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+Project Gutenberg's The Tragedies of the Medici, by Edgcumbe Staley
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Tragedies of the Medici
+
+Author: Edgcumbe Staley
+
+Release Date: January 30, 2004 [EBook #10877]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI
+
+
+BY EDGCUMBE STALEY
+
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE," "RAPHAEL," "FRA ANGELICO," ETC.
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+
+
+TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER THOMAS STALEY
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+When Alexandre Dumas wrote his _Crimes of the Borgias_--and other
+"Crimes"--he fully intended to compile a companion volume, treating of
+episodes in the great family of the Medici. With this project in view,
+he collected much material, and actually published, tentatively, two
+interesting brochures: _Une Annee a Florence_--in 1841, and _Les
+Galeries de Florence_--in 1842.
+
+Nothing, however, came of his more ambitious "idea," and, until to-day,
+no one has taken in hand to write _The Tragedies of the Medici_. My
+attention was first directed to the omission during the preparation of
+my _Guilds of Florence_, published in 1906; and I determined to address
+myself to the forging of that lurid link in the catena of Florentine
+romance.
+
+In the following pages my readers will see that I have entirely departed
+from the conventional conceits of the ordinary historian. I have sought
+to set out the whole truth--not a garbled version--whilst I have
+fearlessly added decorative features where facts were absent or were
+too prosaic.
+
+The short "Introduction," dealing with the rise and progress of the
+house of Medici, will be useful to my public, and the "Chart of the
+Tragedies" will assist students and others in their appreciation of my
+enterprise--it is my own compilation and as complete as possible.
+
+The "Bibliography" will help serious readers to a wider reading of my
+authorities, and the Illustrations--the best procurable--will fix in all
+my readers' minds something of the actual personalities of my "Tyrants"
+and my "Victims."
+
+EDGCUMBE STALEY.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+_The Pazzi Conspiracy_--Lorenzo, "_Il Magnifico_"--Giuliano, "_Il
+Pensieroso_".
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+_The First Tyrannicide_--Ippolito, "_Il Cardinale_"--Alessandro, "_Il
+Negro_"--Lorenzino, "_Il Terribile_".
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+_A Father's Vengeance_--Maria, Giovanni, and Garzia de'
+Medici--Malatesta de' Malatesti.
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+_Three Murdered Princesses_--Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara and Creole de'
+Contrari--Eleanora Garzia, wife of Piero de Medici, Alessandro Gaci, and
+Bernardino degl' Antinori--Isabella, Duchess of Bracciano--Troilo
+d'Orsini and Lelio Torello.
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+_True and False Lovers_--Francesco, "_Il Virtuoso_"--Bianca Cappello,
+"_La Figlia di Venezia_"--Pietro Buonaventuri--Cassandra de'
+Borghiani--Pellegrina Buonaventuri, wife of Ulisse Bentivoglio--Antonio
+Riario.
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+_Pathetic Victims of Fateful Passion_--Eleanora degli Albizzi and Sforza
+Almeni--Cammilla de' Martelli--Virginia de' Medici e d'Este--Cardinal
+Ferdinando de' Medici.
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+INDEX
+
+CHART OF THE TRAGEDIES
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+Bianca Cappello-Buonaventuri
+Giovanni d'Averardo de' Medici
+"Journey of the Magi" (Medici)
+"Adoration of the Magi" (Medici)
+Lucrezia de' Medici
+Lorenzo Il Magnifico
+Giuliano Il Pensieroso
+Ippolito--Cardinal
+Alessandro--First Duke of Florence
+Giovanni--"Delle Bande Nere"
+Eleanora de' Medici
+Maria Lucrezia de' Medici
+Giovanni--Cardinal
+Garzia de' Medici
+Lucrezia--Duchess of Ferrara
+Eleanora--Wife of Piero de' Medici
+Piero de' Medici
+Isabella--Duchess of Bracciano
+Francesco--Grand Duke of Tuscany
+Giovanna de' Medici
+Don Antonio "de' Medici"
+Pellegrina Buonaventuri-Bentivoglio
+Cosimo I--"Tyrant of Tyrants"
+Cammilla de' Medici
+Ferdinando de' Medici--Cardinal
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The origin of the Medici family is lost in the mists of the Middle Ages,
+and, only here and there, can the historian gain glimpses of the lives
+of early forbears. Still, there is sufficient data, to be had for the
+digging, upon which to transcribe, inferentially at least, an
+interesting narrative.
+
+Away towards the end of the twelfth century,--exact dates are wholly
+beside the mark--there dwelt, under the shadow of one of the rugged
+castles of the robber-captains of the Mugello in Tuscany, a hard-working
+and trustworthy bonds-man--one Chiarissimo--"Old Honesty," as we may
+call him. He was married to an excellent helpmeet, and was by his lord
+permitted to till a small piece of land and rear his family.
+
+In addition to intelligence in agriculture, it would seem that he, or
+perhaps his wife, possessed some knowledge of the virtues of roots and
+herbs, for, in one corner of his _podere_, he had a garden of "simples."
+The few peaceable inhabitants of that warlike valley, and also many a
+wounded man-at-arms, sought "Old Honesty" and his wise mate for what we
+now call "kitchen remedies."
+
+Those, indeed, were happy days with respect to suffering human nature.
+"Kill or Cure" might have been the character of the healing art, but
+certainly specialists had not invented our appendicitis and other
+fashionable twentieth-century physical fashions! A little medical
+knowledge sufficed, and decoctions, pillules, poultices, and bleedings
+made up the simple pharmacopoeia.
+
+All the same, the satirical rhyme, which an old chronicler put into the
+mouths of many a despairing patient, in later days, may have been true
+also of "Old Honesty" and his nostrums:
+
+"There's not a herb nor a root
+Nor any remedy to boot
+Which can stave death off by a foot!"
+
+Of that good couple's family only one name has been
+preserved--Gianbuono, "Good John." Passerini says he was a
+priest--probably he means a hermit. Anyhow, he acquired more property in
+the Valle della Sieve and founded a church--Santa Maria dell'
+Assunta--possibly the enlargement of his cell--upon Monte Senario,
+between the valley of the Arno and that of the Sieve.
+
+Ser Gianbuono--ecclesiastic or not--had two sons--Bonagiunto, "Lucky
+Lad," and Chiarissimo II. In those primitive times nobody troubled about
+surnames--idiosyncrasy of any kind was a sufficient indication of
+individuality. The brothers were enterprising fellows, and both made
+tracks for Florence, which--risen Phoenix-like from barbarian ashes--was
+thriving marvellously as a mart for art and craft.
+
+Ser Bonagiunto, in the first decade of the thirteenth century, was
+living in the Sestiere di Porta del Duomo, and working busily in wood
+and stone, the stalwart parent of a vigorous progeny. It was his
+great-grandson, Ardingo--a famous athlete in the _giostre_ and a soldier
+of renown--who first of his family attained the rank of _Signore_.
+
+Ser Chiarissimo, between 1201-1210, owned a tower near San Tommaso, at
+the north-east angle of the Mercato Vecchio--later, the family church of
+the Medici--and under it a _bottega_, or _canova_, for the sale of his
+grandmother's recipes. Over the door he put up his sign--seven golden
+_Pillole di Speziale_--pills or balls, which were emblazoned upon the
+proud escutcheon of his descendants. He was called "_il Medico_"--"the
+doctor"--hence the family name "Medici."
+
+These were the days when the foundations of the fortunes of many great
+Florentine families were laid. The loaning of money was the royal road
+to affluence, and everybody who, by chance, had a spare gold florin or
+two, became _ipso facto_ a "_Presto_" or bank. Next, after lending to
+one another with a moderate profit--a _dono di tempo_ or a
+_merito_--"quick returns," came the ambitious system of State loans,
+with the regulated _interesso_ and the speculative dealings in
+_Cambio_--on 'Change--with _boroccolo_--"unexpected gain," and
+_ritravgola_--"sly advantage," or, as we say, "sharp practice."
+
+Ser Filippo, or "Lippo"--the twin son, as the name implies, of Ser
+Chiarissimo II.--what happened to the other twin we do not know--was
+probably the first of his family of doctor-apothecaries to deliberately
+abandon his less lucrative profession and establish himself as a banker
+in the Mercato Nuovo. Anyhow, his two sons were born and baptised under
+the happy auspices of plenty of money!
+
+The elder, the prosperous doctor-banker, was jubilantly called
+Averardo--"Blessed with good means," and the younger was christened
+Chiarissimo III., to mark quite sententiously that, whilst his
+bank-balance was considerable, it had been accumulated by honest
+dealing!
+
+True to the variable law of vicissitude, this Averardo I. failed to make
+any very great name for himself, as might have been expected in a lad
+of so much promise. He was shadowed doubtless by his more strenuous
+parent. Still, he added to the family possessions by acquiring the
+lay-patronage of the churches of San Pietro a Sieve and San Bartolommeo
+di Petrone. Near the latter he built a _castello_, or fortress, which
+was then considered a title to nobility. He made also a prosperous
+marriage with Donna Benricevuta de' Sizi.
+
+Messer Averardo's son, Averardo II., was, in the crisscross nature of
+things, a man of stronger grit than his father. He came to great honour
+as well as to great riches. Elected Prior in 1304, he was chosen as
+_Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_ in 1314, and, between these dates, in 1311,
+Ser Teghia de' Sizi, his mother's brother, made him his heir, and gave
+him, besides full money-bags, much valuable property and ecclesiastical
+patronage. To his surname of Medici he added that of Sizi: he was the
+wealthiest citizen of his day in Florence. His wife, Donna Mandina di
+Filippo de' Arrigucci of Fiesole, gave him six sons--Giacopo, Giovenco,
+Francesco, Salvestro, Talento, and Conte. All of them rose to eminence
+in the State, but of one only can the story be told here--Salvestro.
+
+Messer Salvestro de' Medici--who must not be confounded with his
+celebrated namesake and kinsman, the "Grand" Salvestro--married Donna
+Lisa de' Donati, of which union three sons were the issue--Talento,
+Giovenco, and Averardo III. Salvestro di Averardo II. bore another
+Christian name--Chiarissimo--the old-world cognomen of his family.
+Possibly his father thought it wise to stand well with the world and
+parade his honesty; for whatever ill-gotten gains other bankers
+acquired, he, at least, was an upright man, and his profits were just!
+
+Anyhow, Messer Salvestro became popular for rectitude in his private
+life, and for his unselfish discharge of public duties. He was chosen to
+fill many responsible offices of State, and reached the goal of personal
+ambition as ambassador to Venice, in 1336. His youngest son, Averardo
+III., acquired the sobriquet of "Bicci"--the exact meaning of which is
+problematical--it may mean a "worthless fellow" or "one who lives in a
+castle!" Nothing indeed is related of him, but, perhaps, like Brer Fox,
+of a later epoch, he was content "to lie low" and enjoy, without much
+exertion, the good things his ancestors had provided for him.
+
+Messer Averardo married twice--Giovanna de' Cavallini and Giovanna de'
+Spini. By the first he became the father of one of the very greatest of
+the Medici--Giovanni, the parent of a still more famous son--Cosimo.
+
+At this period Florence was ruled by Whalter von Brienne--the so-called
+Duke of Athens--sagacious, treacherous and depraved. He sought to make
+himself Lord of Florence by skilfully playing the various political
+parties one against the other. The _Grandi_ he kept in check by the
+_Popolo Minuto_, but ignored the _Popolo Grasso_, to which the Medici
+belonged. Under Giovanni de' Medici, Guglielmo degli Altoviti, and
+Bernardo de' Rucellai, the middle class rose against the usurper; but
+their plans miscarried, and the leaders were imprisoned and fined.
+
+A Giovanni de' Medici was beheaded in 1342--the first recorded "Tragedy
+of the Medici." As to who this unfortunate man was, it is difficult to
+say. He is called "the son of Bernardo de' Medici," but no such name
+appears in the early records of the family. He was probably a descendant
+of Bonagiunto, a son of Ardingo de' Medici, who was a violent enemy of
+the Ghibellines, and _Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_, in 1296 and 1307, and
+brother of Francesco, Captain of Pistoja in 1338, and one of the
+principal participants in the expulsion of the hated Duke.
+
+The first of the "Grand" Medici was Salvestro, son of Alamanno, of the
+line of Chiarissimo III., called "The German," because of his alien
+Teutonic mother. Great-great-grandson of Ser Filippo, the last of the
+doctor-apothecaries, Salvestro does not appear to have gone in for the
+steady, unromantic life of a banker, but to have addressed his energies
+to the profession of arms. Nevertheless, he was chosen Prior in 1318,
+and contributed, during peace, to the advancement of his city's
+interest. Upon the outbreak of war with the Visconti of Milan, in 1351,
+he was appointed commander of the Florentine forces.
+
+His sterling grit made itself apparent in the vigour with which at the
+head of no more than one hundred men he relieved the town and fortress
+of Scarperia, on the Mugello hills, besieged by the invaders. For his
+bravery he was knighted by the _Signoria_. Cavaliere Salvestro de'
+Medici sided with the aristocratic party, and proclaimed himself a
+Ghibelline--consorting with the noble families of Albizzi, Ricci, and
+Strozzi. Their aim was to convert the Republic into an oligarchy under
+Piero degli Albizzi.
+
+The _Popolo Minuto_, thoroughly alarmed at this menace of liberty and
+popular government, appointed leaders, who approached Cavaliere
+Salvestro, in 1370, when he held the supreme office of _Gonfaloniere di
+Giustizia_, to safeguard the interests of the tradespeople and lower
+classes. He gave heed to their representations, for he cunningly
+perceived that he might ride into the undisputed leadership of the great
+popular party, the Guelphs, and so checkmate his other allies, the
+aristocrats! As head of a powerful branch of the rising family of
+Medici, members of the _Popolo Grasso_, or wealthy middle class,
+Cavaliere Salvestro became the champion of the people. All round his
+popularity was established, for people said, "He was born for the safety
+of the Republic." He was tactful enough to conceal the personal bent of
+his policy, and acted upon the maxim, which he was never tired of
+repeating: "Never make a show before the people!" As _Gonfaloniere_ he
+summoned a Parliament of representatives of all parties and classes at
+the Palazzo Vecchio, with a view to the composition of differences and
+the maintenance of public order.
+
+The Ghibellines would have none of his proposals, but privately they
+were divided amongst themselves, seeing which, the Cavaliere astutely
+announced the resignation of his office. This had the effect he
+expected--the Palazzo and the Piazza outside rang with the old
+cry--"_Liberta!_" "_Liberta!_" "_Evviva il Popolo!_" "_Evviva il
+Gonfaloniere!_" Salvestro de' Medici was master of the situation--the
+first of his family to attain the virtual, if not the real, control of
+the State.
+
+The revolution spread through the city; the palaces of the Ghibelline
+nobles were sacked and burnt. A period of discord and disaster followed,
+but, with the firm hand of Salvestro de' Medici upon the helm of the
+ship of the Republic, matters settled. In 1376 he was unanimously chosen
+_Capitano della Parte Guelfa_--an office of still more personal
+influence than the Gonfaloniership. No one questioned his authority. He
+was, as the historian, Michaele Bruto, has recorded, "The first of his
+family to show his successors how that by conciliating the middle and
+lower classes they could make their way to sovereignty."
+
+Another crisis in the history of Florence arose in 1378, during
+Cavaliere Salvestro de' Medici's second Gonfaloniership, when the
+_Ciompi_--"Wooden Shoes" they were called in derision--the
+wool-workers--rose _en masse_, and besieged the _Signoria_ sitting at
+the Palazzo Vecchio. They claimed to rule the city and to abolish the
+nobles, and a second time Salvestro was "the man of the hour!"
+
+Acting upon his advice, terms were arranged with the revolutionaries,
+and Michaele Lando--a common woolcarder by trade, but a born leader of
+men--was elected _Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_, and a new government was
+set up. Upon Salvestro, "the Champion of the People," was again
+conferred by public acclamation the accolade of knighthood; moreover, as
+a further mark of popular estimation, to him were allocated the rents of
+the shops upon the Ponte Vecchio and other prerogatives.
+
+The public spirit displayed by Cavaliere Salvestro gained for him not
+only personal distinction and reward, but obtained for his family
+recognition as the first in Florence. He married Donna Bartolommea, the
+daughter of Messer Oddo degli Altoviti, by whom he had many children.
+None of his sons seem to have added laurels to the family fame, but to
+have lived peacefully in the glamour of their father's renown. The
+Cavaliere retired into private life in 1380, and his death, which
+occurred in 1388, marked the establishment of Medicean domination in the
+affairs of Florence.
+
+The second of the "Grand" Medici was Giovanni, the son of Averardo
+III.--called "Bicci"--and his first wife, Donna Giovanna de' Cavallini,
+born in 1360. He was just twenty-eight years of age when his popular
+relative, Cavaliere Salvestro de' Medici, died. His young manhood found
+him in the very forefront of party strife, and from the first he held
+unswervingly with the Guelphs.
+
+Married, in 1384, to Donna Piccarda, daughter of Messer Odoardo de'
+Bueri, he was the father of four sons--Antonio, Damiano, Cosimo, and
+Lorenzo--the two former died in childhood. The choice of names for two
+of the boys is significant of the value Messer Giovanni placed upon his
+family's origin--Saints Damiano and Cosimo, of course, were patrons of
+doctors and apothecaries. Hence he was not ashamed of the golden
+pillules of his armorial bearings!
+
+Messer Giovanni developed extraordinary strength of character; he was a
+born ruler of men, and a passionate patriot. He gained the goodwill of
+his fellow-citizens by his unselfishness and generosity--truly not too
+common in the bearing of men of his time. He served the office of Prior
+in 1402, 1408, 1411; he was ambassador to Naples in 1406, and to Pope
+Alessandro V. in 1409; and, in 1407, he held the lucrative post of
+Podesta of Pistoja.
+
+In 1421 Messer Giovanni de' Medici was elected _Gonfaloniere di
+Giustizia_, as the representative of the middle classes, and in
+opposition to Messeri Rinaldo degli Albizzi and Niccolo da Uzzano, the
+Ghibelline nominees. The Republic sighed for peace, the crafts for
+quietness; but the immense liabilities incurred by many costly military
+enterprises had to be met. Messer Giovanni proposed, in 1427, a tax
+which should not weigh too heavily upon anybody. Each citizen who was
+possessed of a capital of one hundred gold florins, or more, was mulcted
+in a payment to the State of half a gold florin (ten shillings _circa_).
+This tax, which was called "_Il Catasto_" was unanimously accepted--"it
+pleased the common people greatly." Messer Giovanni was taxed as heavily
+as anyone, namely, three hundred gold florins--indicative, incidentally,
+of his wealth and honesty.
+
+Giovanni associated with himself another prominent man, Messer Agnolo
+de' Pandolfini, the leader of the "Peace-at-any-Price" party, who is
+remembered in the annals of Florence as "The Peaceful Citizen." The main
+points of their policy were:--(1) Peace abroad; (2) Prosperity at home;
+(3) Low taxation.
+
+No combination of his opponents--and they were many and
+unscrupulous--was able to damage Messer Giovanni's reputation and power.
+He could, had he wished it, have proclaimed himself sole ruler of
+Florence and her territory; but self-control and prudence--which were so
+characteristic of the men of his family--never forsook him. He died
+universally regretted in 1429, and was buried in the church of San
+Lorenzo, which he, along with the Martelli, had restored and endowed.
+Giovanni di Averardo de' Medici was looked upon as the first banker in
+Italy, the controller of the credit of Florence and the prince of
+financiers. Cavalcanti, Macchiavelli, Ammirato, and almost all other
+historians, describe him as "Large-hearted, liberal-minded, courteous
+and charitable, dispensing munificent alms with delicate consideration
+of the feelings and wants of those whom he assisted. Never suing for
+honours, he gained them all. Hostile to public peculations he strove
+disinterestedly for the public good. He died rich in this world's goods,
+but richer still in the goodwill of his fellow citizens."
+
+Many have sought, nevertheless, to belittle Messer Giovanni's
+reputation--attributing to him a motive for all his urbanity--that of
+the permanent domination of his house in the government of the
+Republic--not surely a fault. His old rival in the arena of politics,
+Niccolo da Uzzano, ever spoke of him after his death with unstinted
+praise and admiration.
+
+Messer Giovanni shares with Cavaliere Salvestro the undying fame of
+having raised, upon the excellent foundation laid by their ancestors,
+the massive supporting walls of that superb edifice, of which his son,
+Cosimo, formed the cupola, and his great-grandson, Lorenzo--the
+lantern--"the Light of Italy."
+
+The third and fourth "Grand" Medici were, of course, Cosimo, "_Il Padre
+della Patria_," and Lorenzo, "_Il Magnifico_." The stories of their
+lives and exploits are to be read in the stories, the literature and the
+arts of Florence. Of Cosimo, Niccolo Macchiavelli wrote as follows:
+
+"He applied himself so strenuously to increase the political power of
+his house, that those who had rejoiced at Giovanni's death now regretted
+it, perceiving what manner of man Cosimo was. Of consummate prudence,
+staid yet agreeable presence, he was liberal and humane. He never worked
+against his own party, or against the State, and was prompt in giving
+aid to all. His liberality gained him many partisans among the
+citizens."
+
+Born in 1389, he early evinced mercantile proclivities, and when a lad
+of no more than seventeen Messer Giovanni, his father, placed him in
+charge successively of several of the foreign agencies of the Medici
+bank. Young Cosimo used his opportunities so well that he was looked
+upon as a successful financier, and came to be called "The Great
+Merchant of Florence!"
+
+He was jokingly wont to say: "Two yards of scarlet cloth are enough to
+make a citizen!" Nevertheless he had a deep regard for the opinions and
+privileges of his fellow Florentines. One of his constant sayings was:
+"One must always consult the will of the people"--and "the people"
+replied by acclaiming him "_Il Padre della Patria_."
+
+Cosimo has been called "a great merchant and a grand party-leader: the
+first of Florentines by birth and the first of Italians by culture." He
+died in 1464. His father left in cash a fortune of nearly 180,000 gold
+florins, but Cosimo's estate totalled upwards of 230,000--_circa_
+L100,000--a vast amount in those days!
+
+After the strong personality of Cosimo and his masterful manipulation of
+commercial and political affairs, perhaps the unambitious rule of his
+son Piero was a necessary and healthful corollary. Piero de' Medici
+maintained the ground his father had made his own, and gave away nothing
+of the predominance of his family, and he made way, after a brief
+exercise of authority, for his brilliant son, Lorenzo.
+
+Piero's character and career again prove the truth of the adage:
+"Ability rarely runs in two successive generations." All the same, he
+died in 1409, leaving his sons the heirs to nearly 300,000 gold florins!
+
+Lorenzo, "_Il Magnifico_," was the first of the "Grand" Medici to give
+up entirely all connection with commercial pursuits and banking
+interests. His tenure of office, by a curious paradox, marks the
+termination of the financial liberties of Florence! He was an all-round
+genius--there was nothing he could not do--and do well! "Whatever is
+worth doing at all," he was wont to say, "is worth doing well."
+
+With his death, in 1492, as Benedetto Dei said, "The Splendour, not of
+Tuscany only, but of all Italy, disappeared."
+
+With the beginning of the sixteenth century dawned a new era.
+Preliminary signs had appeared in the growth of wealth, in
+enfranchisement from primitive methods, and in the evolution of
+individualism. Love of country and the ties of family life were loosened
+by the universal craving for self-indulgence and personal distinction.
+Idleness, sensuality, and scepticism--three baneful sisters--gained the
+mastery, weakening the fabric of society, and leading on to the evil
+courses of tyrannicide.
+
+"The gradual extinction of public spirit; the general deterioration of
+private character, and the exercise of unbridled lust and passion, are
+the livid hues which tinge with the purple of melancholy and the scarlet
+of tragedy the later pages of Florentine story."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The direct line of Cosimo, "_Il Padre della Patria_," the elder
+surviving son of Messer Giovanni di Averardo "Bicci" de' Medici, ended
+with Caterina, Queen of France, the only legitimate child of Lorenzo,
+Duke of Urbino, and last _Capo della Repubblica_ of Florence; and
+Alessandro the Bastard, first Duke of Florence, the illegitimate son of
+Pope Clement VII.
+
+The sovereignty of the Medici was maintained in the person of Cosimo,
+the only son of Condottiere Giovanni, "delle Bande Nere," the
+great-grandson of Lorenzo, the younger of the two surviving sons of
+Messer Giovanni di Averardo "Bicci" de' Medici. The rule of the Medici
+Grand Dukes of Tuscany was carried on from Cosimo I. to Gian Gastone,
+seventh Grand Duke and last of his line, who died in 1737.
+
+The Grand Duchy then passed to the house of Lorraine, and with a
+Napoleonic usurpation of eighteen years (1796-1814), it continued in the
+Lorraine family, as represented by the collateral Hapsburgs, till the
+year 1859. In that year, King Vittorio Emmanuele of Piedmont and
+Sardinia, entered Florence, which, with all Italy, was united under the
+Royal Crown of the House of Savoy.
+
+
+
+
+THE TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+LORENZO--"_Il Magnifico_."
+
+GIULIANO--"_Il Pensieroso_."
+
+
+"_Signori!_" "_Signori!_"
+
+Such was the stirring cry which resounded through the lofty Council
+Chamber of the famous Palazzo Vecchio that dull December day in the year
+1469.
+
+Never had such a title been accorded to any one in Florence, where every
+man was as good as, if not better than, his neighbour. Foreign
+sovereigns, and their lieutenants, who, from time to time, visited the
+city and claimed toll and fealty from the citizens, had never been
+addressed as "_Signori_"--"Lords and Masters." The "_Spirito del
+Campanile_" as it was called, was nowhere more rampant than in the "City
+of the Lion and Lily," where everybody at all times seemed only too
+ready to disparage his fellow.
+
+The cry was as astounding as it was unanimous--"_Signori!_" "_Signori!_"
+"_Evviva i due Signori de' Medici!_" "_Signori!_" "_Signori!_" "_Evviva
+i due figli della Domina Lucrezia._" Thus it gathered strength--its
+importance was emphatic--it was epoch-marking.
+
+"_Signori!_" "_Signori!_" was the acknowledgment of the sovereignty of
+the Medici, made quite freely and spontaneously by the dignified Lords
+of the Signory, in the name of the whole population of Florence and
+Tuscany.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Piero de' Medici died on 3rd December 1469, and his interment, which was
+conducted with marked simplicity, in accordance with his will, was
+completed that same evening. He had, during his short exercise of power
+as _Capo della Repubblica_, given a pageant--"The Triumph of Death," he
+called it, by way of being his own funeral obsequies--a grim
+anticipation of the future indeed!
+
+At midnight a secret meeting of citizens was convened, by the officials
+of the _Signoria_, within the Monastery of Sant' Antonio by the old
+Porta Faenza, to debate the question of filling the vacant Headship of
+the State. Why such a remote locality was chosen is not stated, but it
+was in conformity with Florentine usage, which, for general and personal
+security, required secrecy in such gatherings.
+
+More than six hundred--"the flower of the city" as Macchiavelli called
+them--attended, and upon the proposition of Ridolfo de' Pandolfini,
+Messer Tommaso Soderini, by reason of seniority of years and priority of
+importance, was called upon to preside. "Being one of the first citizens
+and much superior to the others, his prudence and authority were
+recognised not only in Florence, but by all the rulers of Italy."
+
+The Soderini had, for three hundred years, held a leading position in
+the affairs of Florence; but they were rivals and enemies of the Medici.
+Indeed Messer Tommaso's uncle--Ser Francesco--was one of the principal
+opponents in the city counsels of Cosimo--"_il Padre della Patria_."
+Messer Niccolo, his brother, carried on the feud, and was, with
+Diotisalvi Neroni, Agnolo Acciaiuolo, and others, banished in 1455, for
+their complicity in the abortive attempt to assassinate Piero de'
+Medici.
+
+Messer Tommaso, more prescient and prudent, threw in his lot with the
+Medici, and was chosen by Piero, not only as his own chief counsellor
+and intimate friend, but as the principal adviser of his two young
+sons--Lorenzo and Giuliano. He had, moreover, allied himself to the
+Medici by his marriage with Dianora de' Tornabuoni, sister of Domina
+Lucrezia, Piero's wife.
+
+All the same, he kept his own counsel and took up a perfectly
+independent line of action, being quite remarkable for his display of
+that most pronounced characteristic of all good Florentines--the
+placing of Florence first--"_Firenze la prima!_"
+
+At the meeting, at Sant' Antonio, his rising to speak was the signal for
+general applause. In a few generous words he eulogised the gentle
+virtues of Piero and bemoaned his premature death. In a longer and more
+serious oration, on the conditions politically and socially of Florence
+and of the whole State, he put before his hearers two uncontrovertible
+considerations, to guide them in the exercise of the selection of a new
+_Capo della Repubblica_,--first. The maintenance of unity and
+tranquillity; and second. The preservation of the _status quo_.
+
+Many and friendly were the interruptions of the oration, and over and
+over again shouts were raised for "_Tommaso Soderini il Capo!_"
+Gracefully he bowed his acknowledgment, but, with much feeling, declined
+the rare honour offered him. Then he went on to say that as the supreme
+office had been worthily served by Cosimo and Piero de' Medici, it was
+but fitting that it should be continued in that illustrious family.
+
+He expatiated upon the advantages which had accrued to Florence under
+the Headship of the Medici; and he urged upon the assembly to offer
+their allegiance to Piero's sons, and to give them the authority that
+their father and grandfather had possessed.
+
+Keen debate followed Messer Tommaso's speech: some wished that he would
+reconsider his decision, others were in favour of trying a new man and
+of another family--Niccolo Soderini's name was freely mentioned, but
+gradually the meeting came to accept the proposal. It gained at all
+events the adhesion of such pronounced ante-Mediceans as Gianozzo de'
+Pitti and Domenico de' Martelli, and led to a fusion, there and then, of
+the two parties, "_del Poggio_" and "_del Piano_." Unanimity was the
+more readily reached when those who demurred perceived that Messer
+Tommaso would be the virtual ruler of the State in the personal
+direction of his two young nephews. A deputation was accordingly chosen
+to convey to Domina Lucrezia and her sons the condolences of the city,
+and to offer to Lorenzo the coveted Headship of the State.
+
+At noon on the following day the deputation was honourably received at
+the Medici Palace. "The principal men of the State and of the City,"
+wrote Lorenzo in his _Ricordi_, "came to our house to condole with us in
+our bereavement, and to offer me the direction of the Government in
+succession to my grandfather and father. I hesitated to accept the high
+honour on account of my youth and because of the danger and
+responsibility I should incur; and I only consented in order to
+safeguard our friends and our property."
+
+A plenary Parliament was summoned by Tommaso Soderini and those
+associated with him in the conduct of public affairs during the
+interregnum. It was held in the great Council Chamber of the Palazzo
+Vecchio, and was attended by a full concourse of senators and other
+prominent citizens, deputations from the Guilds, and representatives of
+the Minor Orders. In the Piazza della Signoria and the adjoining
+streets, was assembled an immense crowd of people, the greater part
+being supporters of the Medici.
+
+Inside the Chamber again Messer Tommaso Soderini was unanimously elected
+president, and forthwith proceeded to report the result of the
+deputation. His speech was repeatedly interrupted by cries that he
+should reconsider his decision and accept then and there the Headship of
+the State. He again emphatically declined the honour his fellow-citizens
+desired to confer upon him, and proclaimed Lorenzo de' Medici _Capo
+della Repubblica Fiorentina_.
+
+At a preconcerted signal the arras over the doorway leading to the
+private audience chamber was lifted, and there advanced Piero's widow
+with her two sons, clothed in the dark habiliments of mourning. Domina
+Lucrezia threw back her thick black veil, revealing upon her kindly face
+a sorrowful expression and her eyes suffused with tears. Making a lowly
+curtsey she drew herself up--a queenly figure--and holding the hands of
+Lorenzo and Giuliano, on either side, made her way to where Messer
+Tommaso Soderini was standing.
+
+All eyes were bent upon the pathetic little group, and a sympathetic
+murmur moved the whole audience. Every man of them had for years
+regarded the Domina as the model of what a woman and a wife, a mother
+and a queen, should be. She had no rivals and no detractors. Hers had
+been the wise power behind the throne, for her tactful counsels had
+guided the actions of her husband unerringly.
+
+Florence was greatly beholden to Domina Lucrezia--a debt which nothing
+could repay. Her influence for good upon the Court, her munificence in
+charity, and her unsparing unselfishness had not been without powerful
+effect upon every one of those hard-headed, hard-hearted citizens. They
+called to mind that well-known saying of the "Father of his
+Country"--"the great merchant"--Cosimo: "Why, Lucrezia is the best man
+among us!"
+
+They reflected, too, upon the auspicious example set at the Palazzo
+Medici, where the mother's part was conspicuous in the wise training of
+her family and in the loving deference she received from her sons. And
+as they gazed upon Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici--"the hope of
+Florence"--they recognised in the former a statesman, already a ruler in
+the making. Young though he was, he had widely gained a reputation for
+shrewdness and energy, for Piero had taken his eldest son early into his
+confidence, and had entrusted to him much important State business. He
+had sent him with embassies to Rome, Venice, and Naples; he had
+despatched him upon a round of ceremonious visits to foreign courts; and
+had encouraged him to make himself acquainted with all Tuscany and the
+Tuscans.
+
+Lorenzo's accomplishments in the school of letters were known to all. He
+was a scholar and a gentleman, and these points had great weight in
+Florentine opinion. In figure and physiognomy he very greatly resembled
+his grandfather. His dignified bearing greatly impressed the assembly,
+whilst his unaffected modesty, pleasant courtesy, and graceful oratory,
+gratified them all.
+
+In Giuliano they had a typical young courtier, handsome, athletic,
+accomplished, and enthusiastic. His physical charms appealed to every
+one, for most Florentines were Greeks of the Greeks. A precocious boy of
+sixteen years of age, he had the promise of a brilliant young manhood
+and a splendid maturity.
+
+The personal equation is always a prominent factor in human ambitions,
+and nowhere was it more emphatically dominant than in the mutual
+jealousies of the men of Florence. The "x+y" sign of absolute assurance
+had its match and equal in the "x-y" sign of restrictive deference. If
+one _Messer_ arrived at some degree of prominence, then the best way for
+him to attain his end was to pit himself against another of his class
+nearest to him in influence. If _he_ was not to gain the guerdon, then
+his rival should not have it!
+
+This was the spirit which permeated the _raison d'etre_ of each noble
+lord in that great assembly. After the first wave of enthusiasm had
+passed, each man began to reflect that the best way, after all, for
+settling the contentious question of the Headship of the Republic, was
+to rule every one of the "magnificent six hundred" out of the running;
+and by taking the line of least resistance plump for the unassuming
+youths before them--Medici although they were.
+
+"_Signori!_" "_Signori!_" again ran through the lofty chamber, "_I
+Signori di Firenze!_" Some cried out "Lorenzo," and some "Giuliano," and
+others "_I tutte due_"--but shouts for Lorenzo waxed the loudest. Thus
+by general acclamation was the new _Capo della Repubblica_ elected.
+
+Abashed by the vociferations of their elders and yet encouraged by the
+unanimity of the assembly, the two young men stood gravely bowing their
+acknowledgments, the heightened colour of their faces and the nervous
+tension of their frames indicating the fervency of their emotions. In a
+few well-chosen sentences Lorenzo expressed his pleasure and Giuliano's,
+and the gratitude of their mother at this signal mark of confidence; and
+promised to uphold the traditions of the City and the State, as his
+forbears had done, craving from the noble lords their united sympathy
+and support.
+
+Gently leading the now smiling Domina Lucrezia by the hand, the two
+brothers returned to the private Hall of Audience, while the great bell
+of the Palazzo boomed forth the news to the waiting crowd outside. The
+wool-workers had ceased their toil, the artists had left their
+_botteghe_, the markets were deserted, and all Florence forgathered in
+the Piazza to welcome "_I Signori di Firenze!_"
+
+Loud plaudits greeted the noble matron and her sons--not the battle-cry
+"_Palle! Palle!_" indeed--but "_Evviva i Medici!_" "_Lorenzo!_"
+"_Giuliano!_" "_La buona Domina Magnifica!_" ... Their progress was a
+triumph, they could scarcely make their way, short as it was, to the Via
+Larga, for everybody pressed forward to kiss and stroke their hands.
+Never had there been anything like so popular an election in Florence;
+men and women shed tears as they uttered rapturously their names; for
+were not "Lorenzo" and "Giuliano" the "pets of the people," and was not
+the Domina Lucrezia beloved by everyone!
+
+The plenary Parliament, having completed its labours, broke up
+immediately, and the excellent lords and worthy citizens hied them to
+their palaces, their banks, and their offices, more or less pleased with
+the morning's work. Not a few reflected, rather grimly, that they had
+placed two young lives between themselves and the seat of supreme
+authority. Their sons might live to rule Florence, but their own chances
+had vanished for ever!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lorenzo was not backward in gripping, with a firm hand, the reins of
+power. Young as he was, he had already formed his ideals and laid out
+his plans as to the best government of the State. The yearly symposia in
+the Casentino had been productive of much good in the training of the
+youthful ruler. The direction of his opinions was signified in that
+saying of his: "He who would live in Florence must know how to govern!"
+
+The repetition of this phrase was perhaps indiscreet, and it caused
+searchings of heart, as the meaning of it was borne in upon the
+comprehensions of the least friendly of the citizens. Lorenzo was
+clearly set upon the aggrandisement of his house and the dependence of
+all others. Allowance was made for a lad's impetuosity, but at the same
+time many a leader kept his hands tightly pressed upon the machinery of
+government.
+
+Everyone perceived that the young _Capo della Repubblica_ was in full
+possession of the solid grit of his pushful grandfather. He had not
+studied the careers of his famous ancestors, Salvestro, Giovanni, and
+Cosimo, for nothing. Indeed Piero, his father, in writing to his sons at
+Cafaggiuolo to acquaint them with the death of Cosimo, "_Il Padre della
+Patria_," in 1463, had pointedly said: "Your mother and I offer the
+character and example of your grandfather to our sons."
+
+Besides these strong characteristics he had inherited, in a superlative
+degree, the shrewd common-sense of Piero, and his mother's passionate
+love of Florence, with all her enthusiasm for what was pure, cultured,
+philanthropic, and religious. Niccolo Macchiavelli, somewhat
+unwillingly, admitted that--"Lorenzo has all the high-mindedness and
+liberality which anybody could expect in one occupying such an exalted
+station."
+
+Giuliano tacitly and contentedly accepted a less ambitious and
+responsible role. Whilst Lorenzo took the first place and occupied
+himself in questions of State policy and in the affairs of the family,
+Giuliano drew to himself all the younger men in physical exploit and
+mental effort. From boyhood addicted to sports and pastimes, he became
+_facile princeps_ in all manly exercises.
+
+"_Il bel Giulio!_" as he was called generally, was moreover the leader
+of fashion and the organiser of all the pageants and jousts with which
+Lorenzo and he delighted the citizens. Whilst devoting most of his time
+to fun and frolic, the young prince was acknowledged as one of the chief
+_litterati_, and a conspicuous ornament of the Platonic Academy.
+
+The serious side to his character and his, studious disposition gained
+for him the gentle title of "_Il Pensieroso_." His mother's fond hope
+was that he should be named a Cardinal, not merely a Papal princeling,
+nor of course a religious reprobate--as, alas, most of the Cardinals
+were--but a devout wearer of the scarlet hat, and that one day he might
+even assume the triple tiara!
+
+Anyhow Giuliano's youth was as spotless as it might be amid unchaste
+surroundings. His passion for the bewitching Simonetta, "The Star of
+Genoa," seems to have been the only serious romance of his life, and
+therein he never aroused Marco de' Vespucci's jealousy by his attentions
+to his young wife. Indeed the loves of "_Il bel Giulio_" and "_La bella
+Simonetta_" were the talk and the admiration of the whole city:--the
+Apollo or the Mercury of the New Athens with his Venus--Venus de'
+Medici!
+
+The magnificent _Giostra_, or Tournament, which Lorenzo celebrated a
+year before his accession to the Headship of the Republic was but the
+prelude to the exhibition of lavish hospitality such as Florentines, and
+the strangers within their gates, had never witnessed. Banquets, ballets
+and pageants succeeded one another in rapid succession. Church and
+national festivals gained splendour and circumstance unrivalled in any
+other city. Indeed the citizens, from the highest to the meanest, lived
+in a whirl of festivities--and they liked it well!
+
+The visits of friendly princes and other distinguished personages were
+hailed with enthusiasm. Apparently there was no bottom to the Medici
+purse; but actually the _Capo della Repubblica_ was playing rather fast
+and loose with his opulent patrimony. There came a day when the strain
+grew excessive, and Lorenzo was unable, had he been willing, to make
+advances to princely suitors, and he lived to repent his prodigality.
+
+The first notable visitors were Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan and
+his Duchess Bona, Princess of Savoy. The retinue which accompanied the
+sovereigns was gorgeous, and filled the people of Florence with
+amazement; but their wonder was tenfold greater when Lorenzo displayed
+still greater magnificence in their reception. Macchiavelli has
+attributed the vast increase in the luxurious habits of the citizens to
+this splendid hospitality.
+
+Another remarkable demonstration was that which was made in 1471 upon
+the occasion of the succession of Cardinal Francesco delle Rovere to the
+Papal throne as Sixtus IV. Lorenzo, in person, headed the special
+embassy which was despatched from Florence to congratulate the new
+pontiff. The other principal members were Domenico de' Martelli, Agnolo
+della Stufa, Bongianio de' Gianfigliazzi, and Donato de' Acciaiuolo.
+Whilst the mission and its wealth of offerings were received graciously
+by the Roman Court, Sixtus by no means extended a cordial welcome to
+Lorenzo. The request which he made for the bestowal of a Cardinal's hat
+upon his brother, Giuliano, was refused somewhat brusquely, although, to
+be sure, the Pope did agree to the transfer of the custody of the
+finances of the Curia to the Medici bank, through the intervention of
+Messer Giovanni de' Tornabuoni--Lorenzo's uncle, a resident in Rome.
+
+Lorenzo appears to have made, however, rather a favourable impression
+upon Sixtus, for he entered into negotiations concerning the sale of the
+costly jewels which had been collected by Pope Paul II. In the end
+Lorenzo purchased the cabinet and its contents, and made thereby a very
+excellent bargain.
+
+During his sojourn in the Eternal City, Lorenzo acquired a number of
+precious antiques, rare manuscripts, and valuable works of art. Sixtus,
+noting his artistic tastes, sent him many handsome gifts, and promised,
+at his solicitation, to prevent the destruction of ancient buildings and
+monuments. They parted apparently excellent friends.
+
+Giuliano's _Giostra_ was even more brilliant than that of Lorenzo, six
+years before. It was celebrated in honour of "La bella Simonetta," with
+whom the impressionable young prince became daily more and more madly in
+love. Whether his infatuation went at all beyond the bounds of Platonic
+affection is doubtful. His lovely _innamorata_ was the wife of his best
+friend, and his honour went for much in the loyal estimation of
+Giuliano. Besides this, his good mother's influence in the cause of
+virtue and modesty was all-powerful with both her sons.
+
+Strange to say, this romantic attachment stirred the jealousy of a very
+prominent citizen, no less a personage than Messer Francesco de' Pazzi.
+He and his brothers declined the invitation to the _Giostra_, and
+abstained from participation in the general festivities. It was a case
+of race rivalry and of personal jealousy, but it meant much in the
+relations of the two families.
+
+The efforts which Lorenzo continually made "to gain a firm footing in
+Florence"--as Francesco de' Guicciardini has recorded--quite naturally
+were productive of opposition and animosity. The men who had placed him
+in power were again in two camps--those who were content with the
+_status quo_, and those who were not. The latter made less and less
+effort to conceal their real sentiments, and at length set about to
+question Lorenzo's motives, and defeat his projects. He was a
+_beau-ideal_ citizen, for, with all his love of show and circumstance,
+even in the fulness of his dignity and dominion, he knew how to retain
+and exhibit certain homely and simple traits, which were quite after the
+Florentine manner.
+
+He met criticisms and oppositions with the very characteristic
+statement: "I will," said he, "allow no man to put his foot on my
+throat!" This threat--for so it was accounted by those who wished to
+discredit him--was like a red gauntlet thrown down, and, later on, a
+hand--if not a foot--and a dagger, were at Lorenzo's throat!
+
+The overstrain of desire, the feverishness of acquisitiveness, and the
+lust for power, often in their intensity defeat the purpose sought. The
+personality of Lorenzo waxed greater and mightier day by day in the
+nervously articulated constitution of Florence. The greatest genius of
+his age, he was not only the master of the Government, but the
+acknowledged chief of the Platonic Academy, the first of living poets, a
+most distinguished classical scholar, and the greatest benefactor the
+city had ever known. Everything was within his grasp and everyone had to
+bow to his will; his aim was to be autocratic Prince of Tuscany.
+
+It was the mark of a "perfect gentleman" to unbend to plainer folk, and
+to mingle with them in moments of relaxation. As a youth he had, with
+Giuliano, frequented the village fairs in the Mugello, for amusement and
+good fellowship: indeed they brought him inspiration and popularity as
+well. When in residence in the Medici Palace he was wont to take his
+walks abroad quite freely, and to sit and chat with the habitues of the
+_osterie_ by the Porta San Gallo, and other similar taverns.
+
+Florentine of the Florentines, he loved tricks and jokes, and was never
+tired of making fun at the expense of others: be it said, too, he knew
+how to take as well as give. An amusing story is told of him: being at
+Pisa, he chanced to see among the students of the University--which, by
+the way, he was instrumental in re-establishing and re-endowing--a
+youth who squinted. He remarked with a laugh: "That lad should easily be
+the head of his class!" When questioned as to his meaning, he replied
+jocosely: "Because he will read at the same time both pages of his book,
+and so will learn double!"
