scudi of the donative, and conceded several privileges to the community, whom he did not again visit during the brief residue of his life.
The Urbino rebellion holds a place in the history of that state which neither its incidents nor its issue deserve. It originated in a sore of old standing, the Duke having for years comparatively deserted the ancient capital of his duchy, and transferred his residence to Pesaro. Influenced by this grudge, its citizens, instead of, like the other communities, resting satisfied with his remission of dues in January, 1573, kept up an agitation, and finally piqued their sovereign by carrying their grievances to the papal throne. On the whole, these transactions were in all respects most unfortunate, and it was long ere the duchy recovered from the heart-burnings they left behind. The Duke then forfeited the popularity of a lifetime, and his fame continues blackened by the scurrilous traditionary nickname of Guidobaldaccio, a usual diminutive expressing contemptuous disparagement. Grossi says that, when too late, he regretted the harshness of his after measures; and some doubt as to his good faith in regard to an amnesty is hinted in the following letter from his cousin-german Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers and Rethel, which I found among the Oliveriana MSS. at Pesaro.
"Most illustrious and most excellent Lord,
"Your Excellency's letters of the 15th of June and 9th of July reached me together, at the forest of Vincennes, only on the 10th instant, along with another addressed by you to the most serene King of Poland, which I have not failed to deliver in person to his Majesty, with such expressions as seemed suitably to convey your Excellency's good wishes. With these his Majesty was much satisfied and pleased, and he returns to your Excellency many thanks. I have not as yet been able to obtain his answer, as he went off suddenly to Fontainebleau, whither I now am on my way, and on my arrival shall get it sent you as soon as possible.
"I have read the summary of the trials of these rebels, of whom your Excellency advises me you had nine beheaded, as to which matter I have been glad to be informed, in order satisfactorily to answer those who occasionally speak of it; and also being at all times glad to learn that your affairs go on well and to your contentment. It is my conviction that you have acted most justly, and done everything for clear reasons; yet, I do not omit telling you that some people are perplexed at these events, saying, that your Excellency having granted a general pardon to all the conspirators, they cannot see by what right you afterwards let justice take its course against them. This I mention purposely that you may be informed of everything.
"It only remains to beseech that you will deign command my willing services, in whatever respect you consider me useful, as this is my ardent wish; and so I sincerely kiss your hands, praying God to grant you all happiness. From Paris, the last of September, 1573. Your Excellency's most devoted, and most obliged cousin,
"LUDOVICO GONZAGA."
The account of these disturbances, given by the Prince in his Autobiography, is as follows: "His father having by great liberality and magnificence deranged his finances, found it necessary to augment his revenue, and his subjects, unused to such burdens, began to offer resistance. The Duke, not to let himself be thwarted in that way, prepared to use force; but at last matters were restored to quiet, by their humbling themselves, and receiving his pardon, not without the punishment of some, as an example to the rest. At this juncture Francesco Maria contrived so to conduct himself, that his father had reason to be well satisfied with his services; and the people had no cause to be discontented with him, his uniform endeavour having been, to the utmost of his power, to mollify the one and moderate the other, which was in the end effected."
Of this dull reign little remains to be told. In the words of the same Memoir,--"Guidobaldo went to Ferrara in the autumn of 1574, to visit Henry III. of France, who was on his way from Poland, on the death of his brother Charles IX. Returning to Pesaro during great heats, he fell ill, and passed to a better life on the 28th of September, aged sixty. On hearing of his illness, Francesco Maria hastened to Pesaro from Castel Durante, where he generally stayed for the hunting season, and finding his father in great suffering, he attended him assiduously through the fatal malady. The funeral ceremonies were performed with much pomp, in presence of many deputies and ambassadors; and Giacomo Mazzoni pronounced a long and elaborate oration, commending his clemency, liberality, bravery, prudence, and other princely virtues." We are told by a contemporary chronicler that his illness was a quartan, which became a putrid fever, but that he bore it with patient and pious resignation, supported by the aids of religion. His funeral took place in the church of Corpus Domini, at Pesaro, in conformity with his own wish, mindful perhaps, in his last moments, of his recent quarrel with Urbino, where the ashes of his ancestors were laid.
The character of this Duke, drawn by the Venetian envoys, is quite as favourable as the few notices given us by Urbino writers. His habits were free and social, and his liberality to friends and favourites gave him a popularity at court which extended to his subjects and soldiery. In affairs of honour his judgment was often sought, and his decisions generally admitted. Though seldom in the field, he was considered an authority on military affairs, and, without rivalling the literary tastes of his son, he was a patron of letters, and especially of music.[*71] The device which he selected was a goal or winning-post, with a Greek inscription, "To the most devoted lover of worth"; and Ruscellai informs us that he acted up to the sentiment in encouraging merit. His hospitality is alluded to by Ariosto in Rinaldo's journey to Lapidusa, and Count Litta ascribes to him the institution of the Pacieri, an association of both sexes for the purpose of preventing litigation. It is true that his failings of character or temper were neither gilded by the military renown of his father, nor redeemed by the pious philosophy of his son; but so far as the meagre materials within our reach have enabled us to judge, no great faults have been brought home to him either as a sovereign or as a man. Indeed, we are enabled to adduce one satisfactory instance wherein, under circumstances peculiarly irritating to a person of impetuous disposition, his conduct was marked with great forbearance and gentleness. His favourite undertaking of fortifying Sinigaglia had been thwarted in 1556, from the obstinate refusal of money by a Jew, who, though sent to him for the purpose of effecting a loan, resisted his urgent persuasions to conclude it.[*72] After mentioning the circumstance in a letter to his confidential favourite Marchetti, he thus continues: "We avoided all expressions which might seem to approve of his discourse, and so left him. However, to you we shall just say that if they won't lend, may they meet with the like.[73] We shall seek some other course, and obtain by other means what is required for the operations. You may, therefore, after doing your best for this purpose in Sinigaglia, proceed first towards La Pergola, and then to Fossombrone, but there is no occasion to employ in this matter threats or severe language. On the contrary, you are only to seek out the people, to exhort and civilly urge them to what is wanted, but of their own free will, and by no other means; and if they will not agree, you need not break out upon them, but let it stand over, that we may see what can be effected in some other way."
[Footnote *71: Cf. a letter from Angelo Colocci to the Duke, printed by MORICI, Due Umanisti Marchigiani in Boll. per l'Umbria, vol. II., p. 152; and for Music, ROSSI, Appunti per la Storia della Musica alla Corte di Francesco Maria I. e di Guidobaldo della Rovere in Rassegna Emiliana (Modena, 1888), vol. I., fascicolo 8, and supra, p. 88, note *1.]
[Footnote *72: Cf. CELLI, _Le fortificazioni militari di Urbino, Pesaro e Senigallia_ (Castelpiano, 1896).]
[Footnote 73: "Tal sia di loro," a phrase which may perhaps only mean "be it so."]
In absence of any contemporary estimate of this Duke's character, we may cite one from the pen of a modern writer, himself a citizen of Urbino, and an enthusiastic student of its history. "Although possessing not the marvellous sagacity, the untainted justice, the quick intelligence in public affairs, nor the other brilliant and rare virtues of his ancestors and of his son, which have rendered their names great, their authority respected, their memory dear and popular; he had good sense, military experience, and much fondness for all liberal acquirements. He protected and honoured the first geniuses of his time; and his beneficent actions were splendid even beyond his means. Could one page be blotted from his life, too fatally memorable from its unjust and slippery policy, too detestable and disgraceful to his name; and had his manners been more affable, his nature less impetuous and violent, his temper less overbearing, and his resolutions less inflexible; the people of Urbino would probably have attempted no revolutionary movement, and he would have acquired much of the reputation left by his great-grandfather, and by his estimable son."[74]
[Footnote 74: Padre Checcucci, Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Urbino, 1845.]
For the fine arts he seems to have cared little, and his memory has suffered in consequence of this neglect. Angelo Bronzino is said to have painted him during the life of his father, but the only original portrait I have ever found of him is a miniature in the Pitti Palace. Bernardo Tasso was the laureate of his court, and we shall mention, in chapter L., the friendly welcome extended to that fortune-stricken bard during part of his life-long struggle. Bernardo Capello and Pietro Aretino were among his guests; and Ludovico Domenichini of Piacenza, having dedicated to him an Italian translation of Plutarch's Lives, visited Urbino in 1555 to present the work to his patron.
Guidobaldo left by his first wife one daughter,--
VIRGINIA, married in 1560 to Count Federigo Borromeo, whose premature death is said to have frustrated a project of his uncle, Pius IV., for investing him with Camerino. She afterwards married Ferdinando Orsini, Duke of Gravina, and, dying in childbed, left to her father about 180,000 scudi.
The children of his second marriage were,--
1. FRANCESCO MARIA, his heir.
2. ISABELLA, married in 1565 to Nicolò Bernardino di Sanseverino, Prince of Bisignano, a Neapolitan nobleman, with a fine fortune, but greatly encumbered. She was a princess of generous and attractive character, and died in 1619 without surviving issue.
3. LAVINIA, said in the Venetian Relazione of Zane to have been betrothed to Giacomo Buoncompagno natural son of Gregory XIII., but the nuptials never took place. She afterwards married Alfonso Felice d'Avalos d'Aquino, Marquis of Guasto, son[*75] of the famous Vittoria Colonna, and died in 1632, aged seventy-four.
[Footnote *75: This is a mistake. Vittoria Colonna had no children. There was, however, a Marchese del Vasto, a cousin of her husband's, whom she adopted as her son, and to whom she frequently alluded in her poems; one of her sonnets bewails his death.]
(From similarity of name, this princess has been confused with her second cousin Lavinia Franciotti della Rovere, wife of Paolo Orsini, whose intimacy with Olympia Morata is well known to those who trace the quickly smothered seeds of Protestantism in Italy.)
Guidobaldo left also two natural daughters,--
1. ----, married, first, to Count Antonio Landriano of Pesaro; secondly, to Signor Pier-Antonio da Lunà of Castella, in the Milanese.
2. ----, married to Signor Guidobaldo Renier.
BOOK EIGHTH
OF FRANCESCO MARIA II. DELLA ROVERE SIXTH AND LAST DUKE OF URBINO
Chapter XLIV
Autobiography of Duke Francesco Maria II.--His visit to the Spanish Court--His studious habits--His marriage--Is engaged in the naval action of Lepanto--Succeeds to the dukedom.
In following the history of his father, we have details of the early life of Francesco Maria. Upon these we now turn back, and shall avail ourselves to the utmost of the Memoirs he has left behind him, which, though brief and incomplete, afford a valuable illustration of his character, and an interesting addition to our few autobiographies of sovereigns. From the introductory sentence, we learn the motives by which they were undertaken:--"As it is very usual for people to blame the actions of others, and especially the proceedings of those who have long directed the affairs of government, it has hence seemed to me right to narrate simply, truly, and briefly, the incidents that have occurred to Francesco Maria, second of that name and sixth Duke of Urbino, in order that those who read this abstract may be aware of the actual and candid truth." Upon a narrative thus modestly prefaced it is unnecessary to make any critical remarks. Ere we close this Book, their abrupt termination, before the marriage of Prince Federigo, will be sadly but sufficiently accounted for.[76]
[Footnote 76: For the life of Francesco Maria II. our materials have been ample. His own Memoirs, extending from his birth to the marriage of his son, have been nearly all quoted verbatim. The autograph of this MS. I have examined in the Oliveriana Library (No. 384, folio 219 to 229), but have made my translations from the only printed edition, in the twenty-ninth volume of the Nuova Raccolta d'Opuscoli, known by the name Calogeriana, and published at Venice in 1776. There too will be found an account of the Devolution of Urbino to the Holy See, from the pen of Antonio Donata of Venice, by whom that negotiation was concluded on the Duke's part. In the Magliabechiana Library at Florence (class 25, No. 76) is the autograph Diary of Francesco Maria from 1583 to 1623, which I have closely searched. The rich MS. collections of the Oliveriana are stored with original correspondence and other documents illustrative of his reign, most of which have been looked into with scarcely remunerative labour, but among the matter there gleaned, his instructions to his son may be deemed of especial importance. From a vast mass of such correspondence in these two libraries, a general insight into his character and position, and those of his son, has been acquired, as well as many minute traits of both; but the Prince's brief and unhonoured span has been illustrated in a great measure from collections made by Francesco Saverio Passeri, of Pesaro, nephew of the naturalist Gianbattista Passeri, and printed in the twenty-sixth volume of the Calogeriana Collection. *Cf. also SCOTINI, La Giovinezza. di F.M. II. (Bologna, 1899).]
"To them [Duke Guidobaldo II. and Duchess Vittoria] was born at Pesaro, on the 20th of February, 1549, a son, who was named Francesco Maria. Cardinal Duranti was sent by the Pope to perform the ceremony of his baptism, which was celebrated with great splendour on the 1st of May, Giacomo Soranzo acting as godfather in name of the republic of Venice. He was in infancy brought up with becoming care, and at three years of age was carried to Venice by his father and mother. Guidobaldo was then general in the service of that state, and their troops were chiefly stationed at Verona, whither Francesco Maria was taken, and where he had a dangerous illness, recovered from which he returned home. There, as he grew up, he was taught all fitting exercises of mind and body, under the successive superintendence of Muzio of Giustinopoli, Antonio Galli of Urbino, and Girolamo Simonetta of Cagli: his masters in grammar were Vincenzo Bartoli of Urbino, and afterwards Ludovico Corrado of Mantua, of literary note. After some years, the Duke and his brother the Cardinal, having resolved to amuse themselves with a visit to Venice, at the fête of the Ascension, they took with them Francesco Maria, who was received with great favour and much made of, being admitted into the company delle Calze." This was in 1564, and even thus early his taste for painting was noticed by Titian, and celebrated in a sonnet by Verdizzotti. An establishment was maintained for him at Venice apart from that of his father and uncle, and he gave many sumptuous entertainments.