+
+Entering thus unostentatiously into the lives and habits of his
+fellow-citizens, it was perfectly natural that he should gain their
+esteem, friendship, and loyal support. He soon became out and away the
+most popular man in Florence, notwithstanding the unworthy sneer of that
+ill-conditioned and self-opinionated monk, Girolamo Savonarola.
+"Lorenzo," he muttered, "occupies the people with feasts and shows in
+order that they may think more of their own amusement than of his
+ambitions."
+
+Lorenzo was under no delusion with respect to the permanence, in a more
+or less subjective degree, of the spirit of revolt which had rendered
+his father's succession to the Headship of the Republic difficult. The
+very men who had, for their own ends, misguided Piero, of course were no
+longer powerful--such at least of them as were still alive were in
+banishment; but their sons and their adjoints were ready enough to
+question his authority.
+
+Swiftly enough, Lorenzo took the measures of these men, and prepared to
+counteract their opposition. Naturally he sought the counsel of Domina
+Lucrezia, than whom nobody understood better the men of Florence, their
+manners and their moods. Long and serious were the deliberations of
+mother and son. With her pregnant assistance he roughed out a scheme, so
+warily conceived and so faithfully elaborated, that, on its presentation
+to the Lords of the Signory, it was accepted almost unanimously.
+
+This measure touched citizens in their tenderest spot,--pride and love
+of display,--for it proclaimed the appointment of the leading _Signori_
+as ambassadors to foreign courts and communes. The one great absorbing
+ambition of all prominent Florentines was, through all their history, to
+head a foreign mission, with all its honours and emoluments.
+
+With infinite grace and persuasiveness Lorenzo put before the Council
+the advisability of the despatch of envoys, incidentally to announce his
+succession to the Headship of the State, but principally to proclaim the
+grandeur, the wealth, and the power, of the great Tuscan Republic. It
+was a master-stroke thus to appeal to the patriotism, no less than to
+the egotism, of their Excellencies, and, at the same time, to confirm
+his own supremacy!
+
+The bait, dangled before avaricious eyes, was eagerly snapped up, and
+when Lorenzo backed up his proposition by munificently mounting each
+embassy, and by the promise of knighthood upon the return of the
+ambassadors, scarcely a man of those nominated held back. The scheme
+worked splendidly, and Lorenzo had the supreme satisfaction of bidding
+courteous and thankful farewells to his most prominent rivals.
+
+Among them were such distinguished leaders of public opinion as Bernardo
+de' Buongirolami, Cesare de' Petrucci, Bernardo del Nero, Agnolo de'
+Niccolini, and Piero Filippo de' Pandolfini. Their departure was the
+signal for the advancement of many less known men,--friends and proteges
+of the two brothers or of Domina Lucrezia. In this way Lorenzo greatly
+strengthened his hold upon the supreme power.
+
+Two very prominent men, however, rejected the proposal--at once the most
+popular and most dangerous--Tommaso de' Soderini and Francesco de'
+Pazzi.
+
+Tommaso de' Soderini added immensely to his popularity by his noble
+exhibition of self-abnegation. His prudence and ability had for long
+pointed him out as the most trustworthy and experienced of his peers.
+His whole-hearted loyalty to the cause of the Medici, and the
+consistency with which he maintained the position he had taken up, at
+the plenary Parliament in 1469, and subsequently, made him, by the
+contrariety of circumstances, the most redoubtable rival of the
+ambitious and impulsive _Capo della Repubblica_.
+
+The trusty pilot, who had so effectively steered the ship of State
+through the troubled waters of the interregnum, was, quite
+unintentionally and unwillingly, the greatest obstacle in the way of
+the young captain! Everybody who had a grievance--real or
+imaginary--against the government of Lorenzo, sought Messer Tommaso's
+advice and sympathy, so that the situation became charged with
+difficulties and embarrassments. The very merest change in the whim of a
+fickle people might upset the Medici, and then the Soderini would be
+called upon to fill the vacancy. Messer Tommaso's presence in Florence
+was both a source of strength to Lorenzo and his house, and a menace.
+
+When the subject of the embassy to Rome--the chief diplomatic
+appointment of the Republic--was broached, Messer Tommaso, with the
+utmost sincerity, expressed his fervent wish to meet Lorenzo's views in
+every respect, but he expressed, quite emphatically, his disinclination
+to undertake such an arduous duty. Not only did he plead the infirmities
+of age, but declared that his wife, Madonna Dianora, would never leave
+Florence. Her love of her own city and its people equalled that of her
+sister, the Domina Magnifica Lucrezia--their social, charitable and
+literary interests were alike and equal.
+
+Here was a condition of affairs which called for the exercise of the
+greatest tact and ingenuity, and Lorenzo committed the task of
+overcoming the scruples of his uncle and aunt to his mother. Her efforts
+were entirely successful, and Lorenzo, with a deep sigh of relief,
+handed Messer Tommaso his credentials, and personally conducted him and
+his suite to the Porta Romano, and thence speeded him upon his journey.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Francesco de' Pazzi was cast in a very different sort of mould--the very
+antithesis in character, demeanour, and aspiration to Tommaso de
+Soderini--he has very appropriately been called "the Cataline of
+Florence." Possessed of immense wealth, much of which had come to him
+from his father, Messer Antonio, he rapidly dissipated it by selfish
+extravagance: no man surpassed him in the virtue or the vice--which you
+will--of self-seeking.
+
+In the bitterness of an overweening and mortified ambition he rejected,
+with the utmost discourtesy, Lorenzo's overtures, at the same time
+remorselessly exposing his intentions, and vowing that no Pazzo should
+"go round the corner" for a Medico! Messer Francesco displayed
+unreservedly the true character of his family: he was in truth the
+"Mirror of his race"--"_L'implacabile Pazzi_."
+
+The descent of the Pazzi was one of the most ancient among the noble
+families of Tuscany. The senior branch claimed Greek descent, and its
+members were early denizens of the hill-country about Fiesole. Leaders
+of men, they became adherents of the aristocratic party--the
+Ghibellines--and were consistent and energetic in their allegiance to
+the Emperor. The junior branch of the Pazzi were dwellers in the Vale of
+Arno--men of peaceful predilections in agriculture and commerce,
+throwing in their lot with the Guelphs--the democratic party of the
+Pope.
+
+Giano della Bella's "_Ordinamenti di Giustizia_," in 1293, led to the
+disqualification of the Pazzi and many other notable families from the
+exercise of the franchise, and, as a consequence, they were deprived of
+all share in the Government.
+
+They recognised, even in those early days of the formation of the first
+of modern states, that the Medici were rivals and opponents not only in
+domestic and commercial enterprise, but also in political advancement,
+and no love was lost between the two families. Nevertheless, the Pazzi
+were beholden to their rivals for the restoration of their civil rights.
+
+On the return of Cosimo de' Medici from exile in 1434, they were
+reinstated, and thenceforward maintained their position. Messer Andrea,
+next after Cosimo the most influential citizen of Florence, was elected
+to the Priorate in 1435, and in 1439 he was called upon to entertain no
+less a personage than King Rene of France. In 1441 he was _Gonfaloniere
+di Giustizia_.
+
+Messer Andrea left three sons--Piero, Giacopo and Antonio. Piero served
+the supreme office of _Gonfaloniere_ in 1462. He was the father of a
+numerous family--some historians say he had nineteen children by his
+wife, Madonna Fiammetta de' Guigni! None of them, however, made their
+mark in the life and history of the city, except the fourth son,
+Belforte Renato, who was a prominent man but suffered for the ill-doings
+of his relations.
+
+If Piero and his sons were unassuming citizens, Messer Andrea's second
+son, Giacopo, was of a very different disposition. A man of far greater
+ability and more vaulting ambition than his brother, he was looked upon
+as the head of the family. In appearance he was prematurely old and
+withered up, with a pallid face and palsied frame, with great restless,
+staring eyes. He perpetually tossed his head about from side to side, as
+though afflicted with St Vitus' dance. Giacopo was unmarried, a
+libertine, notorious as a gambler and a blasphemer, a spendthrift, and
+jealous--beyond bounds--of the popularity and pre-eminence of Piero and
+Lorenzo de' Medici. He was pointed at as the most immoral man in
+Florence. In the year of Lorenzo's succession to the place of _Capo
+della Repubblica_, he obtained by bribery the high office of
+_Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_ as a set-off, but, by an inconsistency as
+unexpected as it was transparent, he accepted, on vacating office, a
+knighthood at the hands of his rival.
+
+Cavaliere Giacopo's relations with Lorenzo were fairly cordial,
+outwardly at least, for as late as 1474, when at Avignon, he wrote
+several letters to him, full of grateful expressions for favours
+received and of wishes for a continuance of a good understanding. None
+of Cavaliere Giacopo's illegitimate children arrived at maturity, and,
+on account of the failure of his elder brother's sons to achieve
+distinction, the proud banner of the family was clutched by the hands of
+the four boys of the youngest of Messer Andrea's sons--Guglielmo,
+Antonio, Giovanni, and Francesco. Their mother was Cosa degli
+Alessandri, a granddaughter of Alessandro degli Albizzi, who first
+adopted the new surname.
+
+The brothers were very wealthy, they had amassed large fortunes in
+commerce, and their houses extended for a considerable distance along
+that most fashionable of streets--the Borgo degli Albizzi. The Palazzo
+de' Pazzi doubtless was commenced by their grandfather, whose emblem--a
+ship--is among the architectural enrichments. The building was finished
+by their uncle, Giacopo--it is in the Via del Proconsolo.
+
+As bankers, the Pazzi were noted for their enterprise generally, and for
+their competition with the Medici in particular. They had agencies in
+all the chief cities of Europe and the East, but their reputation for
+avarice and sharp dealing was proverbial. Perhaps no family was quite so
+unpopular in Florence. Their traditions were aristocratic, whilst the
+Medici were champions of the people.
+
+This distinction was referred to by Madonna Alessandra Macinghi di
+Matteo degli Strozzi, in one of her letters to her son Filippo, at
+Naples. "I must bid you remember," she wrote, "that those who are upon
+the side of the Medici have always done well, whilst those who belong
+to the Pazzi, the contrary. So I pray you be on your guard."
+
+The growing importance of the Pazzi gave Piero and Lucrezia de' Medici
+much uneasiness, and it is quite certain that the marriage of their
+eldest daughter, Bianca--"Piero's tall daughter" as she was called--to
+the eldest of the three brothers, was a stroke of domestic policy by way
+of controlling the race for wealth and power.
+
+Lorenzo, very soon after his accession to the Headship of the State,
+"took the bull by the horns" and excluded the Pazzi from participation
+in public office. It was an extreme measure and not in accordance with
+his usual tact and circumspection, and of course it produced the
+greatest ill-will and resentment against him and his administration in
+every member of the proscribed family.
+
+The situation became greatly embittered when, in 1477, Lorenzo
+interfered in a law-suit which concerned the marriage dower and
+inheritance of Beatrice, the daughter of Giovanni Buonromeo. By
+Florentine law the daughter should have inherited the fortune without
+demur, under the express will of her father, who died intestate; but, at
+Lorenzo's command, the estate was passed on to Beatrice's cousin, Carlo
+Buonromeo, who was the winner of the second prize in Lorenzo's _Giostra_
+of 1468. This decision was in direct opposition to Giuliano de' Medici's
+opinion, and he did all he could to reassure Giovanni de' Pazzi,
+Guglielmo's brother, and Beatrice's husband, of friendship and
+confidence.
+
+These were not the only incidents which followed one another at the
+parting of the ways of the two families, but the affair of Giovanni and
+Beatrice was resented with peculiar bitterness by all the Pazzi. "Hence
+arose," as Francesco de' Guicciardini has testified, "the wronging of
+the Pazzi!"
+
+In Francesco, the youngest of the brethren, was exhibited the most
+violent animosity and hatred. Blessed with superabundant self-conceit,
+which went so far as to cause him to spend hours a day having his
+unusually light-coloured hair dressed at the barber's and his face
+salved and puffed at the apothecary's to conceal his muddy complexion,
+he was reckoned, in the Mercato Nuovo, as little better than an
+ill-conditioned _braggadoccio_! His shortness of stature he sought to
+atone for by his accentuation of the Florentine pout and the Tuscan
+strut--he was well known, too, for his contemptuous jokes at the expense
+of others.
+
+Francesco denounced Lorenzo and his Government with unmeasured scorn,
+and, careless of restraint, threatened that "he would be even with him,
+even though it cost him his life." Macchiavelli says: "He was the most
+unscrupulous of his family." "A man of blood," Agnolo Poliziano called
+him, "who, when he meditated any design, went straight to his goal,
+regardless of morality, religion, reputation and consequences."
+
+Early in March he quitted Florence suddenly, giving out that his
+presence was required at Rome in connection with the affairs of the
+Pazzi bank. To say that his departure was a relief to Lorenzo is but
+half the truth, for he was greatly perturbed with respect to the
+influence which such a passionate and reckless rival would have upon his
+relations with the Holy See. Francesco was the subject of watchfulness
+upon the part of the Medici agents in Rome, where Giovanni de'
+Tornabuoni set himself to thwart any hostile movement which might be
+made.
+
+Among prominent men with whom Francesco de' Pazzi was thrown into
+contact were Archbishop Francesco de' Salviati and Count Girolamo de'
+Riari. The Archbishop and Francesco were no strangers to one another;
+their families had risen to affluence and power side by side in
+Florence, actuated by like sentiments and engaged in like
+activities--hatred of the Medici was mutual.
+
+Sixtus had proposed, in 1474, to bestow upon Francesco de' Salviati the
+Archbishopric of Florence, but the _Signoria_, instigated by Lorenzo,
+refused to confirm his appointment and declined to grant him the
+temporalities of the See. The Pope yielded very ungraciously to the
+representations of the Florentine Government and named Rinaldo d'Orsini,
+Lorenzo's brother-in-law, to the vacancy. This intervention was adduced
+by Sixtus afterwards as insubordination worthy of punishment, and he did
+not forget to take his revenge.
+
+The following year Francesco de' Salviati was chosen as
+Archbishop-designate of Pisa, and again the Florentines objected--being
+joined by the Pisans, who conspired to prevent him taking possession.
+The Archbishop was, according to Agnolo Poliziano--the devoted historian
+and poet-laureate of Lorenzo il Magnifico--"An ignorant man, a contemner
+of all law--human and divine--a man steeped in crime, and a disgrace to
+his family and the whole State."
+
+Count Girolamo de' Riari, accounted a nephew of Sixtus, was, like his
+elder brother Piero and Caterina his sister, a natural child of the
+Pope. The three were treated with parental affection by the pontiff, and
+had their home in his private apartments, being waited upon by their
+unrecognised mother in the guise of nurse and guardian.
+
+Piero de' Riari was created a Cardinal when a spoilt boy, and became, as
+a man, infamous for his debauchery and villainy. Sixtus had the
+effrontery to select him as successor to Archbishop Orsini in Florence,
+but his action was prompted by a motive, which was firmly fixed in his
+heart. This was nothing less than the supplanting of Lorenzo de' Medici
+by Piero or Girolamo! So far, however, as Cardinal de' Riari was
+concerned, Sixtus' ambitions were wholly disappointed by his sudden
+death, due to violent excesses of all kinds.
+
+Like his brother, Count Girolamo, the offspring of illicit lust, and
+brought up in the depraved atmosphere of the Papal court, was a
+reprobate; but Sixtus' vaulting ambition stopped not at character and
+reputation. He was bent upon the permanent aggrandisement of all the
+branches of the Delle Rovere family. Casting about for territorial
+dignity, the Pope set his heart upon the Lordship of Imola, where Taddeo
+Manfredi of Faenza, being in financial difficulties, had surrendered the
+fief to the Duke of Milan.
+
+The proposal to bestow the Lordship upon Count Girolamo de' Riari by
+purchase was warmly resented by the Florentines. Sixtus approached the
+question in a most underhand and suspicious manner. He knew perfectly
+well that negotiations were on foot for the acquisition of the property
+and title by Lorenzo, on behalf of the Florentine Government.
+Nevertheless he sent a secret mission to Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan,
+offering the handsome sum of fifty thousand gold ducats, with a proviso,
+that the Duke should bestow the hand of his illegitimate daughter
+Caterina upon Girolamo.
+
+By way of adding insult to injury, Sixtus impudently sought a loan from
+the Medici bank, with which to pay the Duke: this greatly offended
+Lorenzo and all the leading men in Florence. What made the Pope's
+conduct more despicable, was the knowledge that he regarded this matter
+as the first step in a line of policy which aimed at supersession of the
+Medici by the Riari in the direction of Tuscan affairs--himself being
+Over-Lord.
+
+The Pope's demand was refused indignantly by Lorenzo, who, in the name
+of the _Signoria_, administered to his Holiness a severe rebuke for his
+interference in the affairs of Florence. The relations between the two
+Governments became strained, but Sixtus was perfectly indifferent to
+opposition where personal interests were concerned.
+
+His next move was the withdrawal of the Duke of Urbino, his relative,
+from the military service of the Republic, and his appointment as
+Commander-in-Chief of the Papal forces. This manoeuvre was regarded with
+alarm by all the Italian States, and a league was formed by Florence,
+Venice, and Milan, to check Papal encroachments.
+
+Sixtus made overtures to the Duke of Milan to detach him from the
+alliance, but, apparently, they failed of their object. The Duke was
+friendly with Lorenzo and had no wish to become embroiled with Florence.
+
+All these plots and counterplots were exactly to the liking of Francesco
+de' Pazzi, and he laid himself out to make capital out of them. Not only
+did he encourage the Pope in his inimical policy, but he placed at his
+command the sum of money which had been refused by the Medici bank.
+Sixtus was delighted with his new and wealthy adherent, and forthwith
+gave the presidents of the Medici bank in Rome notice that they no
+longer retained his confidence as Papal bankers, and that, accordingly,
+he had transferred the accounts of the Curia to the care of the rival
+Pazzi house. Upon Francesco de' Pazzi he conferred the accolade of
+knighthood. This hostile action of course further estranged Lorenzo and
+the Government of Florence, and, quite naturally, a system of
+quarrelsome incidents was set up, with a very complete equipment of
+spies.
+
+Sixtus never concealed his desire for the overthrow of Lorenzo and the
+subversion of the Florentine Government, and his hostility found a
+whole-hearted response in the persons of Count Girolamo de' Riari,
+Archbishop Francesco de' Salviati, and Cavaliere Francesco de' Pazzi.
+The Pope exulted openly in what capital he could make out of tales and
+gossip about Lorenzo and his entourage. Two prominent Florentines
+fomented this factious spirit. Giovanni Neroni--the Archbishop of
+Florence in succession to Archbishop d'Orsini, brother of the notorious
+Diotisalvi, who was banished in 1466--and Agnolo Acciaiuolo--also
+banished the same year, who resided in Rome and was an especial
+favourite at the Vatican.
+
+Charges of opposition to the policy of the Pope were freely thrown in
+the teeth of Lorenzo, and some of them were true, for the actions of
+the Pope led all observant men to the conclusion that he proposed to
+assume the role of arbiter in the affairs of all the Italian States. On
+the other hand, Lorenzo's policy was peaceful, his aim being the
+consolidation of Medicean domination in the affairs of the Republic.
+
+Causes such as these brought about the initiation of the dastardly plot
+known in history as "The Pazzi Conspiracy." The name is somewhat open to
+criticism, for, although the Pazzi were the chief instruments employed,
+and exceeded all others in detestation of the Medici, the "forefront and
+head of the offending" was no less a personage than Pope Sixtus IV.
+
+"His Holiness hates Lorenzo," said Count Girolamo de' Riari; this was
+the cue to all that followed. Doubtless the Pope was much in the power
+of sycophants and adventurers--all immoral rulers are. Each knew his man
+and held him in the palm of his left hand; and none were backward in
+impressing this knowledge upon him.
+
+"We can always make our lord the Pope do as we please," was Archbishop
+Salviati's very apposite declaration! It was re-echoed by Francesco de'
+Pazzi, who added significantly, "and we mean to rid Florence of the
+Medici."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All through the year 1477 the three arch-conspirators were elaborating
+their plan of action. Possibly Sixtus--and we may give the miscreant
+the favour of the doubt--at first merely wished to upset the Government
+of Florence and banish Lorenzo and Giuliano by direct means. When,
+however, it was borne in upon him that the immense popularity of the
+Medici would, in the event of their supersession, only lead to their
+triumphant recall, he agreed that there was nothing for it but the
+removal of the two brothers in a more summary manner.
+
+This association of Giuliano with Lorenzo was a miserable exhibition of
+personal spite. He had refused him the Cardinalate simply because he
+foresaw the succession of a Medici to the Papal throne, whilst he
+purposed handing over the triple tiara to his son, Cardinal Piero de'
+Riari. Nevertheless, there was some idea in the mind of Sixtus, which he
+conveyed to his fellow-conspirators, of making an agreement with
+Giuliano, that if he would condone the exile of his brother, then his
+should be the reversion of the Popedom after Cardinal de' Riari!
+
+Some authorities say Giuliano lent a not unwilling ear to those
+overtures, but a saner view is that expressed by Agnolo Poliziano in an
+epigram:--
+
+"Lorenzo--Giuliano--one spirit, love, and aim
+Animate you both--this, truly, I, your friend, proclaim."
+
+Giuliano's love for Lorenzo was, like that of David and Jonathan, "a
+love surpassing that of women." He consistently submitted his own
+ambitions to the exaltation of his brother's magnificence.
+
+The cogitations of the leaders of the conspiracy were disturbed by the
+fact that, however excellent their schemes might be, there was absolute
+necessity for the co-operation of other influences. Rome unaided could
+not cope with Florence, backed as she was by France, Venice, Milan,
+Ferrara, and Mantua. Sixtus consequently broached the subject of the
+suppression of the Medici to the King of Naples and to the Duke of
+Urbino--the support of Siena was always assured in any attack on her
+great rival.
+
+The king had a personal quarrel with Lorenzo, because he had married
+Clarice d'Orsini in preference to his daughter, whose hand he had, in a
+way, offered to the young prince. He at once acceded to the Pope's
+invitation, and, as good as his word, he despatched his son, the Duke of
+Calabria, at the head of an armed force, professedly to demand prompt
+payment by the Republic of arrears due to him for service rendered to
+Florence.
+
+At the solicitation of Sixtus these troops were retained in Tuscany on
+the pretext that the Papal fief of Imola required protection. Of course
+the real purpose was a menace to Lorenzo: the force being at hand to
+strike a swift blow when necessary.
+
+Duke Federigo of Urbino was made more or less conversant with the Papal
+policy, and with the special question of Lorenzo's removal. He at once
+rejected the proposition that resort should be had to violent or secret
+measures, and in disgust at Sixtus's conduct, he threw up his
+appointment as Commander of the Papal forces.
+
+Whilst Sixtus was making all these military preparations for the
+furtherance of his intentions, his co-conspirators removed the scene of
+their activities to the neighbourhood of Florence, where the Pazzi and
+Salviati were at one in their readiness to lay down their lives for the
+undoing of the Medici. They first of all took into their confidence one
+of the Papal Condottieri, a man of undoubted courage and
+ability--Giovanni Battista da Montesicco, a native of the Roman
+Campagna--who was under heavy obligation to Count Girolamo de' Riari. Of
+course he was perfectly willing, as became his calling, to sell his
+sword for good payment: he further undertook to enlist his lieutenant,
+Hieronimo Comiti, in the cause.
+
+The Condottiere was sent off to Florence to communicate to Cavaliere
+Giacopo de' Pazzi the "idea" of the three chief plotters, to test his
+feelings, and, if possible, secure his adherence. At first the old man
+was "as cold as ice"--so Montesicco said in his confession later on--and
+declined to take any part in the conspiracy. After hearing all that was
+put before him, he enquired whether Sixtus approved the scheme.
+
+"Why, his Holiness," replied the Condottiere, "has sent me straight to
+your Honour to ask your support.... I speak for the Pope."
+
+"Then," said Giacopo, "I am with you."
+
+A few days later Archbishop Salviati and Francesco de' Pazzi joined
+Montesicco at Giacopo's country villa, at Montughi, just beyond the
+Porta Rosso, on the high road to Bologna. Consultations between the
+heads of the two families, Pazzi and Salviati--were held there, with the
+concurrence of a certain number of influential citizens inimical to the
+Medici.
+
+These meetings were given out as hunting-parties and, to blind their
+eyes, overtures were made to both Lorenzo and Giuliano to honour the
+sport with their presence. Needless to say, Francesco de' Pazzi's return
+to Florence, in company with the unfriendly Archbishop, aroused
+Lorenzo's suspicions, but he does not appear to have taken any action.
+
+Montesicco was instructed to make himself and his lieutenant familiar
+with the stage upon which he was destined to play his part of the plot,
+and especially to observe the persons and the habits of the two Medici
+princes. Furthermore, he was directed to seek a personal interview with
+Lorenzo, on the pretence of submitting suggestions, propounded by Count
+Girolamo, with respect to the acquisition of some _poderi_ near Faenza.
+
+Lorenzo received his visitor with his usual courtesy and hospitality,
+and, whilst he wondered why Riario should depute such a redoubtable
+warrior to deal with peaceful matters, he never dreamt that foul play
+was intended. Montesicco was greatly impressed by the Magnifico's
+ingenuousness and nobility of character, and still more by the evident
+esteem and affection in which he was held by all classes of the
+population. He earnestly reconsidered the bargain he had made: "I
+resolved," he said in his confession, "that my sword should not slay
+that just man."
+
+The counsels at Montughi were divergent and acrimonious. At length a
+resolution was agreed to, as offering a suitable and secure locality for
+the perpetration of the deed in contemplation, namely, to invite Lorenzo
+to Rome in the name of Sixtus. Such a step would be regarded as a proof
+that the Pope no longer opposed Lorenzo's government, but that a _modus
+vivendi_ had been reached, agreeable to all parties. Giuliano was to be
+included in the invitation as well. Of course the hope was entertained
+that a favourable opportunity would be afforded, during the Papal
+hospitalities, for the murder of the two brothers.
+
+The Archbishop took the lead in all these deliberations--he and Giacopo
+de' Pazzi were boon companions. "They made no profession of any virtue,"
+wrote Ser Varillas, in his _Secret History of the Medici_, "either moral
+or Christian; they played perpetually at dice, swore confoundedly, and
+showed no respect for religion."
+
+Confident in the general support of all the members of his family, in
+any demonstration against the hated Medici, he took into his personal
+confidence his brother, Giacopo de' Salviati--"an obscure, sordid
+man"--and his nephew, Giacopo--"a wastrel and a fanatical
+anti-Medicean."
+
+Among the trustworthy Florentine confederates the Archbishop enrolled
+Giacopo, son of the famous scholar, Poggio Gucchio de' Bracciolini,
+originally a protege of Lorenzo, but "dismissed his service for
+insolence and rapacity"; Giovanni Perugino, of San Gimignano, a
+physician attached to Cavaliere Giacopo's household; Giovanni Domenico,
+a bridle-maker and athlete, but "an idle sort of fellow"; and Napoleone
+de' Franzesi, a friend of Guglielmo de' Pazzi, Lorenzo's brother-in-law.
+Another adherent was Messer Giovanni da Pisa, a notary, but "a factious
+and bad man."
+
+Before leaving Rome, Francesco de' Pazzi and the Archbishop had agreed
+with Count Girolamo de' Riari to engage the services of two desperadoes
+in the pay of the Pope--Bernardo Bandino of the Florentine family of
+Baroncelli, "a reckless and a brutal man and a bankrupt to boot," and
+Amerigo de' Corsi, "the renegade son of a worthy father,"--Messer
+Bernardo de' Corsi of the ancient Florentine house of that ilk. Two
+ill-living priests were also added to the roll of the conspirators
+--Frate Antonio, son of Gherardo de' Maffei of Volterra, and Frate
+Stefano, son of Niccolo Piovano da Bagnore. The former was exasperated
+against Lorenzo for the reckless sack of Volterra, and because he had
+taken possession of a valuable alum-pit belonging to his family. The
+latter was _Vicario_ of Monte Murlo, an upstart Papal precis-writer,
+whose family was plebeian and employed upon Pazzi property in that
+locality; he was "a man steeped in crime and a creature of Cavaliere
+Giacopo de' Pazzi."
+
+So many having been admitted into the secret of the conspiracy, it
+became a matter of urgent importance that no delay should arise in the
+fulfilment of the design; the fear of espionage and leakage was ever
+present to the minds of the leaders. But what to do, and where, and how,
+baffled all their ingenuity. At last a lead came, quite unexpectedly
+from Sixtus himself.
+
+At Pisa was a youth, studying law and philosophy--Raffaelle Sansoni--the
+son of Count Girolamo's only sister, just sixteen years of age, and
+"very tender in the heart of the Pope." Early in 1478 Sixtus had
+preconised him Cardinal of San Giorgio, and added the honour of Legate
+for Archbishop Salviati's induction to that See--the richest, by the
+way, in all Italy.
+
+The boy Cardinal, in April, was directed, by Sixtus, to make a progress
+to Imola on a visit to his uncle and aunt, and to take Florence on his
+way, for the purpose of paying his respects to Lorenzo. There was, of
+course, much more in this apparently innocent proceeding than appeared
+at first view. Francesco de' Pazzi at once obtained Cavaliere Giacopo's
+permission to offer the hospitality of his villa to his youthful
+eminence and his suite.
+
+Montesicco was ordered to furnish an escort of cavalry in the name of
+the Pope--"men who were perfectly trustworthy and prepared to carry out
+whatever commands they received."
+
+After the cavalcade had set forth, Francesco sent a message to Lorenzo
+de' Medici, suggesting that it might be agreeable to all parties if he
+could see his way to entertain the Cardinal. Both he and the Archbishop,
+who was in the company of the Cardinal, knew very well that the
+proposition would be cordially entertained by the hospitable Magnifico.
+
+As they had anticipated, no sooner had the news reached Florence that
+the distinguished visitors were approaching the city, than a dignified
+deputation of _Signori_ set out to meet them, conveying a courteous
+invitation to be Lorenzo's guests at Fiesole.
+
+A splendid reception was followed by a noble entertainment, whereat all
+the more notable dignitaries of the city and the principal members of
+the Platonic Academy assisted. Among the guests of honour were
+Archbishop Francesco de' Salviati, with the Ambassadors--Giovanni
+Morino, representing Ferrante, King of Naples; Filippo Sagramoro, the
+Duke of Milan; and Ercole di Bendio, the Duke of Ferrara. In special
+attendance upon Lorenzo, and of ambassadorial rank, were the Cavalieri
+Agnolo della Stufa, Luigi de' Guicciardini, Bernardo de' Buongirolami,
+and Buongiano de' Gianfigliazzi, and others.
+
+The conspirators were in a state of the highest expectation that
+Montesicco and his lieutenant would have no difficulty in finding
+opportunities to effect their dastardly purpose during the festivities.
+They were doomed to disappointment, for at the last moment, and when the
+banquet was in progress, it was remarked that Giuliano was absent--he
+was indisposed and unable to attend the function!
+
+       *        *        *        *        *
+
+The Sunday following, 26th April, happened to be the name-day of the
+Cardinal, and he expressed a wish to hear High Mass in Santa Maria del
+Fiore. Lorenzo announced his intention of personally conducting his
+eminence to the Duomo, and requested him to honour the Domina Clarice
+and himself by attending a State dinner at the Medici Palace, in the Via
+Larga, at the conclusion of the ceremony.
+
+This was much to the mind of the confederates, for, surely, there would
+be a favourable opportunity for the execution of the plot. In secret
+session it was arranged that, at the moment of the Elevation of the
+Host, Giovanni Battista da' Montesicco should stab Lorenzo, whilst
+Francesco de' Pazzi and Bernardo Bandino should fall upon Giuliano.
+
+The Condottiere, however, firmly refused to commit the double crime of
+sacrilege and murder, and, point-blank, declined all further share in
+the conspiracy. Here was an entirely unlooked-for situation, and an
+alternative plan was not easy to arrange. Francesco de' Pazzi seemed
+inclined to step into the breach, but detestation of Lorenzo checked his
+ardour--he would not soil his hands with the blood of such a
+contemptible tyrant, a menial should administer the blow! There was no
+lack of volunteers ready to take Montesicco's place, but excessive
+caution was requisite that no prominent Florentine conspirator should be
+chosen, lest suspicion should be aroused.
+
+Finally the two clerical members of the conspiracy, Frati Antonio and
+Stefano, were entrusted with the grim duty. The appointment was quite
+the best that could be made, because, at the Cathedral, Lorenzo and his
+immediate entourage would be placed with the clergy, within the choir,
+whereas to the Pazzi and the other confederates places would be assigned
+outside the screen, among the unofficial congregation.
+
+Everything was in order, the great bell of the Duomo was sounding its
+invitation, and the sacred building was packed with worshippers and
+spectators. In full state Lorenzo, accompanied by Domina Clarice and
+their Court, led Cardinal Sansoni to his chair of estate by the high
+altar.
+
+If, as he himself affirmed, Lorenzo was deprived of the pleasure of
+smell, he had compensation in the greater acuteness of the other four
+senses, and it must have struck his keen eyes, as he passed to his
+place, that there seemed to be an unusually large muster of adherents of
+the Pazzi and Salviati. Probably he reflected that they were there armed
+in honour of the Cardinal, who was the guest of Cavaliere Giacopo and
+under the guidance of Archbishop Francesco, as deputy of his Holiness
+the Pope.
+
+In the vast congregation everybody of importance in Florence was
+assembled, with two notable exceptions--the mother and the only brother
+of Lorenzo il Magnifico. The Domina Lucrezia, who had suddenly retired
+from the prominent position she held at the Court of her son, remained
+at Careggi with the venerable Madonna Contessina, Cosimo's widow, upon
+whom she waited with the utmost devotion.
+
+The other absentee was, once more, Giuliano! Consternation seized upon
+the conspirators, for the slaughter would not be complete without the
+shedding of his blood.
+
+The preliminary anthems were being sung as the procession of the
+celebrant of the Mass, with his sacred ministers moved from the New
+Sacristy, and every head was bowed before the symbol of the cross.
+Hesitation on the part of the confederates meant ruin, and, perhaps,
+death: this no one knew better than Francesco de' Pazzi. Beckoning to
+Bernardo Bandino, he led the way to the north door of the Cathedral, and
+hurried off with him to the Medici Palace, not many yards away.
+
+Asking to see the Lord Giuliano, the porter led them into the courtyard,
+and presently the groom of the chamber conducted them into the young
+prince's apartment. Giuliano was nearly dressed, and his valet was
+giving some final touches to his abundant brown hair and to his robes.
+
+"Hasten, my lord, the Mass is in saying, or you will be too late,"
+exclaimed Francesco, "we have come to conduct you to the Duomo."
+Giuliano was in a gleeful mood, and joked his visitors upon their
+unexpected attentions. At length he cried out: "Lead on, Pazzo--Medico
+will follow!"
+
+Taking him in his humour, Francesco slipped his arm round Giuliano's
+waist--apparently as a mark of good-fellowship, but really for the
+purpose of feeling whether he was wearing armour under his blue velvet
+tunic. With Bandino on the other side, the three made the rest of their
+way through the dense crowd in the Via Larga, being greeted respectfully
+by old and young, though many wondered at "_Il bel Giulio's_" unwonted
+companions.
+
+Entering the Duomo, the three stood a moment whilst a clear course was
+made for Giuliano to the centre of the congregation. Lorenzo and the
+clergy and dignitaries within the choir were already upon their knees,
+ready to prostrate themselves as the celebrant held aloft the Sacred
+Host. Near Lorenzo were Giovanni de' Tornabuoni, his uncle,--famous for
+his wealth, influence at Rome, and his probity,--Antonio and Lorenzo de'
+Cavalcanti, Lorenzo de' Tornabuoni, Marco de' Vespucci, and Filippo
+degli Strozzi, Chamberlains of Honour, and other distinguished
+Florentines and the foreign ambassadors.
+
+No sooner had Giuliano reached the entrance to the choir and was about
+to genuflect, than Francesco de' Pazzi, who had followed him closely,
+whipped out his sword, at the very moment of the Elevation, and ran the
+devout prince, through the back! At the same time Bandino leaped upon
+him and stabbed him repeatedly in the breast!
+
+It was all the work of an instant, and Giuliano fell over upon his side,
+his crimson life's blood ebbing swiftly out of nineteen gaping wounds
+and dyeing his scarlet robe deep purple. Francesco's frenzy was
+diabolical, for he leaped upon the still quivering body of his victim,
+and stabbed him again and again--wounding his own thigh in his fury!
+
+Bandino next attacked Francesco Nori, a chief agent or manager of the
+Medici bank, a man of renown and honour, who vainly threw himself
+forward to shield his unhappy young patron, and he cut him down to the
+ground. With a filthy execration, he raised the dripping weapon in the
+air, prepared for yet another victim.
+
+Meanwhile the two perjured priests, who, by the mock grace of their
+Order were placed within the choir, had taken up positions immediately
+behind Lorenzo, as though to render him assistance in the divine
+service, suddenly attacked him with daggers, but unskilfully. Lorenzo
+scrambled to his feet, and, casting his heavy mantle of State over his
+shoulders, drew his sword in self-defence. Turning to see who his
+opponents were, he received a scratch in the neck from Stefano's steel.
+Then, from the raised dais, he descried the tumult at the choir gates,
+whilst cries of "_Il Giuliano e morto_" reached his ears!
+
+Desperadoes were struggling with the clergy and the acolytes by the
+great lectern, and calling out his name for vengeance. One, more
+murderous than the rest, was scaling the low sanctuary wall, holding his
+gory dagger in the air, and making for the chairs of estate--it was
+Bernardo Bandino. Commending the Domina Clarice to the care of his
+uncle, Lorenzo passed hurriedly up the steps of the altar and gained the
+New Sacristy, followed closely by the two Cavalcanti, who were battling
+with the infuriated Bandino and his confederates--"_Abbasso il
+Lorenzo_," they yelled.
+
+Escaping through the doorway, Luca della Robbia's great bronze gates
+were slammed to, by Angelo Poliziano, almost crushing Antonio
+Cavalcanti, who fell with a deep wound in his shoulder, and actually
+flinging to the ground, outside in the aisle, the raging, baffled
+Bandino. "Then arose," wrote Filippo Strozzi, in his family
+_Ricordi_--he was an eye-witness of the tragedy--"a great tumult in the
+church. Messer Bongiano and other knights, with whom I was conversing,
+were stupefied, one fled hither and another thither, loud shouts filled
+the building, and the hands of friends of the Pazzi and Salviati all
+held gleaming weapons.... The young Cardinal remained alone, crouching
+by the high altar, until he was led away by some priests into the Old
+Sacristy, whence he was escorted by two of the 'Eight,' with a strong
+bodyguard, to the Palazzo del Podesta."
+
+Inside the New Sacristy it was discovered that Lorenzo's wound was
+serious enough to call for immediate treatment, and one of his devoted
+pages, young Antonio de' Ridolfi, sucked it for fear of poison. The
+great heavy metal doors were incessantly battered from without, but no
+one dared to open them, and Lorenzo remained where he was until the
+hubbub in the Duomo appeared to be abating. Then another page, Sismondo
+della Stufa, climbed up into the organ gallery, whence he could look
+into the church, and reported that none but friends of the Medici
+remained, and they were crying out for Lorenzo to accept their escort to
+the palace. So the Magnifico departed.
+
+All the while the great bell of the Palazzo Vecchio was booming out its
+dread summons for the city trained bands and the armed members of the
+Guilds to assemble for the defence of the city and the maintenance of
+their liberties. Loud cries of "_Liberta!_" "_Liberta!_" rolled up the
+street, drowned by a great chorus of "_Evviva le Palle!_" "_Abasso i
+Traditori!_" The whole city was in an uproar and blood was being spilt
+on every side.
+
+What had happened was tragically this. Whilst one half of the
+conspirators was told off to strike the fatal blow, the other half was
+directed to rally round Archbishop Salviati, who, by the way, made some
+excuse for not assisting ministerially at the Mass, but took up his
+station close to the north door of the Duomo. Directly they saw Giuliano
+struck to the ground, they made all haste to the Palazzo Vecchio, and
+demanded an interview with Messer Cesare de' Petrucci, the _Gonfaloniere
+di Giustizia_, who had been detained by urgent matters in the Courts.
+
+When Messer Petruccio enquired the nature of their business, the
+Archbishop replied: "We are come, all the family of Salviati, to pay our
+respects to the _Gonfaloniere_, as in duty bound." Messer Cesare was at
+lunch, but, rising from table, he welcomed the Archbishop, who entered
+the apartment alone. He asked him to be speedy, as he had to join the
+banquet to the Cardinal di San Giorgio almost immediately.
+
+Salviati said he was the bearer of his family's greetings to the
+_Gonfaloniere_, and also of a private Brief to him from the Pope. His
+manner seemed so strange, and his errand so irregular, that Petruccio's
+suspicions were aroused, and raising the arras, he saw the passage was
+filled with armed men. At once he called the palace guard to arrest the
+intruders, and caused every door of exit to be locked.
+
+The object, of course, of the Archbishop and those with him was to seize
+the person of the _Gonfaloniere_ and possess themselves of the Banner of
+Justice--that they might rouse the citizens to fight in its defence.
+
+On the contrary, the people were for the Medici, and "_Palle!_"
+"_Palle!_" prevailed. Noting that the Salviati did not leave the palace,
+and that the guards had been withdrawn from the gate and every door was
+bolted, the populace broke into the building, rescued the
+_Gonfaloniere_, and the _Signori_ with him, and seized the persons of
+the intruders.
+
+Without more ado they ran the miscreants, Francesco, Giacopo, and
+Giacopo di Giacopo de' Salviati, Giacopo de' Bracciolini, and Giovanni
+da Perugia, up to the lantern of the Campanile, and, thrusting their
+bodies through the machicolations, hung them head downwards! Others of
+the party and some of the Cardinal's servants, who had accompanied the
+Archbishop, were flung from the windows.
+
+Cavaliere Giacopo de' Pazzi was neither at the Duomo, nor did he
+accompany the Archbishop to the Palazzo Vecchio. His part was to await
+news from Salviati that he had seized the _Gonfaloniere_ and the
+palace, and then to ride fully armed with a retinue of mercenaries and
+Montesicco's bodyguard of the Cardinal to the Piazza della Signoria.
+Without awaiting the signal he advanced, raising the cry "_Liberta!_"
+"_Liberta!_" but none rallied to his side.
+
+Instead, he and his escort were pelted with stones and, on arriving in
+the Piazza, he beheld the gruesome human decoration of the Campanile.
+Without a moment's hesitation, spurring his horse, he rode swiftly
+towards the Porta della Croce, and set off into the open country--a
+fugitive!
+
+Francesco de' Pazzi, after the slaughter of Giuliano, escaped to his
+uncle's house, and stripping himself, received attention to his wound,
+which was of a very serious nature. He was not, however, left very long
+in peace, for the cry had gone forth in the streets--"Death to the
+traitors!" "Down with the Pazzi and the Salviati!" "Fire their houses!"
+The sword, still reeking red with the bluest blood of Florence, was
+swiftly crossed by the sword of retribution. Francesco was dragged
+forth, naked as he was from his bed, buffeted, pelted, and spat upon,
+they thrust him with staves, weapons, hands and feet, right through the
+Piazza della Signoria; up they forced him to the giddy gallery of the
+Campanile, and then, flinging his bleeding, battered body out among his
+bloodthirsty comrades, they left him to dangle and to die with them
+there! The Archbishop, still in his gorgeous vestments, turned in
+fury, as he hung head downwards in that ghastly company, and, seizing
+his fiendish confederate, fixed his teeth in his bare breast, and so the
+guilty pair expiated their hellish rage--unlovely in their lives,
+revolting in their deaths!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Poor Giuliano's corpse was left weltering in his blood, where he had
+been done to death, outside the choir screen of the Duomo. At length he
+was picked up tenderly by the good _Misericordia_. His terrible wounds
+were reverently washed and his godlike body prepared for sepulture. News
+of his assassination had been swiftly carried out to Careggi, and Domina
+Lucrezia, bracing herself for the afflicting sight, hastened to lay his
+fair head in her lap, a very real replica of "_La Pieta_"--Blessed Mary
+and her Son.
+
+Ah! how she and the women who bore her company wept for the beloved
+dead. Ah! how with tender fingers they counted each gaping wound. Ah!
+how gently they cut off locks of his rich hair, as memorials of a sweet
+young life.
+
+They buried Giuliano that same evening, with all the honours due to his
+rank, amid the tears of an immense concourse of people--stayed for a
+while from their savage man-hunt. To the Medici shrine of San Lorenzo
+they bore him--the yellow light of the wax candles revealing the tombs
+of Cosimo and Piero.
+
+"There was not a citizen," says Macchiavelli, "who, armed or unarmed,
+did not go to the palace of Lorenzo in this time of trouble, to offer
+him his person and his property--such was the position and the affection
+that the Medici had acquired by their prudence and their liberality."
+
+Lorenzo came out on the loggia, and addressed the people massed in the
+street. He thanked them for their devotion and assistance, but entreated
+them, for his dear, dead brother's sake, to abstain from further
+atrocities and to disperse to their homes in peace.
+
+Nevertheless, all the Pazzi and Salviati were proclaimed "_Ammoniti_"
+and they were pursued from house to house, whilst the peasants took up
+the hue and cry in the _contado_. Bleeding heads and torn limbs were
+everywhere scattered in the streets; door-posts and curb-stones were
+dashed with gore; men and women and the children, too, were all
+relentless avengers of "_Il bel Giulio's_" blood. It is said that one
+hundred and eighty stark corpses were borne away by the merciful
+_Misericordia_ and buried secretly!
+
+Cavaliere Giacopo, who had escaped into the hilly country of the
+Falterona, near the source of the Arno, was recognised by a couple of
+countrymen, who were frequenters of the markets in Florence. They seized
+him and took him to the city gate, where they sold him for fifty gold
+florins. His shrift was short, for his purchasers, adherents of the
+Medici, hacked off his head in the street, and carried it upon a pole to
+the Ponte Vecchio! Buried at Santa Croce, in the chapel of the Pazzi,
+his mutilated body was not left long in its grave. It was pulled up,
+denuded of the shroud, and, with a rope tied round the feet, dragged by
+men and women and even children to the Lung' Arno, and pitched, like a
+load of refuse, into the dusky river!
+
+Several of the arch-conspirators hid for a while in various places,
+mostly in convents, but their time came for punishment. The two priests,
+Antonio and Stefano, were, two days after the tragedy in the Duomo,
+brought out of the cellars of the _Badia_ of the Benedictines at Santa
+Firenze, and killed, not swiftly and mercifully, but tortured and
+mutilated to the satisfaction of the rabble.
+
+Bernard Bandino, after picking himself up at the New Sacristy doors,
+immediately realised the failure of the conspiracy, and, wise man that
+he was, put his own safety before all other considerations. He worked
+his way through the struggling crowd in the Cathedral and got out by the
+south portal. Luckily enough, the Cardinal's horse had been left
+tethered by its affrighted groom hard by, so without awaiting news from
+the Archbishop, he vaulted into the saddle and made off at a hand gallop
+to the Porta Santa Croce.
+
+With more cunning than Giacopo had shown, he made, not to the Tuscan
+hills, but to the Tuscan sea, and reached Corneto just in time to board
+a ship bound for the East, and at the point of weighing anchor. At
+Galata he went ashore and communicated with Sixtus, who sent him a
+goodly sum of money and sundry Papal safeguards, with his blessing!
+
+There he lay hid for many weeks, but, as luck would have it, one day he
+came out of his lair in a Turkish divan, and encountered an agent of the
+Medici, who recognised him, followed him, and charged him before the
+Pasha. Put in irons by the Sultan's command, communication was made with
+Lorenzo. An envoy was despatched to Constantinople, to whom the wretch
+was handed, and, two months after his crimes in Santa Maria del Fiore,
+his living body was added to the string of stinking corpses, upon the
+side of the Campanile, which still dangled in their iron chains, betwixt
+earth and heaven, rained on and withered by the elements, and fed upon
+by carrion!
+
+All the seven sons of Piero de' Pazzi were banished for life. They seem
+to have had no very intimate knowledge of the conspiracy; indeed, they
+were all away from Florence, except the fourth, Renato, and he was
+beheaded "for not having revealed the plot, he being privy to the
+treachery of his uncle Giacopo and his cousin Francesco."
+
+Renato, indeed, tried to escape, knowing that he was implicated,
+although not engaged in the plot, but the garrison of Radicofani
+discovered him and his hiding-place, and he was despatched under guard
+to Florence. Giovanni de' Pazzi, Francesco's brother, who had married
+Beatrice Buonromeo, hid, for a time, in the monastery of Degli Angeli,
+and then, with his wife, was banished to the castle of Volterra, where
+he died in 1481. It does not appear that he took any active part in the
+plot, although his wronging by Lorenzo was the spark which fired the
+whole conspiracy.
+
+Guglielmo de' Pazzi, the husband of Bianca de' Medici, Lorenzo and
+Giuliano's sister, was protected by _Il Magnifico_, and allowed to
+reside in a villa twelve miles outside Florence.
+
+Napoleone de' Franzesi, alone of all the conspirators, effected his
+escape, but Piero de' Vespucci, father-in-law to "_La bella
+Simonetta_"--"_Il bel Giulio's_" _innamorata_,--who assisted him, was
+sentenced to two years' imprisonment in the Stinche, with a heavy fine.
+
+Giovanni Battista da Montesicco's fate was, perhaps, the only one which
+excited commiseration, even from the point of view of the Medici. A
+soldier of fortune, his weapon was at your command, did you but fill his
+pouch with ducats of Rome or florins of Florence. To him it mattered not
+whether the adventure partook of romance and espionage, or of intrigue
+and murder. Unlike many of his profession, he was a religious man, and
+just. He drew back from his bargain as soon as he had experience of
+Lorenzo's character, and he refused point-blank to slay him in a spot
+"where Christ could see him," as he said. It does not appear that he
+was inside the Cathedral that dread April morning, but remained on watch
+to see what transpired. On the defeat of the conspiracy he fled, with
+many more, right out of Tuscany. Agents of the Medici, however, pursued
+him and, having captured him, dragged him back to Florence. Before the
+Lords of the _Signoria_ he made confession of what he knew of the
+conspiracy and of his own part therein. On 4th May, just seven days
+after the tragedy, he paid the penalty of his misplaced devotion, and he
+was hanged within the Palace of the Podesta.
+
+Two arch-conspirators are still to be accounted for, Pope Sixtus IV. and
+Count Girolamo de' Riari! The former never expressed the least regret or
+concern at the tragic occurrences in Florence, but openly deplored the
+failure of his scheme to replace Lorenzo by Girolamo. Furthermore, he
+issued a "Bull," which began: "Iniquitatis filius et perditionis
+alumnus," and ended by anathema of Lorenzo, whereby he was
+excommunicated, and all Florence placed under an Interdict!
+
+Moreover, he laid violent hands upon Donato Acciaiuolo, the Florentine
+ambassador, and, but for the prompt intervention of the envoys of Venice
+and Milan, would have cast him, uncharged, into the dungeons of the
+castle of Sant Angelo. The majority of the Florentine merchants in Rome
+were arrested, their property confiscated, and, to add insult to
+injury, Sixtus demanded from the _Signoria_ the immediate banishment of
+Lorenzo. He expressed his keen sorrow for the deaths of the Pazzi and
+Salviati, his "devoted sons and trusty counsellors." He spoke of the
+execution of the Archbishop as "a foul murder caused by the tyranny of
+the Medici," and he put a price upon the head of Cesare de' Petrucci,
+the _Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_!
+
+As for Count Girolamo, who had, coward-like, kept in the background--he
+was probably little more than a complacent tool in the hands of the
+pontiff--he was permitted to leave Florence in the train of the young
+Cardinal, immediately before the reception of the Interdict. He returned
+to Rome and abandoned himself to a life of profligacy; his palace became
+a brothel and a gambling hell, and there he lived for ten years,
+dishonoured and diseased. His retributive death was by the hand of an
+assassin in 1488.
+
+The failure of the plot, whilst it added tremendously to the popularity
+of the Medici and strengthened still more Lorenzo's position, threw the
+Pope frantically into the arms of the King of Naples. He persuaded him
+to join in a combined and powerful invasion of Tuscany. At Ironto the
+Neapolitan troops crossed the frontier and encamped, whilst the Papal
+forces moved on from Perugia and Siena.
+
+Lorenzo at once called a Parliament to consider the position, and to
+take steps for the protection of the city and the defence of the State.
+He addressed the assembly as follows: "I know not, Most Excellent Lords
+and Most Worshipful Citizens, whether to mourn or to rejoice with you
+over what has happened. When I think of the treachery and hatred
+wherewith I have been attacked, and my brother slain, I cannot but
+grieve; but when I reflect with what eagerness and zeal, with what love
+and unanimity, on the part of the whole city, my brother has been
+avenged and myself defended, I am moved not merely to rejoice, but even
+to glory in what has transpired. For, if I have found that I have more
+enemies in Florence than I had thought I had, I have at the same time
+discovered that I have warmer and more devoted friends than I knew....
+It lies with you, my Most Excellent Lords, to support me still, or to
+throw me over.... You are my fathers and protectors, and what you wish
+me to do, I shall do only too willingly...."
+
+All the hearers were deeply affected by Lorenzo's oration, some indeed
+shed tears, but all vowed to support him in resisting the enemy at the
+gate. "Take courage," they cried, "it behoves thee, Lorenzo, to live and
+die for the Republic!"
+
+At the same time they enrolled a bodyguard of twelve soldiers, whose
+duty it should be to accompany Lorenzo whenever he went abroad, and to
+protect him in his palace or at his villas. Doubtless they thought the
+Pope might resort to further secret measures for the slaughter of his
+enemy.
+
+Thus ended the terrible "Conspiracy of the Pazzi."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+IPPOLITO--"_Il Cardinale_."
+
+ALESSANDRO--"_Il Negro_."
+
+LORENZINO--"_Il Terribile_."
+
+
+_The First Tyrannicide_
+
+
+"Go at once, ye base-born bastards, or I will be the first to thrust you
+out--Begone!"
+
+These were the passionate words of the proudest and most ambitious
+princess that ever bore the great name of Medici--Clarice, daughter of
+Piero di Lorenzo--"Il Magnifico," and wife of Filippo di Filippo degli
+Strozzi--"Il Primo Gentiluomo del Secolo."
+
+They were spoken on 16th May 1527, in the Long Gallery of the Palazzo
+Medici in Florence, and were addressed to two youths--sixteen and
+thirteen years old respectively, who shrank with terror at the aspect
+and the vehemence of their contemner. Clarice was a virago, both in the
+Florentine sense of man's equal in ability and action, and in the sense
+of the present day--a woman with a mighty will and endowed with physical
+strength to enforce it.
+
+The two "bastards" were Ippolito, the natural son of Giuliano de'
+Medici, Duke of Nemours, and Alessandro, the so-called illegitimate son
+of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, the virtual ruler of Florence.
+The lads were not alone in their exposure to the wrath of Madonna
+Clarice, for, sitting in his chair of estate, was Silvio Passerini,
+Cardinal of Cortona, their Governor, and Pope Clement VII.'s Regent of
+the Republic.
+
+"Begone"! Well had it been if the Cardinal had taken his charges right
+away from Florence never to return.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The splendour, not of Tuscany only, but of the whole of Italy has
+disappeared!" wrote Benedetto Dei, in his _Cronica_. "The Burial
+Confraternity of the Magi laid his body in the sacristy of San Lorenzo,
+and the next day the funeral obsequies were held without pomp--as is the
+custom of the _Signori_--but quite simply. Truly it may be said that
+however gorgeous the ceremonies might have been, they would have proved
+altogether too mean for so great a man."
+
+This relates to the death of Lorenzo il Magnifico, which occurred on 8th
+April 1492. That year is one of the most memorable in modern history:
+Columbus discovered America; Roderigo Borgia was elected Pope; Charles
+VIII. became the most prominent political figure in Europe; and the
+power of Florence had reached its zenith.
+
+She was not only the Head of the Tuscan League and the chief Republic in
+Europe, but also the first of modern states. If the spirit of the
+Greeks inspired the physical prowess of the Romans, the enlightenment of
+the Florentines brought forth the renascence of the arts and crafts of
+Italy and of the world.
+
+Cosimo, "_Il Padre della Patria_," laid the foundation-stone of Medici
+renown in the iron grip of his powerful personality, and Piero, his son,
+maintained unimpaired its eminence by his urbanity and good sense. To
+Lorenzo, however, was reserved the distinction of placing upon that
+mighty column its magnificent copestone, and he adorned it with the
+sevenfold balls of his escutcheon, whilst on the summit he held unfurled
+the great Red Cross Oriflamme of Florence.
+
+Lorenzo left three sons and three daughters to uphold that ensign and to
+exhibit the glory of their house. To the first-born, Piero, came the
+great inheritance of his father's place and power, and no man ever
+entered into a greater possession,--a possession, so firm, so
+unquestioned and so portentous, that nothing seemed likely to disturb
+its equilibrium or to sully its triumph.
+
+But, "the son of his father is not always his father's son," and this
+quaint saying is perfectly true of Piero de' Medici--a youth of
+twenty-one years of age--the exact age of his father on his succession
+to the Headship of the State. Physically the young prince was well
+favoured, he was cultured and, like his unfortunate uncle Giuliano, he
+was an adept in all gentlemanly exercises.
+
+Alas, he took not the slightest interest in politics, nor in the
+business affairs of his house, and the proverbial urbanity and
+pushfulness of the Medici were alike absent. Whilst he lightly handed
+over to Piero Dorizzi di Bibbiena, his Chancellor, the conduct of public
+affairs, he listened to the proud persuasions of his mother, to whom
+anything like commercial pursuits were abhorrent. Clarice d'Orsini's
+forbears had all been soldiers, Lorenzo's merchants, that made all the
+difference in Rome's degenerate days.
+
+Of course there was no Florentine girl good enough to be the bride of
+young Piero de' Medici--at least, Domina Clarice, his mother, decided
+so. She was the proudest of the proud, and as ignorant and prejudiced as
+she was haughty. Her son could only wed a Roman princess, and, by
+preference, a daughter of the Orsini; consequently Alfonsina, daughter
+of Roberto d'Orsini, Clarice's cousin, entered Florence in state on 22nd
+May 1488, for her magnificent nuptials with the young _Capo della
+Repubblica_.
+
+The same year the Domina died. Her influence had not been for good, and
+her want of tact and her unpopularity caused Lorenzo much anxiety.
+Perhaps, however, a prince of his conspicuous and, in many ways, unique
+ability, was better mated with an unsympathetic spouse than with a woman
+who could, from parity of gifts, enter into his feelings and
+aspirations. He lived for the magnanimous renown of Florence--she for
+the selfish prominence of her family.
+
+Francesco de' Guicciardini wrote of Piero de' Medici thus: "He was born
+of a foreign mother, whereby Florentine blood got mixed, and he acquired
+foreign manners and bearing, too haughty for our habits of life." The
+prince gave up most of his time to pleasure and amusement with the young
+nobles of his court, and encouraged the aims and ambitions of the
+self-seeking scions of his mother's family. At a single bound the
+immense personal popularity of Lorenzo, his father, disappeared.
+Florentines took the young ruler's measure, and he was found wanting.
+
+The imprisonment and threatened execution of his cousins, Lorenzo and
+Giuliano de' Medici, was a flagrant mistake. The three had quarrelled
+about Lorenzo il Magnifico's pretty daughter, Luigia, but it was a
+baseless rumour that she had been poisoned. Bad blood was made always in
+Florence by such romances and such interference.
+
+In September 1494, Charles VIII. crossed the Alps, and, whilst
+Savonarola fanatically hailed his coming to Florence as "God's Captain
+of Chastisement," politicians of all parties looked to Piero to show a
+bold front and resist the French invader as commander-in-chief of a
+united Italian army.
+
+Piero made no sign, but went on playing _pallone_ in the Piazza Santa
+Croce. The enemy seized the Florentine fortresses of Sargana, Sarzanello
+and Pietra Santa. The news sobered the headstrong, self-indulgent prince
+for the moment, and then craven fear seized his undisciplined mind. In
+a panic he mounted his horse and, attended only by two officers of the
+city guard, he galloped off to King Charles' camp.
+
+In the royal tent Piero fell upon his knees, craved forgiveness for
+Florence's opposition, and pleaded for generous terms for himself and
+his fellow-countrymen. Charles demanded the cession absolutely of the
+three fortresses, with the cities of Pisa and Livorno, and with them the
+"loan" of 200,000 gold florins! Piero's report was listened to in solemn
+silence by the _Signoria_, but when its tenor was conveyed to the
+concourse of citizens, outside the Palazzo Vecchio, cries of
+"_Liberta!_" "_Liberta!_" rent the air.
+
+When Piero rode out of the Piazza, accompanied by an armed escort, he
+was met by an exasperated mob who assailed him with missiles and stones.
+The big bell, up in the Campanile, began to speak its ominous summons,
+and, in reply to faint cries of "_Palle!_" "_Palle!_" renewed shouts of
+"_Liberta!_" "_Liberta!_" proclaimed the abdication of the Medici.
+
+A Parliament was convened and five ambassadors were appointed to treat
+with Charles and revoke Piero's surrender. One of them, speaking for the
+rest, denounced him as "No longer fit to rule the State"--it was Piero
+de' Capponi. The _Signoria_ passed a sentence of expulsion upon Piero
+and his brothers, and placed a reward of two thousand gold florins upon
+his head, and five thousand more, if he and Giovanni, his Cardinal
+brother, were captured together.
+
+Needless to say, before the decree was promulgated Piero and Giovanni
+flew precipitately through the Porta San Gallo, upon their way to
+Bologna, at the head of a few mercenaries, and with them went Piero's
+chancellor.
+
+An enraged mob of citizens rushed pell-mell into the Via Larga, sacked
+the Palazzo Medici, and scattered the treasures which Piero and Lorenzo
+had gathered together. The streets were strewn with costly furniture,
+carpets and tapestry, and priceless works of art were either burnt or
+broken in pieces. It was not a question of looting but of destruction,
+and for eighteen years the building was a mark for obscenities and
+imprecations.
+
+The French army marched through the humiliated city, and terror filled
+the hearts of the people. Charles occupied a portion of the palace,
+which the _Signoria_ hastily put into some sort of order, borrowing or
+buying furniture and other articles for his use.
+
+On their knees, an entirely new experience for the proud Florentines,
+the _Signoria_ besought the Emperor's clemency. He took a high hand with
+them, demanding a huge indemnity and threatening to command his trumpets
+to sound for pillage. One man alone asserted his liberty, a man who
+throughout Piero's short government had voiced the public
+discontent--Piero de' Capponi--the most capable soldier Florence
+possessed. Boldly and alone he faced the Conqueror and denounced his
+demands. He tore in pieces the fatal document of Piero's capitulation,
+flung the pieces in Charles' face, and defied him, saying, "If you sound
+your trumpets we shall ring our bells!"
+
+Charles was cowed, he signed a treaty of peace with honourable terms for
+Florence, and left the city, after a stormy scene with Savonarola. "Take
+heed," the latter said, "not to bring ruin on this city and upon thyself
+the curse of God!"
+
+Piero outlived his cowardly surrender and shameful flight three
+years--an outcast from his country and a disgrace to his family. He
+found an asylum in the house of his wife Alfonsina's father, Roberto
+d'Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo and Alba. In 1502 he entered the service
+of the King of France, the enemy of his country, against the Spanish
+conquerors of the kingdom of Naples. The French were worsted and took to
+their ships at Gaeta. Piero escaped, but his death followed shortly, for
+the boat in which he was crossing the River Garigliano, or Liri, near
+the famous stronghold of that name, was swamped by the fire of the
+Spanish artillery and he was drowned. Cambi, who relates the history,
+sententiously winds up his narrative with the apposite words, "Thanks be
+to God!"
+
+After Savonarola's death in 1498, Piero de' Soderini was placed at the
+head of the Government as _Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_, whilst Piero's
+brother, Cardinal Giovanni, took up the leadership of his discredited
+party. The terrible sack of Prato in 1512 was an opportunity for the
+Medici, which they did not neglect to use to their advantage. In terror
+the Florentine Government paid 140,000 gold florins to the Spanish
+Viceroy and commander, who made it a condition of his evacuation of
+Tuscany, that the Medici should be recalled as private citizens, and be
+granted permission to purchase back their forfeited property. On 12th
+September of the same year, Giuliano, the third son of Lorenzo il
+Magnifico, with his young nephew, Lorenzo, Piero's son, entered
+Florence, attended by a small following. He was one of the noblest of
+his race, but he was wholly lacking in initiative and energy. He made no
+claim to political eminence, and his self-abnegation led to the return
+to Florence of his more pushful brother, the Cardinal, who was
+accompanied by Giulio de' Medici, the bastard son of the murdered
+Giuliano. They installed themselves in the restored palace, assumed much
+of the wonted state of their family in bygone days, and were accorded
+public recognition and honour.
+
+The following year Cardinal Giovanni was elected Pope as Leo X., and, at
+the same time, Giuliano was created Duke of Nemours--a dignity bestowed
+by Francis I. of France--and Lorenzo became Duke of Urbino. The
+conferring of these titles stirred the rancour of a considerable number
+of ambitious _Signori_, and intrigue and plots to upset the rising
+fortunes of the Medici were rife. The very next day after the death of
+Pope Julius II., Bernardo de' Capponi and Pietro Papolo de' Boscoli were
+condemned to be hung within the Palace of the Podesta, for an attempt
+upon the lives of Giuliano, Lorenzo, and Giulio de' Medici. Eighteen
+accomplices were tortured and many others banished: Niccolo Macchiavelli
+was implicated in the conspiracy, but he appears to have escaped
+punishment.
+
+Quietly but persistently the power of the great family was recovered.
+"The Pope and his Medici" became a proverb throughout Italy: all men
+noted their rising fortunes and their bids for power. Giulio was
+preconised Cardinal, Giuliano appointed _Gonfaloniere_ of the Papal
+army, and Lorenzo became the virtual Head of the Florentine Republic.
+Giuliano died in 1516, Lorenzo in 1519, and Pope Leo X. in 1521. The
+first left no legitimate offspring, and the second only one daughter,
+Caterina, besides a natural son, Alessandro.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Upon the death of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici
+hastened to Florence, where he was permitted to assume almost autocratic
+control of State affairs. Possibly he was regarded in the light of
+Regent for Lorenzo's only legitimate child, Caterina. He had undoubtedly
+personal fitness for the post of Chief of the Republic. During the
+brief period, barely five months, of his administration, he did very
+much to place public interests upon a firm and practical basis.
+
+Very adroitly he played off the "_Ottimati_," under Pietro de' Ridolfi,
+against the "_Frateschi_," led by Giacopo de' Salviati, without
+identifying himself with either party. Recalled to Rome on the death of
+Leo X., he left Cardinal Silvio Passerini of Cortona his deputy: a man
+useful as a tool but of no ability or judgment. Adrian VI., who
+succeeded to the Papacy, was a weak pontiff, and Rome became a hot-bed
+of intrigue and villainy.
+
+A plot to assassinate Cardinal de' Medici failed, and, in 1523, he was,
+after many weeks of wrangling, elected Pope, with the title of Clement
+VII. In the Vatican, that "refuge for bastards and foundlings," room was
+found for two boys, cousins, each the offspring of a Medici father, but
+illegitimate. They were brought up under the immediate eye of the Pope,
+indeed one of them, the younger, was said to be the son of Clement.
+
+Ippolito, just fourteen years old, was the bastard son of Giuliano de'
+Medici, Duke of Nemours. His mother was a noble lady of Urbino, Pacifica
+Brandini, but she permitted her child to be exposed in the streets, in a
+basket, where he was rescued, and taken into the foundling ward of the
+Confraternity of Santa Maria di Piano d'Urbino. There the kindly
+Religious gave him the name of "Pasqualino," indicative of the Church
+season of Easter, when he entered surreptitiously upon the world's
+stage.
+
+When the child was less than two years old the nuns of Santa Maria were
+removed to Rome, and they took with them, along with other unfortunates,
+little Pasqualino. Upon a visit, which Pope Leo paid to the convent, he
+noticed the young boy, and as he smiled and tried to get at his
+Holiness, Leo was struck with his good looks and made enquiries about
+his origin. In the end, Leo undertook the little fellow's education and
+maintained his interest in him, and, moreover, ordered his name to be
+changed to Ippolito.
+
+Alessandro--the younger boy--twelve years old, was the son of Lorenzo
+de' Medici, created Duke of Urbino in 1536, when the Pope annexed that
+principality to the pontifical estates, upon the excommunication of the
+rightful sovereign. His mother was a woman of colour, a Tartar
+slave-girl, who passed for the wife of a _vetterale_ or courier, in the
+pay of the Duke. He was a native of Colle Vecchio, near Riete, in
+Umbria, and went by the name of Bizio da Collo, whilst the girl was
+simply called Anna. Alessandro, later on, was made to feel the baseness
+of his origin, for he was greeted contemptuously as "Alessandro da Colle
+Vecchio!" His supposed father, Bizio, died in 1519, but Cardinal Giulio
+de' Medici adopted him.
+
+The two boys grew up together at the Vatican, alike in one respect
+only, their mutual hatred of each other. They were, indeed, as unlike as
+two boys could be. Ippolito, as the child of gentle parents, had an
+aristocratic bearing. He was a clever lad and excelled especially in
+classical learning, in music and poetry. In appearance he became
+remarkably handsome, with polished manners and a fondness for spending
+money and for ostentation.
+
+Alessandro, on the other hand, exhibited the attributes of his low-born
+mother. Physically well-made, he was dark of skin, with dark, curly
+hair, thick lips, and close-set Eastern eyes. His tastes were unrefined.
+He had none of Ippolito's gentleness and attractiveness, but in
+disposition he was morose, passionate, and cruel. His manners were
+marked by abruptness and vulgarity. He was no genius, and refused to
+receive the lessons of his masters, and set at defiance all who claimed
+authority. Alessandro was a shrewd lad all the same, and became
+Clement's inseparable companion--no doubt he was his son!
+
+Everybody noticed the mutual affection between "uncle" and "nephew,"
+which gave clear indication of a nearer relationship. Clement's word was
+Alessandro's law, and, when the cousins fell out, as they did many times
+a day, the interference of their uncle brought peace, but for Ippolito
+dissatisfaction, as he was usually ruled to be in the wrong. This boyish
+rivalry led to more considerable emulation and the proprieties of the
+Papal palace were rudely shaken by the quarrels and the struggles of the
+cousins.
+
+They were parted and removed each to a remote portion of the palace,
+with separate suites of attendants, and their only meetings took place
+in the private apartments of the Pope, and rarely. Thus Ippolito and
+Alessandro entered upon their teens with no judicious, kindly, or
+formative influences around them. It was said that each boy threw in the
+other's face the fact of his illegitimacy, which fawning dependants had
+revealed to them. Their environment and associates were most
+undesirable, and nothing was done to instil and encourage sentiments of
+honour, self-control, truthfulness, and charity. Their initiation into
+the hypocrisies of spiritual life and ecclesiastical duty produced
+distaste and contempt for religious exercises.
+
+There was yet another protegee of Clement's left upon the world of
+mutability and chance--an orphan child, the only issue of Lorenzo, Duke
+of Urbino and his wife Maddalena, daughter of Jean de la Tour d'Auvergne
+et de Bourbon. Married in 1518, the delicate young mother died in
+childbirth the following year, leaving her sweet little baby girl,
+Caterina, to the care of her broken-hearted husband.
+
+The future Queen of France was placed with the foundling nuns of the
+convent of Santa Lucia in the Via San Gallo. Thence she was removed to
+the convent of Santa Caterina di Siena, back to the nuns of Santa Lucia
+once more, and then handed over to the charge of the noble convent of S.
+Annunziata delle Murate until 1525, when her aunt, Madonna Clarice de'
+Medici, wife of Messer Filippo negli Strozzi, was constituted her
+guardian and instructress.
+
+Right well the new _governante_ carried out the instructions of Clement,
+and she only relinquished her charge when the Pope commanded the young
+girl, just eleven years old, to Rome. Apartments were provided for her
+and her suite in the Palazzo Medici, where Madonna Lucrezia, Lorenzo il
+Magnifico's daughter, and wife of Giacomo de' Salviati, was appointed
+her protectress.
+
+Without a mother's care, and tossed about here and there, Caterina grew
+up devoid of high principles, and became the toy of every passing
+pleasure and indulgence. All the eligible princes of Europe were, in
+turn, supposed to be her admirers, and rivals for her hand and fortune.
+And truly the last legitimate descendant, as she was, of the great
+Cosimo, was a prize in the matrimonial market--if not for her beauty and
+her virtues, at all events for her wealth and rank. Indeed, there was a
+project, seriously entertained, seeing that the elder line of the Medici
+had failed to produce a male heir, of acknowledging Caterina as "_Domina
+di Firenze_," with a strong council of Regency to carry on the
+government in her name.
+
+This proposal did not gain any favour outside the Papal cabinet: in
+Florence it was scouted with derision. Two violent politicians, if not
+more, lost their heads over the young girl's destiny--Battista Cei, for
+proposing that she should be placed in the lions' den, and Bernardo
+Castiglione, for demanding that she should be put upon the streets of
+Florence, wearing the yellow badge of woman's shame!
+
+In Rome Caterina conceived at once an invincible repugnance for
+Alessandro--her father's son. His appearance, his manner, his language
+appalled her; probably she was not long before she knew the story of his
+birth. On no account would she speak to him, and, if he entered an
+apartment where she happened to be, she rushed out, crying,
+"_Negrello--Bastardo!_"
+
+With Ippolito, on the contrary, she was the best of friends. She admired
+the good-looking boy, his talents for music, and his skill in
+gentlemanly exercises. The Venetian ambassador at the Vatican remarked,
+in a letter to his Government: "We have here a little Medici princess,
+Caterina, the only child of the late Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino. She and
+Don Ippolito, the bastard son of Duke Giuliano, are inseparable
+companions. The boy is very fond of his young cousin, whilst she is
+devoted to him. She has confidence in nobody else, and she asks him only
+for everything she wants." Ultimately, of course, Caterina de' Medici
+became Queen of France, as the consort of Henry II.
+
+The trend of affairs in Florence gave Pope Clement grave anxiety, for,
+of course, his own personal control became less and less effective upon
+his elevation to the Papacy. Accredited representatives of the family
+were required to be in residence there for the maintenance of Medici
+supremacy. Alas, legitimate male heirs of the senior branch from Cosimo,
+"_Il Padre della Patria_," were non-existent, and Giovanni delle Bande
+Nere and his family would not, had he been chosen as _Capo della
+Repubblica_, consent to be dependent upon Rome.
+
+Clement took counsel with the Florentine ambassadors, who had been sent
+to congratulate him upon his elevation. Very adroitly he placed by his
+chair of state the two youths, who passed for Medici, and who were "as
+dear to him as sons"--Ippolito and Alessandro. In compliment to the
+Pope, and certainly not from conviction, the fourteen envoys agreed in
+asking him to send the two boys to Florence, under the charge of a
+worthy administrator, who should hold the reins of government in
+Clement's name.
+
+Delighted with the success of his stratagem, Clement chose the Cardinal
+of Cortona, one of his most obedient and faithful creatures, to
+accompany Ippolito, nearly sixteen years old, to Florence as
+quasi-Regent for the lad. With them went, as Ippolito's chamberlains,
+four Florentine youths of good birth who were favourites of the Pope,
+Alessandro de' Pucci, Pietro de' Ridolfi, Luigi della Stufa, and Palla
+de' Rucellai. The cortege was received in Florence without
+demonstrations of any kind; but certainly Ippolito made a very
+favourable impression by his good looks and gaiety. The Cardinal and his
+companions drew rein first at the Church of the SS. Annunziata, where
+they heard Mass, and they then rode on to the renovated Palazzo Medici.
+A meeting of the _Signoria_ was convened, and by a narrow majority
+Ippolito was declared eligible for the offices of State.
+
+The appointment of Passerini was unfortunate. "He was," writes Benedetto
+Varchi, "like most prelates, extremely avaricious; he had neither the
+intellect to understand the Florentine character nor the judgment to
+manage it, had he understood it." Ippolito assumed at once the style of
+"Il Magnifico," and began to display a lust for power and a taste for
+extravagance quite unusual in so young a lad. The Cardinal yielded to
+every whim, and very soon a goodly number of courtiers rallied round the
+handsome youth.
+
+Having launched one of his proteges successfully upon the troubled sea
+of Florentine politics, Clement despatched Alessandro, under the care of
+Rosso de' Ridolfi, one of his most trustworthy attendants, with little
+Caterina de' Medici. They were instructed to report themselves to
+Cardinal Passerini, and then without delay to proceed to the Villa
+Poggio a Caiano.
+
+This was a very wise arrangement on the part of Clement, in view of the
+strenuous rivalry and emphatic dislike the two lads had for each other.
+The two were kept apart as they had been at the Vatican, but this led
+naturally to the creation of rival parties and rival courts, each of
+which acclaimed their respective young leaders as _Il Capo della
+Repubblica_ and "_Il Signore di Firenze_." Better far as matters turned
+out, had it been deemed sufficient to advance Ippolito alone. His
+splendid talents--although linked to fickleness and inconsistency--and
+his liberality, appealed to the Florentines, and he might have proved a
+second Lorenzo il Magnifico.
+
+The sack of Rome in 1527 and the imprisonment of Clement VII. in the
+fortress of Sant Angelo, raised the spirits of the Republicans of
+Florence. Niccolo de' Soderini, Francesco de' Guicciardini and Pietro
+de' Salviati took up a strong position as leaders of a popular party,
+and once more the cry of "_Liberta!_" "_Liberta!_" was raised. Cardinal
+Passerini was advised to leave Florence and to take the two lads with
+him.
+
+Among those who escaped from Rome were Filippo negli Strozzi and his
+wife Clarice. They posted off to Florence, and whilst Filippo temporised
+with the Cardinal and with the party of reform on either hand, Clarice
+declared openly for the opponents of her own family.
+
+She attended a specially convened meeting of the anti-Medicean party,
+and placed her services at their disposal. It was arranged that she
+should visit the Cardinal the following day. Dressed superbly, wearing
+the family jewels, and conveyed in a State sedan-chair, she proceeded to
+the Palazzo Medici--the house of her fathers. Ippolito and Alessandro,
+with their tutors and attendants, met her upon the grand staircase, and
+conducted her to the presence of the Cardinal.
+
+Standing in the Long Gallery, she poured forth a torrent of scornful
+words upon the base-born scions of her family. "My Lord," she cried, "my
+Lord, to what a pass has my family sunk. Do you think that any of my
+great ancestors would have borne you so long. Alas! that my race has
+none but female legitimate offspring." Then turning to the astonished
+lads she continued: "You had better both look out for yourselves and go
+away before the Cardinal here destroys you and Florence!"
+
+Some of the suite tried to interfere and to pacify the enraged woman,
+but to no avail, she went on vehemently to denounce the intrusion of the
+two bastards.
+
+"Begone, you who are not of the blood of the Medici, both of you, from a
+house and from a city to which neither of you, nor your patron,
+Clement--wrongfully Pope and now justly a prisoner in Sant Angelo--have
+any legitimate claim, by reason of birth or of merit. Go at once, ye
+base-born bastards, or I will be the first to thrust you out!"
+
+Her hearers quailed under her invective, and Passerini humbly promised
+to quit the palace, but when Clarice had gone, he sent for Filippo
+negli Strozzi and expostulated with him. Filippo's apology was as quaint
+as it was effective. "Had she not been," said he, "a woman and a Medici,
+he would have administered to her such a public chastisement as would
+have gone bad with her!" He, nevertheless, strongly advised the Cardinal
+to depart, and he conveyed the intelligence that the lives of the two
+lads were by no means secure, and that should anything happen to them,
+the Pope would demand them at his hands.
+
+On 29th May 1527, Cardinal Passerini, with Ippolito and Alessandro and
+their suite, accompanied by Filippo, rode out to Poggio a Caiano, amid
+the execrations of the populace. Thence they departed for Rome, where
+the young men lived more or less quietly for two years in Clement's
+private apartments at the Vatican.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In spite of Ippolito's superiority of appearance, manners and
+attainments, the Pope made no concealment of his preference for
+Alessandro. He created him Duke of Citta di Penna--a fief within the
+Papal States--and decided that the riches and greatness of the House of
+Medici should be continued in Alessandro and not in Ippolito.
+
+"Ippolito," wrote Varillas, "was seized with incredible grief and
+indignation, and it seemed to him, that being older, a nearer relation
+to the Pope, and better endowed by nature, so rich an inheritance
+should rather be his ... either not knowing or not believing the rumours
+that Alessandro was Clement's son."
+
+Goaded by what he conceived to be a legitimate ambition, Ippolito posted
+off to Florence with the idea of seizing the executive power. Clement
+despatched Baccio Valori after him, with entreaties and promises, and
+finding that he had no welcome among the Florentines, Ippolito returned
+quietly to Rome.
+
+The Pope immediately, and without consulting him, preconised him
+Cardinal--greatly to his disgust. He had no wish for ecclesiastical
+preferment, he was a soldier at heart, and meant to be ruler of
+Florence. Clement noted the young man's partialities--he was only just
+twenty years of age, and he encouraged him in his extravagant tastes by
+liberally endowing his Cardinalate. A Brief "_In commendam_" was
+bestowed upon him, whereby the revenue of all vacant benefices and Papal
+dignities, for six months, were transferred to his account. Moreover, in
+1529, he was appointed Archbishop of Avignon, Legate of Perugia, and
+Administrator of the See of Casale. These fat endowments very
+considerably affected Ippolito's position. In Rome he had a Court of
+three hundred notable personages of all nations; his most intimate
+friends were soldiers and statesmen of renown, and writers and artists
+of the highest abilities and fame.
+
+Clement having placated Ippolito, set to work to carry out his plans
+for Alessandro. He wrote on his behalf to the Emperor Charles V. to
+invite him on his way from Flanders, whither he had travelled to avoid
+disputes with Ippolito, to visit the Imperial Court. Charles received
+Alessandro with great honour, and expressed his pleasure at greeting the
+near relative of the Pope.
+
+A treaty was subsequently signed at Barcelona between Charles and
+Clement, whereby it was agreed that Alessandro should espouse Margaret,
+Charles' illegitimate daughter, and that Clement should create Florence
+a Dukedom in favour of Alessandro. At the same time the Emperor was
+asked to intercede between the rival cousins but he naively replied,
+"Neither wants liberty but aggrandisement! Let them be."
+
+Alessandro entered Florence on 5th July 1531 accompanied by Giovanni
+Antonio Muscettola, envoy and chancellor of the Emperor. He proceeded to
+the Palazzo Vecchio, there he read aloud the injunction of Clement,
+countersigned by Charles, which established him as Duke of Florence. The
+office of _Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_ was abolished, and the _Signoria_
+restricted in their powers as merely consultative authorities. At the
+same time the Republic was superseded and the citizens allowed to
+exercise the franchise only in the election of civil magistrates.
+
+The _coup d'etat_ was complete and meekly enough the _Signoria_ declared
+that--"Considering the excellent qualities, life and habits of the most
+illustrious Duke Alessandro de' Medici, son of the late Magnificent
+Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino; and in recognition of the many and great
+benefits received, both spiritual and temporal, from the House of
+Medici, he was eligible for all the offices of State."
+
+Alessandro at once began to follow the bent of his base inclinations. As
+supreme Head of the State he ruled autocratically, and set justice and
+decency at defiance. The Florentines abashed by the pass in which they
+found themselves, seemed powerless to oppose the Duke's aggression upon
+their liberties. That had come to pass against which they had striven
+for hundreds of years--Florence was subject to _Il governo d'un solo_.
+
+Significantly enough, Alessandro took as his motto "_Un solo Signore,
+una sola Legge_," and this he stuck up all over Tuscany. He applied it
+quite autocratically by disarming the citizens, building fortresses,
+banishing the disaffected nobles, and confiscating all properties he
+coveted. These were but the beginnings of troubles.
+
+Taxes were doubled, every office at court was held by a creature and
+toady of the Duke, bribery and corruption of all kinds ruled the State,
+and there appeared to be no limit to his lust and rapacity, and no
+barrier against the chicanery of his adherents.
+
+Added to all this was the dislocation of public order. Florence became a
+hot-bed of immorality and a sink of iniquity. Women were openly
+ravished in the streets, the inmates of convents were not spared, men
+were wronged and removed suspiciously, the eyes and ears of the children
+were assailed by unblushing depravity. The _oubliettes_ of the Bigallo
+had their fill of victims.
+
+"Tyrant of Florence" was the designation which best fitted the new
+ruler. He destroyed the fabric of society and polluted the sanctity of
+family life. Dismay and revenge alternated in the feelings of the
+people. Those who dared, began to flock to Ippolito, who, with grim
+satisfaction, received at his palace in Rome all disaffected refugees.
+Meetings were held at Filippo negli Strozzi's house, and a movement was
+set on foot for the overthrow of Alessandro and his dissolute
+government. A deputation was sent to the Emperor Charles to complain of
+the tyranny of the Duke and to expose his immoral life. This sealed
+Ippolito's fate, for Alessandro at once took steps, not only to
+checkmate the action of the deputation, but to circumvent the
+destruction of his rival.
+
+Clement had of course full knowledge of the condition of affairs in
+Florence, and of the increase of hostility between the cousins, but both
+he and Paul III., who succeeded him as Pope in 1534, kept Ippolito
+engaged in military and diplomatic duties away from Italy. Knowing his
+predilection for soldiering, he was despatched, at the head of eight
+thousand horsemen, to the assistance of the Emperor against the Turks
+who had invaded Hungary under the Sultan Soliman. His valour and ability
+were remarkable; and the dash with which he marched, later on, to the
+defence of Rome, marked him as a commander of rare distinction.
+
+Returning once more to Rome, he abandoned himself to a career of
+debauchery and extravagance. Catillo, his castle-villa at Tivoli, became
+the resort of immoral and disreputable persons. The Pope sought to
+redress the disorder: he owed much to Ippolito at the time of his
+election to the Papacy, which was in a great measure achieved by his
+keen advocacy, so he sent him on embassies to the Emperor at Barcelona,
+and to the King of Naples, under promise of rich revenues.
+
+At the castle of Fondi, near the little town of Itri in the Neapolitan
+province of Terra di Lavoro, eight miles from the fortress of Gaeta, and
+overlooking the high road from Rome to Naples, was living, in strict
+retirement, a girl greatly beloved by the Cardinal. Giulia Gonzaga, such
+was her name, was the attractive and clever daughter of Messer
+Vespasiano Colonna, whose brother, Cavaliere Stefano, had taken a
+prominent and honourable part in the defence of Florence during the
+memorable siege of 1529-1530.
+
+Giulia was certainly only one of the many eligible maidens proposed at
+various times as a wife for the young ecclesiastic; but, in her case,
+the betrothal was all but effected, and with the approval of Pope
+Clement, whose conscience smote him when he saw that his handsome and
+gay young nephew was anything but disposed to observe the conventions of
+his Order.
+
+Nevertheless, the lovers were parted, and Giulia was confined in the
+conventual fortress, and carefully guarded. Pope Paul, it appears, did
+not relax the imprisonment of the unfortunate girl, as he surely ought
+to have done, in recognition of the Cardinal's successful advocacy of
+his own advancement.
+
+Naturally, poor Giulia pined and pined for her lover with whom, she was
+of course forbidden to correspond. At length her health gave way, and
+she appealed to her father to obtain just one interview with Ippolito
+before she died. Reluctantly permission was given by the Pope, and
+Ippolito, after the completion of his diplomatic duties in Naples,
+sought the neighbourhood of his _innamorata_; ostensibly upon the plea
+that his health needed the rest and change which the invigorating air of
+the _Foresteria_, a sanatorium at Itri, offered.
+
+Among Giulia's attendants was an old retainer of Alessandro de' Medici,
+still devoted to his service, and mindful of youthful escapades together
+at the Vatican. Him Alessandro persuaded, by means of a heavy bribe and
+the promise of efficient protection, to undertake the removal of
+Ippolito. Whilst dallying with his former mistress, the Cardinal fell
+ill of malarial fever, common in the swampy plain of Garigliano, where
+he had gone shooting snipe.
+
+Giovanni Andrea da Borgo San Sepolcro, the accomplice of his master,
+prepared some chicken broth, which he persuaded Ippolito to take. In
+spite of its bitter taste he partook largely, but during the night he
+was attacked with immoderate sickness. Before morning dawn the brilliant
+career of Ippolito, Cardinal de' Medici, ended, and the harvest sun of
+10th August 1535 rose upon his rigid corpse in Giulia's chamber!
+
+The poisoner fled to Florence, and was lodged safely in the Palazzo
+Medici, under the Duke's special protection. Alessandro received the
+news of Ippolito's death with the utmost satisfaction. "Now," said he,
+"the vile wasp is crushed at last!" The dead body of his victim was
+buried hurriedly at Itri, but, by Pope Paul's direction, it was exhumed
+and given honourable burial within the church of San Lorenzo-e-Damaso in
+Rome. Paul lamented the tragedy which had removed his friend so cruelly,
+and he boldly accused Alessandro of having brought it about.
+
+No one died more regretted. All Rome was in deepest mourning, and great
+and small thronged to his burial. He had played the part of Lord
+Bountiful ungrudgingly and with indiscriminating liberality. Very
+fittingly it was remarked that he bore as his motto "_Inter omnes_." He
+had all the making of a great man, but fickleness, inconsistency,
+impatience, and self-indulgence, belittled his reputation. Nevertheless,
+his character shone resplendently when contrasted with that of his rival
+Alessandro.
+
+Ippolito de' Medici left a son by his mistress, Asdrubale, who became a
+soldier and a knight of Malta.
+
+Neither Pope nor Emperor made any very energetic protests to Alessandro,
+but were busy with anxious personal enterprises--and self-interests
+usually exclude any other. True, Charles wrote to the Duke and
+questioned him about the death of Ippolito, and required that all the
+facts of the case should be laid before him, but the matter ended there.
+Alessandro made no reply!
+
+In six months the sensation had blown over, and the Emperor visited
+Florence in gorgeous State on 24th April. He was royally entertained by
+Alessandro, but he made no friends among the nobles, and departed
+without bestowing the usual honours. The Medici Palace had been
+redecorated, and it witnessed a revival of the lavish hospitality of
+Lorenzo il Magnifico.
+
+Margaret of Austria entered the city for her marriage with Alessandro on
+19th July 1536. She came from Naples accompanied by the Vice-Queen and
+Cardinals Santi Quattro and Cibo. The nuptial Mass was sung at San
+Lorenzo, and then the whole city was given over to feasting and
+debauchery. "The young Duchess was serenely happy, for the Duke paid
+her great court, and she knew not that he paid as much to other women of
+all grades!" Banquets, masked balls, street pageants, _Giostre_, and
+musical comedies crowded one upon another.
+
+Among the wedding guests was Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, who
+held the Lordship of Piombino, the lineal descendant and heir of Cosimo,
+"_Il Padre della Patria's_" brother Lorenzo. His father died when he was
+an infant, but his mother, Maria de' Soderini--a woman possessed of all
+the prudence and culture of her family--devoted herself to his rearing
+and education. Just twenty-three years old, he was small of stature and
+slightly built, dark complexioned, and of a melancholy aspect. His
+health was indifferent, and he was liable to uncontrollable fits of
+passion: he was restless and dissatisfied, and the associate of low and
+evil companions.