"Having returned to Pesaro, and completed his sixteenth year, he had a great wish to go forth and see the world and its usages, and made much interest that his father should send him to some court, preferring that of the Emperor, who was then at war with the Turk. To this his father was pleased to agree, but desired first to consult the Catholic King (Philip II.), in whose service he was, and who in reply commended the plan, but desired that it might be carried into effect at his own court, where the Prince would be welcomed and treated as a son. His intentions being thus necessarily altered, at the close of 1565, after the marriage of his sister Donna Isabella with the Prince of Bisignano, he took his way to Spain, accompanied by many knights, particularly by Count Francesco Landriani, and Pier-Antonio Lonato. Choosing the route by Genoa, he passed through Ferrara to Mantua, where he stayed fifteen days by his father's desire, who in youth long inhabited that city; and hearing of his uncle the Duke of Parma's return just then from Flanders, he went to see him. On his arrival at Genoa he was lodged by Count Filippino Doria, his vassal in the castle of Sassocorbaro, and, after being visited and much distinguished by the Signory, he embarked in a war-galley of the Duke of Savoy, which, with another fully armed, had been sent on purpose for him, under the command of Admiral di Leini. In it he went to Savona, the native place of his family, where he was received into the house of Vigeri, who were his subjects, and being storm-stayed during eight days of the carnival, was entertained with festivities and serenades, as is customary in that country.
"When the weather cleared, he re-embarked, and after a pleasant voyage of a few days reached Palamos in Spain, whence he went by land to Barcelona. In that city he passed most of Lent, to give time for an apartment being prepared for him in the palace, but got to Madrid for Easter week. He was met by the whole court and by many grandees, especially by the Marquis of Pescara, who manifested singular courtesy, attending to him as his own son; whence a most intimate and enduring friendship arose between them. He got the same quarters which the Prince of Florence had occupied shortly before, and his treatment was precisely similar. Next day he waited upon the King, Queen, and Prince Royal, the Princess of Portugal, and the two sons of the Emperor [Maximilian II.], who were being educated there. By all he was received with distinguished favour, which continued during the two years and a half he spent at Madrid. He occupied himself in all those noble exercises which there, more than anywhere else, were attended to, practising military games on foot and horseback in public, and also privately under superintendence of the Marquis of Pescara, who was then considered unequalled in them. He frequently went out hunting with Don Carlos, by whom he was received into much intimacy; and enjoyed a close friendship with Don John of Austria, afterwards the famed commander by sea and land. He also paid court to the ladies, and learned the sports of the jennet as practised there, from Don Pedro Enciquel, afterwards Count of Fuentes and general in Flanders.
"Some movements having occurred in Flanders, the King gave orders to proceed there, and the court, including Francesco Maria, made preparations to attend him. But the latter, wishing to see France, asked permission to take that route by land, and so to rejoin his Majesty, who was to go by sea. The King, desiring his attendance on his person, refused his request, and so the opportunity was lost, to his great mortification, and perhaps to the no small loss of his Majesty. Subsequently occurred the imprisonment of Don Carlos, which was thus effected by order of his own father. An hour after midnight, the King, in his dressing-gown, holding a candle in his hand, having gone down to the Prince's room with his council of state and but one gentleman of his chamber, found him in bed. The Prince on seeing them tried to reach the corner, where were his sword and a pair of arquebuses, which he kept there always ready; but this was prevented by the Duke of Feria, who had already secured these arms. Then, rushing to his father, he exclaimed, 'So you are come to kill me?' To this his Majesty replied, 'Not so, but because you must live as becomes you, so be calm;' and never addressed him again. The Prince then said, 'I see that I am taken for a madman, which I am not, though a desperate one.' The King, having seen the doors and windows nailed up, leaving only a shutter open for light, and having desired the arms and all such things to be taken away, returned to his apartment, leaving with Don Carlos his major-domo Ruggo Mez de Silva (?) with several chamberlains and other officers of his household, a guard of Germans being stationed outside of his door; and the court was greatly vexed thereat."
These details are curious, in illustration of the mysterious fate of Don Carlos, eldest son of Philip II. It seems agreed that he was of a most unhappy temperament, perverse, wilful, and violent, possibly insane. The immediate cause of the unnatural scene here described has never been satisfactorily explained. It is generally stated that he was discovered in treasonable correspondence with the Dutch; though others have attributed the behaviour of his father to jealousy of an old attachment between his wife Elizabeth of Valois, and the Prince, to whom she was said to have been previously promised. The Prince's arrest occurred in January 1568: it was followed by no trial or public investigation, but in the following July he ceased to live. His death was understood to have taken place under some judicial sanction, but whether by poison or the sword was never known. The entombment of his head separate from his body renders the second supposition more probable.
We may here mention that, before embarking for Spain, the Prince had, from his Cardinal uncle, the dukedom of Sora, yielding an income of about 4000 scudi, which, however, proved quite inadequate to his expenditure. Zane, the Venetian ambassador, asserts that the large arrears of pay due to his father, which he was commissioned to recover from the Spanish government, were more than absorbed by his extravagance, and that this was the reason of his recall. His own narrative, however, is entirely silent upon this subject.
"Francesco Maria, having been at length recalled by his father, who was anxious for the marriage of his only son and heir, took leave of the King and Queen, and the royal family, and proceeded by Saragossa to Barcelona, where he embarked in a galley with the Marquis of Pescara, then going as viceroy to Sicily. After a prosperous voyage of eight days, he reached Genoa, where he lived with Giovanni Andrea Doria, with whom he had become intimate at the court of Spain. Thence he went to Milan for some days, and was welcomed with distinction; and then visited Madame of Austria at Piacenza; and at Parma stayed with the Duke and his son, towards both of whom he maintained the best intelligence and cousinship. He next passed through Bologna to Ravenna, where his uncle, the Cardinal of Urbino, was archbishop, and accompanied him to Pesaro. He arrived on the 11th of July, 1568, and was received with the greatest joy by all classes.
"After a few months, seeing that his father made no movement in the affair of his marriage, he returned to his studies, interrupted during his absence from Italy. He read mathematics with Federigo Comandino, and afterwards philosophy with Cesare Benedetti (subsequently Bishop of Pesaro), Felice Pacciotti, Giacomo Mazzoni, and Cristofero Guarimone. At the same time he kept up active exercise in arms, riding, hunting, ball, and racket." About this time Mocenigo, the Venetian ambassador, praises his fine dispositions and pleasing manners, as well as his progress in various pursuits, especially mathematics and fortification; but says that his eager exposure to fatigue gave rise to apprehensions for his health, which were sadly realised. He adds that, since his return from Spain, something of the hauteur which characterised that nation was noticed in his manner.
"Finally the Duke decided upon his marriage with Donna Lucrezia d'Este, sister of Alfonso, the last Duke of Ferrara, which took place, though little to his taste; for she was old enough to have been his mother. He went for this purpose to Ferrara, where the nuptials were celebrated with great splendour, and with chivalrous games and other festivities."
Such is all that we learn from the Memoirs of Francesco Maria regarding one of the most eventful moments of his life. Passeri, in his collections for the life of Prince Federigo, mentions a rumour of his attachment to a lady at the Spanish court as the immediate cause of his recall home, and of the match with Princess Lucrezia being concluded; indeed, I have seen, in the correspondence of the Oliveriana Library, that a certain Donna Madalena Girona was the supposed object of that early affection. That he made no secret to his father of his distaste at the connection laid out for him, is stated on the same authority, as well as the Duke's answer, that his people's welfare was to be considered rather than his son's fancies, whose youth made it the more requisite to mate him with a princess of tried prudence and staid manners. How far these epithets were borne out by Lucrezia's subsequent conduct will be presently seen; meanwhile, the following letter, to one who long after continued an especial friend and favourite, will show that the bridegroom gave no outward signs of his discontent.
"To Camillo Giordani.
"My most magnificent and well-beloved,
"I am confident that you feel the pleasure which you express at the conclusion which it has pleased God to vouchsafe to my marriage with Madam Lucrezia d'Este, and at all other like occasions of joy which happen to me; and the duty you have in this instance paid me in your letter has been most truly acceptable, and has my best thanks. God ever bless you! From Pesaro, the last day of [15]69.
"THE PRINCE OF URBINO."
The ceremony took place at Ferrara on the 2nd of January, 1571, and on the 8th the bride was brought home to Pesaro. The people hailed her with enthusiasm, and spent largely in shows and rejoicings to welcome her arrival, besides giving to the Duke a donative exceeding 10,000 scudi. Yet Mocenigo, the Venetian ambassador accredited to the marriage, while lauding the handsome and gracious Princess, admits an early prepossession against her, on the part both of her new subjects and her lord. It was the hope of a heir to the dukedom that preponderated with the former; and, as she was many years older than her husband, a chill of disappointment naturally mingled even with their congratulations.[77] The same observer states it as the general impression that, the Prince having compromised himself with a lady in Spain, his father thought the best way of getting him out of all difficulty with that court was to match him suddenly with a princess of high rank, whose dowry of 150,000 scudi was by no means unacceptable. Zane, another envoy from the maritime Republic a few years later, describes the Duchess as below par in good looks, but well-dressed: adding that difference of age accounted for the absence of affection between her and her husband.
[Footnote 77: Tesoro Politico, II., fol. 169. Relazioni Venete, serie II., vol. II., p. 105. Litta says she was born the 16th December, 1535, making her thirteen years and two months his senior. Her sister, Tasso's Leonora, was born the 19th of June, 1537.]
The following letters from the Duke and Duchess of Urbino, Prince Francesco Maria and his bride, were written in answer to congratulations sent them on occasion of the marriage, by the Cardinal de' Medici, who afterwards became Grand Duke of Florence, by the title of Ferdinand I.[78] They have been introduced here as an index to the feelings of the respective writers regarding a union which turned out so unsatisfactory to all parties; but, still more, as a specimen of the epistolary style then prevalent between personages of exalted rank, and of the general formality and barrenness of interest which characterise such documents.
[Footnote 78: Bibl. Riccardiana, MSS. No. 2340, art. 116-19.]
"My most illustrious, most reverend, and most respected Lord,
"The Marquis of Villa Franca has discharged towards me the duty with which your most illustrious Lordship was pleased to entrust him, and he has represented your gracious sympathy towards our wedding in a manner most acceptable to all. For the satisfaction we, and myself especially, have derived from this, I do most heartily thank your most illustrious Lordship, praying you to lend a willing ear to the assurances of my affection, and of my wish for frequent opportunities of correspondence, which I have given to the Marquis, and which I do not doubt he will, without fail, in compliance with my desire, fully repeat to you. I kiss your most illustrious Lordship's hands, praying for you all happiness. From Pesaro, the 15th of January, 1571.
"Your most Illustrious Lordship's servant,
"THE DUKE OF URBINO."
"My most illustrious, most revered, and most respected Lord,
"The proof which your most illustrious Lordship has deigned to give me, in your most kind letter, of the pleasure you take in the marriage of the Prince my son, I esteem a great favour; for not only do I desire your sympathy in all my happiness, but I am also anxious in every circumstance to find occasion of serving your most illustrious Lordship. Thus will all my present and future occasions of joy be valued by me in proportion as they may become subservient to that object, and to the affection I bear your most illustrious Lordship, whose hands I kiss, praying the Lord God of his grace to vouchsafe you a happy accomplishment of all your desires. From Pesaro, the 15th of January, 1571.
"Your most illustrious and most reverend Lordship's most humble servant,
"THE DUCHESS OF URBINO."
"My most illustrious and most reverend Lord,
"The Marquis of Villa Franca, who has handed me your most illustrious Lordship's letter, will likewise report to you my unceasing desire for your service, and the pleasure wherewith I have received the courteous duty you have been pleased on this occasion to send me, for which I certainly am under many obligations, as the Marquis will more fully show you. I, however, pray your illustrious Lordship to afford me frequent opportunities of effectually proving to you my good will; and I kiss your hands, beseeching for you from our Lord God all the happiness you may desire. From Pesaro, the 15th of January, 1571.
"Your most illustrious and most reverend Lordship's most affectionate servant,
"THE PRINCE OF URBINO."
"Most illustrious and most reverend Lord,
"Whatever pleasure my affairs may afford your most illustrious Lordship is only the consequence of your great kindness and courtesy; and as regards the expression of it, which you have thought fit to communicate to me by the Marquis of Villa Franca, and by your own letters, I can but say that I kiss your hand for all your affection, assuring you that every occasion of happiness you may enjoy will afford me cause for quite as much congratulation as I now have received from you: and referring you to whatever more that gentleman will say in my behalf, I remain, praying God to gratify you in all your desires,
"Your most illustrious Lordship's very obedient,
"LUCREZIA D'ESTE.
"From Pesaro, the 16th of January, 1571."
Renée of France, mother of Princess Lucrezia, had embraced the doctrines of Calvin, who visited Ferrara about the time of her daughter's birth, and Francesco Porta da Creta, preceptor of the young Princess, was discovered to be tinged with the same principles. Alarmed for the orthodoxy of his daughters, Duke Ercole dismissed their instructor, and secluded his escort, in a wing of the palace, from all intercourse with the children. A cloud of mystery hangs over these transactions.