+
+In Rome--where he had lived in the Medici "happy family" of the Pope--he
+acquired the reputation of a coward and a provoker of disturbances. He
+was fond of defacing and mutilating ancient monuments, and became liable
+to pains and penalties from which Cardinal Ippolito rescued him. By his
+depraved and foolish habits he greatly incensed Clement, who at length
+dismissed him in disgrace. Lorenzo retired to Florence, where he was
+welcomed and entertained by Alessandro. In return for favours Lorenzo,
+nicknamed in Florence "_Lorenzino_," "Lorenzo the Little," became useful
+to the Duke and appointed himself spy-in-chief of the Florentine exiles.
+His studious character and his literary talent endowed him with another
+and a worthier sobriquet "_Filosofo_," and he carried out the role by
+dressing as a Greek and living as a sybarite. Devoted to the study of
+the classics and encouraged by his sensuous tutor, Giovanni Francesco
+Zeffi, when not engaged in vulgar orgies, he translated Plato and other
+writers, and even composed a comedy, which he called _L'Aridosio_.
+
+Lorenzino entered fully into the Duke's life of profligacy and became
+his inseparable companion. Both of them admired physical charms and
+indulged in all physical passions: they set a base fashion in Florence,
+which degraded her men and women. They habitually made lewd jokes of
+everything human and divine, and were noted for their cruelty to
+animals. If Alessandro became execrated as "The Tyrant and Ravisher of
+Florence," Lorenzino was scouted as "A monster and a miracle," and his
+depreciative nickname underwent a new spelling--"_Lorenzaccio_,"--
+"Lorenzo the Terrible!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Satiety of excesses produced a revulsion of feeling between the two
+debauchees. Alessandro began to show irritation at his companion's
+freedom. The latter refused to be corrected, and into his mind came
+once more the inspiration of classical heroes of liberty and foes of
+oppression. Why should he not be a Florentine "Brutus," and have his
+name engraved upon the pinnacle of fame as the "Saviour of his Country!"
+Lorenzino studied and studied well the part he now set himself to play.
+
+Not a word did he breathe to man or woman of what was paramount in his
+mind, and he made not the slightest difference in his intercourse with
+Alessandro--indeed, he drew himself to him more intimately than ever.
+The Carnival of 1536 saw the maddest of all mad scenes, and everything
+and everybody ran wild riot. Disguised as country minstrels and mounted
+upon broken-down donkeys, the two comrades rode about the city, paying
+visits to their various mistresses and flatterers, and playing practical
+jokes upon the respectable citizens they encountered.
+
+Returning one evening, weary with their follies, they supped together at
+the Palazzo Medici, and then Lorenzino inquired how they were to spend
+the night.
+
+"I shall go to bed," replied Alessandro, "for I am worn out."
+
+"Caterina?" whispered Lorenzino.
+
+Alessandro rose abruptly and said, "Lead on, Lorenzo, I will follow."
+
+Seeing his valet and confidant, Giustiniano da Sesena, he said: "We are
+going to Signore Lorenzino's, but what shall I put on?" Giustiniano
+handed him a crimson silk dressing-gown, and asked him whether he would
+wear his sword and steel gauntlets, or whether his cane and his scented
+kid gloves would not be more suitable.
+
+"Yes," the Duke replied, "toss me over my lovers' gloves, for I am about
+to see my lady!"
+
+Snatching a cloak, lined with fur, and grasping a light sword in his
+hand, Alessandro left the palace by the garden wicket, followed by his
+valet and two secret guards, Giomo da Carpi, and an Hungarian wrestler
+nicknamed "Bobo."
+
+Meanwhile Lorenzino had sought the street, and at the corner he found
+his usual attendant, Michaele del Tovallaccino, a soldier possessed of a
+splendid physique, combining the soft contour of Apollo and the brute
+force of Hercules. His comrades called him "Scoronconcolo," on account
+of his wild, lustful nature. "He could kiss and bite," they said, "at
+the same time!"
+
+"Michaele," said Lorenzino, "I want you to kill the man who is my
+greatest enemy."
+
+"My lord," replied the ruffian, "I am at your service. Tell me the name
+of the fellow who has wronged you and I will kill him right off. I would
+kill Jesus Christ himself if he hated you!"
+
+"Stay at your post and I will return for you presently," said Lorenzino,
+going on to his own house across the way.
+
+In the Piazza San Marco he overtook Alessandro, who dismissed his
+attendants, and went on alone with his cousin. In Lorenzino's chamber
+was a good fire, and Alessandro, complaining of the heat, loosened his
+attire and removed his sword, handing it to Lorenzino, who deftly
+entangled the sash and belt in the hilt and placed it upon the bed.
+
+"Where is Caterina?" inquired the Duke. "Why is she not here?"
+
+"She is quite ready," was the reply, "and only awaits me to conduct her
+hither."
+
+"Go at once and delay not!" cried Alessandro.
+
+Locking the door from without, and putting the key in his pocket,
+Lorenzino hastened to Michaele.
+
+This "Caterina" was Caterina Ginori, Lorenzino's mother's sister. Forced
+by her father, Paolo d'Antonio de' Soderini, to renounce her lover,
+Luigi degli Alamanni, and to marry Leonardo de' Ginori--a disreputable
+spendthrift and gambler, who fled to Naples to escape his creditors--she
+attracted the notice of Duke Alessandro. She was as accomplished as she
+was beautiful and very commanding in appearance, the mother of
+Bartolommeo, the giant manhood model of Giovanni da Bologna for his
+famous "Youth, Manhood, and Age," miscalled "The Rape of the Sabines,"
+in the Loggia de' Lanzi.
+
+At the rendezvous Lorenzino slapped Michaele upon the shoulder.
+"Brother," he said, "the moment has arrived. I have locked my enemy in
+my room. Come on, now is your opportunity." "March!" was the ruffian's
+terse reply.
+
+"Don't fear to strike," said Lorenzino, as they strode on side by side.
+"Strike hard, and if the man should seek to defend himself, strike still
+harder. I trust you."
+
+"Never you fear, my lord, were the man to swear he was the Duke or the
+Devil, it matters not. Strike I will, and hard."
+
+Mounting the stairs quietly, Lorenzino opened the door of his apartment
+softly, and there lay Alessandro, fast asleep upon the bed, with his
+face to the wall. Coward, as he was wont to call himself, he no longer
+feared to slay the "Tyrant of his People," but whipping out his sword,
+not waiting for Michaele's attack, he thrust it right through the Duke's
+back!
+
+With a frantic yell Alessandro stumbled upon the floor. "Traitor!
+assassin!" he screamed. Then, turning his eyes full upon Lorenzino, he
+faintly added: "This from thee--my lover!"
+
+Alessandro made as though to defend himself, and with the red blood
+gushing from his back, he threw himself upon his murderer and they
+struggled on the floor.
+
+Michaele was powerless to strike: his weapon might have slashed his
+master. Alessandro, with dying energy, seized the hand of Lorenzino and
+bit two of his fingers to the bone, so that the miscreant yelled with
+agony. Then they parted--Lorenzino to bind up his broken bones and
+Alessandro to staunch his wound. "At him," cried the madman, and
+Michaele struck at him with his sword, cutting off his right cheek and
+his nose, and then he got his dagger at his throat, and turned it round
+in the gaping wound, until he nearly decapitated his unhappy victim.
+Again Lorenzino heaved at him with his reeking weapon and fell upon him,
+covering himself with blood, and bit his face in savage rage! Alessandro
+fell away and lay, breathing heavily in a fearsome heap. Then Lorenzino,
+chuckling with fiendish glee, roared out, "See, Michaele, my brother,
+the wretch is dead!"
+
+Raising the body of the still breathing Duke, his murderers threw it
+upon the bed and covered it with the sheets. Then Lorenzino opened a
+window and looked out upon the Via Larga, to see if anybody was about.
+Not a soul was there. It was early morning, and by the new light of day
+he tore off a piece of paper and scribbled upon it, with Alessandro's
+blood, "_Vincit amor patriae laudumque immensa cupido_," and pinned it
+over Alessandro's heart!
+
+Both he and Michaele washed their hands and their swords--their clothes
+they could not cleanse--and Lorenzino, having filled his pouch with the
+money and jewels he possessed, they picked up their cloaks and hats,
+and, locking the door behind them, departed. In the basement they
+encountered Fiaccio, Lorenzino's faithful body-servant, groom and valet
+combined, and he was bidden to follow his master.
+
+The three made their way with haste to the residence of Bishop Angelo
+Marzi, the chief custodian of the City Gates, of whom Lorenzino demanded
+post-horses, showing to the servant Alessandro's signet-ring, which he
+had pulled off his victim's finger. The Bishop made no demur, being well
+accustomed to the erratic ways of the cousins. They took the road to
+Bologna, where Lorenzino had the two broken fingers removed, and his
+hand dressed, and then on they posted without further halt.
+
+Lorenzino made at once for the house of Filippo negli Strozzi, the
+leader of the exiled Florentines in that city, and rousing him from his
+slumbers, embraced him with emotion, and said: "See, this is the key of
+the chamber where lies the body of Alessandro. I have slain him. Look at
+my clothes, this blood is his, no more shall Florence suffer at his
+hands. Revenge is sweet, but freedom is sweeter!"
+
+Filippo could scarcely believe the glad tidings, and surveyed his
+visitor from head to foot. Lorenzino, noting his hesitation, called
+Michaele into the room crying, "Here is Scoronconcolo the Assassin, and
+I am Lorenzaccio the Terrible!"
+
+"Thou art our Brutus, my Lord Lorenzino!" exclaimed Filippo, with tears
+running down his cheeks. "Tarry awhile, till I can summon our chief
+allies, and rest yourselves. Bravo! Bravissimo!"
+
+Next day alarm spread through the Medici Palace when the Duke failed to
+make his appearance, especially as at noon he had summoned a meeting of
+his new Grand Council of Two Hundred. No one knew where he had gone.
+Lorenzino was gone too, at least he did not make his usual early morning
+call. All the houses of their mistresses and other boon-companions were
+searched in vain, but apparently no one dreamt of calling at
+Lorenzino's, across the way. Probably, it was thought, the two had gone
+off to Cafogginolo--their favourite haunt.
+
+Madonna Maria, Messer Jacopo de' Salviati's daughter, the widow of
+Giovanni de' Medici, "delle Bande Nere," who resided near Lorenzino,
+certainly heard loud cries which terrified her, but it was not an
+unusual occurrence. Lorenzino had, in his villainous scheme, devised a
+cunning decoy to accustom neighbours and passers-by to noisy behaviour.
+He had repeatedly gathered in his house groups of young men with swords,
+whom he instructed to cross their weapons as in serious self-defence,
+and to cry out "Murder!" "Help!" and such like.
+
+The first intimation of the tragedy was furnished by Lorenzino's porter,
+who kept his keys--that of the bedchamber was missing and the door was
+locked! The man sought an interview with Cardinal Cibo, then in
+Florence, and his former master, and told him his fears. The door was,
+by his order, forced and then, of course, the terrible truth was made
+clear.
+
+Under the pain of losing their heads, the Cardinal commanded absolute
+secrecy on the part of the domestics and guards who had looked upon that
+gruesome corpse. At the same time he ordered the game of "Saracino" to
+be played in the _Piazza_ close by, to remove the fears of a fast
+gathering crowd of citizens. When asked if he knew where the Duke was,
+he replied quite casually: "Oh, don't worry about the Duke, he's in bed
+of course, sleeping off the effects of last night's conviviality. He'll
+appear when he thinks fit. Go away and mind your own affairs."
+
+Somehow or another at last the news leaked out that Alessandro was dead,
+and that Lorenzino had killed him. Cardinal Cibo convened the Council of
+Forty-eight to discuss the situation. To him full powers were accorded
+to administer the government for three days, until a settlement was
+reached. This decision was most unpopular with the citizens, who began
+to rise in opposition.
+
+Just when another bloody revolution seemed imminent, Cosimo de' Medici,
+the young son of Giovanni "delle Bande Nere," rode into the city,
+accompanied by a few of his friends. Everywhere he was hailed with
+enthusiastic cries--"_Evviva il Giovanni e il Cosimo_."
+
+The young Duchess Margaret fled precipitately from the Via Larga to the
+fortress of San Giovanni, which Alessandro had only just built and
+fortified. With her went three young children--not her own indeed, for
+she had proved to be barren,--but children she found in her husband's
+house. By Florentine law they were recognised as belonging to the
+family, and no one troubled about their precise origin.
+
+These little ones were probably the issue of the Duke by a handsome
+_contadina_ employed in the palace, who went by the name of Anna da
+Massa. Francesco Guicciardini, however, says she was the Marchesa da
+Massa, a noble lady, one of Alessandro's chief favourites. Giulio, some
+five years old, became a soldier, and died Prior of the new military
+Order of St Stephen of Pisa; Porczia died an enclosed nun in Rome; and
+Giulia married Francesco de' Barthelemmi.
+
+Margaret herself married Ottavio Farnese, Prince of Nepi and Camerino, a
+lad of sixteen years of age, and, a second time, being left a widow, she
+espoused the Duke of Parma, and died in 1586--fifty years after her
+ill-starred marriage with Alessandro de' Medici.
+
+It was reputed that shortly before his assassination, a Greek soothsayer
+one day stopped the Duke's cortege in the street, and cried out, so that
+all might hear: "Alessandro, Duke of Florence, thou shall be slain by a
+relative, a thin man, small of stature, and dark of countenance. He will
+have one accomplice. Beware!"
+
+As for Lorenzino, whilst no action was taken publicly in Florence
+against him--for, secretly all men, and openly the majority, praised his
+act--there was a party whose members were sworn to avenge Alessandro's
+blood. They enlisted a service of irreconcilables to track the murderer
+to his death.
+
+For eleven long years Lorenzino traversed land and sea, pursued, not
+only by relentless foes, but tormented by an accusing conscience. He was
+no Brutus to himself, but relapsed once more into a craven, stalking
+coward. At length retribution overtook him, for two soldiers, devoted to
+Alessandro's memory, hunted him down in the waterways of Venice, to
+which he had returned. One day, in May 1548, Bedo da Volterra and
+Cecchino da Bibonna caught him by the Rialto, unattended and unarmed,
+and their daggers did the work as effectively for him as did his sword
+for Duke Alessandro!
+
+What became of Lorenzino's body nobody knew and nobody cared, probably
+it was tossed by his assassins into the Grand Canal, and being washed
+out into the sea, will await that day when the deep shall yield up all
+that is therein.
+
+Some authorities state that a reward of ten thousand gold florins was
+offered for his head, that his effigy was burnt with every mark of
+opprobrium in the Piazza della Signoria, and that the rabble pulled his
+house down and burnt out the site.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+MARIA, GIOVANNI, AND GARZIA.
+
+
+_A Father's Vengeance_
+
+
+"I will have no Cain in my family!" roared out Cosimo de' Medici--"_Il
+Giovane_," Duke of Florence, in the forest of Rosignano.
+
+"A Medico of the Medici," prompt in action and suave in repose, his hand
+flew to his sword hilt, and the cruel, cold steel of a father's wrath
+flashed in the face of Heaven! Duchess Eleanora made one swift step
+forward, intent upon shielding her child, but she stood there transfixed
+with horror--her arms and hands outstretched to the wide horizon in
+silent supplication, her tongue paralysed!
+
+The kneeling boy grasped his father's knees, weeping piteously, and
+crying aloud in vain for mercy. Thrusting him from him, and spurning him
+with his heavy hunting-boot, he plunged furiously his gleaming blade
+into his son's breast, until the point came out between his
+shoulderblades!
+
+With one expiring yell of agony and terror, Garzia de' Medici yielded up
+his fair young life, the victim of inexorable fate. It was high moon,
+and the watchful stars, of course, could not behold the gruesome deed,
+but over the autumn sun was drawn a grey purple mist, and gloom settled
+upon the Maremma. And as the elements paled and were silent, a hush
+overspread wild nature, not a beast in the thicket, not a bird on the
+bough, stirred. Sighs siffled through the bracken and the heather, and
+the roar of the distant sea died away in moaning at the bar.
+
+With a suffocating sob, as though stabbed to death herself, the Duchess
+swooned upon the ground, and, whilst the courtiers in the company
+hastened to her assistance, the huntsmen reverently covered the still
+quivering body of the young prince with their embroidered livery cloaks.
+
+Not much more than a mile away another corpse was being gently borne by
+tender loving hands--it was Giovanni's, Garzia's elder brother, the
+young Cardinal.
+
+Giovanni de' Medici was dead--Garzia was dead; and two virgin souls were
+winging their flight to join their murdered sister Maria in the Paradise
+of Peace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Cosimo, Duke of Florence, was the son of Giovanni de' Medici--called
+"_delle Bande Nere_" and Maria de' Salviati. Born in 1498, at Forli,
+Giovanni--also known as "_Giovannino_" to distinguish him from his
+father Giovanni, "_Il Popolano_"--was destined from his cradle to a
+military career. With such a mother as Caterina, the natural daughter
+of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, he was bound to acquire with
+her milk the instincts of a pushful personality.
+
+Pope Leo X., who was a Florentine of the Florentines, extended his
+zealous patronage to the rearing and the training of his youthful
+relative. If not a caster of horoscopes, he was a reader of character,
+and, son as he was of Lorenzo "Il Magnifico," he foresaw a future for
+"_Giovannino_" fraught with immense importance to his family and his
+native city.
+
+After receiving his early training as a soldier in Rome, attached to the
+staff of one or other of the _Condottieri_, young Giovanni was appointed
+to a military command with the Papal army in Lombardy, when he was
+little more than out of his teens. His splendid physique and his prowess
+in friendly encounter, revealed the lion that was in him. The leader in
+all boyish pranks and rivalries, he displayed intrepid courage and
+unfailing resourcefulness when called upon to prove his metal. To strike
+quickly and to strike hard, he knew very well meant the battle half
+won--hence there was added to his sobriquet two significant
+appellations--"_L'Invincible_" and "_Il Gran Diabolo_!"
+
+The troops under his command were, as was the rule in the Papal armies,
+composed of motley companies of alien mercenaries and forced levies,
+but, in addition, very many soldiers of fortune, attracted by his fame,
+rallied to his banner. Very soon the "_Bande Nere_," as Giovanni's
+force was called, gave evidence that they had no equals in equipment and
+efficiency. Their leader took as his models the infantry of Spain and
+the cavalry of Germany. Each man wore a black silk ribbon badge, and
+each lance bore its black pennon--hence the "_Bande Nere_."
+
+It has been said of Mars, the God of War, that he was susceptible to the
+wiles of Venus, even when intent on deeds of daring, so, too, was it
+true of Condottiere Giovanni de' Medici. Although born outside the "City
+of the Lily," and the child of a non-Florentine mother, he and his were
+always on terms of good relationship with the gentle Duke Lorenzo. His
+associations with Florence were of the closest nature, and
+"_Giovannino_" was quite content to look for his bride among the
+marriageable maidens there.
+
+With an ever open eye to a goodly marriage portion, Messer Giovanni "_Il
+Popolano_" viewed the daughters of the Salviati with approval. That
+house was famous for its financial prominence--rivalling that of his
+own, and Messer Giacopo's three girls were noted for good looks and
+clever brains. Whether love, or money, was the magnet, or whether the
+two ran together in double harness, young "_Giovannino_" took tight hold
+upon the reins, and he and Maria Salviati were betrothed in the autumn
+of 1517.
+
+To be sure there was a difficulty about the new marital habitation, for
+a soldier upon active service has no settled home. Love, however, knows
+obstacles only to overcome them, and so, somehow or another, the young
+Madonna brought into the world, one wintry day in February--it was the
+nineteenth--1519, her first-born, a son. Cosimo they christened him,
+perhaps after his great ancestor Cosimo "_Padre della Patria_"--
+"_Cosimonino_." When mother and child could be moved Giovanni sent them,
+for safety, into Florence, where they were lovingly welcomed by her
+parents, Messer Giacopo de' Salviati and his wife Lucrezia, daughter of
+Lorenzo il Magnifico.
+
+Pope Leo X., who had in his heart ambitious desires for the predominance
+of his House, not alone in Tuscany but throughout Italy, regarded the
+young soldier as one of his most trusty lieutenants. Designing, as he
+did, to create Giuliano,--later Duke of Nemours,--King of Naples and
+Southern Italy, and Lorenzo,--Duke of Urbino,--King of Lombardy and
+Northern Italy, he made Giovanni "delle Bande Nere" Commandant of the
+Papal armies.
+
+Leo spent much time in Florence, having the Condottiere by his side, and
+using him as an envoy,--first to the King of France, and, then to the
+Emperor, in matrimonial negotiations which concerned Giuliano and
+Lorenzo. The imbroglio about the Duchy of Milan found him at the head of
+the Papal contingent of the Imperial army, but his success as commander
+was checked by a disastrous peace concluded by the Pope. The early
+years of young Cosimo's life were critical in the affairs of Tuscany; a
+fierce struggle for the suzerainty of all Italy was being fought out
+between Francis I. and Charles V. The Pope, Clement VII.--Cardinal
+Giulio de' Medici--who had succeeded Adrian VI. in 1523, sided with
+either party as suited his ambitions best. When favourable to the
+French, he handed over one division of the Papal army to the king, who
+confirmed Condottiere Giovanni de' Medici in his command.
+
+At Borgoforte he was shot in the knee, and again at Pavia, where Francis
+was routed and taken prisoner. The campaign continued and Giovanni was
+always in the front rank of battle until, outside Mantua, he was
+mortally wounded and died within the fortress, on 30th November, 1526,
+at the early age of twenty-nine.
+
+An interesting little story concerns the first anniversary of Cosimo's
+birth. His father dreamed, on the eve of that day, that he saw his son
+asleep in his cradle, and over his head he beheld a royal crown! In the
+morning he did not tell Madonna Maria what he had seen in the
+night-watches, but something prompted him to test the will of
+Providence. Accordingly he told his wife to take the precious little
+babe up to the balcony on the second floor of the Palazzo Salviati, in
+the Via del Corso.
+
+"Throw down the child," he cried from the street below. The Madonna
+refused, and rated her husband for his madness, but he insisted, and
+threatened so vehemently, that at last, in abject terror, she let go her
+hold of her babe. The boy leaped from her arms into the air, and, whilst
+the distracted mother uttered a wail of anguish, Giovanni deftly caught
+his little son in his arms. The child chortled merrily, as if enjoying
+his weird experience, and, inasmuch as he never so much as uttered the
+slightest cry of fear, the intrepid Condottiere felt perfectly reassured
+as to the auspicious presage of his dream.
+
+"That's all right," he exclaimed, "my vision was no fantastic
+picture--my bonnie boy will live to be a prince--Prince of Florence!"
+
+Madonna Maria, left so young a widow--she was only
+twenty-five--consecrated her life to the care of her young son--just
+eight years old--and, under her parental roof in the Via del Corso, she
+engaged some of the best teachers of the day to undertake his education.
+Cosimonino's aptitude for military affairs and his taste for chemical
+studies soon made themselves apparent.
+
+But the doting mother had a secret enemy, her child's enemy indeed, an
+enemy so powerful, and by all accounts so relentless, that her life
+became a burden in her efforts to shield her boy from peril. That enemy
+was no less a person than the Pope!
+
+Clement, of course, knew very well of the existence of Giovanni delle
+Bande Nere's son and heir, and whilst he hailed the death of the father
+as a gain for his personal ambition, he feared the life of his child
+would peril his hopes for Alessandro, his own illegitimate son. Cosimo,
+Giovanni's boy, must be kept out of the way at all hazards, and Maria
+the widow was very soon well aware of the Pope's aims.
+
+By every means in his power, Clement strove to obtain possession of
+little Cosimo, but his mother was as watchful as she was prudent, and,
+till her boy reached his twelfth year, she never let him go out of her
+sight and keeping. She took him away to remote parts of Italy with
+trusty attendants, that the Pope might not discover their whereabouts.
+Then she chose a faithful friend of her family, Maestro Pierfrancesco
+Riccio da Prato, to superintend his further education. If not the wisest
+of teachers, he was admirable for the exact discharge of his duties and
+inculcated the best traditions of the Medici.
+
+Together tutor and pupil visited many parts of Central Italy and spent
+some time at Venice, the chief subject of their studies being the heroic
+doings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. This was the usual curriculum
+for growing boys, and doubtless its observance induced that admiration
+of tyrannicide which marked the character of so many young Florentines.
+
+In 1523, when Clement so artfully persuaded the Florentine ambassadors
+to request the despatch of the two bastards, Ippolito and Alessandro,
+to Florence, the only man who maintained his opposition was Messer
+Giacopo de' Salviati, and he again protested in person both to Clement
+in Rome and before the _Signoria_ in Florence, against the creation of
+Alessandro as Head of the Republic. Once more this "loyal citizen"
+withstood the bastard Duke, when he put his hand to the building of the
+fortress of San Giovanni. Naturally, Messer Giacopo's opposition excited
+the animosity of Alessandro, who, if he did not actually inspire his
+assassination, was, at all events, privy to it.
+
+But in spite of all, Cosimo grew and flourished, displaying his father's
+courage and his mother's prudence. At fifteen, his character appeared to
+be already formed. He was grave of aspect and severe in manner, very
+backward in forming friendships, and intolerant of familiarities.
+
+In 1536, the Emperor Charles and his court were in residence at Bologna,
+and, hearing that young Cosimo de' Medici was also in the city, the
+monarch sent for him and received him with marked cordiality. Observing
+the young man's bearing and evident force of character, Charles took him
+by the arm and, placing his hand upon the lad's shoulder, said to him:
+"You are fortunate, young man, to have had for your father a soldier who
+made both France and Spain tremble!"
+
+Between fifteen and eighteen we have few records of Cosimo's life and no
+hint as to where he was during the terrible years of tyranny and
+debauchery in Florence. Anyhow, Duke Alessandro owed him no kindness,
+nor did he enter into any relations with him. What dealings he had with
+Lorenzino and Giuliano, his cousins, are unknown. They were nearer the
+succession to the ducal throne than himself--indeed, the former was
+regarded as next heir to Alessandro. In all probability the young man
+lived with his mother at the villa at Castello which had belonged to his
+father, and kept himself very much out of sight.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The news of Duke Alessandro's assassination very soon got about, and
+groups of citizens gathered in the Via Larga and also in the Piazza del
+Signoria. Although considerable excitement pervaded those assemblages,
+the people remained quiet and self-controlled. "Everybody," as Benedetto
+Varchi has recorded, "spoke out quite fully, as though no one doubted
+but that the Greater Council of the city would at once be summoned. They
+debated as to who would be chosen _Gonfaloniere_, and whether for life
+or not. Meanwhile the Council of Forty-eight had assembled at the Medici
+Palace at the call of the Cardinal (Cibo), and were in conference in the
+long gallery upstairs."
+
+Cardinal Cibo was the son of Maddalena de' Medici, Lorenzo il
+Magnifico's eldest daughter. He with Francesco de' Guicciardini and
+Francesco de' Vettori had constituted themselves, in a sort of way,
+mentors and advisers to the murdered Duke, who was only too glad to free
+himself of some of the distasteful duties of State, and confide them to
+anyone who would relieve him of them.
+
+As for a successor to Alessandro, the Cardinal at first suggested
+Giulio, the Duke's bastard son, a child of eight years of age. The
+Council scouted the idea of another regency, and intimated plainly their
+intention to seek an adult Head of the Government. Full powers were
+given to the triumvirate to carry on State business during the
+interregnum--a decision which greatly displeased the populace. On
+dispersing from the conference the councillors were greeted with
+derisive cries--"If you cannot make up your minds, we must do it for
+you!"
+
+During the adjournment the Cardinal and his two successors took counsel
+with the Strozzi and other influential men in and beyond Florence, and
+called to their aid the four Florentine Cardinals, Salviati, Gaddi,
+Pucci, and Ridolfi. Paul III.--naturally anxious to have a finger in the
+pie--despatched Roberto negli Strozzi with fifteen hundred mounted men
+to hold Montepulciano, and at the same time directed the Cardinals to
+join him there. The Papal nominee was Giuliano, younger brother of
+Lorenzino, the Duke's murderer--an entirely impossible choice.
+
+Madonna Maria de' Medici was at her father's villa at Trebbio, but at
+once she despatched couriers to hasten her son's return from Bologna,
+whither he had gone for study and for pleasure. She invited Cibo and
+Guicciardini to meet him, and to take counsel with her concerning his
+claims on Florence. Instructed by his astute mother, the young man paid
+great court to the two visitors, and charmed them exceedingly. The
+Cardinal was at once converted to the Madonna's views. Both he and
+Messer Guicciardini were struck by Cosimo's appearance--tall, well-made,
+and good-looking, he had a manly carriage, and his assured yet courteous
+manner left nothing to be desired.
+
+On the three councillors' return to Florence, they were met by Senor
+Ferrante de Silva, Conte de Cifuentes, the Spanish ambassador, who was
+commanded by his master to support the candidature of Cosimo de' Medici.
+
+The Emperor, Charles V., moreover, sent Bernardino da Rieti as special
+envoy, to enforce his views upon the "Forty-eight," and with him went a
+force of two thousand Spanish troops from Lerici--where they were in
+garrison, partly with a view to overawe the Council, and partly for the
+protection of the widowed Duchess Margaret. It was concurrently reported
+that the Emperor had another project in view, namely to marry his
+daughter to young Cosimo. At any rate, Margaret was directed to remain
+in Florence and at the Medici Palace.
+
+Conferences were held daily, both in the Medici Palace and in the
+Palazzo Vecchio. To Francesco de' Guicciardini was committed the duty of
+formally proposing Cosimo--commonly called "Cosimonino"--as Head of the
+State. At once Palla de' Rucellai rose in opposition, but his party in
+the Council was in the minority. The deliberations were disturbed by the
+entrance of the French ambassador, who came to press upon their
+lordships' attention the claims of little Duchess Caterina, Duke
+Lorenzo's only legitimate child. The proposition met with unanimous
+disapprobation, and fell to the ground.
+
+Outside, in the Piazza, was a shouting, struggling crowd of citizens,
+something unusual was going on, and the cries of the people penetrated
+the windows of the Council Chamber--"_Evviva il figlio di Giovanni delle
+Bande Nere!_" "_Evviva il Cosimonino!_" "_Evviva Cosimo il Duca di
+Firenze!_"
+
+The Council rose at once, without coming to a decision, but each member
+of it understood the import of that cry, and each was quite ready to
+accept the popular verdict. As they regained the street they saw a
+youthful cavalier, with a small mounted retinue, surrounded by an
+enthusiastic crowd of citizens. They had ridden fast from the Mugello
+and were covered with dust.
+
+"Signor Cosimo," wrote Benedetto Varchi, "arrived in Florence with but a
+few followers. As the son of Signor Giovanni, of fair aspect and having
+always displayed a kindly disposition and a good understanding, he was
+liked greatly by the populace, and they hailed him as heir to Duke
+Alessandro, with marked affection. Affecting neither grief nor joy, he
+rode on with an air of serene importance, showing rather his merit for
+the throne than his wish for it. Dismounting at the palace, he visited
+Cardinal Cibo, and expressing his regret at the Duke's sanguinary death,
+went on to say that like a good son of Florence he had come to place not
+only his fortunes but his life at the service of his country."
+
+Cosimo was named Head of the State, not Duke, on four conditions:--
+
+1. To render justice indifferently to rich and poor.
+
+2. Never to disagree with the policy of the Emperor.
+
+3. To avenge the death of Duke Alessandro.
+
+4. To treat his three illegitimate children with kindness.
+
+Those who come to the front through their own genius or their destiny,
+upon the first step of the throne accept the conditions of their
+appointment, but, upon the last step, they commonly impose their own
+upon their makers. Consequently, although but a youth of nineteen years
+of age at the time of his opportune arrival in Florence, Cosimo at once
+showed his intention of assuming personally and untrammelled the
+government of the State. Cardinal Cibo and Francesco de' Guicciardini,
+who had been the first to recognise not only his claim but his fitness
+to rule, were very tactfully set aside, and others, who might be
+expected to assert powers of direction and supervision, were quietly
+assigned to positions where they could not interfere with his freedom of
+action.
+
+Within six months of his acclamation by the people as "Head of the
+State," Cosimo obtained from the Emperor Charles V. the full recognition
+of his title of Duke of Florence.
+
+There were great doings at the Palazzo Medici in the May of 1539, when
+Cosimo welcomed his bride, Donna Eleanora, second daughter of Don Pedro
+de Toledo, Duca d'Alba, the King of Spain's Viceroy at Naples. She was
+certainly no beauty, but a woman of estimable qualities, and profoundly
+imbued with the spirit of devotion. Hardly, perhaps, the wife Cosimo
+would have chosen, had not reasons of State as usual guided him.
+Eleanora, nevertheless, proved herself a worthy spouse and an exemplary
+mother.
+
+Within the palace Eleanora was shocked to find a little child, "_La
+Bia_"--short for "_Bambina_," "Baby"--she was called, some two years
+old. No one seemed to know quite who was her mother. Some said she was a
+village girl of Trebbio, and others, a young gentlewoman of Florence.
+Only Cosimo's mother, Madonna Maria, knew, and she refused to reveal the
+girl's identity, but she admitted that "La Bia" was Cosimo's child.
+Eleanora would not tolerate her presence in the palace, so Cosimo sent
+her off with several attendants to the Villa del Castello, where,
+perhaps fortunately, she died on the last day of February the following
+year.
+
+The first years of Cosimo's government were years of unrest and peril
+throughout Tuscany. The adherents of the dead bastard Duke were neither
+few nor uninfluential. Encouraged by the Clementine coterie in Rome, the
+members of which had from the first opposed Cosimo's succession to the
+Headship of the Republic, they made the Florentine Court a hot-bed of
+intrigue and strife.
+
+The party, not inconsiderable, which supported the claims of Giuliano,
+younger son of Pierfrancesco the Younger, and brother of Lorenzino,
+Alessandro's murderer, gave much trouble. Giuliano, who had been an
+associate of the Duke and an abettor of Lorenzino's "devilries," fled
+precipitately from Florence, and sought the protection of the Duke of
+Milan. Lorenzino's confession was written partly with a view of removing
+suspicion from his brother, and to leave unprejudiced the claims of his
+father's family. There were many other cliques and parties, great and
+small, each bent upon the other's destruction in particular and upon the
+undoing of the Republic in general.
+
+By far the most formidable opposition to Cosimo's rule came from Venice,
+whence the Florentine exiles, under the command of Filippo negli
+Strozzi's two sons, Piero and Roberto, who had married Lorenzino's
+sisters, Laudomia and Maddalena, raised, with the assistance of the King
+of France, a strong force, and invaded Tuscany.
+
+It needed not the persuasion of Madonna Maria to urge Cosimo to action,
+although her active representations to the Emperor--which obtained the
+Imperial sanction and promise of co-operation--were important factors in
+his resolution. Cosimo gathered together what men he could rely upon in
+Florence, and when once his battle-banner was unfurled with the black
+pennon of his redoubtable father, numbers of old campaigners hastened to
+his support.
+
+On 31st July, 1537, the opposing forces met in the valley of Montemurlo.
+Cosimo displayed much of the daring and ability of his father, and
+victory was never in doubt. The Strozzi and Baccio Valori were taken
+prisoners to Florence, bound upon broken-down farm-horses, and their
+forces were dispersed. It was reported that in the heat of the battle
+Otto da Montanto, an Imperial officer, riding past Cosimo, lowered the
+point of his sword as he shouted, "Forward, Signore, to-day the fortunes
+of the Emperor and of Cosimo de' Medici will prevail!"
+
+Cosimo wore no velvet gloves in dealing with his enemies, secret and
+pronounced. Arrest, confiscation, torture, banishment, and execution
+thinned once more the ranks of the noblest families of Tuscany. Filippo
+negli Strozzi, who was regarded as the leader of the anti-Cosimo party,
+was taken prisoner and cast into the fortress of San Giovanni.
+Apparently his aim was not a restoration of a Papal nominee to the
+Headship of the State, but his own advancement to that position. He was
+put on the rack, and eventually done to death by Cosimo's orders.
+
+The years 1538, 1539 and 1540, are deeply dyed with the blood of
+victims. Florentine vengeance again proved itself satisfied only with
+wholesale annihilation. It has been computed that in the latter year
+alone, nearly five hundred men and women, chiefly of good family and
+high distinction, came by violent deaths. Of these, one hundred and
+forty-six were decapitated by Cosimo's express orders!
+
+Perhaps "The Terror" was inevitable, but it revealed in a lurid light
+the revengeful and implacable temper of the young ruler. If he had
+inherited, through many generations, the craft and pushfulness of the
+Medicis, he had also become possessed of some of the brutality of the
+Sforzas, through his grandmother Caterina, natural daughter, by the
+lovely but dissolute Lucrezia Landriani, of Galeazzo Maria, Duke of
+Milan. This prince possessed all the worst points of a Renaissance
+tyrant, and was "a monster of vices and virtues": perhaps he was insane,
+at all events, Caterina was accustomed to speak of him as "_Uno
+Fantastico_!"
+
+There was at least one ray of sunshine in that year of swift, dark
+deeds, for, in less than a month after poor little "_La Bia_" had flown
+back to Heaven, as lovely and as precious a gift as ever came to gladden
+the hearts of young parents was vouchsafed to Cosimo and Eleanora, in
+the birth of their first-born, a girl.
+
+In the _Registri dei Battezzati dell' Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore_ is
+the following record: "On April 13th, 1540, was baptised a female child
+of the Duke of Cosimo, born on the third day of the same month, and she
+was registered in the name of Maria Lucrezia." Alas, the joy of that
+natal day was marred by the solicitude which the delicacy of the frail
+infant caused her father and mother. No one thought she could live, but
+Duchess Eleanora was a tender nurse, and her weaning caused the cradle
+to rock with hope as well as love.
+
+Just twelve months later a baby brother came to keep little Maria
+company, a strong and vigorous boy, dark-haired and sallow like his
+Spanish mother. He was christened Francesco, after the patron saint of
+his day of birth. Cosimo was not in Florence at the time, he had gone to
+pay his respects to the Emperor Charles V. at Genoa.
+
+The object of his visit to the Imperial Court was to thank Charles for
+the German bodyguard of _Landesnechte_ which he had sent to Florence to
+defend the Medici Palace and its inmates during the three years of
+disorder and repression, and to ask for an extension of their services.
+
+Florence was full of Spaniards who had occupied Tuscany in force under
+the Commendattore Raimondo da Cardona, and who had helped in the
+terrible sack of Prato. They were a menace to peace and order in the
+city, and brawls between them and the citizens were of daily occurrence.
+
+Duchess Eleanora perhaps naturally held with her fellow-countrymen,
+certainly she made a poor attempt to conceal her dislike for Florence
+and its people. At Santa Maria Novella she endowed a chapel for Mass,
+which served as a rallying-point for the foreigners, and acquired
+thereby its name, _Cappella degli Spagnuoli_.
+
+The Duchess had, however, other than quasi-patriotic duties to perform,
+for, in 1542, she again became the mother of a little daughter--Isabella
+Romola they called her, in compliment to beloved Spain. She was, like
+Francesco, a healthy child, and she was fair, as "playful as a kitten,"
+and thoroughly Medici in temperament.
+
+Cosimo busied himself in peaceful pursuits. He greatly encouraged the
+arts and crafts, and set on foot sagacious reformation of the conditions
+and activities of the great Trade Guilds. The College of Science was due
+to his patronage; and, in 1540, he extended his special protection to
+the Florentine Academy--whence sprang the still more famous Accademia
+della Crusca.
+
+Still due regard was paid to the exigencies of political peace and the
+maintenance of safeguards, Throughout Tuscany Cosimo raised forts and
+works of defence. All the more important towns were fortified, and
+entrenched camps and bastions were erected at San Martino in Mugello,
+and at Terra del Sole. He kept his hand upon the pulse of Florence: no
+slackening of restraint was possible. The men who had acclaimed him in
+1537 were quite capable of crying out for his supersession at any time.
+Fickle indeed were the Florentines ever, but in Cosimo they had a master
+who would not let them go.
+
+The Duke's family was growing fast, and each year as it passed gave him
+a precious hostage to love and to fortune. The Duchess, in 1543, brought
+forth her fourth child, another boy, called Giovanni, after his
+grandfather, and in honour of good St John the Baptist, the patron saint
+of Florence. Lucrezia followed in 1544, and then there came and went in
+1545 and 1546 Antonio and Piero. Garzia was born in 1547. A year sped
+by, and in 1549, Ernando or Ferdinando, made his appearance and then
+came a barren season, and when, perhaps, it had been concluded that the
+Duchess had ceased child-bearing, came a great surprise, one more little
+son, in 1554, Piero was his name.
+
+Meanwhile, Maria had been growing fast along with her many brothers and
+sisters. At the age of eight or nine she was an attractive little
+damsel. "Tall for her age, with a face not only pretty, but
+intelligent, and as merry and as full of life as was possible. Her broad
+forehead was indicative of more than ordinary mental power." Her thirst
+for knowledge and her power of acquisition delighted her doting father
+and mother.
+
+Maria was reared with all the care that love and hope could inspire, and
+at her mother's knee she learned her first lessons. The unhappy result
+of poor young Caterina's education proved to Duke Cosimo that the
+convent was no place for her, and, although he placed Alessandro's
+illegitimate little daughters, Giulia and Porczia, with the good nuns,
+he resolved that no such experience should be that of his own dear
+children. The common saying, "The cow that is kept in the stall gives
+the best milk" had for him a special significance!
+
+Florentine children were noted for precocity and cruelty. Perhaps the
+tragedy of Giacopo de' Pazzi, and the mauling of his mutilated body by
+the street urchins, had left their marks on succeeding generations of
+boys and girls. The most popular pastime was mimic warfare, wherein the
+actualities of wounds and even deaths were common constituents. Every
+dangerous sport was encouraged and, if by chance, or by intent, a boy
+killed his rival, nobody cared and few lamented. The spirit of revenge
+was openly cultivated, and cruelties of all kinds were not reprimanded.
+ Whether Cosimo's children shared in the general juvenile depravity, it
+is impossible to say: they were, as they left the nursery, kept hard at
+work with their lessons--Maria certainly, and probably Isabella, shared
+the studies of their brothers. At first, Maestro Francesco Riccio, who
+had been their father's tutor also, grounded them all in Greek, Latin,
+grammar, music, and drawing; and then Maestro Antonio Angeli da Barga, a
+scholar and writer of considerable merit, took them through the higher
+subjects of composition, poetry, rhetoric, and geometry.
+
+Foreign languages--at least French and Spanish--were not forgotten, for,
+before Donna Maria was eight years old, she spoke the latter tongue with
+fluency. The very learned Maestro Pietro Vettori, when he joined the
+household of the Duke as teacher of Greek and philosophy to Don
+Francesco, was greatly struck by the young girl's attainments, and so
+charmed was he by her sprightly manner, that he obtained permission for
+her to join her brother's lessons.
+
+Donna Maria, before she was twelve, could read and quote Homer with
+ease. She composed elegantly in Greek and Latin, and, possessed of a
+remarkably sweet and sympathetic voice, she was able to recite from
+memory, and even to expound her own juvenile opinions, both in Latin and
+in Tuscan.
+
+Cosimo and Eleanora inhabited the Medici Palace, in the Via Larga, just
+five years, and then he transferred his official residence to the
+Palazzo Vecchio. This he did to show that he was absolute ruler of
+Tuscany as well as head of the Medici family. With the skilled
+assistance of Tasso, the architect, and Vasari, the painter, he set
+about structural and decorative alterations and adornments, which
+rendered the old building more suitable as a residence for the
+Sovereign.
+
+In 1549 Duchess Eleanora purchased the Pitti Palace from Buonaccorso
+Pitti, for 9000 gold florins, and laid out the adjacent gardens. There
+the Duke and Duchess took up their residence with their family and their
+suite.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Among young aspirants to fame and fortune, who enrolled themselves in
+the "_Bande Nere_," were several scions of the proud and warlike Rimini
+family of Malatesti. One branch of the family held the Marquisate of
+Roncofreddo, and their stronghold was the castle of Montecodruzzo.
+Marquis Leonida de' Malatesti was the happy father of many sons and
+daughters. After the premature death of the Condottiere Giovanni de'
+Medici, his sons maintained their allegiance and devotion to the cause
+of his son Cosimonino.
+
+Giacopo and Lamberto, elder sons, became esquires of the young Medico,
+and were of the party which entered Florence on that memorable day in
+1537. A younger boy, Malatesta, followed his brothers' example, for, in
+1548, in the list of officers and men of the Ducal household in
+Florence, appears his name as a page, but of the tender age of ten.
+
+The lad was possessed of the vigour and spirit of his race, and it
+required all the patience and tact of Frate Cammillo Selmi, the Master
+of the Pages, to keep him in order. His pugnacious disposition attracted
+the attention of the Duke, and his pretty looks and fair hair charmed
+the Duchess. One other recommendation the young boy had--his father's
+fidelity and worthy services, and he was looked upon as a pet of the
+palace, and became rather a playmate than an attendant of the Duke's
+family. Besides, his mother was a Florentine--she was Madonna Cassandra,
+the daughter of Messer Nattio de' Cini, a devoted adherent of the
+Medici.
+
+Many were the escapades in which Francesco, Giovanni, Garzia, and
+Ernando, the Duke's sons, were joined by young Malatesta de' Malatesti
+and other pages of the household. One such boyish prank, when the Court
+was at Pisa, in the winter of 1550, had a tragic ending. In the pages'
+common room the lads were playing with shot-guns, which were supposed to
+be unloaded. Picking up one of these, by mere chance, Malatesta aimed it
+jokingly at his companions, when to his and their alarm the weapon
+exploded, and, sad to behold, poor young Francesco Brivio, a son of
+Signore Dionisio Brivio of Milan, a fellow page, fell to the ground
+mortally wounded.
+
+Consternation reigned in the palace, the Duke's private physician,
+Maestro Andrea Pasquali, was sent for in all haste from Florence, and
+everything was done for the unfortunate lad, but, on the fourth day--it
+was just before Christmas--the promising young life passed away.
+
+Malatesta, with his heart breaking, was confined in the guard-room, and
+there he remained pending the Duke's decision. Every one was grieved
+beyond measure at the tragic occurrence, but all took Malatesta's part.
+The young Medici were eager and united in their version of the affair,
+moreover Donne Maria and Isabella were filled with pity for the unhappy
+young prisoner. Indeed, the former regarded him with a sister's love:
+she was just ten and the lad thirteen, and she pleaded with the Duchess,
+her mother, to have the boy released.
+
+The Duke sent for Signore Tommaso de' Medici, the Chamberlain of the
+Court, and gave him instructions to set the boy at liberty, after
+administering the useful punishment of twenty strokes with a birch rod,
+and giving him a severe reprimand and caution!
+
+Signor Brivio and his wife, of course, were dreadfully cast down by
+their sad bereavement, and both wrote piteously to the Duke, and so did
+Marchese Leonida de' Malatesti. Cosimo sent very sympathetic letters in
+return: that to the Marchese was as follows: "... Consideration has been
+given ... it has not been found that there was any malice between the
+boys.... Do not trouble yourself any further about the matter, for your
+boy remains in our service, in which we hope he will behave as he ought,
+and we hold you in the same esteem as we have ever done. May God
+preserve you."
+
+Young Malatesta grew to be a fine, high-spirited soldier of the Duke's
+bodyguard. Loyal to the core to his master, and ambitious for the honour
+of his family, no enterprise was beyond his scope, no obstacle
+insurmountable. Intercourse between the princes and princesses and
+himself became naturally less familiar, but the affections of early boy
+and girlhood are not easily dissipated; and so Malatesta de' Malatesti
+and Maria de' Medici found, but, alas, for their woe and not for their
+weal!
+
+Whilst boys and young men in Florence were free to come and go as they
+liked, and to mix with all sorts and conditions of men and women, the
+case was precisely the opposite for girls. Very especially severe were
+the restrictions imposed upon the growing daughters of the Duchess
+Eleanora. Brought up amid all the austerity and fanaticism of the
+Spanish Court, Eleanora de Toledo viewed woman's early life from the
+conventual point of view.
+
+Jealous of her children's honour, she fenced her three daughters around
+with precautions which rendered their lives irksome to themselves and
+troublesome to all who were about them. Maria and her younger sisters
+were literally shut up within the narrow limits of the apartments they
+occupied in the palace--happily for them it was not the Palazzo Vecchio
+but the more roomy Pitti, with its lovely Boboli Gardens.
+
+With carefully chosen attendants and teachers, their lives were entirely
+absorbed by religious exercises, studies, and needlework. Rarely were
+they seen at Court functions, and rarer still in the city. If they were
+allowed a day's liberty in the country, they were jealously guarded, and
+every attempt at recognition and salutation, of such as they chanced to
+meet, was rigorously checked.
+
+Beyond association with their brothers, and anxiously watched
+intercourse with the members of the Ducal suite, their knowledge of the
+sterner sex was absolutely wanting. It was in vain that Cosimo
+expostulated with his consort; she was inexorable, and, indeed, she
+stretched her system so far as to exclude the ladies of the Court.
+Perhaps she was right in this, for the Duke himself was the daily object
+of her watchfulness!
+
+Cosimo was wont to meet her restrictions by some such remark as "Well,
+you see, Eleanora, Maria and Isabella are of the same complexion as
+myself; we have need of freedom at times to enjoy the pleasures of the
+world."
+
+Love, we all know, cares neither for locks nor bars, and lovely young
+Maria de' Medici was surely made to love and to caress. She had many
+adorers, whose ardour was all the more fierce by reason of their
+inability to press her hand and kiss her lips. She was in 1556
+betrothed to Prince Alfonso d'Este, eldest son of the Duke of Ferrara.
+He was certainly not in the category of lovers, even at sight, for he
+had never seen his bride to be. That was an entirely unimportant
+incident in matrimonial arrangements. The union was projected entirely
+for political reasons, and chiefly for the putting an end to the
+protracted contest for precedence between the two families, which every
+now and again threatened to plunge all Italy into war.
+
+Alfonso d'Este was the heir of his father, Ercole II.--of his titles and
+wealth, but not of his good looks and polished manners: besides, his
+reputation for chastity and sobriety was not of the best. Directly Maria
+was told of the arrangement she expressed her disgust and her
+determination not to submit to parental dictation. Her reception of the
+Prince was cold in the extreme, she declined to see him apart from her
+sisters and attendants, and he returned to Ferrara in no amiable frame
+of mind.
+
+Meanwhile love, true love, had peeped through the jalousies of Princess
+Maria's window, and his arrows had fled their dangerous course unseen by
+any but herself, and him whose heart was hers. No one suspected that a
+life so guarded could, by any means, be filched from its restraints; but
+so it was, and the first gossip sprang out of the mouth of a venerable
+Spanish retainer of the Duchess, the faithful _custode_, Mandriano, who
+guarded his mistress's door almost night and day.
+
+Traversing one day an unfrequented part of the gardens of the Palace on
+the Hill, the old fellow thought he heard voices, and, approaching a
+grove of laurels, he descried the young Princess in the arms of
+Malatesta de' Malatesti!
+
+The Duchess was furious when Mandriano told her, and immediately
+conveyed the portentous news to her husband. Cosimo reflected long and
+acted warily, for he made no move for many days. Stealthily he tracked
+the unsuspecting lovers to their trysting-place. Mandriano's story was
+quite correct.
+
+He summoned the two young people to his private closet, he acquainted
+them with the fact that the _liaison_ could not continue, and ordered
+Malatesta to prepare for immediate imprisonment--with the loss of all
+his honours and the confidence of his Sovereign. The boy pleaded in
+vain, and testified to the innocence of the love-making without effect,
+except to raise the Duke's anger to a dangerous pitch. Maria threw
+herself at her father's feet and appealed for mercy for her lover,
+asking that the parental vengeance should fall on her and not on
+Malatesta.
+
+"That you shall have, base child of mine," Cosimo cried in a fierce
+tone; "see, you shall have the justice of a Roman father!" Then,
+plucking out his poignard from its hidden sheath, he stabbed his child
+to the heart! Drawing forth the gory weapon, he flung it at the head
+of the despairing youth, and, throwing his cloak around his shoulders,
+rushed out of the chamber slamming-to the door!
+
+Malatesta must have fallen in a deadly swoon across the lovely form of
+his _innamorata_, incapable of speech and action, for, there they were
+found, both apparently dead, by brethren of the _Misericordia_, who had
+been summoned by the Duke. Malatesta was thrown into prison, and there
+he languished for seven long years, without anyone knowing of his
+existence. His parents had asked Cosimo repeatedly about the boy, but no
+answer was ever given--the Duke having forbidden the subject to be
+named.
+
+To the Duchess he prevaricated and hinted that the sudden death of the
+child was due to the malignant spotted fever, and that he had given
+personal instructions for the immediate removal and interment of her
+body. The brethren of the _Misericordia_ might have enlightened the
+grief-stricken mother, only they were sworn to secrecy; they knew how
+the beauteous young girl had died. They laid her fair body to rest in a
+grave unknown even to her father, and not among her people in San
+Lorenzo.
+
+Cosimo moved the Court immediately to Livorno, and thence to Pisa, and
+there they kept their Lenten fast in strict seclusion. There was
+universal grief in Florence where the unhappy Princess, though rarely
+seen in public, had become the favourite of the people, through her
+fresh young beauty and by what was known of the sweetness of her
+character and the brilliancy of her attainments.
+
+Duchess Eleanora and her children mourned piteously for lovely Maria:
+there seemed to be no solace for their grief. As for the Duke, he was a
+changed man, the bitterness of remorse had turned his natural reserve
+into moroseness. He was like one beside himself, his wonted firmness and
+self-control, at times, failed to stay him, and he preferred to shut
+himself up alone in one of the towers of the castle at Livorno, venting
+his passionate despair in fits of weeping and in abject cries of
+self-reproach.
+
+No one dared to go near to him, for to all who presumed to intrude upon
+his woes he was like a lion roused. That ever ready secret blade might
+be whipped out to another's undoing! Still, in calmer moments he
+reflected, as Muzio has suggestively written: "Maria was very beautiful,
+as beautiful as any child of earth, most courteous and gentle, her
+seriousness compelled everyone to respect her, her sprightliness, to
+love her. She was pleasing to Heaven, whither she had gone sinless to
+reinforce the angelic choir, and to wear the most fragrant coronal of
+roses among the companies of holy virgins."
+
+As for the unfortunate young Malatesta, he pined in his dungeon within
+the keep of San Giovanni for a while, but "hope springeth ever in
+youthful hearts," and his one and consuming thought was of escape. His
+conduct seems to have been exemplary, and he gained the sympathy and
+friendship of his gaolers. At length he ventured to unbosom himself to a
+worthy sergeant of the guard, and this man assisted him, knowing well
+what great risk they both incurred.
+
+One evening Malatesta unseen, save by his friend, scaled the prison
+wall, and made good his escape from Florence and Tuscany. He did not
+venture to seek sanctuary within his father's castle, but, flying to the
+coast, boarded a vessel bound for Candia, a fief of Venice, and outside
+Duke Cosimo's jurisdiction. Various tales are told of his future
+career--some affirm that assassins, in the pay of Duke Cosimo, tracked
+him to his doom, and others, that he fell, fighting against the Turks at
+Famagusta. Anyhow, the kindly sergeant was put to death by order of the
+Duke!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Cosimo de' Medici was not the sort of man to brood very long over
+troubles, however prostrating and desperate. He was essentially a man of
+action, prompt, eager and able: probably no one ever had a more thorough
+confidence in his own ability. There were several questions of supreme
+importance, both public and private, which claimed his attention.
+
+The everlasting disagreement between the aristocracy and the democracy
+was only partially healed by the alliance of the two against an
+autocracy. Cosimo was bent upon being absolute ruler of Tuscany, and
+the development of his will raised against him and his Government
+constant opposition. He meant to keep his hand tight hold of the bridle
+of his charger "Tyranny," and to spur him on where he willed.
+
+The Mediceo-Este dispute still called for firmness and determination.
+Tuscany and Florence had certainly a better case than the Romagna and
+Ferrara, but intrigue and bribes could achieve what the sword and pen
+could not. Cosimo meant to keep on his steel gauntlets, although he
+covered them with the fragrant silk gloves of plausibility. With this
+idea ever present, he was bent upon retaining the advantage he had
+gained over Duke Ercole in the matter of poor young Donna Maria's
+betrothal, for he had other daughters to consider. Donna Isabella was
+provided for, for better or for worse--alas, that the latter was to be
+her sad fate--beautiful, fascinating Isabella de' Medici, but Donna
+Lucrezia, nearly fifteen years of age, was the forfeit her father paid
+in his gambit of Medicean aggrandisement.
+
+In the July that followed Donna Maria's tragic death, with all the
+circumstances and pomp of state ceremonial, Lucrezia de' Medici was
+married to Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara, the same prince who had been
+affianced to her sister Maria.
+
+It was not without misgivings that this step was taken: Duchess
+Eleanora, in particular, expressed dissatisfaction with the match, and
+feared, perhaps superstitiously, the portent of a second unlucky
+alliance. Anyhow the preparations for the nuptial day, and the pageants
+which accompanied it, drew off the thoughts of all from the terrible
+event of Christmas.
+
+Cosimo, however, had other and, from his own personal point of view,
+more attractive objects upon which to expend thought and action. As soon
+as the marriage festivities were over, he set out with a small suite of
+expert surveyors and agriculturists to the Maremma. It was a peculiarly
+unhealthy region, and had gone out of cultivation, and its former
+inhabitants had deserted it.
+
+The Duke determined to drain the land by cutting a canal right through
+from the Arno to the sea. Next, he set to work to afforest the newly
+recovered ground, to carve it out in allotments suitable for
+agricultural pursuits, and to encourage the settlement of vigorous
+working peasant-tenants. A certain portion of the estates he set apart
+to his own use for the preservation of wild game. He rebuilt and
+enlarged the ruined castle of Rosignano, ten miles from Livorno, for the
+occupation of himself and his family and for his hunting associates.
+
+At Pisa he had peculiar interests. The University, which Lorenzo "il
+Magnifico" had refounded, had been abandoned by his successors and was
+closed. Cosimo took the matter up: he re-established all that had been
+done by his illustrious predecessor, and endowed a number of
+professorial chairs--especially in chemistry, wherein he was himself an
+ardent student and sapient expert--and kindred sciences, and founded
+scholarships or apprenticeships for youths of every station.
+
+The climate of Pisa suited Duchess Eleanora and young Don Giovanni--who
+was a delicate lad--better far than that of Florence; it was sedative
+and not so rigorous in winter as that of the higher Val d'Arno. Then,
+too, they were there within easy reach of their favourite seaside
+residence, Livorno, in whose harbour rode constantly galleons of war
+from Spain flying the Duchess' own dear country's ensign.
+
+Cosimo and his family of course had many other distractions from the
+affairs of State. In addition to his attainments as a chemist, in which
+science he especially interested his eldest son, Francesco, he excelled
+in his knowledge of botany. With passionate devotion to an attractive
+subject he taught his children the nature and the use of all growing
+things. At the Pitti Palace he had his laboratories.
+
+Printing and the printing-press found in Cosimo an ardent patron. Away
+in the grounds of the Casino di Cosimo--"_Il Padre della Patria_"--within
+the confines of the monastery of San Marco, he printed, bound, and
+published, literary works of all kinds. Torrentino, Paolo Giovio,
+Scipione Ammirato, Benedetto Vasari, Filippo de' Nerli, Vincenzio
+Borghini, and many other writers, printers, and critics, collectors,
+forgathered at the Ducal studios.
+
+Architecture and the embellishment of the city had also Cosimo's active
+sympathy: piazzas, bridges, fountains, statues, still bear the marks of
+his supervision. Benvenuto Cellini, Michael Angelo Buonarroti, Baccio
+Bandinelli, Giovanni da Bologna, Bernardo Buonlatenti, Francesco
+Ferrucci, Tribolo, Giorgio Vasari, were among his proteges and personal
+friends.
+
+In all these enterprises he shared his pleasures with his sons, and so
+the years passed on with rays of brilliant sunshine piercing the clouds
+of darkling deeds. Alexandre Dumas has well summed up the character of
+Cosimo de' Medici: "He had," he says, "all the vices which rendered his
+private life sombre, and all the virtues which made his life in public
+renowned for splendour; whilst his family experienced unexampled
+misfortune, his people rejoiced in prosperity and gladness."
+
+Perhaps in the delights of music and dancing and in the invigorating
+exercises of the chase, Cosimo found his best-loved relaxation. No
+Florentine valued more thoroughly, and shared more frequently than he,
+in the layman's privilege of assisting in the choir of the Duomo at the
+singing of the "Hours." Musical reunions in the gardens of the Pitti
+Palace were of constant recurrence, where he and his children danced and
+sang to their hearts' content, amid the plaudits of the company.
+
+The Duke easily excelled all his courtiers and the many distinguished
+visitors who made Florence their rendezvous, in exploits in the
+hunting-field. No one rode faster than he, always in at the death,
+whether buck or boar, he was second to none as a falconer. He knew every
+piscatorial trick to take a basketful of fish, and in the game of
+water-polo, in the Arno, no swimmer gained more goals!
+
+In the middle of October, 1562, the Duke and Duchess, with their four
+sons, Giovanni, Garzia, Ernando, and little Piero--only eight years
+old--accompanied by a limited suite, left the Palazzo Pitti for a
+progress through South Tuscany and the Maremma. At Fuicchio and Grosseto
+they made sojourns, that the Duke might inspect the new fortifications,
+which were nearing completion, and view the partly formed roads.
+
+The cavalcade passed on to Castiglione della Pescaia, Massa Maritima,
+and thence to the Castello di Rosignano, where they went into residence
+for the hunting season. The members of the Ducal family were not in very
+robust health, and Maestro Stefano had "indicated" the healthy pastime
+of the chase as a cure for enfeebled constitutions. Don Giovanni, born
+28th September, was just nineteen. He was of a gentle disposition,
+serious beyond his years, amenable to the dictates of conscience, and
+attracted by the offices of religion. In many ways he resembled his
+mother, and was physically more of a Spaniard than a Florentine. From
+his earliest years he evinced a remarkably docile submission to all who
+were placed over him as teachers or governors. He was gifted with great
+ability, for, sharing as he did, the studies and duties of his brothers,
+he very soon surpassed them all in polite accomplishments. Francesco
+Riccio, now the Duke's Major-domo, noted the young prince's
+cheerfulness, conscientiousness and diligence. The reports which Maestro
+Antonio da Barga made to his father of his son's progress were full of
+praise of his young pupil's aptitude and perseverance. Giovanni de'
+Medici was, in many respects, a brilliant exponent of Count Baltazzare
+Castiglione's _Cortegiano_ or "Perfect Gentleman."
+
+Cosimo expected great things of his amiable and accomplished son, and,
+noting especially his sobriety and integrity, destined him for the
+service of the Church. Pius IV. succeeded to the Papal throne in 1559,
+and his election was in a great measure due to the advocacy of the Duke
+of Florence. In January of the following year, he invited young Giovanni
+to visit Rome, and immediately conceived an immense fancy for his
+charming visitor. Giovanni was preconised Cardinal-Deacon, with the
+title of Santa Maria in Domenica, and the Pope presented him his own
+private residence, with its appointments and household. The young
+Cardinal spent some weeks in the Eternal City, and gathered around him,
+by his courtesy and liberality, most of the Florentine exiles in Rome
+and its environs. They were generally in a woeful condition, and the
+young prince undertook to bring their misfortunes and their fervent
+wishes before his father.
+
+The Cardinal of Lorraine and the Cardinal Camerlengo Ascarno Sforza had
+previously visited the Tuscan Court, and had received Cosimo's consent
+to his son's acceptance of the biretta.
+
+Giovanni Battista Adriani in his _Istorie di Suoi Tempe_, has placed on
+record that this youthful Prince of the Church was "of mature judgment
+and wise beyond his years, and of such a bearing that it would have been
+difficult to have found anyone more attractive, more seemly in his
+morals, and very sensible." In Rome Giovanni gave himself up especially
+to the study of antiquities, and he became a great favourite with the
+many pious, learned, and distinguished men who were gathered round the
+mild and religiously-minded Pontiff.
+
+Cardinal de' Medici's secretary was the erudite and upright Abbot Felice
+Gualterio, who subsequently gathered together his letters and literary
+compositions, "wherein are noble and benevolent expressions of his
+affection for his father and mother and his brothers and sisters."
+Garzia, two years his junior, is often named with sincerest love and
+pleasure.
+
+Pius, constant in his devotion to the young Cardinal, added to his
+honours and prerogatives by creating him, early in 1561, Archbishop of
+Pisa, but, inasmuch as he had not reached the age prescribed for holding
+ecclesiastical preferments, Canon Antonio da Catignano was appointed
+Administrator of the spiritualities of the See. However, in March, the
+young Archbishop made his ceremonial entry into Pisa, accompanied by the
+Duke and Duchess, with their family and court.
+
+The Pope greatly desired that Cardinal Giovanni should enter Holy Order,
+and to this the young prince cordially and reverently acceded, but, for
+reasons of his own, Cosimo declined his consent, remarking that "a
+prince of his house was more distinguished than a consecrated prelate."
+As a set-off to this discourteous reply to Pius, the Duke, whilst at
+Pisa, founded the military order of San Stefano, as a thank-offering for
+the subjugation of Siena, much after the pattern of the Knights of
+Malta--constituting himself Grand Master and the Cardinal, Chancellor.
+
+Giovanni actually undertook his duties as Archbishop by granting letters
+of appointment to benefices within his diocese. One is dated 24th
+October, 1562, and was addressed to the Bishop of Arezzo, about the
+presentation to a certain abbey which had become vacant upon the death
+of Cardinal della Cueva.
+
+It was at this period that Pius wrote to Duke Cosimo, suggesting a
+matrimonial alliance between the Duke's eldest son, Don Francesco,--who
+was undertaking a princely tour of the chief European Courts for the
+double purpose of making himself known personally to the various
+Sovereigns, and of looking out for a suitable consort,--and the Princess
+Maria Garzia of Portugal. The proposition was backed up by an offer of
+the kingly title to the Duke. Both propositions fell to the ground, but
+Pius, in his eagerness to render the Duke of Florence homage, and to
+prove his gratitude, asked his acceptance, for his young son Garzia, of
+the command of a Papal ship of war.
+
+Garzia, the third of Duke Cosimo's surviving sons, was born on 1st July,
+1547. His baptism, for some unknown reason, was delayed three years, and
+not until 29th June, 1550, was he held at the ancient font in the
+Battisterio di San Giovanni, having for his sponsor Pope Julius III.,
+who was represented by Jacopo Cortese da Prato, Bishop of Vaison, the
+writer of a curious letter descriptive of the ceremony.
+
+The little fellow was a thorough Medico, full of spirit, frank, and
+daring. Blessed with the good looks of his father's family, he was the
+merriest among his brothers and sisters. Mischievous, and passionate
+too, at times, he endeared himself especially to his mother by his
+fascinating manners and his whole-hearted devotion.
+
+Whilst regarding his brilliant son Giovanni, perhaps, with the keenest
+affection, Cosimo saw in his younger boy traits not unlike his own, and
+an instinctive love of arms. Garzia then was from the first years of
+boyhood destined for a military career, having placed before him the
+splendid example of his redoubtable grandfather, "Giovanni
+_L'Invincible_."
+
+Upon his thirteenth birthday, the Duke appointed his gay young son
+Admiral of the Florentine fleet at Pisa, naming as his Vice Admiral,
+Baccio Martelli, the most valiant and best experienced naval commander
+in his forces, and the head of one of the most ancient Florentine
+families.
+
+In spite of Cardinal Giovanni's expression of affection for his younger
+brother, there is no doubt that he was not a little jealous of his
+mother's partiality for Garzia. One would have thought that Duchess
+Eleanora would have regarded with special delight and love the son who
+most resembled herself in appearance and disposition; but perhaps the
+reason for her preference may be gathered by looking into the happy,
+radiant, laughing face of her bonnie little son, as painted by Angelo
+Bronzino at the Uffizi in Florence!
+
+It would seem that when the Court reached Rosignano the Duchess,
+Giovanni, and Garzia complained of fever, and they were for a few days
+confined to the house. The good air and the charm of country life were
+specific, and the invalids regained their vigour and their good spirits,
+and all were eager for the sport. Each day had its particular
+rendezvous, and what form the pastime should take was agreed overnight
+by the chief huntsmen and falconers.
+
+The Duchess Eleanora did not always accompany her husband, and
+Ernando--who was not quite thirteen--generally remained with his tutors
+at the Castle until afternoon, when they both sallied forth, with little
+Piero, to meet the returning-hunting party. Upon the ever-memorable
+twenty-sixth of November the Duchess had been persuaded by Don Giovanni
+to go with them, for there was to be a deer-drive in the forest between
+the castle and Livorno, and he expected to have a chance of exhibiting
+his skill as a marksman at a notable full-grown roebuck.
+
+Giovanni and Garzia were equally fearless riders, and very soon after
+the game had been rounded up, the special quarry they were after went
+off at a tremendous rate, out-distancing his pursuers until he was lost
+in the forest. The brothers separated and met again in an open glade,
+where both descried the buck, quietly browsing upon the fresh green
+grass. Garzia seems to have sighted the animal first, but whilst he was
+somewhat slow in bringing his weapon to his shoulder, the Cardinal
+aimed, fired, and dropped the game. He at once dismounted and ran to
+claim the prize. High words followed, and, when Giovanni made some
+insulting remark about his less mature station as a marksman, Garzia,
+over-heated by the chase, and aggravated by his brother's raillery,
+hastily drew his heavy hunting-knife and brandished it before Giovanni's
+face, threatening to do for him if he did not desist, and withdraw his
+claim to first shot.
+
+Giovanni pushed the boy from him, perhaps somewhat roughly, and then
+Garzia, having entirely lost command of himself, struck a blow at his
+brother which wounded him severely in the groin. Giovanni fell to the
+ground, exclaiming, "And this from you, Garzia. May God in Heaven
+forgive you. Call help at once."
+
+The blast of the horn soon gathered round the unhappy brothers courtiers
+and huntsmen. Giovanni was bleeding freely, his hose and buskins were
+saturated, and Garzia was weeping piteously, and crying out
+despondently, "Oh God, I have killed Giovanni! Oh God, I have killed
+Giovanni!" A huntsman snatched up the gory lethal weapon, lest the boy,
+in his despair, should turn it upon himself.
+
+All that they could do to staunch Giovanni's wound they did, and having
+made a temporary stretcher with guns and hunting-cloaks, the little
+cavalcade was preparing to move on to seek further assistance. They had
+not proceeded very far when the Duke and his attendants rode upon the
+scene. Halting the bearers of his son he enquired who it was they
+carried. Before any one could make a reply, Don Garzia ran shrieking up
+to his father.
+
+"It is me, your Garzia, I have killed Giovanni," he cried out in abject
+terror.
+
+Cosimo motioned the sorrowful bearers to proceed, and they and their
+burden were no sooner out of sight than Duchess Eleanora came up in her
+sedan-chair, terribly agitated by the cries she had heard in the forest.
+She approached her husband and found him standing lost in thought, with
+that terrible expression upon his face which he exhibited once before
+when she had enquired for her first-born, Maria!
+
+There, too, on the sward, was her favourite son, her Garzia, apparently
+in a swoon, and she advanced to aid him. Garzia heard his mother coming
+towards him and, rousing himself, he ran and threw himself into her
+arms, weeping bitterly.
+
+Then once more he turned to his father pleadingly, and kneeling to him,
+grasped his legs, imploring pardon for his crime--for neither father nor
+son doubted but that Giovanni was dead. Baring his head, and holding his
+arms wide apart to Heaven, the Duke appealed to God to direct his
+actions. Then, turning to his son, grovelling at his feet. "Behold, thy
+brother's blood," he cried with bitterness, "asks vengeance of God and
+of me, thy miserable father; and now I shall deal with thee alone.
+Certainly it is a heinous crime for a father to kill his son, but it
+would be a still more grievous sin to spare the life of a parricide,
+lest he went on to exterminate his family, and lay their name in the
+dirt, to be execrated of all men. I have now resolved what to do, for I
+would far rather live in history as a pitiless father than as an unjust
+Sovereign."
+
+The Duchess, judging that Cosimo actually intended to slay his son, and
+knowing how fruitless any efforts of hers would be to avert such a
+terrible calamity, fell upon her knees and prayed aloud to Heaven to
+save the poor, young boy, and spare her own broken heart. Shutting her
+eyes, and covering her ears, she awaited, more dead than alive, the fall
+of that hand, within which was convulsively grasped a flashing poignard!
+
+Cosimo once more prayed most earnestly to God to approve the justice of
+his deed, to pardon him for so executing the Divine wrath, and for peace
+for the souls of his young sons. Then, bending towards the unconscious
+Garzia, he exclaimed, "I will have no Cain in my family," and, at the
+same moment, he plunged his weapon into the heart of his boy.
+
+With a last despairing shriek Garzia fell away, crying, as he expired,
+the one word "Mother!"
+
+The Duchess also lay upon the grass, still as death; indeed, her heart
+had stopped its beat when Cosimo raised her, and bid her sternly to act
+the woman. She was speechless and demented, and at the sight of her dear
+son's crimson blood colouring the fresh verdure where he had fallen,
+she lost her reason, and her cries and shrieks resounded through the
+forest.
+
+From all sides courtiers and huntsmen appeared upon the scene. The Duke
+silently waved them away, and, beckoning four of the most trusty of his
+retainers, he bade them pick up the dead body of the young prince and
+bear it after him, whilst he commanded the lacqueys to carry back the
+Duchess in her sedan-chair to the Castle.
+
+Asking which way the bearers of the murdered Giovanni had taken, he
+ordered his own cortege to follow on to Livorno. Arrived at the palace,
+the corpses of the two unfortunate young princes were arranged for
+burial. Upon baring Don Garzia's body, a fresh wound was discovered _in
+his back_, but whether by the hand of Don Giovanni no one ever knew.
+This fact, however, was reported to the Duke and furnished him with a
+satisfactory reason for the double tragedy--for he deemed it wiser just
+then that the truth should not be published!
+
+Solemn obsequies were celebrated in the Duomo of Pisa. Don Giovanni was
+honoured with all the gorgeous ceremonies due to a Cardinal Archbishop,
+and some say his body was left there, whilst the burial of poor Don
+Garzia was completed by a simple service in San Lorenzo in Florence. The
+cause of the twofold lamentable occurrence was officially ascribed to
+malarial fever--the two young victims having contracted, as it was
+said, the fatal malady during the progress of the Court through Tuscany.
+
+The Duchess Eleanora did not long survive her sons. She never left her
+bed in the Castle of Rosignano until she was carried for expert advice
+and treatment into Pisa. Prince Francesco returned in haste, from his
+tour of the Courts, and did much, by his loving sympathy, to revive his
+stricken mother. Still of no real avail were all the remedies, for she
+breathed her last one month after that terrible day in the forest, and
+her body was borne sorrowfully into Florence, and, within the octave of
+Christmas laid beside her dearly-loved Garzia.
+
+As for Duke Cosimo, Don Francesco found him a changed man, aged by a
+good ten years, silent, morose, and indifferent to all that transpired
+around him.
+
+News of the tragedy was current in the city of Trent, where the
+Aecumenical Council was in session, and it made a great impression upon
+the assembled prelates and assistants. Masses were offered for ten days
+for the repose of the souls of Giovanni and Garzia, and devotions were
+addressed to Heaven on behalf of the father who had--no one there for a
+moment doubted--been the avenger of one son's blood and the spiller of
+the other's.
+
+Within two years Cosimo de' Medici--ever pursued by an accusing
+conscience and diverted only from suicide by indulging in every
+sensuality within his power, executed an instrument of abdication of
+his sovereignty, naming Don Francesco Regent of the Duchy, and retaining
+for himself no more than the title of Duke of Florence.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+LUCREZIA--ELEANORA--ISABELLA
+
+
+_Three Murdered Princesses_
+
+
+"Shall I go in, or shall I not?" asked Isabella de' Medici, Duchess of
+Bracciano, with a catch in her voice.
+
+Donna Lucrezia de' Frescobaldi, her first Lady of Honour, made no reply,
+but grasped her mistress' arm convulsively. The two women stood pale and
+trembling at the door of the Duke's bedchamber, in their charming villa
+of Cerreto Guidi, a few miles out of Florence.
+
+There was something uncanny in the air, which caused the Duchess and her
+lady instinctively to draw back. It was not the Duke's voice, for that
+was pitched in an unusually tender key, and yet, its very unusuality
+might have caused their trepidation. There was something indefinable in
+the situation, which produced apprehension and alarm.
+
+Doubtless their nerves were overstrained by the terrible event at
+Cafaggiuolo. Eleanora, the Duchess's sister-in-law, had seen and felt
+the cold steel dagger, struck out from behind the arras, by her
+husband's hand--she was dead! Every titled woman, and many another
+too, felt instinctively that she was walking on dangerous ground: murder
+seemed to lurk everywhere, and marriage appeared to spell assassination!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The remorse of Cosimo de' Medici for the murder of his dearly-loved
+child Maria, his first-born, did not hinder his policy of
+aggrandisement. He was determined to keep the whip-hand over Ferrara,
+and to maintain the precedence of his house over that of the Estensi. He
+had already sacrificed one daughter, not only to his parental passion
+but to his sovereign will, and one daughter still remained unbargained;
+he would use her to hold what he had got.
+
+Lucrezia was no more than twelve years old when Maria passed to
+Paradise. Prince Alfonso was twenty-two, and his father, Duke Ercole
+II., had apparently no fiancee in view for him, and the lad seemed not
+to be in a marrying mood. At the moment Ferrara was isolated, but
+Cosimo, seizing a favourable opportunity, through his relationship with
+the King of Spain, contrived to arrange a treaty between that kingdom,
+Tuscany and Parma, which he adroitly extended to include Ferrara.
+
+It was a powerful combination, and Cosimo had his price, and that price
+was the betrothal of Alfonso and Lucrezia. The Duke of Ferrara yielded,
+and in the same month, March 1558, the treaty of alliance was signed at
+Pisa, and the two young people were affianced there by proxy.
+
+To be sure, there was trouble with Rome. Julius III., in 1552, had
+bespoken Lucrezia for his bastard nephew, Fabiano Conte Del Monte--a man
+without resources and of no recognised position nor of good
+character--it was just a selfish whim of the Pope--the children never
+saw each other. Cosimo, with his usual daring, brushed the whole project
+aside, and made a liberal contribution to Peter's Pence that year!
+
+If Lucrezia was somewhat less fair and less clever than Maria, she was,
+all the same, an attractive girl. Thin in figure--as all growing
+girls--tall, well-formed, with the promise of a well-proportioned
+maturity, she had an oval face and a high forehead, well-clustered with
+curly auburn hair. There was a peculiarity about her eyes--black they
+were or a very dark brown--they had something of that cast of optic
+vision which was remarkable in Cosimo, "_Il Padre della Patria_" and in
+Lorenzo, "_Il Magnifico_," as well as in other members of the family.
+
+"She had a pretty mouth and a dimpled chin, and always wore a pleasing
+expression indicative of good-nature and resolute affection. Very unlike
+her elder sisters, Maria and Isabella, she was somewhat reserved in
+manner; she spoke little, but expressed her opinion with flashes of her
+eyes." Her father admired her firmness of resolution greatly, and
+generally spoke of her as "_La Mia Sodana_," "my little strong-willed
+daughter."
+
+"She is quite a chip of the old block," he was wont to say of her,
+"quite one of us--a Medico in frocks!" Lucrezia shared the lessons of
+her brother, and had been brought up specially with the idea of a
+brilliant foreign marriage, and her maid was a girl from Modena who knew
+Ferrara well.
+
+One condition of the marriage-contract was most unusual--namely, that
+the bridegroom should be free to leave Florence upon the third day after
+the nuptials had been celebrated! This was necessary, the Prince
+averred, in order that he might keep an appointment he had made, with
+his father's consent, with the King of France--the enemy of the
+quadruple alliance!
+
+Prince Alfonso troubled himself very little about his fiancee. He was
+devoted to selfish pleasures, and, when his energies were called into
+play, they were devoted to the service of arms. His betrothal to Maria
+de' Medici, without his consent, her untimely and suspicious death, and
+the character Duke Cosimo bore for tyranny, ambition, and greed, were
+undoubtedly deterrent to the young man's wish to cultivate another
+Medici alliance.
+
+His own father, Duke Ercole, resembled his prospective father-in-law in
+many respects. The Estensi, with the Malatesti of Rimini and Pesaro, the
+Sforzai of Milan, and the Medici of Florence, were classed as "families
+of tyrants." Duke Ercole was a man of strong will and forceful action--a
+tyrant in his own family and cruel to his unhappy consort--he could not
+brook any disobedience to his behests. He commanded his son to set forth
+at once from Ferrara and claim his bride in Florence.
+
+Accompanied by a glittering retinue, which included a dozen Lords of the
+Supreme Council, Prince Alfonso took his way over the Apennines, along
+the Bologna road. On 18th June the cavalcade was discerned from the
+heights of Olivets, wending its way through Boccaccio's country to the
+city walls.
+
+He was received with great distinction by the Duke and Duchess, attended
+by the whole Court; and his welcome by the citizens was very cordial.
+Florentines always loved a spectacle. Everyone, however, remarked the
+Prince's haughty bearing, and the coldness with which he returned
+Cosimo's greeting. He bore himself as a man in presence of a foe whose
+every action must be watched intently. The Duchess, with all her Spanish
+sensibility, perceived at once the disfavour of their guest, and sought
+to interest him in the scene around him and in the happiness in
+prospect.
+
+Alfonso was quite unmoved. He met Lucrezia's greeting with a cold
+handshake, and begged that the marriage ceremonies might be hurried
+forward, as "he had not much time to spare." Cosimo joined in the
+Duchess' entreaties that the uncanny condition, in the
+marriage-contract, might be observed in the breach.
+
+"My word is pledged to the King of France," he replied disdainfully,
+"and go I must."
+
+Duke Ercole, in a letter delivered to Cosimo by Alfonso, urged the
+former not in any way to dissuade his son from carrying out his
+intention. It was common knowledge, however, in Ferrara, and reported by
+members of the Prince's retinue to the courtiers of Florence, that Henry
+II. of France had made known to Duke Ercole his intention of repaying
+the three hundred thousand gold ducats he owed Ferrara. A condition
+accompanied the proposal, namely, that the Duke should withdraw from the
+alliance, and despatch his son at once to Paris, to assure the _bona
+fides_ of the new arrangement.
+
+Moreover, Henry hinted not only at the advisability of separating the
+too youthful couple, and of giving the Prince military employment until
+his young wife attained a more mature age; but suggested that some way
+should be found, even at the eleventh hour, of allying Alfonso to a
+French princess.
+
+Nevertheless, Alfonso claimed his Florentine bride, whilst Lucrezia
+appears to have conceived an attachment for the warlike young Prince,
+who caused a courier to inform his father that the Princess "seemed to
+like" him. Duke Ercole replied as follows: "I am much pleased that your
+bride is satisfied with you. I would rather have heard your own state
+of mind in regard to the matter...."
+
+Letters to the Duke from the chief members of the Prince's suite assured
+him that the Prince really fell in love with the Princess at first
+sight, but there is no word of Alfonso's extant which shows that he
+cared in the least for the bride State policy had assigned for him.
+
+Duchess Eleanora was exceedingly provoked by the young Prince's
+demeanour and his insistence upon the observance of the unnatural
+condition. Moreover, she protested to the Duke her wish that the
+marriage might at least be postponed, pointing out, with a woman's
+intuition of trouble, that no good could come out of such an uncanny
+arrangement.
+
+She, of course, was Spanish, and she seems to have forgotten that French
+blood flowed in Alfonso's veins--his mother, Duchess Renata, or Renea,
+being a daughter of Louis XII. Duke Ercole added to the trouble by
+deeply wounding the Duchess' susceptibilities with a suggestion that the
+young bride should be sent to Ferrara, immediately after the nuptial
+ceremony, under the care of chosen proxies for his son.
+
+Haughtily she answered the Duke's representative: "A married daughter of
+the Medici, and of Spain, remains at her parents' palace until her
+husband, and no one else, takes her away."
+
+The day fixed for the marriage was 3rd July--a Sunday--and the wedding
+Mass was celebrated in the private chapel of the Palazzo Pitti, by the
+Bishop of Cortona. One hundred and one comely Florentine gentlewomen
+formed a beauteous guard of honour for the bride, each arrayed
+splendidly in silk brocade and covered with costly jewels. As many young
+nobles, with the accompaniment of music and dancing, performed a
+gorgeous pageant of Greeks, Indians and Florentines. In the Piazzo di
+Santa Maria Novella a State exhibition of the popular Florentine game of
+_Il Calcio_ (football), was given by sixty of the best-looking and most
+noble youths, attired in cloths of gold and silver.
+
+The bride and bridegroom retired late at night to the Palazzo Medici in
+the Via Larga, set in order for them, but, on the third day, Prince
+Alfonso, as good as his word, set off for France! Don Francesco,
+Lucrezia's eldest brother, accompanied him as far as Scarperia, on the
+Bologna road, and there bade him a not too friendly farewell. The young
+man had made a very bad impression in Florence; he had kept himself
+entirely to himself, and had gone through his part of the ceremonials
+like a puppet.
+
+Lucrezia moved like the fabled princess in a dream. Her eyes were wet
+with weeping, and, although she restrained her emotion, her
+disappointment and distress caused her silent and bitter suffering.
+Accustomed as she was to obey implicitly the commands of her autocratic
+father, she knew that she must submit to the harshness of her spouse,
+and make the best of a most unfortunate and embarrassing situation.
+
+Alfonso had forbidden her to write to him, but appointed a faithful
+follower of his, Francesco da Susena, as confidential Chamberlain of the
+youthful Princess. He was to provide funds and disburse them for the
+expenses of the Princess, and to keep his master well posted in all that
+transpired, and, in particular, to inform him of every word and action
+of his forsaken girl-wife!
+
+Ten days after the departure of the Prince from Florence, he wrote a
+letter to Lucrezia, which he bade da Susena read, and then give her. The
+Court was at Poggio a Caiano in _villeggiatura_, and the Chamberlain was
+in the company. He gave the Princess her husband's letter, and made the
+following report to his master:--
+
+"I was taken to the slope of a hill, where Her Highness the Princess was
+walking with the Duchess Eleanora, who is always with her. I gave her
+the letter, which she took greedily, with exceeding joy, and retired
+apart with it. She read it over and over again, and then she questioned
+me about your Highness.... I told her that she had no occasion to fear,
+for your Highness would run no more risk than the king himself. She
+appeared much comforted, and told me to beg your Highness, in her name,
+to hasten your return to Florence." Within six months of Lucrezia's
+ill-fated marriage, Duke Ercole died at Ferrara, and her husband
+succeeded as Alfonso II. The life of Ercole and his Duchess Renata had
+been anything but happy. He was as ambitious as he was unscrupulous:
+Lord of Modena and Reggio and Papal Vicar of Ferrara, his possessions
+stretched from the Adriatic to the Apennines. Extravagant and devoted to
+amusement, he spared neither time nor money in the full enjoyment of
+pleasure.
+
+The Court of Ferrara became under him the most splendid Court in
+Europe--famous for the excellence of its music and its dancing and the
+superiority of its theatre--Carnival lasted from New Year's Day to Ash
+Wednesday. Duchess Renata never loved her husband nor his people. Until
+she fell under the influence of Calvin she was discontented, passionate,
+and bigoted. The Duke scouted her ill-humour and treated her cruelly.
+
+"_Peu d'amys, qui conques est loing d'eulx_" was said of unhappy Renata.
+She gave her disposition to her son, but he did not follow her religious
+predilections. He enclosed her in a convent--the sanctuary of princely
+widows and orphans--where she died in 1597.
+
+Duke Alfonso sent to Florence for his consort early in 1560, but, true
+to her determination, Duchess Eleanora required him to come for Lucrezia
+in person! With perhaps less frigidity than he had exhibited the year
+before, but with very little more friendliness, Alfonso made his second
+appearance in Florence. He was accompanied by Cardinal de' Medici, his
+brother-in-law--so soon to come to a tragical and untimely end in the
+Maremma--and a princely escort of two thousand five hundred horsemen.
+The young Duchess, not yet sixteen, mounted upon a cream-white palfrey,
+rode out of the Porta San Gallo, by the side of her husband. The day was
+gloomy and the purple and white crocuses, which children scattered
+before her, betokened, so it was said, disaster.
+
+Anyhow, it was a sorrowful parting with her parents, and with Florence.
+Never again was she destined to see them or it. The days of her
+childhood, spent happily enough with her brothers and sisters, were
+over: the fatigues and intrigues of a hostile Court were before her,
+and, already, trouble had marked her young life with scars--more were to
+follow.
+
+The Duke and Duchess entered Ferrara in full State, on 21st February,
+but their reception was as cold as was the weather. The dynastic
+dispute, whilst ostensibly healed at its head, still affected the limbs
+of the Duchy. The people were, to a man, and perhaps to a woman,
+anti-Medicean, and showed their disapproval of their Sovereign's
+consort, by abstaining from taking their share in the festivities.
+
+One's heart bleeds for this child-bride of seven months introduced
+unguarded to the gayest, maddest, and most corrupt Court in Italy. Of
+the Ferrarese it has been justly said: "By nature they are inclined only
+for pleasure and revenge." True enough, happiness and tragedy are close
+partners in life's story. No one loved Lucrezia de' Medici in
+Ferrara--least of all her husband.
+
+Perhaps the position may be succinctly stated--"the bride of three
+nights was not _enceinte_! Had she only possessed the attributes of
+coming motherhood, Lucrezia's origin might have been condoned. But
+surely it was foul cruelty which fixed the fault on her alone. As it
+was, the poor young Duchess was accorded at her husband's court the
+position of a '_Cosa della lussuria_'--to be set aside as soon as the
+novelty had passed away!"
+
+The Duchess determined, possessed as she undoubtedly was, though so
+young, of much of the force of character of her family, to put a good
+face upon things. Her letters to her parents, written during the
+Carnival, are full of pleasant details of her new life. She was
+enjoying, with girlish zest, the gaieties around her, and entering fully
+into the merry prospects of the Court masquerades. Whether her
+expressions are quite sincere, is, perhaps, immaterial under the
+circumstances--she knew her father's disposition too well to make
+complaints.
+
+The anniversary of her wedding came round to find her childless and
+devoid of any prospect of issue. Duke Alfonso was far too much engaged
+in politics and pleasure to give his due to his wife, who yearned in
+vain for the fulfilment of the conjugal vow. Duchess Renata had her
+party at Court, a party opposed, as she was, to anything and everything
+Florentine: her son gave heed to her cautions, and thus the breach
+widened.
+
+Alfonso's long absences from home, and his disinclination for his wife's
+society, left Lucrezia to seek necessary consolations elsewhere. She did
+not fail of admirers in that giddy Court: the wonder is that she
+maintained her dignity as well as she did. The Duke became jealous, of
+course, of his neglected wife--all faithless husbands are the same. He
+paid spies to report to him the daily occupations of the Duchess, with
+the names of her visitors and friends. Thus evil eyes and ears were
+opened, and evil tongues began to wag, until they caused the utter
+undoing of the innocent young Duchess.
+
+Alfonso, in vain, tried to fix the lovers of his wife--she was as
+tactful as they were prudent--but he was not without means to his end.
+The Duchess early gave symptoms of ill-health. In Florence she was the
+strongest of all her father's family, but at Ferrara she became delicate
+and a victim to incessant sickness. What could it be?
+
+The Court physician hinted at pregnancy, but the Duke knew that was
+impossible, so far as he was personally concerned, nevertheless it
+served its purpose. The winter came on and the Duchess was confined to
+her apartments in the palace, suffering from continual fever and nausea.