"Soon after his return to Pesaro from his marriage, the Pope, the King of Spain, and the Venetians having [on the 20th of May] leagued together against the Turk, Don John of Austria came into Italy as commander-in-chief, and Francesco Maria, with his father's permission, set out on the 8th of July, to join him at Genoa. There he embarked in the Savoyard frigate[79] that had carried him to Spain, commanded by the same Monsignor de Leini, who had orders from the Duke of Savoy to receive him with that affectionate courtesy which both he and his sovereign ever displayed towards him. Having touched at Naples, he was there welcomed with the utmost favour and distinction, and passed his time most agreeably. From thence the fleet sailed to Messina, where he assisted at a general council of war, as indeed he often subsequently did.[80] Leaving Sicily, the expedition in a few days arrived at Corfu, and on the morning of the 7th of October fell in with the Turk. Don John drew up the Christian fleet in order of battle, the Proveditore Agostino Barbarigo, of Venice, having the landward squadron, and Giovanni Andrea Doria the opposite and heavier one, with Don Alvarez di Bassano as a reserve; the centre he kept for himself, where was also Francesco Maria, in the foresaid frigate. Here was the thick of the fight, as at this point the two admirals met. The Turkish at first selected the frigate in which was Francesco Maria, whom he well knew, and who warmly received his attack; but as soon as he distinguished the flag-ship, he turned to engage it: and, after fighting for two hours, the Turks struck, their admiral, Pacha Ali, having been killed by an arquebus; the others were all put to the sword; and so was this long very doubtful victory secured to the Christians. Meanwhile the Savoyard frigate fought two galleys, one ahead and the other astern, and had enough to do, most of her company being killed or wounded. The squadron under Barbarigo drove on shore many galleys, sinking and taking others; but he was wounded by a splinter in the eye, of which he soon after died. Doria had at first run out to sea, fighting all the while; but seeing the wing exposed, he returned and made good use of the opportunity, cutting up several galleys, and getting off uninjured. Such is an abstract of this battle, wherein Francesco Maria acquitted himself becomingly, for which Don John distinguished him with many marks of regard, and assigned him, among other favours, twenty-four Turkish slaves. The Admiral bearing for Sicily, he sailed from Corfu in a Venetian galley to Otranto, and returned home by land in November, to await orders, and rejoin the fleet the following year."
[Footnote 79: The word which I thus translate means literally a ship or galley commanded by a captain.]
[Footnote 80: The muster-roll of the armament at this time will be found in V. of the Appendix.]
The naval engagement of which Francesco Maria has given the preceding sketch was that of Lepanto or Curzolari, where Passeri states that he had with him a large body of his father's subjects, a fact which, although passed over in his own account of this his only military service, is confirmed by Armanni, who tells us that there were in the fleet above fifty from Gubbio alone, thirty of whom were officers, a circumstance on which the Prince was complimented by Don John. It is unnecessary here to add to the Prince's details. The general result of the engagement was most conclusive: the enemy's loss has been calculated at thirty thousand killed, ten thousand wounded, and fifteen thousand Christian slaves rescued from bondage, besides the destruction or capture of six hundred sail, and a vast booty. The Christian fleet consisted of above two hundred war-galleys, besides many other vessels of various sorts.
"On bringing his wife from Ferrara to Pesaro [in January, 1572], they were magnificently received, and passed a gay carnival. In Lent he repaired to Rome, after visiting the holy house of Loreto, and was there entertained by his uncles, the Cardinals of Urbino and Farnese. Pius V. insisted upon very graciously admitting him to an audience, notwithstanding an illness of which he soon died....[81] Francesco Maria was also distinguished by his successor, Gregory XIII., but, on suddenly being recalled by his father, he at once, though reluctantly, obeyed. Soon afterwards, he was attacked by a severe illness, which lasted for three months, aggravated by a false rumour of another naval engagement."
[Footnote 81: Particulars of those intrigues in the conclave, by which Cardinal Buoncompagni prevailed over his rivals Morone and Farnese, are omitted, having no reference to our immediate subject.]
The part taken by the Prince in the unhappy disturbances of Urbino has been already shown from his own pen, and that of other narrators, as well as his attendance upon his father's death-bed.[*82] We have now, therefore, to enter upon his reign, and here again we have recourse to his memoirs:--"The new Duke departed from Urbino, where he showed himself at the archiepiscopal palace in his robes of sovereignty, and then, as was usual, rode through the streets, on a milk-white steed, dressed in white, and under canopy, thereafter receiving the oaths of allegiance in the great hall of the palace: all this he repeated at Sinigaglia." Among the Oliverian MSS. is this account of the ceremonial, curiously illustrative of the manners of the age:--"After mass of the Holy Spirit had been sung, the Archbishop, Felice of Cagli, advanced to the door of the cathedral, and thence, accompanied by the Gonfaloniere, the three priors, and the people, went to bring forth the Prince from the palace. He wore a riband and scarf of white damask; on his head a crown of pearls, from behind which there hung some bands; and on his shoulders a short cloak of white fur. When he reached the head of the stair in the archiepiscopal palace, on which was a carpet and a cushion, the Archbishop held the Cross for him to kiss. He then entered the church, and approached the high altar, on which was the Holy Sacrament, where, after the usual devotions, accompanied with beautiful sacred music, the Primate read certain prayers and pronounced the benediction, and his Highness made offertory of a piece of ten scudi. He then retired to an adjoining chapel, and, changing his dress, put on a mantle of white, with cap and feathers, in which he issued from the church, and mounted a handsome charger. The Gonfaloniere preceded him on horseback, his drawn sword in his hand, calling aloud, 'Long live the Duke of Urbino!' and the people followed, repeating the cry. Thus they went through the city and returned to the palace. The populace then took off his cloak; and M[aestr]o Antonio Fazino asked his cap, and received it. In like manner he was stripped of his spurs; and his Highness then presented his horse to the city youths, and Mo. Calber Galler mounted it. Mo. Antonio Corboli and the Cavaliere Guido Staccoli next put him on his spurs, Mo. Flaminio Bonaventura his mantle, and Mo. Antonio Fazino held his horse. Having been by this formality elected, he went into the great hall, where the Gonfaloniere and priors, with all the deputies of other cities, by a formal instrument gave their oaths of allegiance, whilst he, in a letter read in his presence by Mo. Giulio Veterani, his secretary, promised to be to them a loving sovereign; after which, all the people came one by one to kiss his hand. All this was done with much rejoicing on the part of the public, and of his Highness, to whom may God grant grace to rule his subjects to the contentment of all."
[Footnote *82: Cf. CELLI, Storia della Sollevazione di Urbino contro il Duca Guidobaldo, 1572-4 (Torino, 1892).]
The following letter, to the young Duke upon his succession, is printed in the correspondence of Girolamo Muzio, his preceptor, whose advices, though somewhat long, well merit attention, totally opposed as they are in spirit to then prevailing principles of government, and anticipating opinions even in our day charily developed in Italy. It is, above all, interesting to discover, on such satisfactory evidence, the political views which must have been inculcated on Francesco Maria from his early years, and which bore some seed in after life, notwithstanding the natural defects of his temper, and the crotchets imbibed from a false philosophy. Had such counsels been generally given and followed, constitutional government in Italy would now have been neither a mockery nor a bone of contention.
"Men tried by difficulties and crosses nerve themselves to endure them; yet, knowing how your Excellency has long suffered from many troubles and annoyances, I shall undertake no vain task in wishing to offer consolation in this your new vexation and trial. I need not now say with what grief I have heard of the late sad event, knowing as you do how true a servant I was of his Excellency our Sovereign. On the contrary, I shall address myself to talk of certain considerations which appear to me beseeming the succession you have obtained, through a long and noble ancestry, meaning to speak to you with the freedom and loyalty which a servant should display when his master's interests are at stake; and upon this understanding I shall begin.
"I remember more than once, while conversing with the illustrious Duchess your mother, to have lamented the manner in which I observed the government of the state conducted, praying the Almighty to protect you from the risk of being expelled from it, as there would have been no reasonable hope of the people recalling you again; a fact of which her good sense was fully aware. It would be long and irksome were I to repeat the various matters that I disapproved of, but from them I can deduce certain rules which it seems to me you ought to adopt for regulation of your authority, and the maintenance of justice, so as to reacquire and preserve the affection of your subjects. But, Sire, permit me to drop ceremonious designations, in order more readily to express my views.
"Let it be your first care, then, to endow the magistrates and city authorities with the ample jurisdiction which their duties require, enjoining upon them to execute justice without respect to persons; command also your courtiers not to interfere in private suits, and do you in like manner yourself forbear meddling with such, leaving the judges to proceed therein by the usual course. Further, should the judge be suspected by either party, let the cause be remitted to another, or let an assessor be named; and, to such alleged suspicion, it is no sufficient answer that any one may be doubted by anybody. In short, it is enough that the judges proceed to pronounce sentence in the regular way; and for such as feel aggrieved, the common and appropriate remedies are open. In my time the custom was abolished--I know not at whose recommendation--of sending causes to be inquired into by a council of skilled persons [a jury?]; it was an excellent and much approved mode of judging, and on that account it would be more advisable to return to it than to leave it off. Statutory penalties have also been changed to arbitrary ones, which has effected great alterations; for where the statutes condemned ten, caprice has multiplied by hundreds, with what justice I know not. This was, indeed, by advice of certain doctors, who declared that the Prince's will ought to be held as law,--a diabolical sentiment, since it is not the absolute will, but the virtuous and upright opinion of the Prince that should be deemed law; nor do I see how any virtuous and honest opinion can contravene statutes confirmed by mutual agreement, and sanctioned by oaths.
"Be specially attentive in hearing those who bring complaints of oppression or injury received from your ministers or courtiers, and refuse not to listen even to such as accuse those most dear to you; on the contrary, lend them all your ears, for in proportion as your favourites can reckon upon you, they are likely to consider themselves safe in committing outrages and insults. Think not you can have about you persons who will never make a slip, whether from love, or hatred, or dishonesty. Hear, therefore, by all means hear, and punish him who has either done amiss, or who has brought a false charge. And such audiences you may give at all seasons and places, even when going to mass, or in your moments of recreation, without engaging yourself for a future day; for quarrels may arise requiring prompt remedy, and which cannot wait a future day or hour. By these means you may easily secure the execution of justice, because there will eventually not be many such disputes, when once, by a few examples of severity, you have brought your magistrates, your court, and consequently the rest of your subjects, into such discipline that you will have few complaints to listen to, and will be able to govern your state with little trouble. But see in the commencement to give proof of your vigour, that matters may subsequently proceed favourably.
"When others have suffered injury or offence, do them justice, punishing offenders for the general satisfaction; for you may be sure that to visit offences committed upon others protects yourself from the like, whilst impunity gives security to offenders. In the matter of third parties, clemency need not be thought of, forgiveness of a fault being a favour bestowed, which affects the interest of the party offended; thus, he who pardons injuries done to me, disposes of what I alone should dispose of, which is unjust. It may be well to remit injuries done to yourself, for that is your own affair, and it is worthy of a magnanimous prince to pardon when he might punish; but a sovereign ought never to forgive offences against others without their special consent, which cannot be freely given if he intimates such to be his desire. Should disputes arise among your people involving individual honour, you must be judge of this, as much as of charges touching their life and property. Indeed, you ought to decide judicially as to whose reputation is intact and whose compromised; and by chastising any unworthy action, you will at once promote justice and give satisfaction to the injured party. I am touching briefly upon matters which require ample consideration, but it is enough that I moot certain points, knowing well that you have good sense to weigh and decide them. And now to pass to another topic.
"You ought to calculate the amount of your revenues, and so proportion your expenses that at the end of the year you have rather a surplus of ten than a deficiency of one; for a short-coming of one to-day, and another to-morrow, and another the day following, will bring you to ruin. Surround yourself with a court more distinguished by the qualities than the number of its members; let it not be larger than you can support, and see that you maintain the mastery, letting none there gain an ascendancy over you. Let each have his department, and be satisfied to do his own duty well, the chamberlain not interfering with the counsellor, nor the sewer with the secretary. See that all have their allowances punctually. Never aggrieve merchants, citizens, nor peasants, by laying hands upon their effects. True generosity will satisfy first those who have rightful claims, not squandering upon gamblers or buffoons; and when these are satisfied, will give to the needy, and to other works of charity. Do not, to gain an empty name for liberality, lavish your means on costly hospitalities towards great personages: those who have hundreds of millions do not so, while you who scarcely have tens would do it! Entertain the master at dinner or supper with yourself, but let the rest go to the hotel at their own expense, and so will you avoid vast trouble and great expense.
"In towns all innovations are unpopular and annoying, but especially new imposts; you cannot do anything more generally offensive than to raise them, nor more acceptable than to replace on their original footing those which have been augmented. New taxes and extraordinary escheats seem at first sight useful, but by a providential dispensation they absorb ordinary revenues, making these incomprehensibly to disappear. Let all keep their own; resort to no compulsion of property nor of person; interfere not with marriages; seek not to reward friends or benefit servants out of other people's means: and be it ever graven on your memory, that princes are sent for the people's weal, not people for the benefit of princes.
"These few observations have occurred to me, most excellent Sire, for your remembrance. And I have to observe generally and in fine, that you should render yourself amiable to your subjects, being kind, considerate, affable, and doing your utmost to recover their pristine affection, which appears to a great degree lost. You could not by force maintain this state against a powerful foe: let the attachment of your people then supplement your strength; and it can only be acquired by justice, equity, mildness, and clemency. In the present juncture, you might by a single act gain, confirm, and augment the good will and devotion of all your subjects. That act is a grand amnesty, and restoration of exiles and emigrants, embracing all as your children, forgetful of the past. Ah, do this, Sire! do it; it will be a welcome favour to your people, to your friends, to your servants. On the strength of such generosity, you will gain the name of a benign and a magnanimous prince; and, besides having to hope from the Almighty an eternal reward, I can ensure your receiving from the Pope thanks and approbation.
"I pray God that this letter of mine may be received by your Excellency with the same feelings as those which dictated it, and that He would vouchsafe you a long life and happy reign; and I kiss your hands. From Rome, the 11th of October, 1574."