+Maestro Brassavola--of good report as a specialist in feminine
+ailments--treated her unsuccessfully. Unhappy Lucrezia--no mother to
+console her, no friend to speak to her, all alone in the big palace with
+unkindly attendants--nearly sobbed herself to death. Daily bleedings and
+cuppings further diminished her strength. Some say that Don Francesco,
+her brother, was urged, by his mother, to pay Lucrezia a visit, but the
+bad terms upon which he stood with Duke Alfonso was an effectual bar to
+his mission. Whether from craven fear or premeditated cruelty, the Duke
+never entered the sick-room, and seemed entirely indifferent to his poor
+young wife. Indeed, he continued his life of prodigality and
+self-indulgence unrebuked, as we must suppose, by his conscience.
+
+At last the Duchess' condition became so critical that the physicians
+could no longer disguise the danger, and they intimated to the Duke the
+approach of death. Then, and then only, Alfonso found his way to his
+wife's bedside. With a sorrowful, stricken face she greeted him
+affectionately, and remorse seemed, at length, to have brought him to
+his senses. He became the most tender of nurses and watched by his dying
+wife day and night--but the _poison_ had worked its cause!
+
+At midnight, 21st April 1561, after months of cruel suffering,
+neglected, affronted, and wronged, the innocent soul of poor young
+Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, passed into another world. She was not yet
+seventeen years old--in bitter experience of life's hardships she was
+seventy. At the autopsy of her body Maestro Pasquali of Florence
+declared that death was caused by putrid fever! Thus was the Duke's
+duplicity preserved.
+
+Funeral honours due to her rank were rendered, and her shrunken little
+body was buried in the Estensi chapel of the convent church of Corpus
+Domini. A marble slab before the high altar reads thus:
+
+"_Lucretia de' Medici--moglie di Alfonso II., Duca di Ferrara_"--and
+that is all--as curt and as cruel as possible. The Duke's show of grief
+was as insincere and hypocritical as could be. He shut himself up in his
+palace with a few chosen cronies for seven days; meanwhile sending off
+Bishop Rossetto, a court chaplain, to Florence, to communicate the sad
+tidings to Duke Cosimo and Duchess Eleanora.
+
+Very soon after the death of Lucrezia the Marchese Creole de' Contrari,
+a prominent Ferrarese noble, was cast into prison upon an unstated
+charge, but it was given out by his jailor, that he had aspired to the
+hand of an Estensi princess. He was never seen alive again, for he was
+strangled in Duke Alfonso's presence--who caused his name to be vilely
+linked with that of the poisoned Duchess! Cosimo and Eleanora made a
+show at least of grief, and a splendid _Requiem_ was sung for Lucrezia
+at the Medici church of San Lorenzo. At the same time Cosimo made known,
+in most heartless fashion to Alfonso that, whilst he was resigned to the
+will of Heaven, he assured him of his sincere affection, and expressed a
+fervent wish that nothing should loosen their bonds of true and solid
+friendship! Devout Duchess Eleanora's indifference is harder to explain
+than Duke Cosimo's nonchalance. Perhaps in her case evil associations
+had corrupted good manners, or, more likely, the memory of her child
+Maria's terrible death compelled discretion in her dealings with her
+husband--"Tyrant of tyrants." It might be her turn next to feel that
+cold steel!
+
+And what about Duke Alfonso? Well, very soon he forgot all about
+Lucrezia, and found consolation, though actually he needed none, in a
+second marriage. This union, however, led to the resurrection of the
+hatchet of discord, which Cosimo and Ercole had agreed to bury
+underground.
+
+The new Duchess was Barbara d'Austria, sister of the Archduchess
+Giovanna, bride of Don Francesco, poor Lucrezia's brother. A double
+wedding was fixed at Trento in August 1565, but a fracas occurred at the
+church doors between the Medici and Estensi suites for precedence. The
+two princely couples were married separately by the Emperor Maximilian's
+command, each in the capital of the bridegroom's dominions. Duke
+Alfonso died in in 1597.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One notable effect of the foreign marriages of the Medicean princes was
+the settling of aliens, in considerable numbers, in Florence. With
+Clarice and Alfonsina d'Orsini had come greedy Roman adventurers; with
+Margherita and Giovanna d'Austria many enterprising Germans;
+self-seeking Spaniards came with Eleanora de Toledo.
+
+From one point of view this foreign immigration was advantageous--it
+tended to revive the falling fortunes of Florentine commerce. On the
+other hand aliens were introduced into prominent positions at the Court
+and in the city, whose speculations robbed the citizens of their fame
+and fortune.
+
+In the suite of Duchess Eleanora de Toledo were several young relatives,
+bound to her by ties of affection and looking to her for patronage and
+advancement. The ranks of these dependants were constantly being
+recruited by young people of noble birth, for whom the exceptional
+educational advantages obtainable in Florence were strong attractions.
+
+One of these was the Duchess's niece and godchild--Donna Eleanora, the
+daughter of her brother, Don Garzia de Toledo. Born in 1553 in Naples,
+where her father kept his Court as Viceroy for the King of Spain, the
+child lost her mother when she was only seven years old. The Duchess
+Eleanora adopted her and sent to Naples for her, and little Eleanora de
+Garzia was brought up with the children of Cosimo and Eleanora, and she
+was regarded by them as their sister.
+
+Upon the Duchess' melancholy death in 1562, her daughter Isabella,
+Duchess of Bracciano, acted the part of mother, young as she was, and
+only just two years married. She had no child of her own, and,
+apparently, no promise of one, anyhow by her husband; and the lively,
+pretty little Spanish girl, nestling upon her knee, much consoled her in
+her disappointment.
+
+At fourteen, Eleanora de Garzia was, as Antonio Lapini has described
+her: "Beautiful, elegant, gracious, kindly, charming, affable, and,
+above all, possessed of two eyes rivalling the stars in brilliancy." She
+was also a clever girl, and her studies had been carried on in
+companionship with the younger children of her aunt--Garzia, Ferdinando,
+and Piero. The strictness of their control was loosened when the Duke
+became a widower, and he does not seem to have done anything to guard
+the morals of his young children.
+
+The Court of Florence was not the place in which to rear, in ways of
+obedience and steadiness, young boys and girls, and Eleanora and her
+"brothers" were left pretty much to themselves, save for the indulgent
+guardianship of their tutors and attendants. To be sure, Don Ferdinando
+was sent off to Rome when he was fourteen, and was enrolled in the
+Sacred College. Don Garzia's tragic death in 1562 left Don Piero the
+sole playmate of little Eleanora--a strange act of Providence.
+
+Duke Cosimo was not quite inconsolable for the loss of his Spanish wife;
+he had, during her lifetime, set an evil example in Florence for
+libertinage and unchastity. Every good-looking girl, in city or at
+Court, in one way or another, received his amorous attentions; and the
+halo which surrounded his first acclamation as Duke, and which he earned
+well, be it said, became dimmed by the execrations of many disgraced and
+suffering households. Men and women saw the bad days of Duke Alessandro
+revived, and Florence, after a temporary purgation, became once more the
+sink of iniquity.
+
+When the Duke laid aside, in 1564, his sovereignty, it was that he might
+give reins to his passions, and, of the many girls he ruined, probably
+not one he loved better or longer than Eleanora degli Albizzi. At Villa
+del Castello he had his harem. This was the example Cosimo de' Medici
+set his wayward, precocious son Piero, and the lad followed it to his
+heart's content, until his escapades became so notorious, and raised up
+such a storm of resentment amongst the citizens, that his father was
+forced to intervene.
+
+At fifteen, young Piero was sent off to Pisa and attached to the staff
+of the Admiral of the Florentine fleet, Cavaliere Cesare Cavanglia. In
+various encounters with Turkish galleons and the barques of buccaneers,
+the young Medico proved himself no coward--indeed the Admiral reported
+of him most favourably. Well for his fame had Piero remained before the
+mast and upon the quarter-deck.
+
+The lad was practically his own master, and the memories of Florentine
+gallantries filled his mind with desires for their resumption. Two years
+of naval-military discipline were quite enough for him, and he returned
+home again. He found Donna Eleanora de Garzia a grown woman and a woman
+of the world; an arrant flirt, like her protectress, the Duchess
+Isabella; dividing her time between the Villa Poggio Baroncelli and his
+father's villa at Castello.
+
+Rumours of illicit intercourse between her and the Grand Duke were
+current all over Florence, and evil gossips at Court affirmed that the
+_liaison_ had been of long continuance, wherein, too, the Duchess
+Isabella was herself implicated. Cosimo seems to have been conversant
+with the tittle-tattle, and, fearing the evil effect it might have for
+all concerned, determined to take the bull by the horns, so to speak,
+and to keep the scandal within the family.
+
+His son Piero--who was walking closely in his father's footsteps, and
+leading a free and fast, wild life, heavily in debt and habitually
+intoxicated, and the companion of loose women and gamesters--should be
+his scapegoat. He would marry him to his cousin! At the beginning of
+the negotiations Piero refused stoutly his father's proposition,
+asserting his intention not to marry. By dint of ample offers of
+enlarged pecuniary emoluments and by tempting promises of exculpation
+from the consequences of his lustful extravagances, Piero at last
+yielded an unwilling assent to the betrothal. How far he was influenced
+by threats we can well imagine.
+
+Piero de' Medici and Eleonora de Garzia de Toledo were married in the
+private chapel of the Pitti Palace on the morning of 21st April 1571.
+That very night his young wife revealed the fact that she was
+_enceinte_, and she named his father, Duke Cosimo, as her ravisher! The
+Prince was too much taken up with his own pleasure to care very much
+about this revelation: he would go his own way, and his wife might go
+hers--such was the morality of the day! Still, this discovery was the
+first page in the tragic history of beautiful Eleanora di Piero de'
+Medici.
+
+Very shortly after the marriage Eleanora, who was then at Pisa, was
+delivered of a child, whom, in the absence of her husband, she named
+Cosimo--a significant nomenclature! She caused letters to be written to
+the Grand Duke Francesco, her brother-in-law, to acquaint him with the
+birth of the child, and to crave protection for _his father's son_!
+
+Following the unhappy example of Paolo d'Orsini and Isabella de' Medici,
+and being absolutely their own masters, Piero and Eleanora agreed to
+live separate lives--he, a boy of seventeen and she just eighteen. What
+more disastrous beginning can be imagined for two young wedded lives,
+and yet it was inevitable. Piero did not care a bit for Eleanora, and
+Eleanora hated and despised Piero.
+
+The marriage was but a brief break in evil associations, for the boy
+returned to his boon-companions in the city, and the girl sought the
+solace of her lovers. It was in vain the Grand Duke pointed out the
+errors of their ways--Piero retorted with a "_Tu quoque frater_!" He had
+every bit as much right to console himself with a mistress, one or more,
+as Francesco did with his "_Cosa Bianca_!" Moreover, he became urgent in
+his demand for a still more liberal allowance, which the Grand Duke
+weakly conceded--as he had done in the case of his other grasping
+brother, the Cardinal.
+
+Everything and everybody at the Court of Florence seemed to be demented.
+To enjoy the basest pleasures and to indulge in the foulest passions,
+such was the way of the world; and Eleanora was but a child in years,
+but a woman in experience--and that experience not for the honour of her
+life, alas! Sinned against, she sinned like the rest. How could a
+lovely, talented, warm-hearted girl, with the hot blood of Spanish
+passion coursing through her veins, resist the admiration, the flattery,
+and the embraces of the gay young cavaliers of the Court? She merely
+followed the vogue, she was no recluse; and when, in 1575, she was
+enrolled as a "Soul" in the _Accademia degli Elevati_, she assumed the
+name of "_Ardente_"--a true title--a correct epithet!
+
+One of the captains of the palace guard--himself a remarkably handsome
+and gallant soldier--Francesco Gaci, had a prepossessing young son,
+Alessandro, a cadet of the same regiment, who fell violently in love
+with Don Piero's fascinating young wife. Unable to restrain his boyish
+ardour, one day he seized Donna Eleanora's hand, covered it with kisses,
+and professed himself ready to die for love of her. The Princess, pining
+for love, looked with favour upon her infatuated lover, and granted him
+something of what he wished.
+
+Alas, for love's young dream! The Grand Duke caught wind of it, and
+without making much ado, promptly stopped the intrigue. Alessandro Gaci
+was removed summarily from his commission and enclosed in the monastery
+of Camaldoli; whilst to the Princess was administered a smart rebuke and
+warning.
+
+Eleanora's haughty spirit rose at the interference of her brother-in-law
+in matters of her heart, and she determined to act in opposition to his
+commands. She had scarcely got off with the old love before she was on
+with the new. This time she appears to have made the first advance. At
+all events, in the entourage of the Grand Duchess Giovanna, was an
+attractive and youthful knight of the Order of St Stephen of Pisa--Duke
+Cosimo's new naval-military order. He was a court chamberlain with the
+military rank of lieutenant--Bernardino, the son of Messer Sebastiano
+degl' Antinori, who had translated Boccaccio's works for Cosimo.
+
+The young cavaliere had the misfortune to kill, quite accidentally, in a
+friendly game of "_Calcio_," a great friend of his--Francesco de'
+Ginori. The game was played in presence of Princess Eleanora and many
+ladies of the Court. Bernardino wore Eleanora's favours, as he usually
+did, making no secret of his passion for Don Piero's neglected,
+beauteous wife, and of the return of his love by his fair
+_innamorata_--it was indeed the talk of the town.
+
+The Ginori, an ancient and lordly family, intimately connected with the
+Medici, claimed satisfaction at the hands of the Grand Duke for what
+they chose to call the assassination of their young relative. Francesco
+judged that the _liaison_ between his sister-in-law and the so-called
+"assassin" required regulation, especially as she had failed to comply
+with his previous admonition. The two offences would be best judged by
+the banishment of the cavaliere, whose rank forbade his inclusion in a
+monastery. Consequently Bernardino was sent off, under guard, to a
+fortress in the Isle of Elba, and Princess Eleanora was confined,
+during the Grand Duke's pleasure, to her apartments in the Medici
+Palace.
+
+The old tale that "love laughs at locks" had now one fresh telling! An
+amorous correspondence began between the parted lovers, which was
+carried on for a considerable time without detection. At last there came
+a day when the secret was out, through the carelessness of Bernardino's
+brother Filippo, the intermediary in the love affair. Watching his
+opportunity of dropping a letter into the hand of the Princess, as she
+passed through the corridor connecting the Pitti and the Uffizi--just
+completed by Duke Cosimo's orders--Captain Filippo had the curiosity to
+read the _billet-doux_ himself. He failed to notice that a brother
+officer was standing close by, who also glanced at the contents of the
+letter.
+
+Captain Giulio Caccini was Master of Music and conductor of the palace
+orchestra, and when he had a favourable opportunity he confided to his
+master what he had seen--doubtless he considered himself well on towards
+the receipt of a reward for his mean services.
+
+Francesco was furious: he might, as Sovereign, have his love passages
+with whom he willed--although be it said, truly, he had one and only one
+love, Bianca Cappello Buonaventuri--but he could not tolerate any amours
+between a princess of his house and a subaltern of his guard.
+
+Captain Bernardino was ordered to be brought back to Florence
+immediately, and, after a stormy interview with the Grand Duke, he was
+consigned to the condemned-criminal dungeon of the Bargello.
+
+The same night the prisoner's cell was entered by a _Frate_--a
+confessor, who acquainted him that he had been sentenced to death!
+Expostulation was vain, and his asseverations of innocence and promises
+of submission to the Grand Duke's will were rudely interrupted by the
+appearance of the headsman! Forced upon his knees, the unhappy young
+officer mumbled out his confession, and then the executioner, passing a
+stout cord about his throat, strangled him--struggling and crying out
+piteously for mercy!
+
+When Antinorio was dead, Francesco was informed, and, sending for
+Eleanora, he told her what had become of her second lover, and warned
+her that a like fate might easily be hers if Don Piero was made
+acquainted with the intrigue--surely a fell prophecy of coming tragedy!
+Piero, too, was sent for to the palace, and again reprimanded for his
+evil life and for his cruel desertion of his charming young wife. He
+took his brother's words in an entirely wrong sense, abused him soundly
+for his interference, and left his presence in a violent passion.
+
+At once he caused an intimation to be made to the Princess that he
+wished to see her about a matter which concerned them both intimately,
+and required her to meet him out at the Villa di Cafaggiuolo. It was
+the 20th of July, in the year 1576, that Eleanora received her husband's
+commands--just ten days after the brutal murder of her lover--during the
+course of which she gave way to uncontrolled grief. This summons she
+knew presaged dire consequences to herself, and she had no friend to
+seek for consolation and advice. The Grand Duke was out of the question,
+and Duchess Isabella d'Orsini, who had proved herself no friend of good
+omen, was in a plight very much like her own!
+
+No, she had to fight the battle of her life and death alone, this girl
+of twenty-three. She replied that she was quite prepared to meet Piero,
+but she asked for a short delay. She spent it in weeping by the cradle
+of her little son, Cosimo, and arranging her worldly affairs--she was
+quite prepared for the worst.
+
+Leaving Florence in the middle of a hot summer's day, the course to
+Cafaggiuolo was trying to her horses--one indeed fell and died on the
+way--an evil omen for poor Eleanora! As night was coming on she reached
+the villa, more dead than alive with fright, and accompanied only by two
+faithful ladies of her household. To their surprise the house appeared
+to be deserted: there were no lights in the windows, and no one seemed
+to be about.
+
+The great doors were wide open, and with much trepidation the Princess
+mounted the marble steps. The door of every room also was open and the
+arras pulled aside, but nowhere could she see or hear her husband. Very
+uncanny everything felt, the silence was almost suffocating, and the
+darkness threw weird shadows athwart her and her companions.
+
+At the entrance of the room, which she deemed to be Piero's--they had
+never cohabited there, or indeed anywhere, she knew not where he
+slept--Eleanora paused, affrighted. She had heard a rustle! she had seen
+something! it was a hand held beyond the arras!--and there was a
+poignard within its grasp!
+
+E'er she could cry out or take a step backwards, a sudden, savage blow
+struck her breast--she fell!--stabbed to death! The hand was the hand of
+Piero de' Medici!
+
+Eleanora was dead! Her life's blood crimsoned, in a gory stream, the
+marble lintel, and Piero gazed at the victim of his desertion, lust, and
+hate--he was mad!
+
+Kneeling upon his knees in the hellish darkness, he tried to stanch that
+ruddy stream. Then he laved his hands in her hot blood and conveyed some
+to his raging lips! Reason presently asserted herself; and, throwing
+himself prostrate along the floor, he banged his head, thereupon calling
+out in a frenzy of remorse for mercy for his deed!
+
+"God of Heaven," he pleaded, "judge between my wife and me--I vow that I
+will do penance for my deed, and never wed again."
+
+The short summer's night early gave place to the dawn--not rosy that
+sad morning, but overcast--gloom was in everything. Piero was still
+praying by his dead wife's side when the tramp of footsteps upon the
+gravel outside the house fell upon his ears. Swiftly he ran and closed
+the entrance-doors, and then calling in a creature of his--a base-born
+_medico_--he ordered him to make, there and then, an autopsy of the
+corpse, and report according to his express instructions.
+
+"Death from heart failure and the rupture of an artery," such ran the
+medical certificate of death! Miserable Eleanora di Piero de' Medici was
+buried ceremoniously in the family vault at San Lorenzo, and Piero made
+a full confession to his brother, the Grand Duke.
+
+Francesco counselled him to leave Florence at once, and seek a temporary
+home at the Court of Madrid, where he might inform his kinsman by
+marriage--the King of Spain--of the truth about Eleanora's death. It was
+reported at the time that Piero gained possession of Eleanora's child,
+Cosimo, and took him away with him from Florence; but what became of the
+unfortunate little fellow no one ever knew--probably he went home to his
+mother in Paradise just to be out of the way!
+
+Don Piero was appointed by King Philip to a command in the war with
+Portugal, but, whilst he distinguished himself by bravery and ability
+during the campaign, on his return to Madrid he began the evil life he
+had left behind in Florence. The religiously disposed courtiers were
+shocked and outraged by his enormities, and, at last, the King requested
+his unwelcome visitor to go back to Tuscany.
+
+The Grand Duke very unwillingly allowed Piero to settle once more in
+Florence. His house in the Via Larga--it had been occupied by the
+scapegrace assassin, Lorenzino--again was a nursery of immorality, as
+well as the headquarters of the enemies of his brother. Piero became the
+ally of the scheming Cardinal Ferdinando, but his depraved and evil life
+was to the end given over to the basest uses of human nature, and he
+died miserably, as he well deserved, in 1604, having outlived his second
+wife--Beatrice, daughter of the Spanish Duke of Meneses--two years. Of
+legitimate offspring he left none, but there survived him eight natural
+children by two Spanish nuns in the grand ducal convent of the Santa
+Assunta delle Murate.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After the death of Maria, his eldest daughter, Duke Cosimo centred his
+paternal affection in his second daughter, Isabella Romola. She was born
+in 1542, just a year younger than his eldest son, Francesco Maria. Her
+Spanish name endeared her especially to the Duchess Eleanora, who built
+many "_Castelli en Espana_" for her child.
+
+The young Princess was a bonnie, precocious little girl. At her
+christening it was said, greatly to his embarrassment, she kissed the
+ascetic bishop who held her at the font; this was taken as an omen of
+her success in the service of Prince Cupid! Brought up with her two
+sisters and her brothers, Francesco and Giovanni, she very early gave
+evidence of charming and peculiar talent.
+
+Merry as a bird and playful as a kitten, the young girl was singing,
+singing the livelong day, and dancing with the utmost grace and freedom.
+She greatly astonished her parents by her musical gifts and by her
+talent as an _improvvisatrice_. She composed, when only ten years of
+age, some really excellent _canzone_ and, more than this, she set them
+to her own tunes for the lute and pipe, and arranged a very graceful
+ballet.
+
+At Court, Isabella was now known as "_Bianca la Seconda_," her
+attainments and her person recalling those of Bianca, "the tall
+daughter" of Piero and Lucrezia de' Medici. She had, as well, a
+remarkable taste for languages: she rivalled her sister Maria in Latin,
+which she wrote and spoke with ease. Spanish seemed to come to her
+naturally, greatly to the delight of her mother the Duchess, and French
+she acquired with similar success.
+
+With her facile pen she could design and draw what she willed, with as
+great freedom as she applied to musical notation. Indeed, there seemed
+to be no art in which she could not distinguish herself, and she
+received encouragement from all the most famous artists of her father's
+Court. One of her panegyrists has written thus of Princess Isabella:
+"Suffice it to say, that she was esteemed by all--strangers as well as
+those about her--a perfect casket of virtue and knowledge. She was
+greatly beloved, not only by her parents, but by the whole of the people
+of Florence."
+
+Added to her mental accomplishments, which developed with her physical
+growth, the Princess exhibited all the charm of a beautiful face and
+graceful figure, and, when she reached the ripe age,--for Florence,--of
+twelve, she was the most lovely and attractive young girl in Italy.
+Reports of her beauty and talent were current in all the Courts of
+Europe, and many princely fathers of eligible sons made inquiries about
+her fortune; whilst many an amorous young Prince found his way to
+Florence, to judge for himself of the charms of the fair young girl.
+
+Duke Cosimo was not the man to give his comely daughter away at random:
+indeed he cherished the thought of keeping her in Florence and by his
+side, so courtly refusals of proffered hands, and hearts, and crowns,
+were dealt out to one and all the suitors. Pope Paul IV., who was on the
+best of terms with Duke Cosimo, and never forgot what he owed in his
+elevation to the Papal throne to his friend's influence, conceived a
+matrimonial project for youthful Isabella. At his Court was a young man
+of illustrious descent, good attainments, the heir to vast possessions,
+and a devoted adherent of the Holy See--Paolo Giordano d'Orsini.
+
+The Orsini were split up into many branches, but the family was one of
+the most ancient and honourable in Rome. Signore Girolamo d'Orsini,
+father of Paolo Giordano, was lord of Bracciano and Anguillaria, and of
+the country around Civita Vecchia. When only twelve years old, he had
+been named by Pope Leo X. to the honorary command of a Papal regiment of
+cavalry. When still in his teens the youth served with distinction in
+France and in the Neapolitan war; and, on attaining his majority, he was
+sent with a detachment of troops to the assistance of the Emperor
+Charles V., in the devastating war against the Turks in Hungary.
+
+Created General and Marquis by the Emperor, the young commander returned
+to Rome in 1537, and took up his position as the acknowledged head of
+his family. He married Francesca, daughter of Bosso Sforza, heiress of
+the Counts of Anguillaria. Three sons and a daughter were born to them.
+
+Paolo Giordano, born 1539, was adopted by his maternal uncle, Carlo,
+Cardinal Sforza da Santa Fiora, and became a protege of Paul IV.
+Following his father's profession of arms, he saw military service in
+Spain, but was recalled to Rome by the death of both his parents. On
+succession to the family estates the Pope created the Lordship of
+Bracciano a Duchy, and sent a message to Duke Cosimo, commending the
+young soldier to his notice, and suggesting a matrimonial alliance with
+one of his daughters.
+
+Cosimo looked with favour upon the Pope's proposition, and asked the
+young Duke to pay the Florentine Court a visit. The young people seemed
+made for one another: he was handsome, brave and rich, she was
+beautiful, talented, and lovable. Perhaps it was a case of love at first
+sight, anyhow they were betrothed in 1555, with the proviso that the
+nuptial knot should not be tied until Isabella had attained her
+sixteenth year.
+
+In due course the marriage-contract was drawn up, signed and sealed, but
+it contained a condition which was as unnatural as it was impolitic.
+Duke Cosimo insisted that his dearly-beloved daughter should make his
+house her home for at least six months each year, and only pay
+occasional visits to her husband's palace in Rome! Duke Paolo, quite
+rightly, resented this questionable arrangement, and only agreed at last
+on pressure from the Pope.
+
+Whatever made Cosimo take such a weird course no one can really say,
+although horrible rumours were indeed rife in Florence about the
+relations between father and child! It was, however, a fatal bar to all
+marital happiness, and led to the one and only possible
+_denouement_--tragedy. Certainly the Duke bestowed upon the young couple
+the splendid estate and villa of the Baroncelli, which had come into
+his hands, and which he enlarged and surrounded with a park. He added a
+munificent endowment and had the villa refurnished and redecorated
+throughout, according to his son-in-law's wishes.
+
+The marriage was celebrated on 3rd September 1558 in the private chapel
+of the Pitti Palace,--a Saturday, always considered, in Florence, an
+unlucky day for a wedding,--a few months after that of Prince Alfonso
+d'Este's to Isabella's younger sister--Lucrezia. After a brief honeymoon
+spent at their villa the youthful bride and bridegroom separated--an
+ominous repetition of a fateful error. Truth to tell, Duke Paolo took an
+intense dislike to his father-in-law: he distrusted him both in relation
+to his affection for Isabella, and also with respect to his tyrannical
+character generally. Florence also and the Florentines were distasteful
+in their excesses of ill-living, cruelty, and chicanery--not that the
+Court of Rome was a Paradise, or the young man a St Anthony!
+
+The Duke went back to Rome and resumed his ordinary life there, without
+bearing with him any of the wholesome leaven of matrimony--a husband in
+name, and little more. Duchess Isabella, a mere child, wanton and wilful
+more than most, was thus left the uncontrolled mistress of a princely
+establishment, with no marital check to regulate her conduct. Surely as
+unstable a condition, and as conducive to infidelity, as can well be
+imagined.
+
+Before leaving his wife at Poggio Baroncelli, Duke Paolo appointed her
+household, and made every provision for her comfort. A cousin of his,
+Cavaliere Troilo d'Orsini, was placed in charge of the Duchess as
+Chamberlain, or quasi-guardian--another false step, and embarrassing for
+all parties. He was a handsome and accomplished man, avowedly unmarried,
+young and of a sympathetic disposition, and manifestly not at all the
+sort of person to place upon terms of such close relationship with the
+attractive young Duchess.
+
+Under its fascinating _Castellana_ the Baroncelli villa became a busy
+little Court, the scene of constant festivities, gossip, and intrigue.
+Her mother's Court at the Pitti was quite second in attractiveness.
+Duchess Eleanora if virtuous and conscientious, was rather dull and
+uninteresting. She cared much more for her Spanish connections than for
+her Florentine courtiers: much of her time she spent in the Cappella
+degli Spagnioli at Santa Maria Novella. What time she spared from her
+devotions she occupied in the establishment and patronage of the
+_Accademia degli Elevati_--"Souls," for the encouragement of poetry.
+
+Duchess Isabella d'Orsini was hailed as "_La Nuova Saffo_" by those who
+gathered round her. She was by nature an arrant flirt--as most pretty
+women are--for she inherited her father's amorous disposition; and she
+was impulsive,--an added charm where beauty reigns,--worldly-minded, and
+dreadfully extravagant; moreover, she dressed to perfection.
+
+The Duke of Bracciano paid rare visits to Florence, but the Duchess, in
+compliance with her marriage-contract, spent a portion of each year with
+her husband in Rome. These visits were not occasions of happiness and
+satisfaction. The two had scarcely any interests in common, and the
+infrequency of intercourse entailed unfamiliarity and embarrassment. The
+good-byes were never unwelcome on either side!
+
+The Duke took up, once more, his military duties, following in the
+footsteps of his father as commander, in 1566, of a division of the
+Imperial army against the Turks. For his bravery at the battle of
+Lepanto, he was made Field-Marshal of the Emperor and a Count of the
+Holy Roman Empire. In other respects he had his consolations for his
+enforced separation from his wife--and Isabella, naturally, had hers
+too!
+
+It was said that every man fell in love with her, and she, on her part,
+did not restrain her passion. There was no one to advise, no one to
+check, no one to help her to keep in the path of wifely fidelity.
+Reports of _liaisons_ were made to the Duke by his Chamberlain from time
+to time, but these were couched in words which concealed his own part
+therein. He and the Duchess were accustomed to be much alone together.
+He was a musician and a linguist, a scholar and an artist like herself,
+and a most attractive companion. She helped him in his great literary
+work--_Lezione della Lingua Toscana_--perhaps the only serious
+occupation she ever undertook.
+
+An intimacy, with such a similarity of tastes, ripened naturally into a
+romantic attachment--certainly quite in accord with the tenets of
+Platonic humanism, and perhaps something more! That Duke Paolo was
+conversant with the relations of his wife with his cousin was well
+known, but he made no complaint, and took no action to check them.
+Likely enough he had that "easy-going contempt of everything and
+everybody" which Niccolo Macchiavelli has stigmatised as the prevailing
+tone of Italian society.
+
+Probably the sad deaths of Princess Maria and Duchess Lucrezia d'Este,
+and the tragic events in the Maremma of 1562, affected Isabella greatly,
+but they only tended to increase her husband's detestation for
+everything Florentine. No doubt he judged that Cosimo's hand slew both
+Maria and Garzia--might it not strike Isabella or himself! When a man,
+in an autocratic position such as that made by Cosimo I., yields to
+unguarded passion, reason and right alike are at a discount. Isabella's
+husband had taken the measure of her father--alas, that he was destined
+to follow his example!
+
+For Isabella a new interest was created when, in 1564, Bianca
+Buonaventuri became "_La cosa di Francesco_,"--her brother. She, so to
+speak, clasped the lovely young Venetian to her bosom. She entered into
+the romance of the elopement, and of her brother's infatuation, with all
+her heart. Isabella de' Medici and Bianca Cappello-Buonaventuri became
+inseparable friends.
+
+During Duchess Eleanora's life the gaieties and the follies of the court
+had been kept within something like bounds, but she had hardly been laid
+in her tomb within San Lorenzo than Duke Cosimo gave reins to his
+passions, and the Palazzo Pitti and the various Medicean villas became
+the scenes of unbridled lust and depravity. In 1564 the Duke deputed
+most of his sovereign power to his son Francesco, who became Regent and
+virtual ruler of Tuscany.
+
+The grave scandals which distracted Florentine society began to raise up
+in the minds of the people violent antipathy for a Sovereign whose
+private example was so abominable, and whose discharge of public duties
+was so basely marked by turpitude. A revolution of a drastic description
+seemed to be inevitable, and, really, Cosimo had no other course than
+abdication.
+
+The Florentine rendering and observance of Platonism favoured illicit
+connections between the sexes. The palaces of the nobles and of the
+wealthy merchants were nothing more or less than harems. The manners and
+traditions of the Orient took root, not only in Florence, but in all the
+other Italian States, and the normal strictness and restrictions of
+lawful married life had everywhere all but disappeared. Every household,
+not only of the noble but also of the middle class, had among its
+number a _cicisbeo_, or two or more,--"unofficial wives"--we may call
+them, possessed of almost equal rights and position as the lawful
+spouses.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The great event of the year 1562 was the marriage of Prince Francesco
+and the Archduchess Giovanna d'Austria. Quite certainly the Duke and
+Duchess of Bracciano were among the notable personages present at the
+nuptials. Indeed that year the Duke spent more of his time than usual in
+Florence, and was very busy buying and rebuilding the Villa Cerreto
+Guidi, and laying out the park and gardens--the former for the pursuit
+of deer-hunting, the latter by way of rivalry to Pratolino--Francesco
+and Bianca's plaisance.
+
+The Grand Duchess Giovanna was something like her predecessor, Duchess
+Eleanora, a serious-minded sort of woman, with no pretensions to beauty
+or ability, not at all the sort of sovereign for that gay and dissolute
+court. The _beau monde_ took themselves off to the Orte Oricellari--to
+pay their devotions to the lovely Venetian mistress of their Sovereign;
+and to Poggio Baroncelli--where Duchess Isabella reigned as queen of
+fashion and frivolity.
+
+Cosimo and Cammilla de' Martelli--whom he married secretly and took away
+to his favourite Villa del Castello--lived in strict retreat, rarely
+came into Florence, and kept no sort of state. At the same time two
+sons of his were sources of keen anxiety.
+
+Ferdinando, born 1549, was now wearing the Cardinal's red hat, which
+hapless young Garzia's hunting-knife had caused to fall from his brother
+Giovanni's head in the Maremma. Ambitious, jealous, but, perhaps, less
+depraved than his father, the Cardinal de' Medici made no secret of his
+dislike of his brother Francesco and his _innamorata_, Bianca
+Buonaventuri. He became a thorn in his father's and brother's sides on
+account of his extortionate and presumptuous demands. His young
+stepmother--only two years his senior--favoured his pretensions, and so
+brought trouble upon herself, as we shall see later on.
+
+Piero, Cosimo's youngest legitimate son, was but a boy of fourteen when
+his father married his second wife. Of course she was far too young and
+inexperienced to be of any use in guiding his growth and tastes.
+
+The Court was thus divided: the two parties were headed respectively by
+the Grand Duchess Giovanna, the titular Grand Duchess-dowager,--so to
+call Cammilla,--with the Cardinal de' Medici; and by Bianca Cappello di
+Pietro Buonaventuri and Duchess Isabella of Bracciano.
+
+With respect to the latter coterie, its influence was vastly augmented
+by the assassination of Pietro Buonaventuri in 1572. Duchess Isabella
+gave her whole heart's support to the beauteous young widow. She wrote
+to her the most affectionate letters, in one of which, if not in more,
+she says she loves Bianca "more than sister," and bids her retain her
+position as "the loving helper of my brother."
+
+Bianca heartily returned her "more than a sister's" affection, and she
+repeatedly spoke of Duchess Isabella in her letters to her cousins in
+Venice. "I had," she says, for example, on 17th July 1574, "the
+illustrious Domina Isabella to dine with me in my garden, and with her
+came my good friends her brother Don Piero and his young wife...."
+Beautiful, accomplished, and light-hearted, Isabella and Bianca were the
+dearest and most constant of companions. They lived apparently only for
+admiration and adulation, but the Duchess' position was infinitely more
+free and unconventional than that of the Venetian: the latter lived for
+one man's love alone--Francesco--Isabella dispensed her favours where
+she willed!
+
+Duke Paolo grew suspicious of his wife's liberty of action. His
+protests, at first couched in deprecatory language, were met with
+girlish _insouciance_; but, when he began to complain arrogantly,
+Isabella replied with spirit and determination. His jealous reprimands
+were met by like charges and, truth to tell, there was not a pin to
+choose between the two.
+
+The Grand Duke Cosimo before his death in 1574, and the Grand Duke
+Francesco, were alike irritated by Bracciano's cool, calculating
+conduct; and both upheld Isabella against her husband's ill-humour and
+harsh judgments. Duke Paolo, however, kept his own counsel, and by means
+of spies discovered that Troilo d'Orsini's monthly reports were at least
+open to doubt as to their truthfulness with respect to his wife's
+conduct in private. Matters, however, drifted--he was too intent upon
+his own affairs in Rome and elsewhere to disturb rudely the state of
+things at Poggio Baroncelli.
+
+His suspicions at length were brusquely confirmed, and the uneasy peace
+of evil deeds was broken by portentous news from Florence. A courier in
+his pay arrived one evening, in July 1576, breathless, at the Bracciano
+Palace, with the intelligence that the trusty chamberlain had stabbed to
+the heart an attractive young page, Lelio Torello, attached to the
+household of the Grand Duke; and had, moreover, at once taken flight
+precipitately from the Villa!
+
+Bracciano knew exactly what this purported--young Torello was a lover of
+his wife as well as Troilo d'Orsini! Without a moment's delay, he
+started off for Florence to tax the Duchess with unfaithfulness. At the
+Porta Romana he was staggered by the news which greeted him--Piero de'
+Medici had killed his wife, Eleanora de Garzia de Toledo, at
+Cafaggiuolo!
+
+He tarried not to pay his respects to the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess
+at the Palazzo Pitti hard by, but galloped off post-haste to his wife's
+villa, and, unannounced, surprised Isabella in the midst of
+preparations for a sudden journey! If, as some maintained, she meant to
+follow her fleeing lover, Troilo, at all events she was determined to
+seek the Court of France, and throw herself upon the sympathy of Queen
+Caterina, her kinswoman, and crave her protection for herself and her
+babe!
+
+Several letters had already passed between the two illustrious women.
+Isabella, on her part, says: "I have asked pardon of God for my sins,
+and have resolved to let things take their course"; but she implores
+Catherine to protect her little son. In the last of these letters she
+writes:--"Let your Majesty think of this letter as the last words of a
+person bound to you by the ties of blood, and consider them as the
+confidence of one who is about to die, resigned and repentant, who
+otherwise could only end her life in despair and desperation."
+
+The Duke judged his wife guilty, before she had offered any explanation
+of the tragic doings at the Villa, and his impulse was to dishonour her
+before her whole household. The spirit of duplicity, which had haunted
+their married life, during eighteen random years of misunderstanding,
+distaste and estrangement, still ruled them both--but Bracciano
+restrained his passion for a while.
+
+He noted the preparations for hasty flight--indicative of Isabella's
+guilt--but, what more than all else enraged him almost beyond the power
+of self-control, was the cry of an infant within Isabella's apartments!
+That child was not his. Whose was it?
+
+Isabella met her husband perfectly unabashed, and, if she expected an
+immediate explosion, she was agreeably though somewhat misgivingly
+surprised at his cordial greeting. He asked her where she was going, and
+suggested that they should go away together. Isabella of course
+prevaricated--truth is a negative quality between those who doubt each
+other! Then, to her great surprise, Bracciano began to express himself
+in terms at once tender and apologetic.
+
+"The faults, and faults there are, have been all on my side," he said,
+"but I wish to alter all this and begin a new course, happy, and
+well-regulated. I suggest that bygones be bygones, and that we mutually
+agree to bury the past. Let us, Isabella, begin an entirely new course
+of life and live henceforth only for each other." His fair words were
+matched by the mild expression he contrived to put into his face, and,
+although the Duchess distrusted them, or at least her sense of hearing,
+she met his advances handsomely.
+
+The day passed over pleasantly, the _rapprochement_ seemed to be real
+and sincere, and when the Duke invited her to accompany him upon a
+hunting expedition to Cerreto Guidi, on the morrow, his wife expressed
+her pleasure and acquiescence. He himself set off early in the day, it
+was 10th July, and he asked Isabella to follow with her maidens
+leisurely.
+
+Whether from innate distrustfulness, or presage of coming evil, the
+Duchess put off her journey till quite late, and only arrived there as
+night was coming on. At the entrance to the Villa the Duke met her,
+holding in a leash two splendid hare-hounds, which he begged her to
+accept and use on the morrow.
+
+The dinner-party was numerous and merry, but not one of the company was
+gayer than the host. Isabella sat beside him, and he offered her many
+lover-like attentions. Everybody remarked these excellent and unusual
+relations between the Duke and Duchess, and wondered greatly thereat.
+After a very pleasant musical evening the company separated for the
+night, and the Duke, passing into his own bedchamber, invited his wife
+to enter with him.
+
+Was it instinct or was it second sight, which caused Isabella's steps to
+falter on the threshold? She trembled as her husband held aside the
+arras, turned deadly pale, and, retreating for a moment, she whispered
+to her lady-in-waiting, Donna Lucrezia de' Frescobaldi--"Shall I enter,
+or shall I not?" Bracciano's voice again was raised in gentle
+persuasiveness, and taking her by her hand, clammy cold as it was, he
+asked her, laughingly, why she held back.
+
+She bade Donna Lucrezia good-night very tremulously, and then the
+curtain fell, and Isabella was alone with her lord. The room was in its
+usual state, but truth to tell, she had not lain there for many a long
+night, and, as the Duke continued to talk affectionately, and to prepare
+for bed, she began to feel less alarm. Without more ado she flung
+herself into a deep lounging-chair and began to meditate and to chatter.
+
+Seating himself by her side, Bracciano began to caress her hands and to
+fondle her in his arms, and when he noted that she had given herself
+entirely to his will and pleasure, as an amorous, faithful wife once
+more, he swiftly reached down for a _corda di collo_--a horse's
+halter--which he had placed behind the chair. Implanting an impassioned
+kiss upon those lovely lips, which had so long yearned for a husband's
+embrace, he adroitly threw the rope round his wife's neck, and pulling
+it taut in a wild access of rage, he strangled her--holding on until her
+struggles ceased!
+
+Then he cast her fair body from him, and spurned it with his foot, as
+though it had been some foul and loathsome thing. Thus perished, in her
+thirty-sixth year, Isabella de' Medici, wife of Paolo Giordano
+d'Orsini--as sinful as she was lovely, but much more sinned against than
+sinning after all.
+
+Before the dawn of day the Duke, accompanied by one attendant only, rode
+into Florence, and left at the Palazzo Pitti a heartless message for the
+Grand Duke, requesting him to despatch the brethren of the
+_Misericordia_ to Cerreto Guidi, where was "something which required
+their attention"--then he continued his course straight on to Rome.
+
+Florence was aghast at this horror, but the Grand Duke Francesco kept
+his own counsel, and no pursuit followed the murderer. An official
+announcement was made to the effect that "The Duchess of Bracciano died
+in a fit of apoplexy." This nobody for a moment believed: whether her
+brother was privy to the deed is perhaps open to doubt, for he and
+Isabella were devoted to one another.
+
+It has been said that it was due to Bianca Buonaventuri's persuasion
+that the Grand Duke took no steps to vindicate his sister's honour or
+dishonour. The punishment of assassins mostly leads to further
+assassinations, and the "_La cosa di Francesco_" had reason to fear for
+her own life, seeing that her husband and her two dearest friends in
+Florence had been done brutally to death.
+
+What became of the child, whose cries the Duke of Bracciano had heard,
+at Villa Poggio Baroncelli, no one seems to have recorded, nor are there
+any statements extant as to who his father actually was--a boy he was
+anyhow, and, though his name is uncertain, he was spoken of by the
+Duchess as "_il mio becchino_," "my little kid."
+
+We may father him as we like--and at least three claimants for that
+honour are known--Troilo d'Orsini, the Duke's cousin and the Duchess'
+companion; Lelio Torello, the comely young _Calcio_ player, and the
+favourite page of the Grand Duke Francesco; and, be it said in terms of
+doubt and horror, the Grand Duke Cosimo! If the latter, then this
+"Tragedy" is the culmination of all the abominable orgies which have
+blackened the character of the greatest tyrant and monster of his epoch!
+
+Another story affects the career of the Chamberlain Troilo d'Orsini. He
+sought sanctuary in France and was befriended by Queen Catherine, to
+whom his mistress, the unhappy Duchess of Bracciano, had commended "the
+little kid." Whether he accepted the role of father to save the fame of
+the defunct Grand Duke is not known, but the unfortunate, if guilty,
+fugitive was stabbed in the streets of Paris by bravoes sent after him
+in the pay of the Duke of Bracciano.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+FRANCESCO--"_Il Virtuoso_"
+
+BIANCA CAPPELLO--"_La Figlia di Venezia_"
+
+PELLEGRINA--"_La Bella Bianchina_"
+
+
+_True Lovers--and False_
+
+
+"We'll have none of her among our dead!"
+
+These were the brutal words of Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, at the
+villa of Poggio a Caiano on the morning of 21st October 1587. They
+formed the curt reply his Eminence vouchsafed to Bishop Abbioso of
+Ravenna, "her" confessor.
+
+The bishop, looking to favours from Ferdinando, who succeeded Francesco
+as third Grand Duke of Tuscany, sent overnight, the following message to
+his new Sovereign:
+
+"This moment at 8 p.m. Her Most Serene Highness the Grand Duchess passed
+to another life. The present messenger awaits your Highness' orders as
+to the disposal of the body."
+
+"The body!"
+
+Yes, it was "the body" of as loving a woman as ever lived in Florence.
+She had been the most faithful of wives, the most attractive of
+consorts, and one of the most generous of benefactresses. It was "the
+body" of as unselfish a sister-in-law as any man, high or low, ever
+had, who strove her utmost to propitiate, screen, and honour the
+self-seeking brother of her husband. It was "the body" of Bianca
+Cappello!
+
+Ferdinando had, for years, plotted her death, and now he had
+accomplished his dastardly design--a design which also made him the
+murderer of his brother, Francesco de' Medici.
+
+To be sure, the double tragedy was adjudged no tragedy by such as waited
+for favours from the coming ruler, and the mysteriously sudden deaths of
+Francesco de' Medici and his wife Bianca were assigned to natural causes
+by well-paid dependants upon Ferdinando's bounty and favour. The
+bloodguiltiness of fratricidal Ferdinando was well whitewashed by his
+courtiers, and historians have painted him in colours that ill befit his
+character. So is history written ofttimes and again.
+
+Pope Sixtus VI. had all the gruesome circumstances placed before him,
+and whilst he was too weak or too cunning--it matters not which--to
+charge the princely murderer with his deeds, he tacitly accepted the
+finding of his commission of inquiry:--"Ferdinando de' Medici,
+Cardinal-Priest of San Giorgio, Grand Duke of Tuscany, poisoned his
+brother and his sister at Poggio a Caiano."
+
+Now must the story be told, gathered out of records, more or less
+reliable--more or less biassed. It is a story which brings a blush to
+the cheek and a lump in the throat, and calls forth feelings of
+detestation for the murderer. At the same time it is a thrilling story
+of a love stronger than death.
+
+       *        *       *       *       *
+
+Late one dark night, in November 1563, a gondola shot out from the deep
+shadow of the church of Sant' Appolinare, upon the Rio della Canonica,
+in Venice, dipped under the Ponte del Storto, and sped its way, swiftly
+propelled by two stalwart boatmen.
+
+There was little use to cry out "_Lei_" or "_Stali_," for no other craft
+was afloat at that hour, and the gondola was unimpeded in its course.
+Crossing the Grand Canal the helmsman made for the Guidecca, and on past
+the Punta di Santa Maria, and on still, away across the wide and silent
+lagune, right on to Fusina, on the mainland.
+
+In the herse were two persons--a boy and a girl--fast clasped in each
+other's arms: she sobbing upon his breast, he comforting her with hot
+kisses upon her lips. They were Pietro de' Buonaventuri and Bianca de'
+Cappelli. The elopement was complete, and all Pietro's manhood rose as
+he held his sweetheart in a strong embrace: he would guard her with his
+life, come what might. He knew they were safe from present pursuit, for
+to none had he revealed his plans; but he also knew that a price would
+be set upon their heads, and daggers dodge their course. Stepping
+lightly ashore with his sweetheart, the young man paid his boatmen and
+bade them not hurry back to Venice. Then the young couple took the road
+to Bologna, on their way to Florence. They had very little money between
+them, but Bianca had stuffed into her pocket her jewellery and Pietro
+had just received his quarter's salary.
+
+At the Cappello mansion, on the morrow, was a scene of wild confusion.
+Messer Bartolommeo Cappello was like a madman; he demanded his daughter
+at the hand of her faithful maid, Maria del Longhi, and laid the matter
+at once before the Supreme Council. On enquiry, Pietro Buonaventuri, who
+had been for long Bianca's most favoured admirer, was neither at the
+Salviati bank, where he was occupied as a clerk, nor at his lodgings.
+
+The daughter of a Venetian patrician gone off with a banker's clerk! The
+idea maddened the old man--he would trace them, and punish them, and all
+who had assisted their flight. Messer Giovanni Battista Buonaventuri,
+Pietro's uncle, the manager of the bank; Bianca's maid and her parents;
+the two _gondolieri_ and their wives; and ever so many others were cast
+into prison.
+
+No news came of the erring couple, and now they were well ahead of
+pursuit. Two thousand ducats was the blood-money offered for Pietro,
+dead or alive. Assassins bought for gold followed on the road to
+Florence, but never caught up their quarry. Messer Bartolommeo's
+vengeance knew no bounds, and his new wife, Madonna Lucrezia de'
+Grimani-Contarini fanned the flames. She hated Bianca.
+
+The winter sun had long ago set beyond the stone-pines of Monte Oliveto,
+and the deep blue Tuscan sky had turned to sober slate, purpled with the
+fading glow of northern crimson. It was a night near Christmas, and Ser
+Zenobio Buonaventuri sat at his table, in his modest little one-storied
+house on the Piazza San Marco, putting the finishing touches to his
+_precis_ of the day's notarial work, in the Corte della Mercanzia. His
+worthy spouse, Madonna Costanza's weary fingers had just completed the
+stitching of the last of twelve pairs of kid gloves, for her employers,
+of the Guild of the Fur and Skin Merchants--the Salvetti, who were her
+relatives.
+
+They had been talking, as was their wont, about their dashing, handsome
+son Pietro, the pride of their hearts, who was away in Venice, a clerk
+under his uncle, Giovanni Battista. They were a lonesome couple, and
+they deplored their four years' parting from their only boy. To be sure,
+he had often, indeed regularly, written to them happy, contented
+letters. Moreover, Messer Giovanni Battista had sent them very
+satisfactory reports of his application to business, but he named one
+subject, which filled the hearts of the doting parents with
+apprehension--it was, of course, a story of romance. Pietro had a
+sweetheart--that in itself caused little uneasiness; what healthy-minded
+young fellow had not! But Pietro had an unusually amorous nature, and
+his love escapades had not been few in Florence. In Venice, "the Court
+of Venus," he revelled in the fair beauty and the freedom of maidens, so
+much more lovely and so much less reserved, than the Florentine girls he
+knew. But when Messer Giovanni Battista named as his _innamorata_ the
+young daughter of one of the proudest patricians of the Serene Republic,
+the worthy couple were in trepidation lest the lad's passion should lead
+to regrettable embarrassments.
+
+No love was lost between the sister Republics, and the feeling of
+hostility in public matters was carried into private life. Pietro never
+named the romance, but Ser Zenobio, by way of meeting--as was his
+wont--his troubles half way, penned anxious cautions to his son. The
+Buonaventuri, though by no means an obscure family, were not _Grandi_
+like the Cappelli, Lords of Venice. Moreover, Bianca's father was a
+wealthy man and a member of the Supreme Council, whilst Ser Zenobio was
+merely a modest notary of no great fame or fortune.
+
+It was bedtime, but hark! at the door were shuffling steps and voices
+whispering; and presently there came a gentle tap--repeated once or
+twice. Ser Zenobio rose to see what was passing outside his house.
+Peering into the gloom he saw two figures--one a girl's--and a voice he
+knew full well said:
+
+"Father, we have come to crave shelter and protection."
+
+"Who are you? My boy Pietro! And what are you doing here in Florence,
+and at this time of night?"
+
+Madonna Costanza was peeping over his shoulder, and both of them were
+greatly agitated, and awaited with anxiety Pietro's reply.
+
+"We have come from Venice and are very tired. See, father and mother,
+this is Bianca."
+
+Sternly answered Ser Zenobio. "What do you mean, Pietro? What shame is
+this you have done your parents? Who is Bianca, and what are you doing
+with her in Florence? You never said you were coming home. Explain
+yourself, or come not into your father's house."
+
+Heavy rain was falling, and Bianca was weeping as Pietro led her into
+the light of the candle his mother held.
+
+"Let them come in anyhow, Zenobio, and we can hear what they have got to
+say, without the neighbours hearing us," put in the tender-hearted
+woman.
+
+With that, Ser Zenobio gave his hand to Bianca and drew her and Pietro
+within the door, and then, in sterner tones, he commanded his son to
+tell what he had done.
+
+Briefly Pietro recounted the story of his love and how Bianca returned
+it. He spoke of Messer Bartolommeo's harshness and of the unkindness of
+Bianca's stepmother, Madonna Lucrezia de' Grimani-Contarini--the
+Patriarch's sister. He described their plight and the perils which
+threatened them. But, when he went on to hint at Bianca's condition, the
+loving heart of Madonna Costanza melted towards the beauteous, weeping
+girl, and she drew her to her bosom to embrace and comfort her.
+
+Long and anxious vigil the four kept that winter's night. The outcome of
+their deliberations was the marriage of Pietro and Bianca, on 12th
+December, privately, at Ser Zenobio's, with the priestly blessing at San
+Marco's across the way.
+
+It was deemed expedient that the young people should conceal themselves
+as much as possible, in view of the extreme measures taken by the Serene
+Republic. If caught, Pietro was to be slain and Bianca enclosed in a
+convent. The abduction of a noble Venetian was a capital offence, and
+the girl's dowry was confiscated by the State.
+
+Soon the news of the elopement ran through Florence and set everybody
+talking. The reward of two thousand gold ducats was a tempting bait for
+desperadoes and others in need of coin. Everybody wished to see the
+beauteous Venetian and have a chat with bold Pietro, for, of course, no
+Florentine blamed them! Who could?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Don Francesco, Duke Cosimo's eldest son, was in Bavaria making
+believe-courtship with the Archduchess Joanne, the Emperor's daughter,
+when the gossip about Pietro and Bianca reached him. He, of course, knew
+nothing of the Buonaventuri, nor of the Cappelli, but romance is romance
+in every age and degree of human life! He determined on his return to
+Florence to find out the amorous young couple and judge for himself of
+the charms of the fair girl-bride.
+
+Away back, in the grounds of the monastery of San Marco, was the
+garden-casino of Cosimo, "_Padre della Patria_," a delightful retreat.
+Francesco received it as a gift from his father, and there he was
+accustomed to entertain his friends and familiars.
+
+Passing, on his way thither--as he often did, with a frolicsome party of
+young bloods--the humble dwelling of the Buonaventuri, he chanced, one
+day, to look up at a half-open window--the jalousies were thrown back,
+and there, sitting at her needlework, was the very girl he sought!
+
+There could be no manner of doubt who she was, no Florentine maiden was
+so fair, and no eyes in Florence were so bright. Casually asking a
+member of his suite whose house they were passing, Don Francesco tossed
+up his glove at the girl and passed on.
+
+Another person witnessed this love passage, the Marchesa Anna
+Mondragone, wife of Francesco's old governor and his chamberlain--she
+was on the balcony of the house at the corner of the Piazza to make her
+usual curtsey to the Prince. When the Marchese came home that night, he
+told his wife that the Prince had seen Bianca Buonaventuri, and had
+enlisted his services to obtain an interview with the lovely Venetian.
+
+Nothing does a woman of the world love more than to be a go-between
+where sentimental couples are concerned--be it for their weal or be it
+for their woe--and so the Marchesa sympathetically addressed herself to
+the diplomatic task of bringing the two young people together. She
+struck up a passing acquaintance with Madonna Costanza, and upon the
+plea that she wished for the opinion of her daughter-in-law upon the
+question of a Venetian costume she was about to wear at a reception at
+the palace, asked her to bring Bianca to the Mondragone mansion.
+
+Accordingly, a few days after the affair of the kid glove, the three
+women were closeted in the Marchesa's boudoir, where the Marchese joined
+them. Calling off Bianca to look at some jewellery, she whisked her into
+another room, and presently, leaving her absorbed in the beauty of the
+gems, retired.
+
+Bianca looked up, somewhat annoyed to find herself alone, and, as she
+did so, she detected a slight movement behind the arras over the door.
+The next moment it was raised, and there stepped into the apartment none
+other than Don Francesco de' Medici!
+
+Bianca stood there, speechless and embarrassed, but the Prince,
+approaching, took her hand in his, kissed it, and placed her beside him
+on a couch. When she had recovered from her surprise, Bianca fell upon
+her knees and, weeping, besought Francesco to befriend her and Pietro.
+Raising her to the couch once more, he folded her in an impassioned
+embrace, and promised his protection and what she would besides!
+
+Very greatly moved was the young man by Bianca's rare beauty of face and
+form, and by the tenderness of her voice, and, perhaps more than all, by
+the undoubting confidence she reposed in him. Bianca was such a very
+different sort of girl to cold, unattractive and ill-educated Giovanna.
+
+Immediate steps were taken to obtain the recension of the punitive
+decrees of the Venetian Council, but they proved abortive, and nothing
+could be done in Venice for Bianca and Pietro. In Florence Don Francesco
+could do as he willed. His father, Cosimo, had already made over to him
+much of his sovereign authority.
+
+In July 1564, Bianca Buonaventuri became the mother of a little girl, to
+whom the name Pellegrina--her own dear mother's name--was given. The
+days of convalescence quickly passed, and Francesco paid his
+_innamorata_ increasing court. Upon Pietro and Bianca he bestowed a
+charming palace, on the Lung 'Arno, and provided them with ample means
+to maintain themselves and it. He appointed Pietro Keeper of his
+Wardrobe and Clerk of his Privy Closet, on condition that his
+fascinating girl-wife should be regarded pretty much as "_La cosa di
+Francesco_."
+
+The more the Prince saw of Bianca the stronger grew his passion. She was
+perfectly irresistible. After the fashion of the day, he poured forth
+his devotion in graceful madrigals--the first of which, began as
+follows:--
+
+"A rich and shining Gem hath Dame Nature
+Taken out of Heaven's treasury, and
+Wrapping it in a lustrous human veil
+Hath bestowed it on me, saying, 'To thee
+I give this beauteous Flora for thine own.'"
+
+Meanwhile preparations were going forward for the reception and marriage
+of the Austrian Archduchess, who reached Florence on 16th November 1565.
+Reports of her husband's infatuation for Bianca Buonaventuri had of
+course travelled to Vienna, and Giovanna had not long to wait for their
+verification. She could not brook the fouling of the marriage-bed nor
+permit the _liaison_ to go on undenounced.
+
+Francesco met her ill-humour with a frown. He pointed to the morals of
+her father's court, and to the Florentine cult of Platonism, and he bade
+her mind her own business and not make troubles. Her appeals to Duke
+Cosimo and to her brother the Emperor Maximilian were in vain. Francesco
+plainly hinted that she might go back to Vienna if she liked, for
+nothing that she could say or do would alter his admiration and his
+devotion for Bianca Buonaventuri. The strictness of married life had
+long ago disappeared from the conventions of Florentine society. Mutual
+relationships proved that men might live as they pleased, so long as
+they did not renounce the offspring, even when they were assured that it
+was not their own. The term "_Partiti_"--"Sharers" or "Partners"--
+perhaps less literally but more emphatically, "kindred souls," was
+bestowed upon this relationship. Still at no time was Francesco a
+sensuous man or a libertine like his father. His devotionally-affected
+mother, Eleanora de Toledo, had trained him in moral ways, and had
+called forth in him regard for religion and sympathy for charitable
+objects. Possessed of great self-command and reticence, he never
+betrayed himself in any way; passionate he was beyond the ordinary, but
+never revengeful. He loved one woman, and only one, and to her he proved
+himself faithful until death took them away together; but she was not
+Giovanna, his political wife, she was Bianca, the wife of his heart and
+mind.
+
+Next to his love of Bianca was his love of money: no prince of his house
+was ever half so wealthy or so sparing. Avarice came to him through the
+rapacity of Giovanna's German followers and through her own
+extravagance.
+
+The year after his marriage, Bianca Buonaventuri was introduced at Court
+as Bianca Cappello. The young Duchess of course was furious, and
+pointedly refused all intercourse with her rival. Bianca, on the other
+hand, laid herself out to propitiate the dour Austrian princess and to
+stifle slander. Still a mere girl, she was in full command of all the
+moves in woman's strategy. There was no school like that of Venice for
+the display of tact and fascination. To be sure, she was living in a
+crystal palace, but she was perfectly ready to repair all damages.
+Bianca was severely upon her guard, and her conduct was perfectly
+correct in every way.
+
+Very rarely did young Cardinal Ferdinando visit Florence, but in 1569,
+Cosimo, his father, sent for him, that he might embrace him before he
+died, being, as he thought, on the point of death. At the magnificently
+immoral Court of the Vatican he had heard the gossip about the lovely
+Venetian girl who had so completely captured his brother Francesco.
+Quite naturally, the by no means ascetic young ecclesiastic desired
+greatly to see for himself the Venetian charmer, and he journeyed to
+Florence, bent upon judging for himself.
+
+Francesco greeted Ferdinando quite affectionately--there was no reason
+why he should not--and unhesitatingly introduced him to Bianca. At the
+impressionable age of twenty, the young Prince fell at once under the
+spell of those bewitching eyes. Who could resist her? In the fulness of
+her womanhood Bianca Buonaventuri was without rival among the fair women
+of Florence, and the boy-Cardinal made, like all the rest, impassioned
+love to her.
+
+Back again in Rome and busy with his plans for the great Medici Palace
+in the Eternal City he lost none of his admiration for his brother's
+"Flora," till evil tongues began to wag around him. Was not he,
+Ferdinando, Don Francesco's heir-presumptive? Duchess Giovanna had given
+her husband none but daughters; she, too, was in delicate health and
+might die without a son being born. What then? Why, of course, Francesco
+would marry Bianca Buonaventuri, and by her secure the succession.
+Whether he was destined for the Papacy or not, the Grand Duchy was his
+by inheritance, and it behoved him, they said, to guard his rights and
+further his expectations!
+
+Ferdinando listened to this tittle-tattle and it caused ambitious
+distrust of Francesco and Bianca. As heir-presumptive to a temporal
+sovereignty, he began to surround himself with all the attributes and
+circumstances of his position. His palace was regal in its magnificence,
+his entertainments were upon a princely scale, and he assumed an
+overbearing demeanour in his relations with Francesco.
+
+Instigated by inveterate intriguers in his entourage, he quite
+hypocritically affected to be shocked at his brother's _liaison_ with
+Bianca, although he made no demur at his father's relations with
+Eleanora degli Albizzi, Cammilla de' Martelli, and other _innamorate_.
+Giovanna was only too delighted to have the invaluable assistance of the
+young Cardinal in her campaign against "the hated Venetian." At length
+he took the bold step of expostulating with Francesco upon his
+intercourse with the captivating rival of Giovanna. The Prince was
+furious, and warned his brother never to name the subject again, and on
+no account to meddle with his private affairs.
+
+Ferdinando replied that he was quite content to abstain at a price. The
+truth was, that his lavish extravagance had exhausted his revenue and
+restricted his powers of borrowing, and he was in lack of funds for the
+maintenance of his state in Rome.
+
+In a weak moment Francesco gave heed to Ferdinando's stipulations, and
+provided him with funds and increased his family allowance. In
+gratitude, the Cardinal threw into his brother's teeth the fact of his
+position as heir-presumptive, and insisted upon the purchase of a piece
+of land at the confluence of the Pesa with the Arno. There he built his
+Villa Ambrogiana, which became the seat of an anti-Francesco cabal and
+the headquarters of an elaborate system of paid spies and toadies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In September 1571, Francesco issued a decree which ennobled the family
+of Bianca's husband, and Ser Zenobio, unambitious, pottering notary that
+he was, and Pietro, and all their male kith and kin, were enrolled
+"_inter nobiles, inter agnationes et familias ceusetas et
+connumeratus._" Pietro was now a gentleman of Florence, and he at once
+assumed the airs of such, as he conceived they should be, but his bad
+manners and his arrogance brought upon him the contempt of the whole
+Court.
+
+Francesco at first shielded his protege, but his overbearing conduct and
+his importunities at length alienated his regard, and he made no attempt
+to conceal his displeasure. Bianca pleaded with her husband in vain,
+success had turned his head, and now came "the parting of the ways."
+
+Pietro had consented that Bianca should be "_La cosa di Francesco_"; he
+too would enjoy life, and he sought his compensation in the embraces of
+the most attractive and most scheming flirt in Florence, Madonna
+Cassandra, the wealthy widow of Messer Simone de' Borghiani--born a
+Riccio. Although well over thirty years of age, she was run after by all
+the young gallants of the Court and city. Two already had been done to
+death for love of her--mere boys--Pietro del Calca and Giovanni de'
+Cavalcanti.
+
+Pietro Buonaventuri vowed he would marry her, but the Ricci would have
+none of him; and he fell, one summer's night, under the very windows of
+his wife's bedchamber, pierced with twenty-five savage dagger thrusts.
+That same night--it was 27th August 1572--Madonna Cassandra was
+stabbed, in her own apartment, also twenty-five times, and two stark,
+mutilated corpses were mercifully borne away, in the dawn, by the
+brethren of the _Misericordia_, and given burial.
+
+Bianca, widowed, demanded at the hand of her princely lover justice for
+the spilling of her husband's blood; but, for answer, Francesco drew her
+gently to his heart and said: "The best thing I can do now, my own
+Bianca, is to make you, before long, Grand Duchess of Tuscany!"
+
+The Cardinal was keenly interested in this tragedy, not indeed that he
+took any part therein, but it had a distinct bearing upon his line of
+conduct, and he noted with apprehension the redoubling of Francesco's
+devotion to "the hated Venetian."
+
+Bianca, of course, was perfectly aware that she was the real cause of
+Ferdinando's animosity, in spite of his protestations of admiration and
+the like. She set about to unmask his real intentions and to circumvent
+his hypocrisy. Her methods were at once original and full of tact, for
+she disarmed his aggression by playing to his personal vanity and by
+furthering his lust for money.
+
+Not once, nor twice, but many times, did Bianca plead with Francesco for
+his brother, and always with success, and many a substantial sum of
+money was lodged in the Roman Medici bank at his disposal. Ferdinando
+began to realise that the only way to his brother's purse was by
+Bianca's favour, and he began to evince a distinctly amiable spirit in
+his relations with her.
+
+As marking the improvement in the situation, the Cardinal accepted an
+invitation to a family gathering at Poggio a Caiano in the autumn of
+1575. The Grand Duchess Giovanna quite properly was the hostess, but
+Bianca Buonaventuri, who was installed in a Casino in the park, which
+Francesco had given her, and called "Villetta Bini," was of the party,
+the life and soul of all the entertainments.
+
+During the festivities Bianca managed to be _tete-a-tete_ with her
+brother-in-law in a secluded summer-house. The fascination of three
+years before was again transcendent. "The Venetian is irresistible," he
+said afterwards, "I cannot hate her, try how I will!" The truth was, he
+was madly in love, and he owned it, but his love was, after all, like
+the hot fumes of a lurid fire.
+
+The year 1576 was a black one in the annals of the Medici. Two beautiful
+and accomplished princesses of the ruling house were done to death by
+jealous, unfaithful husbands.
+
+Bianca Buonaventuri was stunned by the terrible end of her dear
+sister-friends, Isabella de' Medici and Eleanora de Garzia de Toledo.
+Would her turn come next? The three had been called "The Three Graces of
+Florence," and certainly each had vied with the other in elegance and
+fascination, but to Bianca the golden apple had been accorded
+unanimously. Beauty and charm seemed to be magnets of destruction, and
+Bianca was upon her guard!
+
+So far as she herself was concerned, she knew that at any time she might
+still fall a victim to a Venetian desperado, or to a Florentine
+assassin, and under every friendly guise she feared a foe.
+
+With respect to the Grand Duchess Giovanna and her detestation of
+Bianca, a story may be told which has all the appearance at least of
+probability. Giovanna expressed, not once, but often, her wish for
+Bianca's death. This, indeed, in those days, and in Florence, the "City
+of Assassins," was as good as a judicial sentence. The Grand Duchess,
+moreover, it was reputed, followed up her words by action. "One day,"
+the story goes, "in the month of March 1576, her carriage chanced to
+meet that of Bianca's upon the Ponte SS. Trinita. She besought her
+coachman to try and upset her rival, hoping that she might fall into the
+river below and be drowned! Conte Eliodoro del Castello, her
+Chamberlain, saw the manoeuvre and prevented a deplorable fatality."
+
+Be this as it may, the Grand Duke not only sympathised with Bianca's
+fears, but appointed certain of his own bodyguard to take up similar
+duties near the person of Madonna Buonaventuri, and her progresses
+henceforward were watched with as much circumstance as his own. At the
+same time his devotion to the woman he loved increased from day to day.
+The perils she was called upon to meet were incurred through her
+unquestioning love of him. This he knew well enough.
+
+Writing on 29th March 1576, Carlo Zorzi, the Ambassador of the Serene
+Republic, and a warm adherent of his fascinating fellow-countrywoman,
+says: "I visited the Grand Duke's Villa Pratolino, and also Madonna
+Bianca Buonaventuri's charming retreat, the Orte Oricellari, and her
+pretty Villa della Tana, which he had lately given her, looking upon the
+Arno, and I observed Don Francesco's intimacy with the Madonna. I noted
+also her extraordinary influence for good upon him.... They appear to be
+made for one another, and to be absorbed in the same occupations and
+interests.... She had but to name an object for charity or patronage,
+and at once she had his hearty approval."
+
+Francesco never concealed his concern at having no son. With his own
+physicians and the physicians of the Grand Duchess he held many
+consultations: not a few quacks and empirics also were sought to for
+nostrums and charms which should obtain by science what nature had so
+far withheld. He and Bianca held anxious counsel, for he knew that she
+would lay down her life for him, and would grant him every facility
+which it was in her loving power to supply.
+
+Reflecting deeply, Bianca saw only one situation: Giovanna was barren
+of male issue, why should not she herself become once more a mother--the
+mother of a son, a son of Francesco!
+
+This idea haunted her, but all the same she had no conception; and then
+a design presented itself to her weary brain--as natural as it was
+indefensible. For some time she had been getting stout--her age, her
+constitution, and her rich living were all conducive to that condition.
+If she was not to be the mother of his child by natural means, she could
+be so by a subterfuge, which her _embonpoint_ would uphold!
+
+In the spring of 1576 Bianca Buonaventuri gave out that she was
+_enceinte_ and began forthwith her preparations for _accouchement_. She
+left her palace in the Via Maggio, under the shadow of the Pitti Palace,
+and took up her abode in the Casino of the Orte Oricellari, which she
+had lately purchased from the family of Rucellai, and surrounded herself
+with confidential friends and attendants.
+
+The _denouement_ came on 29th August, when the Grand Duke was informed
+by Bianca's surgeon-accoucheur, that she had been delivered of a
+child--a boy! Francesco was almost frantic with delight, and he hastened
+to his beloved Bianca's bedside. Picking up _his_ child, he fondled him
+tenderly and almost smothered him with kisses, and at once gave orders
+for a ceremonial baptism. Antonio, he called him--after the kindly
+patron saint of that auspicious day--when he personally handed the
+child to the Archbishop at the font.
+
+The Grand Duchess was inexpressibly shocked, she refused to see her
+husband, shut herself up in her own apartments, and demanded an escort
+to Vienna! The news was not long in reaching Rome, and it made Cardinal
+Ferdinando furious. In a moment all the blandishments of "the Venetian"
+were dissipated; the better terms lately established in Florence were
+renounced, and the angry Prince, in unmeasured language, asserted that
+the child was not Francesco's.
+
+He knew well enough that what had come to pass, unless unchallenged,
+would imperil his presumptive title. First it was sought to throw doubt
+upon Bianca's actual maternity, and next to secure the person of the
+little boy.
+
+Bianca and Antonio, under a strong guard, were sent off to Pratolino,
+hers and Francesco's best-loved retreat--they had together planned its
+beauties. There, during her make-believe convalescence, she came to
+consider the very serious nature of her love's stratagem, and she
+determined to make a full confession to her lover. The Grand Duke was
+thunderstruck, but at once he recognised the emphatic importance of
+secrecy; for, as Vincenzio Borghini quaintly said: "Florence was the
+greatest market in the world for tissues and materials of _all_ kinds,
+and full of evil eyes, and ears, and tongues!" Meanwhile Ferdinando
+had not let the water run under the Arno bridges for nothing. He
+discovered the surgeon-accoucheur who had attended Madonna Bianca--one
+Giovanni Gazzi. He maintained the fact of the confinement, but
+incidentally named the wet nurse, Giovanna Santi. This woman admitted
+that she had been instrumental in the introduction into Madonna Bianca's
+chamber of the newly-born son of a reputable woman, who lived with her
+husband behind the _Stinche_.
+
+No trace could be found of these humble parents of Francesco's
+supposititious child, and all Ferdinando's enquiries were fruitless.
+Many were the tales rife, in and out of the palaces and markets, but
+neither the Grand Duke nor Bianca took any steps to refute them, and
+after being, as usual, a nine days' wonder, the subject dropped,
+apparently.
+
+The Grand Duchess Giovanna gave birth, on 19th May, the following year,
+to a son--a sickly child to be sure, but the undoubted heir of his
+father. Ferdinando's hopes were shattered, but he had not done with
+Bianca Buonaventuri. Within nine months, on 9th February, Giovanna died,
+somewhat suddenly, and the Cardinal failed not to intimate that Bianca
+was the cause thereof, and to name poison as her means! The truth is,
+that the Grand Duchess one day getting out of her sedan-chair, slipped
+upon the polished marble floor, and, being again near her confinement,
+a miscarriage resulted, from which she never recovered.
+
+Within two months of the burial of sour-tempered, unlovable Giovanna,
+the Grand Duke married Bianca, Pietro Buonaventuri's widow, privately in
+the chapel of the Palazzo Vecchio.
+
+One immediate result of this marriage was the quasi-legitimisation of
+the child Antonio--a vigorous youngster and certain to outlive frail
+little Filippo.
+
+Reconciliation with Venice, public marriage, and Coronation were in due
+order celebrated, and Bianca Cappello, "the true and undoubted daughter
+of Venice," was enthroned in the Duomo, as the true and lawful Grand
+Duchess of Tuscany! Cardinal Ferdinando watched all these ceremonials
+from afar--the only one of his family who declined to honour the Grand
+Duke and Grand Duchess with his presence during the festivities.
+
+Represented by an inferior official of his household, he remained in
+Rome, closely shut up in his palace, a spectacle to the world at large
+of ungovernable prejudice and foiled ambition. His cogitations, however,
+were very grateful, for he was working out in his intriguing brain a
+ready method for ridding himself, not alone of the two children, bars to
+his pretensions, but of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess also!
+Ferdinando was determined to succeed Francesco as Sovereign of Tuscany,
+come what might!
+
+Never was a man more changed than the Grand Duke Francesco when he
+placed the new Grand Duchess beside him on his throne. Twelve years of
+gloom and disappointment gave way before the advent of the "Sun of
+Venice."
+
+The best, happiest, and most popular years of his reign exactly
+synchronise with the period of Bianca's ascendency. No strife of
+parties, no pestilence, no foreign war, black-marked those years. Arts
+and crafts revived with the increase of population and of confidence,
+and men began to agree that there was something after all to be
+said--and to be said heartily--for Macchiavelli's "Prince," and his idea
+of a "_Il Governo d'un solo_."
+
+In this glorious eventide of the Renaissance were reproduced some of the
+magnificence of its heyday, under Lucrezia and Lorenzo de' Medici.
+
+In the early days of Francesco's infatuation for Bianca he had given
+forth an impassioned madrigal, which once more he sang to her as his
+good angel-guardian:--
+
+"Around my frail and battered barque
+There is always serenely swimming,
+And wakefully watching me,
+Lest I perish, a beautiful and powerful Dolphin.
+Warn'd and shielded from every buffet
+Of the deadly wave, I feel secure.
+Fierce winds no longer cause me fear.
+I seek succour no more from oars and sails
+Safely accompanied by my loving Guardian!"
+
+Francesco's devotion for Bianca continued as the years sped on their
+way, and he noted with supreme satisfaction that every word and action
+of hers were marked with unquestioning affection. The loves of Francesco
+and Bianca at Pratolino recalled those of Giuliano and Simonetta at
+Fiesole, whilst the wits, and beaux, and beauteous women who consorted
+there, revived the glories of the Platonic Academy.
+
+Montaigne, who visited the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, both at the
+Pitti Palace and at Pratolino, in 1580, says: "I was surprised to see
+her take the place of honour above her husband.... She is very handsome
+... and seems to have entirely subjugated the Prince."
+
+The Cardinal was not unobservant of the trend of Florentine affairs.
+Plots and counterplots were quite to his liking. The Pucci conspiracy
+and the vengeance upon the Capponi affected him closely. Francesco was
+not ignorant of the patronage and encouragement vouchsafed to his secret
+enemies by his eminent brother in Rome--and he watched each move.
+
+The peace and prosperity which marked the progress of the "City of the
+Lion and the Lily," after Bianca Buonaventuri mounted the Grand Ducal
+throne, were not regarded complacently by the uneasy Cardinal. The very
+fact that she was the admirable cause thereof, embittered his Eminence's
+soul, and his spleen was mightily enlarged by the creatures who pandered
+to his vicious ill-nature. The fascination of the Goddess engendered
+detestation as love was turned once more to hate in the crucible of his
+passions.
+
+"She is nothing but a strumpet, and without a drop of royal blood," so
+he reasoned, and so he spoke; and he backed up his aphorism by conniving
+at the foul report in 1582, which accused "Bianca Buonaventuri"--as he
+always styled her--of causing poison to be administered to poor little
+Filippo--Giovanna's puny, sickly child! He even had the audacity to
+accuse Francesco of complicity, because he had ordered no elaborate
+court mourning, conveniently ignoring the fact that a gracious
+compliment was paid to Spanish custom and court etiquette, by the
+simplicity of the obsequies.
+
+Plotters of other men's wrongs were ever inconsistent! One would have
+thought that Ferdinando would have hailed the removal of the only
+legitimate heir, before himself, to the Grand Duchy, but the delirium of
+jealousy and the fury of animosity in the Cardinal's evil heart, found a
+sort of culmination two years later. Bianca's daughter, Pellegrina, the
+only offspring of Pietro Buonaventuri, gave birth to a child. She had
+married, shortly after the public nuptials of the Grand Duke and Grand
+Duchess, Count Ulisse Bentivoglio di Magiola of Bologna--a by no means
+happy marriage as it turned out. This child, a boy, their
+first-born--indeed poor, pretty Pellegrina's love-child--the Cardinal
+affirmed "Bianca Buonaventuri" had tried to pass off as her
+own--another subterfuge confirmative of the first, and that his brother
+was conversant with the intrigue!
+
+The Grand Duke met the gossip with impassive silence--the wisest thing
+he could have done--and the Grand Duchess laid herself out to make
+Cardinal Ferdinando utterly ashamed of himself and his foul aspersions.
+The integrity of her conduct, and Francesco's sapient conduct of the
+Government were the admiration of all Italy.
+
+So struck was the Pope with the peace and happiness of the Medicean
+rule, and the personal characteristics of "the good wife and beneficent
+consort," as he styled her, that he bestowed upon the Grand Duchess the
+rare distinction of the "Golden Rose"! At first his Holiness desired the
+Cardinal de' Medici to head the special mission as Legate, and talked
+seriously to his Eminence upon his relations with the Sovereigns of
+Tuscany. He pointed out quite clearly the line of conduct Ferdinando
+should pursue--the direct converse of the position he had taken up.
+
+The Cardinal began to reflect that the death of little Prince Filippo,
+and the fact that Francesco had not proclaimed Antonio his
+heir-apparent, left him at all events the undoubted heir-presumptive.
+Consequently, when the Florentine Mission, under Archbishop Giuseppe
+Donzelle of Sorrento, returned to Rome, and the Legate conveyed to him
+a cordial invitation from the Tuscan Sovereigns to visit Florence, he
+accepted it with the best grace he could command--keeping, at the same
+time, his true feelings and intentions to himself.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pageant and dirge trip up each other often enough in the course of human
+life! The lives especially of sovereigns, through the strong light ever
+beating upon their thrones, are always exposed to vicissitudes of
+fortune. The Papal Mission had scarcely passed out of recollection, and
+everything in Florence was happy and prosperous--sunshine is always
+brightest before eclipse--when the spectre of tragedy again cast its
+dark shadow over the path of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess.
+
+A right merry party was that which set off from the Palazzo Pitti to the
+Villa Poggio a Caiano one bright morning in October 1587. The "hunter's
+moon was up," for the harvest had been gathered in, and the new luscious
+grapes were in the vat. Pheasant awaited the coming of the sportsmen in
+the home-coppices, wild boar in the thickets of Monte Ginestra, and
+other game was ready for the hawk-on-wrist and the dog-in-leash along
+the smiling valley of the Ombrone.
+
+Hunting and sporting parties were now quite in the Grand Duchess' way.
+Unused to such exploits upon the canals and lagunes of Venice, she had,
+from the moment of her elevation, sympathetically entered into the joys
+of horsemanship and the pastimes of the countryside. Few could beat her
+in point-to-point--she feared no obstacle, nor dreaded accident, the
+charge of wild game terrified her not.
+
+"Magnificent," she wrote, on 15th November 1586, "was the sport.... I
+actually saw four very large boars fall dead at my feet." The Grand
+Duke, of course, as became "a perfect gentleman," was at one with Bianca
+in love for, and skill in, all exercises in the open air. His seat was
+firm, his aim was good, and he revelled in the chase.
+
+Still of Poggio a Caiano he had unpleasing memories, for there he met
+Giovanna of Austria, and had the first taste of her ill-humour as he
+rode by her side at her scornful entry into Florence, twelve years
+before. But Bianca had wrought a vast change in his disposition and
+environment. She had interwoven fancy and reality, and Francesco was now
+serenely happy. Often did he sing tender madrigals as they together
+sauntered in the woods and indulged in pastoral pursuits.
+
+"Sing! sing! ye birds I am wide awake
+Tho' silent 'mid your tender harmony;
+And yet I would fain join your sweet concert,
+Whilst upon the face of fair Bianca,
+'Mirror of Love'--I fix my yearning eyes."
+
+The Cardinal was one of this particular hunting party--indeed, the hunt
+had been arranged entirely in his honour, and he expressed himself as
+charmed with everything--and especially with the Grand Duchess. This was
+his first State visit to his brother's Court and his affability knew no
+bounds. Bianca, on her part, laid herself out to entertain her
+brother-in-law, and made herself especially attractive and gracious. The
+presence of the Archbishop of Florence added greatly to her satisfaction
+and Francesco's. Very wisely, young Antonio was sent to Pratolino with
+his governor and tutors, and in the merry company no personality could,
+in any way, recall unhappy incidents of the past. The days were passed
+in the exhilaration of sport, and the evening repasts were followed by
+animated conversation, ballets, music and recitations. All the brightest
+ornaments of the Court were present at the Grand Duchess' behest.
+
+Bianca, herself, in the highest spirits, dressed, sang, and danced,
+bewitchingly. The frolics of the Orte Oricellari were transferred to the
+delightful hunting-box, and everybody and everything was as gay as gay
+could be, and no one troubled about the morrow.
+
+Alas, when the merriment was at its height, a sudden stop was put to all
+the festivities, for, during the night of 8th October, the Grand Duke
+was taken ill with severe spasms and violent sickness. The Grand Duchess
+was summoned to his side, and full of alarm and devotion, she at once
+despatched a mounted messenger into Florence to command the attendance
+of the Court physicians--Messeri Giulio Agnolo da Barga and Ferdinando
+Cino da Roma.
+
+They assured her that their princely patient was merely suffering from
+an error in diet--the dish of mushrooms, of which he had partaken freely
+overnight, had not been well prepared--but they considered that all ill
+effects would disappear as suddenly as they had arisen. The report of
+Francesco's illness reached the Vatican, and the Pope addressed a kindly
+letter to the Grand Duchess, conveying a good-natured homily to the
+Grand Duke upon the evils of gluttony!
+
+Bianca cast aside her sparkling coryphean tinsel, and, putting on a
+quiet gown and natty little cap, appointed herself nurse-in-chief to her
+dear husband, and no one was better fitted for the post. Torquato Tasso,
+her Poet-Laureate, noted her tender, compassionate character and her
+sweet sympathy with human infirmities. In 1578 he had put forth the
+first of his _Cinquanta Madrigali_, with a pathetic dedication to the
+Grand Duchess.
+
+"Had your Highness," he wrote, "not experienced yourself both good and
+evil fortune, you could not so perfectly understand, as you do, the
+misfortunes of others." He goes on, in his _Rime_, to extol his
+patroness:
+
+"Lady Bianca, a kindly refuge
+Holds and cheers one in sad and weary pain."
+
+Matters assumed, however, a very different aspect on the morning of the
+tenth, for the Grand Duchess was seized with symptoms exactly similar to
+those of the Grand Duke, whose condition by no means warranted the
+confidence of the physicians. Alarm spread through the villa and the
+guests departed in the greatest anxiety. The Cardinal alone remained,
+and his lack of solicitude and general indifference gave the members of
+the suite occasion for remark and suspicion.
+
+He assumed the air of the master of the place, and gave orders as he
+deemed well. Into the household he introduced some servants of his own,
+and ordered out his Florentine bodyguard. Urgent messages passed to and
+fro between him and his brother Piero de' Medici, and communications
+were opened with Domina Cammilla, the Cardinal's stepmother in the
+convent of Saint Monica. These did not allay the universal distrust.
+
+Bianca's own physician failed to diagnose her indisposition, whilst the
+Court physicians scouted the idea--already being translated into
+words--that the sudden attacks of the Grand Ducal couple were due to
+_poison_. What else could it be? The symptoms pointed that way and no
+other!
+
+On the third day tertiary fever intervened, with incessant thirst and
+fits of delirium, and Francesco's condition caused the gravest anxiety.
+Bianca was inconsolable. Unable to wait upon him, and suffering exactly
+as was he, she penned, propped up with pillows, a piteous appeal to the
+Pope, in which she craved his Holiness's prayers and benedictions, and
+also his fatherly protection for Francesco and herself. She said: "I do
+not feel at all sure of the Cardinal." The pontiff replied
+sympathetically, and assured her that no wrong should be done her or the
+Grand Duke by anybody.
+
+Francesco showed no signs of improvement, but gradually got weaker. When
+too late for any remedial measures to have effect, the physicians, in
+private conference, agreed that the cause of his seizure was poison,
+but--looking from the clenched hand of the dying prince to the open palm
+of his successor--they, in sordid self-interest, held their tongues. Who
+had administered the fatal drug, and when, and where, had better not be
+published! If by a fraternal hand, then it was no concern of theirs!
+
+The Grand Duke expired in agony on the tenth day after his seizure.
+Bianca could not leave her couch to soothe his last moments. She was
+nearly as far gone as he, and her attendants waited upon her with the
+gloomiest forebodings. To her impassioned cries for her husband, they
+returned deceptive answers. None of her kith and kin were near to
+comfort her. Her only brother, Vettor, had been dismissed the Tuscan
+Court in the year of her coronation for unseemly and presumptuous
+behaviour, and his wife went back with him to Venice. There was no time
+and no one to correspond with her favourite cousin Andrea. Her
+tenderly-loved daughter, Pellegrina was at Bologna, nursing her own
+little Bianca, lately born, and could not travel so far as Florence.
+
+Little Antonio would have been an affectionate companion in his loving
+foster-mother's illness, but the child was at Pratolino with Maria and
+Eleanora, unhappy Giovanna's daughters. The former, just fifteen years
+old, had been Bianca's special care. She was a precocious child, and her
+stepmother imparted to her some of her own delightful inspirations--the
+two were inseparable. What a comfort she would have been in gentle
+ministrations to the suffering Grand Duchess!
+
+Perhaps, had pain-racked, dying Bianca imagined the splendid destiny of
+the attractive young Princess Maria, she might have gathered no little
+solace. Could she but have seen her own example and her precepts
+reincarnated in a Queen of France--for Maria became the consort of Henry
+II., and ruled him, his court and realm--she would have turned her face
+to the wall with greater equanimity.
+
+Just before his death the Grand Duke sent for Ferdinando, told him he
+had been poisoned by no one but himself, and charged him with the double
+murder, for he had constant news, of course, of Bianca's illness. He
+asked him in that solemn hour to honour both of them in burial, to
+protect the little boy Antonio and his two young daughters, Maria and
+Eleanora, and to treat kindly all who had been faithful and true to
+Bianca and himself. Then he gave him the password for the Tuscan
+fortresses, and asked for his confessor, and so he passed away. As soon
+as Francesco was dead, Ferdinando demanded to be admitted to the bedside
+of Bianca. Concealing from her the fatal news, he intimated that
+Francesco had consigned to him the conduct of affairs, and in the most
+heartless, inhuman fashion possible, bade her prepare for death!
+
+"See," he added, "I have brought your friend, Abbioso; you may as well
+make your confession to him as Francesco has done to Frate Confetti."
+
+Bianca, though only partially conscious, knew exactly what the Cardinal
+meant, and railed at him for his cruelty. In delirium she made
+passionate appeals to Francesco, and wildly denounced her treacherous
+brother-in-law. Her cries resounded through the villa, but they stirred
+no feeling of regret or compunction in Ferdinando's breast. He gloated,
+fiend-like, over his victim's sufferings. It was not by chance he
+procured the potent poison he had used. The empiric-medico at Salerno
+had been well paid to furnish a potion that should, by its slow but
+deadly action, prolong the tortures of the sufferers! A less vindictive
+murderer would have secured his victim's quick release, but, during ten
+terrible days of sickness, delirium and agony, he witnessed the
+inevitable progress of his vengeance! If Cosimo, his father, had called
+his young son Garzia "Cain," what would not he have called the man, the
+bloodthirsty Ferdinando?
+
+Bianca's illness followed precisely the course of the Grand Duke's. The
+tearful faces of her attendants, and the noise of preparations for his
+burial, conveyed to her in calmer moments the terrible truth, and she
+had no longer any wish to live--parted from Francesco. Bianca was
+already dead. She called the bishop and made a full confession of her
+whole life's story, hiding nothing, palliating nothing. Out of a full
+heart she spoke--that heart which had been the source of all her love
+and her happiness, her misery and her sin.
+
+Antonio she commended to Bishop Abbioso's care, and begged him send the
+news of her death and Francesco's to Cavaliere Bartolommeo Cappello at
+Venice. After absolution and last communion, Bianca Cappello, "Daughter
+of Venice," Grand Duchess of Tuscany, breathed her last in peace--the
+delirium having abated--on the evening of 30th October, just two days
+after her husband.
+
+A _post-mortem_ examination, or at least the form of one, upon the Grand
+Duke revealed, it was said, advanced disease of the liver, the
+consequences of his unwisdom in the use of cordials and elixirs! With
+the connivance of the Court physicians, Ferdinando put out a
+proclamation that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess--he was compelled to
+use the title then in speaking of Bianca--had died from "attacks of
+malarial fever, induced by the unhealthy atmosphere of Poggio a Caiano."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Francesco's obsequies were attended by all the stately ceremonies usual
+in the Medici family. Conveyed into Florence by the _Misericordia_ on
+the evening of his death, his body was exposed for three days in state
+in the Palazzo Pitti, and then carried in solemn procession to the
+church of San Lorenzo for burial.