Let us now see from his own narrative what effect these blunt but precious counsels, and the prudent advices of his uncle Ottavio, Duke of Parma, had upon his early measures. "His first act on assuming the government was to raze those fortifications at Urbino which had been made during the insurrection, and to reduce the impost laid on by his father in his necessity; and this although the late Duke's liberality had imposed upon him many burdensome expenses to which his revenues were scarcely equal, besides heavy debts at interest. He was thus obliged to restrict himself to the unavoidable state expenses.
"Further, he was disappointed of those aids he looked for from the kindness of his Catholic Majesty, in whose service his father had died, at whose court he had himself been brought up, for whom he had fought in the battle of Lepanto, and to whose service he had ever professed his intention steadily to adhere. But, during eight long years his hopes dragged on without any result from that quarter, and thus was he compelled to attend closely to his private affairs, and prevented from carrying into execution an intention he had always entertained of following the career of arms, which he was on the point of commencing in Flanders, where he was already looked for when he lost his father. He, however, succeeded in contenting his subjects, and in effacing from their minds whatever bitterness remained in consequence of the recent measures; and this chiefly from their being aware that these events had been displeasing to him, and that he had studied to assist their cause in so far as his parental duty permitted."
The moderate and self-denying measures to which the Duke thus modestly alludes are the subject of more detailed commendation by Zane, who was commissioned by the Venetians to congratulate him upon his succession. At the moment of receiving the oaths of fidelity, he abolished those imposts which had occasioned the recent discontents. They were five in number, all upon exciseable commodities, yielding about 16,000 scudi to the revenue. This course he followed up by various grants and immunities to the respective cities, but especially to Urbino. Even before his father's death he had obtained a commutation there of the duties on casking wine and cheese, and of the quatrino per lb. upon butcher-meat, for an equivalent of 20,000 scudi payable in ten years; but he now remitted entirely this contribution. He restored to their property and privileges most of the outlaws and their families; he recalled the proclamations disarming the district; and, by destroying the fortifications erected after the rebellion, he at once relieved the people of a garrison, and demonstrated his renewed confidence in their fidelity. But what had still happier effect, was his repeatedly visiting that capital with but one or two attendants, in full and well-placed reliance upon the affection of his subjects, of whom he ever spoke in public and private with the most affectionate regard. Himself deeply imbued with sentiments of religion, it was his aim to encourage the same among his people. Nor was he indifferent to personal accomplishments, or to the reputation which his predecessors had established, and which Castiglione has immortalised. "There are ever at his court some persons distinguished in arms or in letters, and it is the taste for all to cultivate a refined urbanity of manner, and to be in every respect perfect courtiers, a fashion of old observance there, yet more than ever in repute since the Prince visited Spain." But it is time to resume the Autobiography.
"Notwithstanding this state of affairs, he discovered a conspiracy against his person, originating with men who had reason to apprehend the consequences of their former proceedings. These were Pietro Bonarelli of Ancona, on whom the late Duke had bestowed the countship of Orciano, with other estates and great wealth, and Antonio Stati, Count of Montebello. Orciano saved himself by flight, and was condemned in absence; the other was put upon trial, and at length, in due execution of justice, he was beheaded, and some of his accomplices hanged.[83] Francesco Maria, nevertheless, laboured for the good government of his people, with due economy of his time. In the morning he gave audience to his counsellors and secretaries, and in the evening to all who desired it, dismissing these with despatch; and thus business went on well and rightly." We are told by Gozze,[84] who seems to have been a contemporary, that at this period he occupied himself much with criminal police, and exerted himself to repress brigandage, and to reform the abuses arising from privileged sanctuaries. His rigorous perseverance in such measures, and his stern demeanour towards the nobility, acquired for him, with many, a reputation for severity, which the infirmities of his temper must have served to confirm. The only other reference to his system of administration which the Autobiography contains, is as follows:--"He attended assiduously to the government of his state, maintaining peace, and administering justice with integrity and impartiality. He passed the summer at Urbino, the winter between Pesaro and Castel Durante. At intervals he visited his other residences, and when he omitted doing this in person, he despatched one of the judges on a sort of circuit, who in one year went to Gubbio, Cagli, Fossombrone, and La Pergola; in another to Sinigaglia and Mondavio; and in a third to the province of Montefeltro."
[Footnote 83: The object of this plot is stated to have been the Duke's assassination at a hunting party in the manors of Orciano, to which he was invited by the conspirators.]
[Footnote 84: MSS. Oliveriana No. 324.]
Chapter XLV
The unsatisfactory results of his marriage--He separates from the Duchess--His court and habits--Death of the Duchess--He remarries.
Having thus thrown together all that the Duke has thought fit to detail regarding the principles of his government and the early events of his reign, we now proceed to narrate in their order, from his Diary and from other sources, the few incidents afforded by those peaceful and monotonous pursuits wherein many subsequent years were passed. The first of these was of a painful domestic character, arising out of the unsatisfactory terms upon which he had during several years been with the Duchess. That love formed no ingredient in the match has been already shown, and perhaps his speedy and voluntary departure on a distant military expedition may be taken as a proof that his indifference did not diminish after wedlock had riveted his chains. In 1573, Lucrezia was laid up at Novilara with a feverish cold, and was attended by her husband, who with great reluctance consented to her return to Ferrara, on the excuse of change of air being requisite for re-establishment of her health. The truth seems to have been, that her marriage appearing unlikely to give an heir to the family, the Prince was confirmed in his original distaste, and this is said to have occasioned some disagreeable scenes with his father, whom he blamed for having forced upon him so unfortunate an alliance. The scandal to which these probably gave rise, and the example of coldness towards her which he most assuredly set, had, no doubt, rendered her position sufficiently unpleasant, and, after exchanging it for the freedom of her brother's elegant court, it is scarcely to be wondered that she hesitated to return, even after her husband had succeeded to the sovereignty of Urbino. That rumour was busy with gossip and conjectures is pretty obvious, and the countenance which Muratori gives to an allegation of Lucrezia's jealousy of his supposed infidelities may be taken as the version current at Ferrara of their mysterious non-adherence. Of this suspicion the life and character of Francesco afford an ample refutation, but its existence induced an endeavour on his part to bring about a better understanding with his wife.
In 1577, accordingly, he employed the Bishop of Pesaro and Father-general del Carmine to persuade her to return to his home. In a paper of instructions for their guidance, preserved among the Oliveriana MSS., he declares that the excuses she pleaded were of no weight, and could not be the real motives of her absence. In reference to pecuniary arrangements, he urges the great economy and self-denial which his father's embarrassments imposed upon him, but offers her the same establishment as his mother enjoyed, besides Novilara and its dependencies, in all about 6000 scudi a-year. But, in consideration of the slanderous and groundless imputations against himself to which her absence had given rise, he intimates his intention to select for her a suitable suite of respectable persons, leaving her, however, to choose eight or ten from them to be more immediately about her person. This negotiation having failed, the affair was next year submitted for the decision of Cardinals Farnese, Sforza, and d'Este: it would appear that an amicable separation was then determined upon; at all events, the Duchess returned no more to her husband's state.
The notice of this disagreeable topic in the diary of Francesco Maria is as follows:--"Meanwhile the Duchess wished to return to Ferrara, where she subsequently chose to remain, a resolution which gave no annoyance to her husband; for, as she was unlikely to bring him a family, her absence mattered little. Her provision was amicably arranged, and their intercourse continued uniformly on the most courteous terms." In support of this last statement the following letter from Lucrezia is conclusive.
"To the most serene Lord my Consort the Duke of Urbino.
"My most serene Lord and affectionate Consort,
"I could not have heard any message with more satisfaction than that which Count Alessandro della Massa has brought me in your Highness's name, on presenting your affectionate letters, nor could any present have been more gratifying than the picture which you were pleased to send me: both on account of its subject, and as coming from your hands, it will be ever the most valued that I possess. On all accounts, therefore, do I kiss your Highness's hand, recommending myself to your goodness; and I pray the Lord to preserve you ever in all happiness. From Ferrara, 28th of May, 1586.
"Your most loving and obedient consort and servant,
"LUCREZIA D'ESTE."
The Oliveriana MSS. contain many other letters from Lucrezia; but, as usual with such princely documents, they are more rich in mannered phrases of compliment than in those natural sentiments which form the charm of epistolary composition, and afford a correct index of individual character. Most of them are commendatory introductions of priests and friars, a class of acquaintances more congenial to her husband's disposition than her own, the chief foible in her character being an immoderate addiction to those festive and exciting pleasures, which, although the business of her brother's court, met with little encouragement at that of her consort. Her intercourse with Tasso will fall to be noticed in our fifty-first chapter, when describing the sorrows of that wayward genius. After her return to Ferrara, she interested herself in establishing at San Matteo an asylum for wives, who, like herself, were separated by incompatibility of character. Soon after his separation from the Duchess had been arranged, Francesco Maria paid a visit to the court of Tuscany, where he met with a distinguished reception, and spent fifteen days very agreeably amid the many attractions of Florence, varied by comedies and amusements of the chase. During the ensuing carnival he introduced unwonted gaiety at Pesaro, holding a tournament, at which he entered the lists in person. About this time, too, his finances were recruited by a donative of 10,000 scudi granted to him by that city.
The Duke's autograph Diary, from which we have recently quoted, and to which we shall frequently refer, having been carried to Florence with his other personal effects in 1631, remains in the Magliabechiana Library (Class xxv., No. 76). It is a narrow folio volume, like an index book, containing about two hundred pages entirely in his own hand. The entries are limited to a bare notice of facts without comment. The topics most frequently registered are the passage of remarkable strangers through Pesaro; the births, marriages, and deaths of persons of rank; his own periodical movements to his various residences, and visits to other parts of the duchy; his frequent hunting parties in autumn and winter, chiefly from Castel Durante; his taking medicine, including regular semestral purgations in spring and autumn. His taste for the physical sciences is illustrated by noting the occurrence of earthquakes, unusual storms, or other phenomena of nature, the recurrence of frost and snow, of the cigala and the nightingale, of mosquitoes, and similar signs of the seasons; also the appearance of any rare animal or monstrous production of nature. The Journal commences in April, 1583, and is continued without interruption until March, 1623, when it terminates abruptly.
The disappointment felt by the Duke at the fruitlessness of his family friendship with the crown of Spain was removed by receiving, towards the close of 1582, a military commission from his Catholic Majesty. This was the only relic of the condottiere system that survived the changes of the sixteenth century upon the political and military aspect of Europe. It was the intervening link between mercenary bands of the middle ages and standing armies of modern times. No plan could have better suited all parties. The great powers were thus enabled to command on sudden exigencies an ample force, without waste of time or treasure. The petty sovereigns by it eked out their inadequate revenues, without further burden to their subjects than an occasional call upon the military services of those who regarded arms as a pastime, and whose restless spirits, if not thus employed, would have been dangerous at home. The people, without abandoning the arts of peace, reaped a portion of the fruits of war. These benefits were, indeed, purchased by a surrender of the last vestige of independence, for the salary paid to the princes in name of stipend was, in fact, the price of their political subserviency. Yet it was but a nominal compromise, to sell the shadow when the substance had long departed; and we find the example of Spain in retaining friends throughout La Marca, for pecuniary considerations, recommended for the imitation of Venice by one of her ambassadors about this very time. The conditions of the Duke's service were an annual pay of 12,000 scudi, which, in 1599, was augmented to 15,000, a company of men-at-arms in the kingdom of Naples, and ample protection in all his undertakings; in return for which he was bound to provide, when called upon by Philip II., three thousand militia, and to take the field with them when his Majesty appeared there in person. The amount of troops thus actually raised in the duchy for the Spanish service during the next thirty years has been calculated at seven thousand two hundred men, a sufficient proof that the benefits accruing from the arrangement were mutual. The Pope now granted Francesco Maria the honourable prefix of "Most Serene" to the title of Highness, which he had enjoyed in common with other minor sovereigns, a distinction said to have been accorded with difficulty, and after long entreaty. The establishment of a Swiss guard is another illustration of his partiality at this period to pomps which he subsequently little esteemed.
In the following year, the court of Pesaro was enlivened by the Princess Lavinia's nuptials with Felice d'Avalos, Marquis del Vasto, when twelve poetesses were said to have tuned their lyres at the Imperiale, in honour of the joyous occasion. His marriage presents to his bride, mentioned in her brother's Diary, consisted of a necklace of jewels, a bag or muff of sable skin--the head and feet studded with precious stones, called a zebellino, and similar to that represented in Titian's beautiful portrait of her grandmother, Duchess Leonora,--a set of fan-sticks, a gem mounted as a sun, two pearls for ear-drops, a diamond cross and eagle, and an order for 3000 scudi: the whole was valued at 10,000 scudi. The happy pair spent some months at the court of Urbino, while the Marquis often joined the hunting parties from Castel Durante. But the sun that rose thus brightly was soon clouded by his wretched and tyrannical temper, which embittered his consort's life. Many years after, she married, in her widowhood, the gallant Marquis of Pescara, her brother's long-tried friend, and, finally, with her two daughters, sought repose and peace in the convent of Sta. Chiara at Urbino, where she died in 1633. In the end of 1583 the Duke began to build the Vedetta, on the most commanding eminence of Monte Bartolo, which he had obtained for this purpose from the Gerolimini convent. Of this casino only the foundation remains, but it would seem to have been an appendage of the Imperiale palace, whither the court ascended in the summer heats, to inhale gentle breezes from the blue Adriatic, which sparkled some hundred feet beneath. For such a purpose no spot could have been better chosen, and the magnificent prospect, which we have elsewhere noticed without attempting to describe, renders it probably the most attractive site in all the fair duchy.
As a further mark of favour, Philip II. of Spain sent him, in 1586, the decoration of the Golden Fleece; and in order to confer it in manner at once honourable and complimentary to his personal feelings, his Majesty requested the investiture to be given him by his uncle the Duke of Parma. That Duke was then suffering from gout, and drawing towards his death, which occurred in the following autumn; so Francesco Maria showed respect at once for the King and for his relation, whom he revered as a parent, by proceeding to meet him at Bologna. The two princely guests were magnificently entertained by the authorities of that city, as well as by the Cardinal Legate Salviati and the Archbishop Palotta: they were lodged in the palace of the latter, who performed high mass in the cathedral at the investiture. The collar and girdle of the order were set with brilliants, and were accompanied by a rich present of jewels to the Duchess, consisting of four hundred and twenty-six pearls, and a handsome necklace, girdle, two pendants, and sixty buttons, all enamelled in red and white upon gold, and studded with diamonds.
Although, on the whole, a more popular sovereign than his father, we have seen Francesco Maria subjected, in the early years of his reign, to seditious movements on the part of some discontented nobles. Of a similar attempt in 1586, few particulars have been preserved; but this notice of it in his Diary exhibits him as a stern dispenser of justice. "Count Giovanni de' Thomasi was beheaded in the fortress of Pesaro for homicide, sedition, and bad service towards his master; he died as a Christian and a brave man, and may God pardon his sins." But, though of hard, and even stern manners, the Duke retained the affection of his household, most of whom remained long in his service. From a catalogue of the chief officers at his court, compiled by Lazzari, we learn the emoluments belonging to the principal places.
Scudi.
The superintendent of the household had yearly 1000 The master of the chamber 400 The master of the household 200 The gentlemen cuirassiers 250 The chamberlains 224 The sewer or carver for visitors 250 The philosopher or dilettante of poetry 300 The physician 250 The chaplain 150 The auditors or judges 500 The eight counsellors 400 The chief secretary 400 The secretary of justice 350 The treasurer 250 The fiscal advocate 350 The captains of the guard 232 The commandants of garrisons 300 The castellans, besides perquisites 150 The ambassador to Spain 1000 The ambassador to Venice 400 The agent in Rome 100
Francesco Maria had now reached the flower of manhood, and this may be considered the most fortunate period of his reign. During the next twelve years no untoward incident interrupted the smooth current of his life, or the prosperity of his government. The healthful exercise of the chase constituted his favourite relaxation from the cares of state, and his Diary preserves more minute information on this than on any other topic. He had within reach of Pesaro eighteen preserves, stocked with roe-deer, goats, foxes, hares, pheasants, and partridges, all of which were, in those days, considered fair game. The more exciting sport of wild-boar was found in greatest perfection near Mondolfo, and the following entry occurs in January, 1588. "Hunted in the chase of S. Costanzo, and, in three hours, killed nine wild boars, weighing 2580 lbs., besides offal. The largest one weighed overhead 917 lbs. We cut off its head close behind the ears, and hung it in the castle window over the great street of Mondolfo; its weight was 59-1/2 lbs."
But red deer were the Duke's noblest and favourite sport, which, being only found in the highlands of his duchy, was his original attraction to Castel Durante, whence the best forest coverts were easily accessible. It was on that account selected as his chief residence during his father's life, and continued his annual resort in autumn so long as he could follow the game. When increasing years precluded such pastimes, we shall find that he there provided other appliances more befitting his circumstances, and that these preserved for Castel Durante a partiality which increased to the latest hours of his life. He was in use there to spend the autumnal months, returning to Pesaro before the carnival, and moving to Urbino towards midsummer. In the interval from the 7th of September, 1588, till the end of the following January, twenty-eight hunting parties are mentioned in his Journal, at some of which wolves and smaller game were killed. Red deer must have been in great abundance: thus, November, 1587, "We killed a dozen, six of them males, the largest weighing 464 lbs., besides 380 lbs. of offal. We left Castel Durante about noon, and returned at dusk, after losing nearly an hour in watching a hind which took refuge in the broken ground of the Lady's Park, when fell dead the famous hound Box-cur, the only British one I had. The twelve deer weighed 2914 lbs., without offal." In the subsequent season, "hunted red deer in the valley of S. Martino with greyhounds, but without canvas or nets. Saw twelve, and chased five of them; but, though the dogs came up with them, they were not able to hold any." The park which he had inclosed in the beautiful vale of the Metauro, just out of Castel Durante, was stocked with fallow-deer: which, however, seem to have been kept chiefly for ornament, though occasionally resorted to for greyhound coursing, when age had relaxed his limbs for the rougher mountain sport. The last hunting party he mentions was in 1615.
Though reserved in manner, and little apt to indulge his court in amusements uncongenial with his own unsocial temperament, he sometimes relaxed so far as to have dancing fêtes at the Imperiale, where he mentions three hundred ladies as having on one occasion been present. The representation of comedies was a frequent carnival pastime. The manner of conducting these theatricals, and the methodical punctuality of the Duke's character, are at once illustrated in the following extract. In February, 1589, "a comedy by the late Maestro Fabio Bagnano was recited in the great hall of Pesaro, beginning at 4 p.m. The first act lasted an hour and ten minutes; after which came an interlude for twenty minutes, from the fable of Ulysses hearing his wanderings foretold by Tiresias; then act second, in fifty minutes, with a musical interlude for ten minutes; then act third, in half-an-hour, with, for interlude, the marriage of Eolus and Deiopeia, in twelve minutes; then act fourth, in forty-eight minutes, and its musical interlude, in seven minutes; lastly, act fifth, in thirty-eight minutes, with its interlude of the gods allotting their various dominions; but this was not finished in consequence of a cloud which, by some mismanagement, did not descend properly." Among the performances noted about this period are the comedies of I falsi Sospetti by Pino; another by the Cavaliere Ludovico Odasio, I Suppositi; and an eclogue entitled La Myrtia. The interludes between the acts were frequently moresque dances or ballets representing mythological subjects, such as the fable of Prometheus, that of Calisto, the birth of Venus; varied by more familiar themes, as hunting the owl. In 1597, we find noticed, among other gay doings during carnival, a tournament in the great hall of Pesaro, wherein ten or twelve knights ran each three courses, and which was followed by an exhibition of various pleasing conceits.
Of Francesco Maria's literary pursuits we have various pleasing memorials. Not satisfied with the valuable library of MSS. that had descended to him from the Feltrian dukes, he formed another of standard printed works. Indeed, he became an assiduous book collector; and the letters of his librarian Benedetto Benedetti, in the Oliveriana Library, are full of lists which his agents in Venice, Florence, and even Frankfort are urged to supply. In his own voluminous correspondence, we find constant offers from authors of dedications or copies of their productions, the tone of which is highly complimentary to his taste for letters. In 1603, the Archbishop of Monreale, in Spain, transmits him the regulations he proposed to prescribe in bequeathing his library to a seminary he had founded in his diocese, expressing a hope that they might prove useful to the Duke's collection, "at this moment without parallel in the world."[85] Instead of quoting the vague testimony of courtly compliment, as to the use which this philosophic Prince made of these acquisitions, let us cite the brief records of his studies, preserved in his own Diary. In 1585, "terminated an inspection of the whole works of Aristotle, on which I have laboured no less than fifteen years, having had them generally read to me by Maestro Cesare Benedetti, of Pesaro." But his reading was not limited to such speculative topics, and we presently find him imbibing knowledge from a purer source. In 1587, "I finished my examination of the whole Bible, with various commentaries, on which I have spent three years and ten months." Again, on the "15th of December, 1598, completed my second perusal of the entire Bible, which I read this time with the commentary of Dionysio the Carthusian, occupying upon it eight years." A curious inference of the contemplative character of his mind may be drawn from the devices he successively assumed as emblematic of his feelings. In youth he used a flame vanishing into air, with the motto Quies in sublime, "There is rest on high:" after he succeeded to the dukedom, he took a terrestrial globe with the legend Ponderibus librata suis, "Self-poised."
[Footnote 85: Bibl. Oliveriana, No. 375, vol. XI., p. 204.]
The position of Pesaro, on the principal high road to Loreto and Rome, exposed it to the constant passage of travellers of all ranks. The former was the habitual resort of Roman Catholics, to whom holy impulses, the hope of any specific blessing, or gratitude for mercies vouchsafed, suggested an unusual devotional observance. The annual functions of Easter, St. Peter's day, and Christmas, besides the great occasional jubilees, attracted to the latter crowds of pious pilgrims from all Christendom. The dukes were thus laid open to frequent calls upon their hospitality, which the state maintained by passing visitors often rendered most onerous. Thus, in 1589, Duke Alfonso II. of Ferrara, on his way to and from Loreto, spent four days at Pesaro, with his suite, consisting of fifty carriages, and one hundred and fifty mounted attendants, at an expense to his host of 3000 scudi. All royal pilgrims did not, however, thus mingle worldly pomp with religious duties: ten years after, Ranuccio, Duke of Parma, arrived incognito, in company with three others, who wore red sack dresses, and travelled on foot. After passing the night at Pesaro, they proceeded to Sinigaglia, on their way to the opening of the holy door at Rome, in the jubilee of 1600. Eighteen years later, Francesco Maria's Diary thus notes a more interesting visit: "9th June, 1618, the Galileo arrived at Pesaro, on his return from Loreto to Florence." The philosopher was then resident at the Villa Segni, near his native capital, and suffered much from the effects of a chronic illness caught in Lombardy some years previously, while sleeping with an open window. Perhaps his pilgrimage to the holy house may have been influenced by this circumstance.
"'Twas he who, risking life and fame to crush The idol-worship that enslaved mankind, Restored its native freedom to the mind."
In October, 1597, the direct line of the dukes of Ferrara closed on the death of Alfonso II., whose object had been to secure to his cousin Cesare, Marquis of Montecchio, the succession of his states, as well as his private heritage. He had been able to obtain from the Emperor a new investiture in his favour of Modena, Reggio, and Carpi, but failed in procuring the like boon from Gregory XIV. as to the Ferrarese holding. Immediately upon the vacancy, Cesare assumed the dukedom, with full consent of his people, who dreaded the descent to provincial rank which must have followed upon their annexation to the papal state. Clement VIII., who then filled the chair of St. Peter, answered a conciliatory embassy sent him by the claimant, with a summons to appear at Rome, and, on his non-compliance, thundered excommunication against him and his abettors. These decided steps were followed up by a levy of nearly thirty thousand men, but ere they could be brought into the field, Cesare d'Este gained some partial successes near Bologna. Finding, however, that his position was hopeless, he availed himself of the mediation of Lucrezia Duchess of Urbino, who succeeded in reconciling him with the Legate. The devolution of Ferrara to the Holy See was harmoniously completed in February; but the lady has been accused of sacrificing the interests of her cousin to an old grudge against his father, and to a promise of the fief of Bertinoro. She did not, however, live to receive the bribe, and her death is thus dryly noted in her husband's Diary:--
"February 14th, I sent the Abbé Brunetti to Ferrara, to visit the Duchess, my wife, who was sick.
"---- 15th, Heard that Madame Lucrezia d'Este, Duchess of Urbino, my wife, died at Ferrara during the night of the 11th.
"---- 19, The Abbé Brunetti returned from Ferrara."
In his Memoirs she is the subject of still more brief remark:--"Her death occurred after some years, leaving him [the Duke] executor by her will of many pious bequests." Considering that the largest bequest was in his own favour, a less chilling notice might have been bestowed! The sum she left him was 30,000 scudi: to her various attendants and servants she gave 12,000 in small legacies, and 20,000 among several convents, in masses for her soul. There was also a fund to be mortified for the endowment of poor girls, half at Ferrara and half at Urbino, and Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, the Pope's nephew, was named residuary legatee, a selection which has been ingeniously ascribed to the countenance bestowed by his family on Tasso, in the closing scenes of that minstrel's troubled life.
The anxiety which had long been generally felt on the prospect of a failure of the ducal family began to show itself after the death of Lucrezia. The impediment of a childless marriage having thus been providentially removed, men's hopes were again awakened, and their wishes were not long in finding a unanimous expression. When Francesco Maria appeared in public, his ears were greeted with murmurs from the populace, which at length broke out in enthusiastic demands for his marriage, and Serenissimo, moglie, "A wife, your Highness," became the universal cry.[*86] The ferment thus created was greatly increased by a circumstance which at first sight does not appear much connected with the welfare of the duchy. In the spring of 1598, Clement VIII., on his passage to take possession of Ferrara, paid a visit to the court of Pesaro, where the magnificent reception accorded him, and the long confidential interviews he had with the Duke, were construed by popular jealousy into preparatives for political changes. The extinction of the reigning line would infer a lapse of their sovereignty to the Pope, similar to that which had just degraded Ferrara: Francesco Maria's disinclination for state-toils had already begun to show itself: the readiness of his Holiness to secure so valuable a reversion, or even to anticipate it by providing for the Duke an honourable retreat from duties which he considered onerous, scarcely admitted of a doubt, an appetite for annexation being naturally whetted by the recent acquisition of territory. These ideas became a theme of discussion among the multitudes who crowded from all quarters of the state to witness the courtly shows at Pesaro; and when the Duke returned to the city from escorting the Pope towards Ferrara, he was met at the gate by a host of his subjects, whose loyalty and patriotism burst forth afresh in tumultuous shouts of "Serenissimo! moglie."
[Footnote *86: Cf. CALOGERÀ, _Memorie concernenti Franc. Maria II._ (Venice, 1776).]
That the object of Clement's visit had been faithfully construed by the general voice seems more than probable from the document we are about to quote; but upon this point the Memoirs throw no light. They merely notice his reception of the Pontiff with all distinction, and the remarkably friendly bearing of his Holiness towards himself and the Duchess mother during a day spent at their court: mutual presents passed between them, and Clement dwelt on the good service which his father had afforded to Duke Guidobaldo. From the Duke's Diary we learn that after meeting his Holiness on his southern frontier, and again escorting him out of Sinigaglia, where he had slept with a suite of sixteen cardinals, he took boat and hastened to Pesaro. Next morning he proceeded to meet his visitor, who had spent the night at Fano, and welcomed him to his capital. Passing back to Rome in the end of the year, the Pope halted at Pesaro only to say mass in the cathedral; and on both occasions he was preceded one day by the Holy Sacrament. In the following year the Pontiff, in acknowledgment, perhaps, of these hospitalities, accorded to his host a dispensation, whereby the indulgences, to which the use of certain rosary prayers and ave maria's entitled him, were united and concentrated in a single cavaliere.[87]
[Footnote 87: Rosaries, corone, and such were helpmates or promptuaries to prayer, differing in form and varying in supposed efficacy, according to the special privileges and indulgences bestowed on them by ecclesiastical gift. A specimen of the nature and powers of such indulgences will be found in the description of a corona belonging to the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1666. See Appendix VI.]
The predominant feeling of Francesco Maria, even at this period of his life, appears to have been a selfish attachment to solitary habits and pursuits, tempered by sincere anxiety to discharge his public duties for the benefit of his people. An argument addressing itself to both motives readily occurred to the wily Pontiff. An immediate abdication would secure to the Duke personal ease, and the consequent devolution of his government to the Camera Apostolica might be guarded by stipulations for the public weal, which such voluntary demission alone could entitle him to dictate. The art with which these considerations had been urged, and the impression they made upon the Duke, may be best gathered from a circular he addressed to the magistrates of each city in his state, curiously exemplifying him in that character of royal philosopher which it seems to have been his ambition to attain.[*88]
[Footnote *88: Cf. REPOSATI, Della Zecca di Gubbio, vol. II., p. 220 (Bologna, 1772-3). The date of this letter was June 7th, 1598.]
"Most magnificent and well-beloved,
"Ever since we understood that you so affectionately long for the continuation and maintenance of our house, we have had no wish more urgent than to conform to your desires; and although for some time past we have been always anxious to facilitate this resolution, yet the more we consider it, the greater do the difficulties daily appear, not only by reason of our age and infirmities, but much more from the obligation laid upon us to take no step that might turn to your prejudice, as we know this would do: for, upon weighing the advantages that would accrue to you by being placed after our death immediately under the sway of the Church, there cannot, in our opinion, be a doubt that this would be most beneficial; since, besides being rid of the present inconvenient restrictions on trade in grain, salt, oil, and similar commodities, you might well hope, from a sovereign so powerful as his Holiness, many exemptions and facilities which we, however well-disposed, cannot, with due attention to the suitable maintenance of our rank, accord you. Wherefore, we exhort and pray you, to take all this into your most serious consideration; and, along with it, those suggestions which your affectionate devotion may prompt, in conjunction with our delicate and advanced age, as these might, at all events, render vain the hope of a succession, or at least might occasion you to be some day left under a minority (ever a judgment of God upon a nation), and us to die with such pain as you may conceive the predicament of leaving a minor would occasion us: whereas, on the other hand, were we to remain in our present condition, looking, so long as God may vouchsafe us life, for no other children than yourselves, we might the more diligently apply to the cares of our government. It is therefore our desire that you satisfy yourselves in this matter, and, after having prayed in all sincerity to our Lord and Saviour for His inspiration, that you convoke a full meeting of your usual council, excluding all officers of our government, and that, after reading to them this our letter, they should decide by ballot what they judge most fitting for the common weal, having sworn the consuls to conceal nothing of the resolution they come to; and you shall report their decision to the Bishop of this city, who, keeping it secret from us and all others, shall declare only the general result of this appeal to you and to the other principal places of our state, to whom we write in similar terms: and the opinion so expressed we shall, in accordance to our love towards you, endeavour to carry into effect even at the hazard of our life, thus appealing to the faithful attachment you have ever displayed towards our house and ourselves, as is well known to all, but chiefly to us.--May it, therefore, please the blessed God so to inspire you, that these our exhortations and commands may be executed so as to bring about the best results, and may He preserve you. From Pesaro, 7th June, 1598.
"FRANCESCO MARIA."
The consequence of this singular appeal was a unanimous and urgent resolution in favour of the Duke's immediate marriage; indeed nothing else could well be looked for, the alternative contemplated by the people being loss of their independence, and the substitution of a foreign legate, changed every few years, for a hereditary and popular sovereign. Passeri conjectures that this result was in fact less distasteful to Francesco Maria than the tone of his letter might infer; and that the whole expedient was adopted in order to obtain a satisfactory answer to the importunities of the Pontiff, whom the stern measures lately adopted towards Ferrara had rendered the Duke peculiarly averse to thwart, by opposition to his scheme. From the Memoirs so often quoted, we learn nothing beyond the obvious facts, that the marriage was undertaken in compliance with urgent entreaties of the Duchess mother and of the people of Urbino, and that the bride was his own choice.
Of Cardinal Giulio della Rovere's two natural sons we have already spoken.[89] In the correspondence of Francesco Maria, there occur some proofs of a bad understanding between him and these cousins, the origin and circumstances of which it is unnecessary to examine. To Ippolito Marquis of S. Lorenzo, there was born in 1585, of his marriage with Isabella Vitelli, Princess dell'Amatrice in the Abruzzi, a daughter Livia, who was educated in the convent of Sta. Caterina at Pesaro; and on her fell the choice of Francesco Maria, as announced in the following extract of a letter to the Archduchess Maria of Austria. A selection so obviously ineligible may have been dictated in part by that shrinking from close contact with strangers which his reserved habits were calculated to generate, and partly too by the sad experience he had already reaped of a marriage of state policy.
[Footnote 89: Above, p. 82.]
"Moved by the unremitting entreaties of my subjects, I have been forced to establish myself by a new alliance: yet as my age and other considerations would have prevented me from taking this resolution but for their satisfaction, I have chosen to combine with their wishes a due consideration for my own, by selecting one of my proper blood, and brought up in this country, in whom are combined many of the qualities suited to my views."
Of the domestic life of Francesco Maria after his second union no record has been preserved to us. The circumstances in which it was effected were not such as to promise a high degree of matrimonial felicity, to which his cold nature, advanced age, and reserved character were virtually impediments. Nor could the monotonous seclusion of his habits be attractive to a youthful bride, transported from a convent to the rank of sovereignty with few of its gauds. That she had the good sense simply to conform to her position may be inferred from the rare occurrence of her name in the documents which I have inspected. The brief notices of her in her husband's Diary merely prove that they were seldom apart, and in one instance she is mentioned as accompanying him to his favourite pastime of deer hunting. Regarding preliminaries for their marriage, that record is silent, and the only allusion to it is in this concise phrase: "26th April, 1599, I married the Lady Livia della Rovere." But letters of the Duchess, written long subsequently, to her granddaughter, of which a specimen will be introduced below, exhibit her character in a light so amiable as to warrant our regret that it has not been more prominently brought into view, in the few materials which we possess for this portion of our narrative.
Francesco Maria's affection to his mother would have been beautiful in any rank. Besides anxiously providing for her comfort by a suitable establishment, he made her his friend and confidante through life; and during his first marriage she filled at his court the place which in happier circumstances would have been occupied by his wife. The ailments of her advancing years he tended with affectionate anxiety, and thus notices her decease on the 13th December, 1602, after a long indisposition. "Most deep was the public grief for the loss of this excellent and sainted Princess. She was beloved by all, but most by her son, who felt her death as no common sorrow, and testified both in public and in private the sincerity of his feelings. Her funeral oration, pronounced by Leoni, was very fine, though his praises necessarily fell far short of her real merits." The Venetian Relazioni from the della Rovere court bear witness to her sound judgment and business habits, to her generous disposition and beneficent charities, as well as to the piety of her character, and the exemplary conduct observed by her household.
Her remains were interred by those of her husband, with an epitaph which will be found in No. VII. of the Appendix, and her son appears from his Diary to have worn mourning for her for upwards of a year.
Chapter XLVI
Birth of Prince Federigo--The Duke's retired habits and aversion to business--His constitution-making experiments--His instructions to his son--The Prince's unfortunate education and character.
Although the patriotism and loyalty of his people had been gratified by the gracious manner in which he had assented to their eager desire for his marriage, yet was there wanting somewhat to the full fruition of their cherished hopes. The health of the Duchess was watched with anxiety, and when months had passed away without the promise of an heir, apprehensions more restless than before spread over the land. In a matter beyond the limits of human will, recourse was had to the Dispenser of all events. Prayers were offered up in public and private. Vows were solemnly registered by all the towns, by confraternities, even by village communities and private individuals, for the erection and dedication of churches and altars, especially to S. Ubaldo, once bishop of Gubbio, who had been assumed as special protector of that city and of the race of Montefeltro. About the beginning of 1605, it was announced that these devotional appeals had been crowned with success: the gloomy anticipations of the citizens were turned to joyous hope; and so formidable to the public tranquillity did the reaction of enthusiasm appear, that orders were issued for transporting into the fortress of Pesaro all the state archives, in case any tumult or conflagration might endanger their safety.
As the Duchess's confinement drew near, the subject seemed exclusively to engross men's minds, and when her hour was reported to have arrived, the piazza in front of the palace was crowded with an impatient multitude, who remained a day and night in eager expectation. At length, on the morning of the 16th of May, the festival of the patron saint Ubaldo, to whom their prayers had been addressed, about nine o'clock, the Duke appeared at a window of the great hall, and announced with a loud and clear voice, "God has vouchsafed us a boy!" The cheer of joyous triumph which rang through the palace-yards was but an inadequate expression of the general exultation, and the precautions taken to preserve the peace proved but too limited; for the insensate popular excitement vented itself in an attack upon the Jews' quarter, and succeeded in sacking and burning their synagogue and shops, in spite of exertions by the military, who had been held in readiness to quell the outbreak. Meanwhile salvoes of artillery proclaimed the Prince's advent; and in grateful acknowledgment of his good fortune, his father proclaimed pardon to many prisoners, and favours to various classes of his subjects. At the same time, with due regard to good order, he checked the longer continuance of noisy and tumultuous festivity, and in particular prohibited discharges of fire-arms under the heavy penalty of 100 scudi.
Any scepticism which might have been secretly entertained of the infant being truly a dieu-donné, in special answer to the thousand prayers that had been proffered to or through S. Ubaldo, was removed or silenced by his arrival on the fête of that saint whose hold on the devotional feelings of the people was thus marvellously riveted. Among the couriers speedily despatched over the duchy to bear boot and spur the happy news, one directed to Gubbio, the city and diocese of S. Ubaldo, was charged with a special letter from Francesco Maria.[*90] Arriving in hot haste, he found the whole population assembled in arms in the piazza, with the magistrates at their head, to whom he delivered the welcome missive; after publication of which the multitude formed a solemn procession to the cathedral, to render thanksgivings to S. Ubaldo, its and their protector. In that church the community of Gubbio lost no time in erecting a new chapel commemorative of the occasion, and placed on the altar a picture, in which the Madonna and Child smile benignantly on the suppliant saints, John Baptist and Ubaldo (the former their original patron), whilst in the lower part is seen the courier's arrival with the ducal despatch. Other places were scarcely less enthusiastic in redeeming their pious pledges, though enthusiasm seems to have been occasionally tempered by meaner considerations. Thus, in the communal records of S. Angelo in Vado, I found appeals from the Duke to quicken the tardy contribution of 500 scudi towards the erection of a votive church to S. Ubaldo; and months were spent in discussions among the magistracy how that sum was to be raised, by an assessment upon the artisans, and a duty upon butcher-meat. I know not whether we are to regard as an economical solution of the difficulty an altar picture in the church of S. Filippo there, in which S. Ubaldo is represented as introducing to the Madonna and Child the young Prince, led up by S. Crescenzio, the patron of Urbino, while St. John Baptist intercedes in his behalf. Federigo seems a child about five years old, in a very richly embroidered dress, and strongly resembles a portrait of him which came into my hands from the Vatican Library, and which is here introduced.[91]
[Footnote *90: Cf. PELLEGRINI, op. cit., in Boll. cit., vol. cit., p. 506 et seq. There seems always to have been an antagonism between Gubbio and Urbino, and now Gubbio could certainly crow. She appears to have done so. See note 2, p. 506, of work quoted. The country was not quiet after the rejoicing till May 30th, the festa being kept in all the cities. CORRADI, Feste per il nascimento di un Principe nel sec. XVII. in Il Giornale di Foligno (Foligno, 1887), No. 28 et seq. describes the rejoicing in Cagli.]
[Footnote 91: In 1843-6, a variety of duplicates and objects of art belonging to the Vatican Library were exchanged away, with the sanction of Gregory XVI., whilst my lamented friend Monsignore Laureani, the librarian, was forming, by that Pontiff's order, from very limited resources, a most interesting series of early panel pictures illustrating the progress of Christian painting. The portrait of Prince Federigo now belongs to my friend Andrew Coventry, Esq., Edinburgh, and appears the production of a scholar of Baroccio.]
According to the religious usages of the age, the measure of gratitude due by the sovereigns of Urbino for their long desired heir would have remained incomplete without a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the Madonna of Loreto. Benedetto Benedetti, librarian to the Duke, writes, on the 20th June, 1605,[92] that the Duchess was to set out next day on this holy mission, "carrying with her a plate of solid gold, the size of a half sheet of writing paper, on which was portrayed in oil by a young pupil of Baroccio the infant Prince, who is one of the most lovely babes I should wish to look upon; fat, of good complexion, and comely features, his eyes large and black, unlike those of the Duke, and his mouth resembling his mother's." It appears, however, from the Diary of Francesco Maria, that he had already acquitted himself of this pious debt by attending the festival of the Corpus Domini at Loreto on the 9th of June. On the 29th the Duchess carried her son to Urbino. At the gate they were met by twelve youths in blue damask trimmed with gold, and twenty-four children in white and gold; and the Prince, with his nurse, was borne by these youths in a close chair to the palace, through streets embellished with fountains and other ornaments.
[Footnote 92: Oliveriana MSS. No. 375.]
Three days after the child's birth he had been privately baptised by the Bishop of Pesaro on Ascension Day, and named Federigo Ubaldo Giuseppe. His public baptism took place on the 29th November at Urbino, on which occasion his father, in deference to the loyal joy of his subjects, broke through his wonted habits of quiet and retirement, and celebrated the solemnity with a pomp more congenial to the pageant observances of Italian courts than to his own tastes. Every community of the duchy, by special invitation, sent their deputies, expensively arrayed, and bearing costly gifts. The states of Italy likewise were there, represented by ambassadors rivalling each other in magnificence. But chief among all was the Marquis of Pescara, envoy of Philip III. of Spain, who, before its birth, had promised to stand godfather to the infant. We pass over the ceremonial with which he was welcomed, but must pause for a little upon the spectacle of the baptism, as described in a contemporary narrative.[93]
[Footnote 93: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 818, f. 444.]
From the houses in front of the Duomo were displayed those rich and many-tinted hangings which add so much to the effect of an Italian pageant. The short space from the palace was closed in by an awning of green, red, and white, the ducal liveries. The whole interior of the church was hung with magnificent decorations, in which were mingled tapestries and brocades, pictures and heraldic blazonry. The high altar was profusely furnished with statues, vases, candlesticks, all of solid silver. Into the cathedral thus prepared was seen advancing, about two hours before mid-day, under a bright and genial sun, a most imposing procession. The principal public functionaries, and the most distinguished of the nobility, were followed by twenty-five pages of high birth, dressed in Damascus blue. Then came representatives of the seven principal cities, bearing the massive silver vessels to be used in the ceremony. At their head walked Count Alessandro Tiane, Gonfaloniere of Urbino, conspicuous not less by his handsome person than by the rare splendour of his costume. He wore a close-fitting dress of white, brocaded with gold and silver; his flowing mantle of purple velvet was lined with violet and gold; and on his neck and cap was displayed a profusion of costly jewels. A scarf embroidered with pearls and precious stones suspended from his neck a white cushion, whereon lay the babe in "toys of quaint apparel," which the writer attempts not to describe. The nurse, attended by sixty noble matrons arrayed in gala, closed the cortège, amid the clang of artillery and martial music. The sacred rite was administered by the Bishop of Fossombrone, and the religious function having been auspiciously ended, the company proceeded to a ball, followed by a supper, where the grotesque taste and elaborate ingenuity of Italian confectioners were lavishly displayed in the table-ornaments.
About seven in the evening, the guests were summoned by trumpet to the windows and balconies to witness a triumphal representation of the glories of Duke Federigo, whose name had that day been revived in the infant Prince. The space in front of the palace was fitted up as a vast stage laid out with woodland scenery, in the midst whereof rose a mountain, emblematic of the Apennines. Near its summit a cavern exhibited antique trophies and elephants, among which was a broken bust of Asdrubal, allusive to the defeat of the Carthaginian army near the Furlo pass. The whole was overshadowed by two vast oaks personifying the Duke and Duchess, under which were grouped shepherds playing on their national instruments. Across this mimic representation of the duchy of Urbino a gorgeous procession passed with military music, in the following order. The car of Fame advanced, glittering with the precious metals, and drawn by winged horses. On its front, amid garlands of flowers, was perched a black eagle crowned, the monarch of birds, and heraldic bearing of Montefeltro; and it contained figures of Fame, Time, and Truth. Fame stood winged upon a globe, to which were yoked two dolphins; her robe of gold and silver tissue was semé with countless eyes, ears, and mouths, and in her hand she held a golden trumpet. Before her sat old Time, with his hour-glass; behind, Truth chanted stanzas in compliment to the hero of two mottoes which were displayed over the car:--
"TO THESE AND EARTH'S MOST DISTANT LANDS ARE SHOWN OUR FREDERICK'S GLORIOUS DEEDS, HIS HONOUR AND RENOWN."
"BY MARTIAL VALOUR WERE HIS TITLES WON."
In the procession which followed, were borne the armorial insignia of Duke Federigo, and of the sovereigns in close alliance with him; his various decorations of knighthood, the golden rose, the sword and baton of the Church, and similar badges of his dignities. Then came another car, drawn by four horses, and magnificently ornamented with cornucopias of public prosperity, intermingled with devices used by the various Dukes, amid which sat Justice, Bravery, and Prudence. Next marched by, an imposing military pageant, with the banners and ensigns of those states and cities over which Federigo had been victorious, and with the batons of command entrusted to him by the different powers whom he had served. To these succeeded a third car, still more magnificently decked out, which was dedicated to martial glory, and bore a figure of Pallas copied from the antique; it was laden with pictures and mottoes, allusive to his principal triumphs; and over a mass of books was the legend,--
"MINERVA'S LIBERAL ARTS HIS VICTORIES DID CROWN."
This lengthened procession having all passed, the various figures who had performed in it assembled upon the stage and executed a melodramatic ballet, which lasted till about 10 p.m.; and the ceremonies of the day were wound up by a splendid display of fireworks.[94] It has been stated in most accounts of the baptism, that the Golden Fleece was conferred on the infant by the Marquis of Pescara in name of his master Philip III. But, from the Diary of Francesco Maria, we learn that this decoration had been transmitted to himself some weeks before, that he, as a knight of that order, might invest the Marquis with it, which was duly done on the 1st of December.
[Footnote 94: A comparison of this stately entertainment with the ceremonial at the baptism of Prince Henry of Scotland in 1594, as given in the Lives of the Lindsays, vol. I., 382, from a rare contemporary pamphlet, shows how Italian revels influenced the courtly displays of our ancestors, due allowance being made for the difference of climate and the somewhat more material attractions of the northern festivity.]
The Duke's advancing years had by this time considerably modified his personal habits. To the pleasures of the chase succeeded the less fatiguing interests of a large breeding stud. His partiality for animals and natural history had long induced him to give his attention to improve the race of horses, and he notes in his Diary frequent arrivals of stock of all sorts from various quarters, purchased or received in presents. Thus, in 1588, he had fifty-four young horses at one time from the Duke of Savoy, and he mentions paying 300 to 500 ducats for stallions. After his second marriage, entries of this sort became more frequent, and details of hunting less so. The great breeding establishment was maintained on Monte Corciano near Cagli, where the young stock ran at grass during the summer months; in winter they were brought down to Mirafiori, where those which were sufficiently advanced went into the hands of breakers. This was a casino just without the walls of Pesaro, so called from a flower-garden the Duke had made there, whither rare and beautiful plants were brought from all parts at great expense. In it too was preserved a very rich armoury collected by him, which is mentioned with admiration by Scotti in his published travels, and which afterwards passed to the grand-ducal family of Tuscany.
But the most marked alteration of his character was his growing aversion to public business, and increasing proneness to gratify his secluded and selfish habits by devoting an undue portion of time to his private relaxations of study and books. The tendency to solitude which had been gradually stealing upon him was checked for a season after the birth of his son. This joyous occasion seems to have in some degree revived the elasticity of his youthful feelings: his visits to Pesaro were more frequent, and, in 1606, the Comedy of L'Ingannata was repeatedly performed in the palace there. Ere long, however, his mind gradually relapsed into a sort of morbid abstraction which was constitutional to him, and the retirement of Castel Durante became more and more attractive. It would indeed have been difficult to find a spot more congenial. Known originally as Castel del Ripa, a title appropriate to its position on a peninsula, formed by the rugged ravine of the brawling Metauro, it had been destroyed about 1277, in a foray of the people of Urbino, whence it is distant about nine miles. Pope Martin IV. ordered it to be rebuilt by his Legate in Romagna, Guglielmo Durante, a noted canonist, who gave it his own name. Having subsequently passed in seigneury to the Brancaleoni of Mercatello, it was obtained, under the title partly of conquest, partly of inheritance, by the Counts of Montefeltro, in 1429. After that dynasty had been extinguished, it owed to papal munificence a second re-edification in 1636, when Urban VIII. raised it to the rank of a city, suffragan to the Bishop of S. Angelo in Vado; and the improvements he made upon it are commemorated by his statue erected in the town, and by another change to its present name of Urbania.
Its situation is singularly beautiful. Surrounded by wooded hills, it occupies the nearest point of the upper valley of the Metauro, which extends to the Mercatello in a stretch of rich alluvial land that pleasingly contrasts with the rest of this highland province. Adapted equally for the sports of the chase, and for a peaceful retreat from the busy world, it was in all respects suited to the wants of Francesco Maria, in youth and in advancing years. His usual residence was a large palace which, entering from the street, overhangs to the back the romantic river; and which, like many more of the ducal possessions, has passed to the Albani, and is doomed to the neglect consequent upon absenteeism and protracted litigation. It was here probably that he built a library, to which in 1609 he transported from Pesaro the many books which he had collected, leaving at Urbino those which had been amassed by his predecessors. On the opposite bank he enclosed an extensive park, and stocked it with fallow-deer and smaller game. Within that enclosure, on the slopes of Monte Berticchio, he built, after his second marriage, another palace, and surrounded it with a delightful garden. The park walls also included the convent of Franciscan Observantines, which still stands about a mile to the west of Urbania; and to them perhaps may be attributed the beginning of that monkish influence which tinged his latter years. But they were eventually superseded in his regard by the Minims, for whom, in 1617, he purchased the church of the Madonna della Neve, just beyond the park gate, and changed its name to that of the Crucifix. He there built for them a small convent, and invited to it twelve monks, distinguished for learning and acquirements in those philosophic pursuits which chiefly occupied his mind. Thus, as years advanced, did he become more and more inordinately attached to Castel Durante, where, leaving in his capital the trappings of sovereignty, he surrounded himself with a small and select suite, and sought in books and philosophic discussions, those gratifications which, since the chase had lost its charms, were most conducive to his humour. Here accordingly we find him corresponding with Isaac Casaubon, as to a MS. of Polybius, which, by desire of Henry IV., he had forwarded for an edition then in preparation at Paris, and urging its restoration, on the plea that MSS. of such value were not removed from the library, even for his own use.[95] It was doubtless the same Polybius which Giunta tells us was returned by that monarch under a military escort.[96]
[Footnote 95: Brit. Mus., Burney MSS. No. 367, f. 64.]
[Footnote 96: MS. Albani Library at Rome.]
It being the whim of Francesco Maria to unite in his person the opposite characters of monarch and philosopher, manifold inconsistencies were the natural consequence. In the address to his subjects, which we have quoted in reference to his second marriage, we have seen him dwell on the government of a minor as the greatest evil that could befall a people. Yet scarcely had he obtained the blessing of an heir than he began to devise steps for devolving prematurely upon his child the responsibility of sovereignty, and thereby releasing himself from those cares of state which reached him even at Castel Durante, and jarred upon his morbid love of seclusion and books. To this motive, at least, seem attributable the measures which we are now to detail, although he apparently excused them to himself as a wise precaution, in anticipation of his own death ere his son should have attained maturity. But, whatever may have been his real inducement, the scheme, so novel in that age, of imparting to his subjects a share in the government, was obviously calculated to gratify his love of philosophic speculation, while it threw upon others those duties and anxieties from which the prevailing desire of his advancing years was to escape.
His first step towards this plan was taken in 1696, by ordaining that the episcopal cities of Urbino, Pesaro, Gubbio, Sinigaglia, Fossombrone, Cagli, and S. Leo, with the province of Massa Trabaria, should send him a leet of their inhabitants most qualified for the administration of affairs. Selecting one from each, he constituted them into a council of state, to sit permanently in Urbino: on this body he conferred the most ample powers to govern in his name, and, in the case of his death, to become the regency. In order fully to explain this project, we quote the state documents relating to it, which have been printed by Marini in his Saggio di S. Leo. These will be rendered more intelligible by premising that the inhabitants of towns were then divided into four classes,--the nobility, the merchants and wealthy citizens, the master artisans, and the operative artisans. Each of these chose their own prior, and the prior of the nobles was the gonfaloniere, to whom, among other duties, was confided the standard in battle. These political rights did not extend to peasants, menial servants, nor mechanics of the baser callings.
"To the magnificent and our well-beloved, the Gonfaloniere and Priors of S. Leo, and to the Four, and the Parliament of the province of Montefeltro, THE DUKE OF URBINO.
"Magnificent and well-beloved,
"Ever since the birth of the son whom God has vouchsafed to us, it has been our fixed intention, in consideration of the age we have attained, to leave behind us such a form of government as may, during his minority, secure your welfare, and be in conformity to your wishes; and the desire increases with the affection which we bear to you, and to which you are so well entitled. For this end nothing seems more suitable than that you should govern the commonwealth and him also. To carry our design into execution, your council of S. Leo, uniting with the Four and the Parliament of the province of Montefeltro, will elect three or four well-qualified persons, without reference to their rank or station, or to their being members of council or parliament. From these we shall select one, who, together with those from the other seven communities, may represent our whole state, and give their undivided attention to such important matters for the general weal as shall be impartially proposed by us, with a view to your own benefit, and that of our house. The enclosed draft is sent to you as a foretaste of this plan of government. Be careful, therefore, to complete the election as soon as possible, as it is our intention to make trial during our life of this mode of government, and so to introduce it that, after us, it may proceed with the more facility, and in better order, in the name of the Almighty. From all this we feel assured that you must perceive the great confidence which we have in you, and which we firmly hope will much contribute to those good results of our plan so strenuously desired by us and by you. May the Lord God protect you.
"From Urbino, the 24th of August, 1606.
"FRANCESCO MARIA."
[Draft enclosed in the preceding letter.]
"The form of government by the persons elected shall be as follows. All the Eight shall reside at Urbino, with the same absolute rules as I myself enjoy, attending with all diligence and loyal fidelity to the guidance of the state and of their pupil. And, further, each of them shall make oath before the auditors to exercise their functions in the manner prescribed, and, in due time, to execute to the letter my testament, and all such written memoranda as I may leave behind me.
"They shall have two secretaries, one for foreign affairs and correspondence, the other for those of the interior, and shall assemble with them twice a day, or oftener if necessary. They shall take their seats at the same side of the table in their respective order; and those whose rank may have been matter of dispute shall decide by lot who is to take precedence at first, and shall thereafter enjoy it by turns, changing each succeeding month. They shall observe the same order in voting and on all occasions of meeting for public business, but at other times they are to have no sort of rank. And this rule shall be observed as to all questions of precedence that may arise, until it be modified by consent or legal authority, always without prejudice to the rights of individuals; and, if any one be discontented therewith, the others shall be entitled to administer the state with unimpaired authority.
"They shall enjoin the secretaries to make minutes of all that occurs, writing them afterwards into a book for the purpose. The Eight, or whatever be their number, shall discuss verbally all motions, and ballot upon them, the resolutions supported by most balls being carried; and this shall be specially minuted, with the signature of both secretaries. In case of an equality of votes, the president of the bench of auditors shall be called upon to decide the point.
"All their resolutions, letters, and documents shall run in name of the sovereign, with the ducal seal, and with signatures of the first in rank, and of the two secretaries.
"In absence of one or more from illness, or the like lawful cause, the others shall continue vested with the same authority, provided there be a quorum of five; but, if fewer, the auditors must make up that number. And, should one die, or become permanently disabled, his place must be forthwith filled up by election of another leet as at first.
"The courts of law [udienza] shall continue to enjoy the same authority as heretofore, but subject to the first of the eight deputies, to whom shall be submitted memorials of all cases for pardon, in the same way as has been hitherto observed. By these courts shall be named the officers of justice for the state, who, in absence of cause shown to the contrary, shall be confirmed by the deputies, on whom shall depend absolutely all the other officers of the household and state.
"And, in order that these deputies may give undivided attention to their official duties, they shall each receive from the treasury 300 scudi a year."[97]
[Footnote 97: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 3184, f. 154. The salary of 300 scudi was increased to 400.]
Four days after date of the preceding letter, the provincial parliament of Montefeltro, and the council of S. Leo, met to deliberate thereon, by summons from the commissioner of the province and the podestà of the town. The parliament consisted of four delegates from the landward districts, and twenty-nine others from as many townships; the council was composed of the gonfaloniere, three priors, and twenty-nine citizens. They elected four deputies by ballot, excluding, by a majority of black beans, two of those proposed; and, from these four, one whose election had been unanimous was selected by the Duke as deputy to the council. Similar forms having been observed by the remaining cities, the council entered upon their duties on 22nd of January, 1607, and Francesco Maria resigned himself more than ever to the selfish ease of his solitary and abstracted life at Castel Durante, flattering himself (to use his own words) that "they would inform themselves fully of all matters of internal policy and foreign relations, and would direct these for the service of God, and to the benefit of his subjects, and of his heir."
It would be tedious and unnecessary to notice all the minute instructions issued from time to time to the Eight on matters of police, of patronage, or of trade. The following memorandum, however, written out by Francesco Maria himself for their guidance, in 1611, affords some insight into his views of general policy:--
"In order to continue hourly more fully satisfied with you, I give you the following suggestions, which seem to me called for at this moment. Ever have before your eyes the three objects which I have often enforced upon you--plenty, peace, and justice. The first of these will be secured if the old plan for plenty be not re-established, which, indeed, might be more appropriately called perpetual scarcity, as it was adopted solely for enriching six or eight of the worst citizens who managed it; and should it become necessary to purchase grain, let an advance from my funds be made to the public, always endeavouring to clear off such loans as remain undischarged. And never permit the local councils to meddle with matters that concern them not, seeing that I, by adopting the contrary plan for their satisfaction, fell into errors which turned out ill.
"As to maintaining peace among my subjects, this may easily be done by chastising the riotous and sowers of dissension and discord, whose punishment ought to be public and severe; above all things preventing persons of whatsoever rank to pretend to or maintain retinues of followers, or to domineer over others.
"Justice will be observed by insuring the prompt issue of suits, and by punishing judges when they fall into error; but especially by enforcing an inviolate observance of all orders, decrees, and proclamations; by rarely, and only from necessity, suspending the prosecution of outlaws; and by receiving few fugitives from other states. Prevent so great an increase of lawyers and notaries, and offer obstacles to their admission. Show no undue favour to parties in suits. Vigilantly defend our authority, ever covertly assailed; but do this by fair means, avoiding if possible open ruptures. Eschew partiality and prejudice, rigorously maintaining justice and your duty.
"In the despatch of business promptitude is requisite, avoiding arrears, which occasion oversights, and lead to a wholesale transaction of affairs, without the accuracy necessary to their being done well; and although full consideration and discussion be required, there are few matters which cannot be exhausted by employing on them one's entire energy during two hours; after which they should be carried into effect quickly, without further discourse, but with secrecy. Provided you do all these things with that affection upon which I rely, I doubt not of their happy issue; but I again, and for the last time, remind you that your chief care should be the punctual execution of all my injunctions and commands."[98]
[Footnote 98: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 3134, f. 158.]
Whatever may have been the immediate effect upon the management of public affairs of the Duke's wayward conduct, its mischievous influence on the character of the young Prince was not long dormant. His education was entrusted, in 1607, to the Countess Vittoria Tortora Ranuccio Santinelli, whose husband was major-domo to the Duke; but the anxiety felt for a life so precious was unduly exaggerated by certain symptoms of childish delicacy, and the system adopted was that of unbounded indulgence, balanced by no obligation to apply himself to anything. Before he had completed his second year, Philip III. settled upon him in reversion his father's retaining pension of 15,000 golden scudi, and company of men-at-arms in Naples, assuring him of ample protection. That the Duke was sensitively anxious to prepare his mind for the duties of manhood thus crowded prematurely upon him, is interestingly shown by a paper of instructions, written in the anticipation of his being left an early orphan. To find in it maxims directly opposed to the writer's own practice may afford scope for saddening speculation to a philosophic moralist, and must have greatly detracted from their influence upon the boy to whom they were addressed. The length of the document, and its interruption to our narrative, will be excused from its importance as illustrating the character of Francesco Maria.
"Believing that at my advanced age I cannot be much longer with you, I have resolved to write down certain memoranda which I consider it most necessary that you should remember, preserving them not merely under your eye, but impressing them deep on your heart; for by none can they be offered you with more affection, or perhaps with greater experience, from the affairs which I have conducted.
"I would, therefore, desire you chiefly to endeavour with all your might, to live in the favour of our Lord God, devoutly honouring His holy name, and being careful never to offend Him, firm in His most holy faith without superstition. As to priests and monks, after securing them in the position which is their due, do not establish with them much familiarity beyond what your devotional duties call for; but leave them to look to their proper business, whilst you attend to yours without their assistance, further than their prayers in your behalf.
"Be not merely faithful to his Holiness the Pope, but also obedient, doing all that in you lies for his service, and with sincere attachment seeking to exalt the Holy See.
"In the service of his Catholic Majesty show yourself at all times most zealous, performing it with constancy, and never quitting it until it becomes inconsistent with your honour, which I feel assured it never will be. And further, be ready to display your devotion in a befitting manner; and should his Majesty take the field in person, fail not to be there also, and to identify yourself with him, from which you cannot fail to derive great reputation: remember also, to treat all Spaniards with amiable courtesy. With other sovereigns and princes cultivate the most friendly terms, obliging them when opportunity offers, especially neighbouring powers.
"Maintain towards all, sincerity and truth with mildness; but beware of being deluded, and for this purpose be slow to credit any one.
"When called upon to form any important resolution, examine both sides of the question, and attach yourself to that which seems safest.
"Remember that you leave not for the morrow what can be done on the instant; and so will your affairs generally succeed according to your wishes. When just, your undertakings will ever be forwarded and directed by the Almighty; and thus will the labour be less to yourself than if they are allowed to go on accumulating.
"In the government of your subjects and dependants be most decided; to your associates and well-wishers be gracious and pleasing; towards others just and strict.
"At the hour most convenient to yourself give daily audience to all who seek it, hearing them patiently and without interruption, and tolerating them even while trifling a little. Leave the judges free from interference in the lawful execution of their duties, dispensing mercy where it is justly merited, and reluctant to the punishment of death. In all but aggravated cases, commute it into a minor penalty, especially by sending culprits to the Venetian galleys, since this is an old usage in our family, and as these protect our seas from pirates.
"Choose for your service faithful and prudent nobles, neither selfish, greedy, nor partial.
"See that your ministers and counsellors be men who, as the proverb goes, take the cart road, and boast not themselves inventors of new theories, which, however specious and fine at first sight, are most difficult in practice, and in their issue full of mischief. Show no favour towards rash ventures or novel expedients, but give your attention rather to forward measures that have been determined on. Be not anxious to make many new laws, but, on the contrary, endeavour to condense the old ones.
"Encourage not your relations to meddle in the affairs of your government, lest they should in consequence arrogate to themselves undue influence; but contrive to keep them in good humour by honouring them yourself, and by taking care that others respect them.
"Visit in person, annually, your whole state; or, when prevented from doing so, send one of your judges.
"Be courteous to ecclesiastical dignitaries, giving them such honours as are their due, and exacting the like in return.
"See that your household be discreet and in nowise quarrelsome, and divide annually among the most deserving of them some donative from escheated property; but I recommend you to keep hold of all castles, and never alienate them, unless to those who have done you some signal and most important service.
"Be liberal in your expenditure, but never exceed your revenues, managing so that every year you may have something in hand; for if you do not attend to this, you will probably find yourself tempted by necessity to seize upon what belongs to your subjects,--a thing you must ever guard yourself from, as well as from any attempts upon the honour of their wives, especially those of the nobility.
"Be to all benignant and affable, entering freely into conversation with men of letters or military acquirements, and, above all, with those skilled in politics and affairs of state.
"Do not be too anxious to devote yourself to scientific studies, which both preoccupy the mind from more important subjects, and sadden it. Be satisfied with a thorough knowledge of your native tongue, so as to read in it all old and modern histories, and at fit times some devotional book; but trust to acquiring knowledge of the sciences from the discourse of their respective professors. It is advisable to learn other languages; indeed, Spanish is necessary, as you are in the service of his Catholic Majesty.
"Practise all healthful exercises, especially, ball, hunting, and the manège. In the first of these you may indulge almost daily; for the second, once a week is sufficient, as it loses the entire day, and when too frequently followed is apt to render one coarse. Make use of the third when you feel inclined, maintaining a small breeding stud, for which your country is admirably adapted, with about thirty fine horses always at your disposal. I warn you, however, not to over-exert yourself in this or similar exercise, for excessive fatigue brings on many infirmities, as has happened to myself. Fencing is likewise most needful, especially that called wide fighting, for close-quarters are dangerous, and of little real avail. Instrumental music and singing are excellent recreations, as well as dancing to give the body freedom. Swimming is also an excellent preservative, especially in travelling.
"Do not indulge too much in sleeping. Eat and drink of everything indifferently, without reference to diet such as is recommended by physicians, of whom keep aloof while you can, never calling them in until you are ill; but when really so, obey them strictly, committing yourself first to God, and secondly to their skill.
"Remember, as soon as convenient, to complete your marriage with the sister of the Grand Duke of Tuscany; for no alliance could be found better or more entirely suitable for this state, for our house, or for yourself. To her, as your wife, be ever most affectionate; yet see that she meddle not in the affairs of government, but more particularly that she does not interfere in matters regarding the administration of justice. Endeavour always to maintain a most friendly footing with her family, paying to the Grand Duke the deference due to a father, and consulting him on every incident of importance.
"Should God grant you more than one son, purchase for one of them a fief, however small, in the kingdom of Naples, and other property, yielding in all 12,000 scudi of revenue, but give him no lands in your own state: by this means you will found a second house, and avert the danger in which our family was at the time of your birth. Your other sons you may provide for by making one a churchman with the Pope's assistance, and by giving to the rest such savings as will in that case be very requisite. Forget not to treat your eldest son like a brother, admitting him to share with you the government and administration, which, if God grant me life, I shall certainly do towards you.
"Lastly, I assure you, that those who have been faithful and attached to me will, if you avail yourself of their services, be the same to you; others you may seek to attach to you, but abandon not these.
"Such is the little I would impress upon you, not without difficulty and much consideration; but take courage, and the execution of it will become easy. I give you my paternal benediction, praying the blessed God to confirm it."[99]
[Footnote 99: Bibl. Oliveriana.]
But though it seems agreed that the seed thus kindly and carefully sown fell upon a soil not naturally ungenial, and though to much childish beauty the Prince is stated to have joined a fine temper, a remarkably quick apprehension, and an uncommon memory, he was destined sadly to verify a remark of Dante, that,--
"Rarely into the branches of the tree Doth human worth mount up."
The good fruit of almost spontaneous growth was speedily and entirely choked by rank weeds, fostered under an erroneous system of early discipline. An only child, he was deprived of playmates of his own rank, and even of the companionship of the higher nobility, for whom were substituted those whose flattery and indulgence provoked and pandered to all the worst passions of a spoiled brat; and so early and fatally was this perversion effected, that he had scarcely passed the years of infancy ere the people, who had hailed him as a gift of Heaven, ominously deprecated his accession to power. On his eighth birthday, he was sent by the Duke, with a suitable attendance, to pay his vows at the shrine of his patron saint in the cathedral of Gubbio, and to offer there a small bust of himself chased in gold. On this occasion the aged courtiers, who assembled to do honour to his reception, were heard to draw the most melancholy forebodings, on observing the overbearing and fiery temper which he was at no pains to control or conceal.[*100]
[Footnote *100: Cf. PELLEGRINI, op. cit., in Boll. cit. vol. cit., p. 509 et seq. who gives two contemporary accounts of the visit of Federigo in 1618.]