+
+If merely to save appearances, or to conceal his real intention, the new
+Grand Duke ordered the body of the Grand Duchess to be placed beside
+that of her husband in the Cappella Medici of the church. For six brief
+hours it was suffered to remain, and then, at midnight, agents of
+Ferdinando, well paid for their profanity, deported all that was mortal
+of the brilliant "woman whom he hated" to an unknown grave in the
+paupers' burial plot beyond the city boundary! "For," said he, "we will
+have none of her among our dead!"
+
+Such was the end of the beautiful and accomplished Bianca
+Cappello--"Bianca, so richly endowed," as wrote one of her panegyrists,
+"by nature, and so refined by discipline, able to sympathise with and
+help all who approached her--her fame for good will last for ever!" The
+wiles of the serpent and his cruel coils had crushed the "Daughter of
+Venice": it was the triumph of an unworthy man over a lovable woman. She
+was not the only victim Ferdinando's poison overpowered--Giovanni de'
+Pucci, whom the Pope was about to advance to the Cardinalate, an
+inoffensive ecclesiastic, incurred Cardinal Ferdinando's displeasure by
+his sympathy with the Grand Duchess. He died mysteriously after drinking
+a glass of wine which Ferdinando had poured out for him![A]
+
+[Footnote A: In 1857, when the Medici graves at San Lorenzo were opened,
+the bodies of the Grand Duke Francesco and the Grand Duchess Giovanna
+were easily identified. The bodies also of Maria, the unhappy victim of
+her father, Cosimo, with the fatal wound; of Eleanora de Garzia de
+Toledo, Piero's murdered wife; and of Isabella, Duchess of Bracciano,
+were also recognised. All five were in wooden chests, but robbed of the
+costly grave-clothes and jewels. _There was no trace of the body of the
+Grand Duchess Bianca!_]
+
+Bianca had not been many days buried when ominous reports began to be
+rife all over Florence and along the countryside. People asked each
+other why the body of the Grand Duchess had been snatched. "Was it,"
+they said, "to hide the real culprit and to stifle awkward questions?"
+The tongues of the night-birds, who had thrown that precious body aside
+contemptuously, and had not been permitted to mark the grave in any way,
+were loosened, they gave the name of their employer--Ferdinando's
+major-domo.
+
+That was quite enough to fix preferentially the guilt upon the guilty
+party, but when the medical advisers of the new Grand Duke admitted
+reluctantly that neither Francesco nor Bianca had died from malarial
+causes, the chitter-chatter of the villa and the palace became
+unmuzzled, and first one and then another domestic--more or less
+personal--contributed his piece of private knowledge of the facts of the
+double tragedy.
+
+Putting these all together piecemeal, the story reads somewhat as
+follows: Cardinal Ferdinando had for a very long time determined that it
+was absolutely essential to his succession to the Grand Duchy that Don
+Francesco should not be permitted to have a child--a boy, by his second
+wife, Bianca.
+
+Francesco's health was indifferent and he seemed likely not to live
+long, but, be that as it might, the Cardinal joined the hunting-party at
+Poggia a Caiano fully intent upon making an attempt upon the lives of
+both Francesco and Bianca. Among his suite was a valet, one Silvio, a
+man of fiendish ingenuity, who had made himself invaluable to his master
+in many an intrigue. To him Ferdinando committed the task of mixing the
+poison, which he procured from Salerno, in the food or beverage of the
+Grand Ducal couple.
+
+Silvio made several attempts to accomplish his commission, but the Grand
+Duke and Grand Duchess did not touch the dishes--specially treated as
+they passed from the kitchen to the hall--whilst in their cooling wine
+cups, so much beloved of Francesco, the poison failed of its effect. To
+be sure, two days before the Grand Duke's actual seizure, he rejected a
+game-pasty which had a peculiar taste, and the Grand Duchess had, as she
+thought, detected her brother-in-law playing with the wine glasses,
+which she at once caused to be replaced by others.
+
+Upon the evening when a ragout of mushrooms was served at the
+supper-table, it was observed that the Cardinal quite emphatically
+declined to partake of the dish, but that he pressed Francesco and
+Bianca to eat largely of it! Bianca ate sparingly, and advised her
+husband to follow her example; her intuition perceived danger in the
+delicacy, alas, it was in vain!
+
+This was all, perhaps, that came out concerning the tragedy, but the
+Cardinal met the story with another. He caused it to be bruited about
+that Bianca had tried to circumvent _his_ death! For this purpose she
+had herself made a cake, which she urged him to eat, but which Francesco
+insisted upon tasting, whereupon she consumed what he had left. The
+Cardinal further put into the Grand Duchess's mouth the plausible
+lament; "We will die together if Ferdinando escapes!"
+
+Nobody believed this version, which merely confirmed the real truth, for
+neither Francesco or Bianca had ever expressed a wish for Ferdinando's
+death.
+
+Within three hours of the death of Francesco, Ferdinando rode swiftly
+into Florence, accompanied by a suite of his own creatures--not a single
+officer of the Grand Ducal house accompanied him. His escort was fully
+armed and so was Ferdinando. Stopped at the gate by the guard, he gave,
+to the utter surprise of the subaltern, the Grand Ducal password, and
+was accorded the Sovereign's salute. Thence he passed at a gallop to the
+Palazzo Pitti, where he placed personally his seal upon the great doors,
+and then put up at the Palazzo Medici.
+
+A messenger was despatched before dawn to the Dean of the Duomo to order
+the big bell to sound. This was the first intimation to Florence that
+the Grand Duke Francesco was dead. The Lords of the Council hastened
+from their beds to the Palazzo Vecchio, where Ferdinando joined them,
+and, there and then, required them to pay him their allegiance.
+
+Thus Ferdinando de' Medici became third Grand Duke of Tuscany. His
+character as a ruler may not be discussed here at length, but of him it
+has been succinctly said: "He had as much talent for government as is
+compatible with the absence of all virtue, and as much pride as can
+exist without true nobility of mind."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Pietro Buonaventuri so complacently resigned his bewitching young
+wife to be the plaything of Don Francesco de' Medici, he also yielded up
+the guardianship of his little daughter, Pellegrina, and she lived with
+her mother in the private mansion Bianca had received from the Prince
+near the Pitti Palace.
+
+At the time of the assassination of Pietro the child was eight years
+old--a lovely girl, resembling, in person and manners, her attractive
+mother. The Prince took her under his special care, in fact adopted her,
+and treated her as if she was his own dear daughter. Naturally, the
+Duchess Giovanna resented this arrangement, and strictly forbade her own
+daughter, Eleanora--a year Pellegrina's junior--to have anything to do
+with the base-born child of her hated rival.
+
+Nevertheless, the sparkling, merry little girl became the pet of the
+Court--where she was always greeted as "_La Bella Bianchina_." and no
+one dreamed of throwing her father's evil career in her face. At the
+public marriage of the Grand Duke and the widowed Bianca Buonaventuri,
+Pellegrina was, of course, a prominent figure. She had grown tall and
+had inherited the charming traits of her sweet mother. She was fourteen
+years old, and eligible as the bride of any acceptable suitor. Her dowry
+was considerable; equal indeed to that of the Princess Eleanora; and the
+Grand Duke was no less solicitous than the Grand Duchess about the
+choice of a husband.
+
+At first it was hoped that a young Florentine might be the successful
+lover, and indeed such an one appeared to have been secured, when young
+Pietro Strozzo--the son of Messer Camillo di Matteo negli Strozzi--one
+of Pellegrina's sponsors at her baptism--was judged worthy of the
+matrimonial prize. They were accordingly betrothed, but the inconstancy
+of Love was once more proved, for the young fellow was a wayward youth,
+and, although only seventeen, had fixed his affections elsewhere!
+
+The match was broken off, but within a year of Pietro's renunciation
+another aspirant for Pellegrina's hand and dowry appeared in the person
+of a distinguished young foreigner--Conte Ulisse Bentivoglio de' Magioli
+da Bologna. He was reputed to be the natural son of Signore Alessandro
+d'Ercole Bentivoglio, and had been adopted by his maternal uncle, Conte
+Giorgio de' Magioli. His mother's name was Isotta--a beautiful girl at
+the Court of the Lords of Bologna, who had romantic relations with both
+Signore Alessandro and Conte Giorgio. Which of the two was Conte
+Ulisse's father mattered far less, from a matrimonial point of view,
+than the fact that the prospective bridegroom was unusually wealthy and
+well-placed.
+
+Conte Ulisse, twenty years of age, went to Florence along with the
+Bologna deputation to greet Grand Duke Francesco upon his marriage with
+Bianca Buonaventuri. Then it was that he first saw Pellegrina, and was
+accepted as her betrothed husband. He remained in Florence a
+considerable time, and took a leading part in the splendid festivities
+and the notable _giostre_, wherein he was hailed as a champion in the
+"Lists."
+
+The marriage was celebrated three months after the Grand Ducal wedding,
+and, amid the tears of her mother, Pellegrina departed with her husband
+for Bologna. Everything went well for a time with the youthful Count and
+Countess. Grand Duchess Bianca paid them several visits, and Countess
+Pellegrina spent much time in Florence. For example, she took part in
+the marriage ceremonies of Virginia de' Medici, unhappy Signora
+Cammilla's child, in 1586, with Don Cesare d'Este. The year after her
+coronation the Grand Duchess went in state to Bologna, to assist at the
+accouchement of her daughter. A little son made his appearance, and as
+though to fix the real parentage of the Count, he was baptised Giorgio.
+
+Two more sons came to seal the happiness of the young couple--Alessandro
+and Francesco--and two daughters--Bianca and Vittoria--and then the
+happy relations between the Count and Countess underwent a change, and
+her husband's love ceased to peep into Pellegrina's heart. The Count was
+much occupied with military matters, like most young nobles of his age;
+he also undertook diplomatic duties, and was sent, in 1585, as the
+special ambassador of Bologna, to congratulate Pope Sixtus V. upon his
+elevation to the Pontifical throne.
+
+At the Roman Court he met Don Piero de' Medici--the Florentine
+envoy--and, through him, got into evil company. He returned to Bologna
+unsettled in his feelings, and looking for excitement and illicit
+intercourse. His passion for Pellegrina was passing away, and he sought
+not her couch but the company of a lovely girl of Bologna who had
+fascinated him.
+
+By degrees his love for his sweet wife grew cold, and at length he had
+the effrontery to establish his _innamorata_ in his own mansion.
+Pellegrina protested in vain, but the more she admonished her husband
+the more flagrant became the _liaison_. Cast off and even spurned in her
+own house, the poor young Countess longed for her dear, dead mother's
+presence. She had now no one to counsel and comfort her. Left pretty
+much to herself, she yearned for companionship and love. She was only
+twenty-four, and still as attractive as could be.
+
+What she sought came at last, when young Antonio Riari took up his
+residence at Bologna as a student-in-law. He was the great-grandnephew
+of the infamous creature of reprobate Pope Sixtus IV.--Count Girolamo
+de' Riari--of the Pazzi Conspiracy a hundred years before. Good-looking,
+gay, amorous, and blessed with robust health and ample means, the young
+man was the lover of every pretty girl.
+
+Attracted mutually to one another, the Countess Pellegrina yielded
+herself to her admirer's embraces--although Antonio was a mere lad of
+seventeen. The intimacy grew until news of it reached Count Ulisse's
+ears in the boudoir of his sweetheart! The gossip doubtless was
+garnished to the taste of the retailers and of the receiver.
+
+The Count turned upon his wife--as he might have been expected to do,
+seeing that he had habitually been unfaithful, and taxed her with
+unfaithfulness! Innocently enough, Pellegrina told him exactly how
+matters stood, craved his forgiveness, and begged for the restitution of
+marital rights. Conscious of his own turpitude and irregularity of life,
+he met her protestations with scorn, and, seeing in the episode an
+opportunity of legalising his illicit lusts, he denounced her publicly
+and set spies to report her conduct.
+
+These mercenaries, knowing the mind of their master, did not hesitate to
+translate his words into deeds; and very soon they were able to realise
+their dastardly purpose. Although the Countess had warned young Riario
+of the danger which menaced them both, and was, for a time, more
+circumspect in her intercourse with her lover, the fascination of mutual
+passion overbore the dictates of prudence.
+
+Like a "bolt from the blue" fell the blow--or blows--which, if not
+delivered by Count Ulisse in person, were his _de jure_. Two paid
+assassins chanced upon the loving couple one day, clasped in each
+other's arms, in a summer-house in a remote part of the Bentivoglio
+gardens!
+
+Swift and certain was the aim! Pellegrina and Antonio were discovered,
+late at night, each stabbed through the back, and strangled with
+cords--dead--with eyes of horror gazing wildly at the pale moon! No
+shrift had they, but bitter tears were shed by tender sympathisers, and
+accusing fingers were pointed at the Count.
+
+What cared he! He merely shrugged his shoulders and sardonically hinted
+that as he had brought his wife from Florence--from Florence, too, had
+he learned how to take personal vengeance upon a faithless spouse and
+her accomplice! The dark deed was done on 21st September 1589, and Count
+Ulisse lived on with his evil conscience and his new wife till 1618,
+when he, too, fell in Bologna by an assassin's blade--just retribution
+for the foul murder of lovely Pellegrina Buonaventuri.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+ELEANORA DEGLI ALBIZZI
+
+SFORZA ALMENI
+
+CAMMILLA DE' MARTELLI
+
+
+_Pathetic Victims of Fateful Passion_
+
+
+"_Di fare il piacere di Cosimo_"--To serve for Cosimo's pleasure! In
+such words, an immoral father condemned his lovely daughter to feed the
+unholy lust of the "Tyrant of Florence"--Moloch was never better served.
+
+Eleanora and Cammilla, cousins after the flesh, were each dedicated as a
+_cosa di Cosimo_--the property of Cosimo. If he did not murder their
+bodies, he slew their souls--that was the manner of the man, the fashion
+of his time.
+
+Romantic attachments, full of thrilling pathos, ran then like golden
+threads through the vulgar woof and web of woe and death. Someone has
+said that "Love and murder are next of kin"; true, indeed, was this what
+time Eleanora and Cammilla were fresh young girls in Florence. They were
+each made for love, and love they had; but that love was the embrace of
+a living death, selfish, cruel, and damning. Better, perhaps, had they
+died right out by sword or poison than suffer, as they did, the
+extremity of pathos--the shame of illicit love!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The tragedy of Eleanora degli Albizzi was, perhaps, the most callous and
+the most pathetic of all those lurid domestic vicissitudes which traced
+their source to the "Tyrant of Florence," Cosimo I., Grand Duke of
+Tuscany.
+
+She was not the only Eleanora whose name as, alas, we know, spelled
+misfortune. Eleanora de Toledo of the broken heart, and Eleanora de
+Garzia de Toledo of the bleeding heart, awaited in Paradise Eleanora
+degli Albizzi of the heart of desertion.
+
+"_Albizzi o Medici_?" had once and again divided the power of Florence,
+but in the course of high play in the game of politics the latter held
+the better hands, drew more trumps, and gained rubber after rubber. But
+what a splendid record the Albizzi had! When the Medici were only
+tentatively placing their feet upon the ladder of fame, Orlando,
+Filippo, Piero, Luca, and Maso--to name a few only of those leaders of
+men and women--had scored the name Albizzi as _Anziani, Priori,
+Gonfalonieri_, and _Capitani di Parte Guelfa_.
+
+In fact that aristocratic family dominated Florence and the Florentines
+until Salvestro, Giovanni, and Cosimo, of the democratic Medici,
+disputed place and power, and built up their fortunes upon the ruins of
+their rivals' faults and favours.
+
+Eleanora was the daughter of Messer Luigi di Messer Maso degli Albizzi.
+This Messer Maso, a hundred years before, had not seen eye to eye with
+his masterful brother--the autocratic Rinaldo, but, noting the trend of
+political affairs, had, truth to tell, turned traitor to the traditions
+of his family, and had thrown in his lot with the rising house of
+Medici.
+
+Messer Luigi was not a rich man, but in fairly comfortable
+circumstances, and slowly retrieving the shattered fortunes of his
+ancestors. His mansion was in the fashionable Borgo degli Albizzi, and
+he owned other town property and some farms in the _contado_. He held,
+too, several public offices, and was an aspirant to a Podestaship, as a
+stepping-stone to that most coveted of all State appointments, the rank
+of ambassador.
+
+In some way or another he gained the favourable notice of Duke Cosimo,
+and seems to have rendered him some acceptable service: at all events,
+he found himself at home in the entourage of the Sovereign. By his
+second wife, Madonna Nannina, daughter of Messer Niccolo de' Soderini--a
+lineal descendant of the self-seeking and notorious adviser of Don Piero
+de' Medici--he had two daughters, Constanza and Eleanora, named after
+her godmother, the Duchess Eleanora.
+
+Constanza was married to Antonio de' Ridolfi, the same year that the
+poor broken-hearted Duchess sobbed herself to death at Pisa after the
+terrible tragedies of 1557 and 1562, and Messer Luigi was left with
+Eleanora, the pride of her father's heart, the joy of his home. As
+beautiful as any girl in Florence, she was just sixteen, highly
+accomplished, full of spirits, and endowed with some of that pride and
+haughty bearing which had distinguished her forbears. She had, in short,
+all the makings of a successful woman of the world.
+
+Admitted to intimacy and companionship with the children of the Duke, he
+had noted the graceful development of the bright young girl's physical
+and mental charms; and he had given evidence of his interest in her by
+many pleasant courtesies, both to herself and to her parents.
+
+Messer Luigi soon observed the partiality of his Sovereign for his
+fascinating young daughter, and being a man anxious, after the manner of
+a true Florentine, even in those degenerate days, to better himself and
+his family, he saw that something more than mere romance could be made
+out of the situation. The commercial assets of his daughter's person
+loomed large in his estimation, for if the Duke took a serious fancy to
+Eleanora, it was conceivable that she might one day become his consort!
+
+When the girl told her father of the Duke's kindness to her, and of his
+embraces and tender words, he counselled her not to repel her admirer,
+for what he meant was all for her good and for the distinction of her
+family. The _liaison_ went on unrebuked, encouraged by Cosimo's promises
+and Luigi's hopes. Nannina's tears of apprehension were brushed aside by
+Eleanora's kisses.
+
+Very tactfully Messer Luigi let the Duke know that his attentions were
+acceptable, and that he and his good wife were vastly honoured by his
+condescension to their daughter. In view of favours to come, he plainly
+intimated that Eleanora was quite at his disposal, or, as he put it,
+quite courtier-like, _di fare il piacere di Cosimo_!
+
+The Duke needed no encouragement as the universal lover and ravisher of
+the most comely maidens in Florence. He was only too pleased to carry
+off this charming young _druda_ to his villa at Castello, and Eleanora
+was nothing loth to go--the prospect of a throne has always been an
+irresistible attraction to women in all ages!
+
+Cosimo's sons were well aware, as indeed, was the whole Court and the
+city too, of their father's love affairs. The Duke and the Prince-Regent
+Francesco were mutually suspicious, and fawning, faithless courtiers
+fanned the flame of jealousy and mistrust between them. The father threw
+Bianca Cappello into his son's face, and he, in exchange, flung back
+Eleanora degli Albizzi! At length, Cosimo desisted from the acrimonious
+warfare, content to let things be as they might be at the Pitti Palace
+and Pratolino, whilst he was left in seclusion with his _innamorata_ at
+Castello. Cardinal Ferdinando, a boy of fifteen, lived in Rome, and
+Don Piero, only ten, was indifferent to such matters, but Duchess
+Isabella of Bracciano was intensely interested, an amiable go-between
+her father and Don Francesco. Cosimo did nothing with respect to
+removing the reproach attached to his intrigue with Eleanora degli
+Albizzi, and, consequently, when in December 1566, a little girl was
+born to him, the whole of Florence was conventionally shocked. Duchess
+Giovanna, Don Francesco's sanctimonious Austrian wife, offered a
+vigorous protest, and declined to have anything to do with the
+unfortunate young mother and her dissolute old lover. Her feeling ran so
+strongly, both with respect to the _liaison_ of Cosimo and to her
+husband's intrigue with the "beautiful Venetian," that she made an
+urgent appeal to her brother, the Emperor Maximilian to intervene.
+
+It was said that the young Duchess sent a copy of her letter to Duke
+Cosimo, who was furious at her conduct. He asked her by what right she
+had dared to stir up ill-will at the Imperial court, and advised her to
+mind her own business in the future. To the Emperor Cosimo, addressed a
+dignified reply to the Imperial censure: "I do not seek for quarrels,"
+he said, "but I shall not avoid them if they are put in my way by
+members of my own family."
+
+What Messer Luigi and Madonna Nannina degli Albizzi thought and said, no
+one has related. They could not say much by way of complaint, for they
+had foreseen, from the beginning of the Duke's intimacy with Eleanora,
+that an "accident," as they euphemistically called it, was to be
+expected. They had, in fact, sold their child to her seducer, and must
+be content with their bargain!
+
+Cosimo, for his part, was delighted with his dear little daughter, come
+to cheer the autumn of his life. He loaded Eleanora with presents,
+watched by her bedside assiduously, and told her joyfully that he meant
+to marry her and so legitimatise their little child. Born at Messer
+Luigi's, the baby girl was anxiously watched lest emissaries from the
+Pitti Palace should try to get hold of her.
+
+The Duke made indeed no secret of his pleasure, and moreover consulted
+with his most trusted personal attendant, Sforza Almeni, how the
+legitimatisation could be best effected, so as to secure for the little
+lady a goodly share in the Ducal patrimony, and also a pension in
+perpetuity for the mother, Eleanora.
+
+This Sforza Almeni, when quite a youth, had been attached to the
+household of Duke Alessandro. He was the son of Messer Vincenzio Almeni,
+a gentleman of Perugia, and, when the Duke was assassinated by Lorenzino
+de' Medici, he performed the first charitable offices of the dead upon
+the bleeding body. Moreover, young Almeni's father was a faithful friend
+and confidant of Madonna Maria de' Salviati, the mother of Cosimo. In
+consequence of the devotion of both father and son, Sforza was taken
+into the household of the new Duke and eventually became his private
+secretary.
+
+With Duchess Eleanora, Sforza became a great favourite, for he was most
+sympathetic and helpful in her schemes for the advancement and
+protection of her Spanish proteges. Both Cosimo and his consort bestowed
+many benefactions upon their faithful servitor. Among them was a
+monopoly in the supply of fish from Perugia to Florence, a privilege
+which put, upon the average, a good six hundred gold florins per annum
+into Messer Sforza's pocket!
+
+The Duke also conferred upon his fortunate and trusty counsellor
+valuable property in the parish of San Piero a Quintole, a farm and
+buildings at Fiesole, and lastly, in 1565, a very fertile estate at
+Peccioli, originally the property of Piero de' Salviati.
+
+Had Messer Sforza Almeni only been content with these opulent
+benefactions, all might have gone well with him; but, alas, human
+ambition and the interests of self lead good men often enough astray,
+and the Duke's private secretary began to look for favours at the hands
+of the heir to the Ducal throne, the Prince-Regent Francesco. In short,
+he attempted to serve two masters.
+
+With a view to obtain the good graces of Don Francesco, Almeni began a
+system of betraying confidences of a strictly private and familiar
+character. Blessed with the spirit of flattery, like all consummate
+courtiers, he conceived it to be a stroke of excellent personal policy
+to purvey for his Highness' appreciation or the reverse, his father's
+intimate concerns.
+
+He repeated the conversation the old Duke and he had held about Eleanora
+degli Albizzi and her child, and advised the Prince, for his own
+advantage, to inform his father that any steps he might take to advance
+his _innamorata_ or their bastard, would be resented by him as Regent of
+the Duchy. Apparently Almeni did not regard the young mother with
+lenient eyes, but viewed her ascendency over the infatuated Duke with
+disfavour, as offering rivalry to his own position.
+
+Francesco, smarting under his father's strictures in respect to his
+amours with Bianca Buonaventuri, and resenting his constant interference
+in his private affairs no less than in his public duties, was only too
+ready to give ear to any scandal which he might turn to good account. At
+first he kept his own counsel, but one day, being unusually exasperated
+with words of reproach uttered by his father, Francesco proclaimed his
+displeasure at, and opposition to, the views of the Duke with respect to
+Eleanora degli Albizzi.
+
+Cosimo knew at once how his secret had been exposed, and by whom. He
+managed to control his passion, but indignantly retorted that there was
+a son's duty to a father which should have taught Francesco to
+disbelieve unfavourable rumours. He returned at once to Castello.
+
+Sforza Almeni, of course, entirely ignorant that Prince Francesco had
+unwittingly betrayed him, presented himself as usual before the Duke to
+learn his pleasure. Cosimo addressed him sternly: "Almeni, you have
+betrayed my confidence. You, who of all men I trusted implicitly! Go,
+get out of my sight. Go at once anywhere you will--only go--never let me
+see your face again!"
+
+Almeni, dumfounded, set off at once for Florence. He knew too well
+Cosimo's temper to bandy words, and sought interviews with Prince
+Francesco and the Duchess Isabella. With their knowledge he remained in
+the city, perhaps faintly hoping the Duke might relent and send for him
+back. A few days later Cosimo went into Florence, and passing through an
+ante-chamber at the Pitti Palace, he was astounded to see Almeni calmly
+standing in the recess of a window.
+
+No one else was in the room, and, as Almeni saluted his master and
+proceeded to make an appeal for mercy, Cosimo became infuriated at his
+disobedience and impertinence, and, reaching up to a hunting-trophy on
+the wall, he seized a stout boar-spear, and cried out in a loud
+voice--"Traitor, base traitor, thou art not fit to live, thou hast
+slandered thy master and fouled thy nest! Die!"
+
+With a sudden thrust he struck the affrighted Almeni to the heart. It
+was a fatal wound, for, with a shriek of agony, the unhappy man fell at
+his master's feet, the shaft of the weapon still fast in his wound. The
+day was Wednesday, 22nd May 1566, the Eve of the Annunciation. The
+corpse lay there for several hours, and no questions were asked as to
+how and by whom Almeni had been done to death. At nightfall the
+_Misericordia_ brethren wound him to his burial in the secret vaults of
+the dismantled church of San Piero Scheraggio.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In less than a month after the murder of Sforza Almeni, Cosimo's
+dearly-loved little daughter died in sudden convulsions, due, it was
+reported, to the administration of poison. Eleanora was inconsolable,
+and the Duke did all he could to comfort her. He organised fetes and
+hunting-parties for her, and both at Castello and, even in Florence, he
+drove with her quite openly, treating her as his lawful wife.
+
+Early in the following year Eleanora was once more _enceinte_ and, on
+13th May, she became the mother of another child, a boy, whom Cosimo
+declared was a true likeness of his famous father, Giovanni "delle Bande
+Nere," and consequently that name was given him. The Duke's happiness
+knew no bounds, but the arrival of this second child, born out of
+wedlock and in the face of the hot displeasure of Duke Francesco and
+Duchess Giovanna, was the disenchantment of Cosimo's love-dream. The
+_liaison_ could not continue, and, truth to tell, Cosimo himself was
+the cause of its cessation. The lustful old man had seen another lovely
+girl in Florence, and Eleanora's star became dimmed in the new
+effulgence!
+
+Eleanora's recovery and convalescence were not this time marked by the
+devotion of her lover, he never so much as went near her, although she
+was at Castello all the time and Giovanni was born there. The
+disillusionment of them both was as immediate as it was dramatic. It was
+reported that the Pope had written a remonstrance to Cosimo, and hinted
+that the creation of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which the Duke
+earnestly coveted, was entirely out of the question until he had put
+away his mistress, and had renounced the errors of his way.
+
+It may have been court gossip, but one reason for Duke Cosimo's drastic
+treatment of his _innamorata_, was the intimacy which had sprung up
+between Eleanora and his own precocious and vivacious son, Piero. If the
+father had fouled his couch, he could not allow his own son access
+thereto as well.
+
+Then it was that Duke Cosimo missed the intelligent services of
+faithful, faithless Sforza Almeni--he would have done the dirty work of
+extricating his master from his false position as well, or better, than
+any one else. Eleanora and he had from the first been rivals for the
+confidences of the Duke, and hated each other heartily. She had good
+grounds doubtless for her contempt and distrust, by reason of the
+heartless and mean insinuations affecting her manner of life, which the
+trusty private secretary poured into the perhaps too ready ears of his
+master.
+
+The solution, however, of Cosimo's dilemma came quite suddenly from a
+perfectly unexpected quarter--from the Pitti Palace. Francesco and
+Giovanna had never ceased trying to detach the old debauchee from his
+lascivious entanglements. His conduct was fatal to the reputation and
+the authority of his successor.
+
+On 17th July a party of young men of good family riding out of one of
+the gates of the city, encountered another like company. One of the
+former, Carlo de' Panciatichi, accidentally cannoned against Jacopo
+d'Antonio, and the latter dismounted and demanded satisfaction for the
+presumed insult. A duel was promptly arranged, in which young
+Panciatichi dealt his opponent a fatal blow with his dagger. D'Antonio
+fell and was carried to the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, where he died
+three days after.
+
+By Duke Cosimo's recent enactment, such an occurrence was counted as a
+criminal offence, which required purgation by the payment of a heavy
+fine, failure to pay being punished by sentence of death. The _Otto di
+Guardia e Balia_ met and deliberated the matter, and imposed a fine of
+four thousand gold lire. This sum Messer Bartolommeo de' Panciatichi,
+Carlo's father, was unable to pay, and, in consequence, the lad was
+required to surrender himself for incarceration in the dungeons of the
+Bargello.
+
+Carlo de' Panciatichi failed to report himself, and his sentence bore
+the added punishment for contempt of court. The unhappy father appealed
+for mercy, and, because the law of the Ducal Court was superior to that
+of the State, threw himself upon the protection of Duke Francesco.
+
+It was woman's wit which now untied the knot twisted about the young
+man's throat. The Duchess Giovanna has, by some, been credited with the
+origination of the tactful expedient, but some say Bianca Buonaventuri
+was its inspiratrix. Anyhow, the solution came in a form agreeable to
+all parties concerned, namely, the full pardon of the criminal--on
+condition of his immediate marriage with Eleanora degli Albizzi!
+
+Carlo de' Panciatichi was thus made the scapegoat for Duke Cosimo's
+intrigue. The sentence of the _Otto_ was quashed by the payment by the
+Duke of the heavy fine imposed in the first case; and in response to
+Duke Francesco's request, the charge of contempt was withdrawn. Neither
+Carlo nor Eleanora were consulted in the matter, but she was laden with
+costly presents by Duke Cosimo, and ten thousand gold florins found
+their way into Carlo's empty pockets!
+
+This timely arrangement was made on 20th July, and Carlo and Eleanora
+became man and wife the following month. Duke Cosimo on the same day
+caused little Giovanni to be legitimatised, and he was entered in the
+Register of Baptisms as "Giovanni de' Medici, undoubted son of Cosimo I.
+Duke of Florence and Siena." An ample provision was made for the child's
+maintenance by the Duke, and Carlo de' Panciatichi agreed to his being
+an inmate in his house along with his mother.
+
+The marriage was celebrated privately in the presence of the two Dukes,
+in the chapel of the Pitti Palace, and the young couple at once took up
+their residence at the Panciatichi Palace in the Via Larga. Upon Carlo
+was conferred the order of "Knight of San Stefano," and Messer
+Bartolommeo, his father, was enrolled as a senator for life.
+
+It would appear that Eleanora abandoned herself to her new life with
+exemplary fortitude and resignation. She certainly had exchanged "new
+lamps for old," and she made the best of an honourable marriage, in
+spite of the violent and arrogant manner of her husband, whose fame as a
+violent _braggadocio_ was a safeguard against the advances of young
+Piero de' Medici. Three years after the marriage a child was born, to
+whom the name of Cosimo was given, a laconic compliment to the old
+libertine! A second son appeared in 1571, Bartolommeo, but he died
+within a twelvemonth of his birth, and then, in 1577, came a third child
+to the Panciatichi mansion, another Bartolommeo, so Eleanora decreed.
+This boy, however, brought with him ineffaceable trouble, for Cavaliere
+Carlo refused to acknowledge him, and angrily pointed to Don Piero de'
+Medici as his putative father!
+
+Piero made light of this charge--he was well used to that sort of thing,
+but, with rare effrontery, he held the infant at the font, whilst
+Panciatichi absented himself, and Eleanora made a tacit avowal of his
+parentage. The relations between Carlo and his wife had quite naturally
+never been of the best, and as gradually fears of death, upon the
+scaffold faded, or by a retributive d'Antonio hand, and he found himself
+the untrammelled master of his actions, he began to resent the
+callousness of the arrangement with Duke Cosimo, after 1570, Grand Duke
+of Tuscany.
+
+Eleanora's intrigue with Don Piero clenched the matter of her
+cohabitation with her husband. Carlo refused her both bed and board,
+and, in the spring of 1578, he forced her into the Franciscan convent of
+San Onofrio da Foligno--a favourite place of sanctuary for dishonoured
+gentlewomen!
+
+Poor, sinful, sinned-against Eleanora, the pathetic example of a young
+and beautiful life wasted and corrupted by the ill-conditioned lusts of
+a profligate lover and his libertine son! With her freedom of action
+absolutely curtailed, and her complete isolation from her family, the
+gay and attractive mistress of Castello and of the Medici Palace at
+Pisa, with countless admirers and many lovers, was indeed an object of
+sympathetic commiseration. To be sure, the Cavaliere made ample
+provision for his wife's maintenance, appointed a small suite of
+attendants, and permitted her to carry with her many cherished bits of
+furniture and _bric-a-brac_. He likewise committed to her charge both
+her children, and offered no objection to occasional visits to his
+mother of Don Giovanni de' Medici, now a growing boy of eleven.
+
+The Grand Duke Francesco cordially approved this arrangement. With
+respect to certain jewels and personal effects which Eleanora retained,
+the Grand Duke made an order that, as they belonged to _Guardaroba_ of
+the Sovereign, they should be deposited, during the period of her
+residence in the convent, in the State Treasury.
+
+Then a thick veil was drawn over the life of Eleanora di Cavaliere Carlo
+de' Panciatichi, and the gates of the convent were closed upon her,
+never to be opened for her egress! Her beauty and her talents, and the
+gaiety of her manner were matured, cultivated and restrained in harmony
+with her melancholy surroundings. Youth gave way to middle age, and
+middle age to the crepuscule of life, and the seasons came, and the
+seasons went, and one life in that sanctuary seemed fated to go on for
+ever. Forgotten and unvisited, Eleanora, the _druda_ of Cosimo I., cast
+off and spurned; the _innamorata_ of Piero de' Medici, wronged and
+despised; the wife of Carlo de' Panciatichi, divorced and cloistered,
+lived on and on, far beyond the scriptural limit of threescore years
+and ten--the pathetic victim of a callous world.
+
+In the _Libri di Ricordanze_ of the convent is a notice for the year
+1634, which startles the sympathetic reader of the tragedy of Eleanora
+degli Albizzi: "Upon 19th March of this year there passed to a better
+life the most illustrious Lady, Donna Eleanora degli Albizzi de'
+Panciatichi, who had resided in this monastery for fifty-six years, and
+had reached the ninetieth year of her age. She lived in the odour of
+sanctity with the devotion of a religious, and endowed the monastery
+with a goodly bequest." The _Cosa di Cosimo--per il piacere di Cosimo_!
+as time-serving, unfatherlike Messer Luigi degli Albizzi called the
+immolation of his fair young daughter, had become the Bride of Christ!
+
+And what of unsympathetic, violent Carlo de' Panciatichi? Well, he, too,
+got his deserts. The very year after he had put away his wife, he again
+made himself liable to execution for murder. One morning a servant of
+his, Sebastiano del Valdarno, who had not been paid wages due to him,
+ventured to remind his master of the circumstance. Cavaliere Carlo, who
+could never tolerate demands for money with equanimity, was enraged by
+the man's presumption, and, seizing hold of a heavy pouch full of bronze
+_denari_, he flung it at the unlucky fellow, saying--"Go to hell and
+take your money with you!"
+
+The impact fractured the man's skull and he died in hospital! Again
+Panciatichi was condemned to a heavy fine, with the capital sentence _in
+contumacia_, by the _Otto di Guardia e Balia_. He was conveyed to
+prison, the old _Stinche_, until he paid the fine. Eleanora, in her
+convent, heard of his punishment, and actually rendered him good for
+evil, as a tender-hearted and suffering woman would quite naturally do.
+She pleaded with the Grand Duke Francesco for his deliverance, and
+joined her son, Don Giovanni de' Medici, in her appeal.
+
+Cavaliere Carlo de' Panciatichi was not set free till November 1581,
+when he had fully paid all the claims preferred against him by the
+family of the man he had slain, which included a provision for a certain
+_contadina_. She was a superior domestic servant in the employment of
+the Panciatichi family, and a personal attendant upon Eleanora. Madonna
+Ginevra, she was called, and she had two little girls. Whether these
+children were the Cavaliere's, no one has related, but upon the death of
+their mother they, too, found asylum at the convent of Sant Onofrio, and
+were tenderly treated by sad and lonesome Madonna Eleanora--a sweet and
+pathetic action indeed!
+
+The Cavaliere raised his head once more under the guilty rule of Grand
+Duke Francesco's murderer, the unscrupulous Cardinal Ferdinando, and by
+him was appointed a Gentleman of Honour and a member of the new Grand
+Ducal Council of Two-Hundred. He died long before his doubly-wronged,
+unhappy wife, Eleanora, on the 27th February 1620.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With Cammilla de' Martelli came the end of the prosperous reign and the
+end of the profligate life of Cosimo de' Medici, last Duke of Florence
+and first Grand Duke of Tuscany. She was the youngest of the two
+daughters, the only children, of Messer Antonio di Domenico de'
+Martelli, and his wife, Madonna Fiammetta, the daughter of Messer
+Niccolo de' Soderini, a descendant of that earlier Niccolo, the
+self-seeking and unscrupulous adviser of Don Piero de' Medici.
+
+The Martelli traced their origin through two lines of ancestry: to the
+Picciandoni of Pisa in the thirteenth century, and to the Stabbielli of
+the Val di Sieve in the fourteenth. They appear to have settled in the
+Via degli Spadai, and to have "hammered" among the armourers there, so
+successfully, that their name was given to the street in lieu of its
+more ancient designation.
+
+Messer Domenico, Cammilla's great-grandfather, was one of Savonarola's
+keenest opponents, chiefly in the interests of the Medici, and the great
+Cosimo counted him among his most trusty friends, but he suffered for
+his fidelity by being assassinated in 1531, by one Paolo del Nero.
+Another relative of Cammilla died tragically, Lodovico, who was killed
+by Giovanni Bandini in a duel at Poggio Baroncelli in 1530--a duel
+fought for the hand and heart of the beauteous Marietta de' Ricci, a
+relative of that other fateful flirt, Cassandra, who was the cause of
+Pietro Buonaventuri's tragic death, and died by the knives of assassins.
+
+The Martelli were associated with many of the pious works of the Medici:
+for example, they assisted munificently in the building and endowment of
+the great church of San Lorenzo. In some way or other Messer Antonio had
+lit on evil days, at all events he appears to have lost the banking
+business, which had been mainly operative in the raising of his house,
+and had reverted to the less lucrative but still honourable occupation
+of his family--the craft of sword-making. He carried on his business in
+a house which he rented under the shadow of the Palazzo Pitti.
+
+Both Cammilla and her elder sister Maria were good-looking girls. The
+latter, in 1566, married a wealthy shoemaker from Siena, Gaspare
+Chinucci, but her husband divorced her; and then Duke Cosimo caused her
+father to marry her, in 1572, to an opulent foreign merchant--Messer
+Baldassarre Suarez, who had come over from Spain and was a protege of
+the Duchess Eleanora.
+
+Cammilla, born in 1547, possessed all the personal attractiveness which
+distinguished her mother, whose sister, Nannina, the wife of Messer
+Luigi degli Albizzi, was mother of Eleanora, Duke Cosimo's _druda_.
+
+"Tall and of a good figure, fair complexion, with light hair, and a pair
+of dark eyes like two brilliant stars, she was also most graceful in her
+carriage and manner, full of intelligence in conversation, and quite
+naturally fond of admiration and amours." This is a contemporary
+word-picture of the physical and mental charms of one of the most lovely
+girls that ever tripped merrily along the Lung' Arno Acciaiuoli--in the
+footsteps of Beatrice de' Portinari.
+
+That promenade of Prince Cupid was always thronged by the belles and
+beaux of Florentine society. There the young men, and old men too, could
+meet and salute their _innamorate_. Duke Cosimo had not observed for
+nothing the daily walk of his fascinating young neighbour, he never
+overlooked a pretty face and comely figure, and his heart was large
+enough to entertain the loves of many women! His experience was very
+much like that of Dante Alighieri, who one day saw his Beatrice "in
+quite a new and entrancing light."
+
+It was in May, in 1564, when all was gay and fresh in Florence, that
+Duke Cosimo chanced upon Cammilla de' Martelli, as he passed on his way
+from the Pitti Palace to Castello, to dawdle with the lovely Eleanora
+degli Albizzi, her cousin. Something prompted the Duke to accost the
+maiden,--her blush and his own tremor revealed delightful possibilities
+quite in his way! Very warily he approached Messer Antonio. His idea
+was probably to keep Eleanora at the Villa del Castello, and to take
+Cammilla away to his favourite residence, the Palace at Pisa.
+
+If Don Francesco and Duchess Giovanna were aggrieved by the intrigue
+already going on, it was conceivable that the trouble would be greatly
+intensified by a second. Cosimo did not wish their increased displeasure
+nor publicity, so, for a while, he kept his hopes and his intentions to
+himself. At last, inflamed more and more by the fresh, unsullied beauty
+of Cammilla, he broached his proposition to Messer Antonio. Greatly in
+need of money, and hoping much from court patronage, the unnatural
+father determined to follow the example of his brother-in-law, and
+surrender, for a worthy consideration, his child as a "_Cosa di Cosimo
+il Duca_."
+
+The cast-off Eleanora was married, as we have read, to Cavaliere Carlo
+de' Panciatichi in September 1567, and on 28th May--eight months
+after--Cammilla de' Martelli gave birth, at Pisa, to a dear little girl,
+the latest child of Duke Cosimo! This was by no means to the mind of
+Duke Francesco, and news of the birth quickly reached the ears of the
+Pope. His Holiness at once despatched a courier to Duke Cosimo, urging
+him to legitimatise the child by his immediate marriage with the mother.
+
+This was not at all what the Duke wanted; he preferred, of course, to be
+quite free to love any girl or woman that he might single out.
+Nevertheless the pressure was so great that he was compelled to yield;
+and, in January 1569, he took Cammilla to be his wedded wife, but not to
+share his Ducal title! That was forbidden by the emphatic opposition of
+the acting Duke and Duchess, and by the direct intervention of the
+Emperor Maximilian.
+
+Messer Antonio de' Martelli was in ecstasies, and his unconcealed
+delight gained for him the nickname "_Il Balencio_," "like Whalebone"!
+It is said that when his wife's kinsman, Alamanno de' Pazzi, ventured to
+congratulate him at his house in the Via Maggio, he found the place
+gaily decorated, and musicians playing before the door!
+
+"What is this brave show for, Messer Antonio?" he asked.
+
+"Why, Ser Alamanno, I have married my daughter to the Duke Cosimo.
+Rejoice with me to-day. We have now no relations but Emperors and
+Princes, what would you!"
+
+Cosimo created his wife's father a Knight of the Order of San Stefano
+and endowed him with a good annual income. At the same time he advanced
+Madonna Maria di Baldassarre Suarez to the rank of a Gentlewoman of the
+Court, and caused unhappy Gaspare Chinucci to be banished out of
+Tuscany; some indeed say that he even instigated his assassination!
+Messer Suarez was promoted to an honourable place at Court, and his name
+was changed to Martelli. Two sons and a daughter blessed his union with
+Madonna Maria. Violante, as the girl was christened, grew up, as
+beautiful as her aunt Cammilla, with a pair of eyes like hers, and
+nothing could restrain the passion of that young libertine, Don Piero
+de' Medici, for love of her--he was indeed his father's son!
+
+Nevertheless she was not to be his _innamorata_ alone, for Cardinal
+Ferdinando also "came and saw and conquered," and young Violante became
+his chief mistress in Florence--the rival in his affections of his
+father's fascinating young wife, her aunt Cammilla.
+
+In 1570, Cosimo went in State to Rome to be crowned by the Pope as first
+Grand Duke of Tuscany. From his Holiness he obtained a reversion of the
+title in perpetuity for his descendants. The Easter of that year he
+spent at the Pitti Palace, and then he hurried off to Castello to pass
+the rest of his days with his dearly-loved and charming young wife.
+
+Once there, he dismissed almost all the members of his suite, retaining
+only two secretaries, a chaplain (!) and two couriers, wishing to lead
+the quiet life of a country gentleman. He apportioned to his wife
+Cammilla four gentlewomen as maids of honour. Henceforward neither
+Cosimo nor Cammilla were seen but rarely in Florence. They spent their
+time together either at Castello, at Poggio a Caiano, or in Pisa.
+
+December and May had been mated--the former had his consolations, but
+the latter pined quite naturally for young society. Love is cold and
+love is captious where age and temperament disagree. Cammilla sighed for
+the gaieties, the pleasures, and gallantries of Florence. Love's young
+dream had not been hers, she had not chosen her ancient lover. But
+admiration for her sprang from a likely though an unexpected quarter,
+and her cavalier was not warned off by a jealous husband, as was poor
+Eleanora degli Albizzi's.
+
+The Grand Duke Cosimo, to the very last, kept up the appearance of
+religion, if not its realities. The fact that a son of his was a member
+of the Sacred College, and a possible occupant of the chair of St Peter,
+covered a multitude of sins; not that Cardinal Ferdinando was a mirror
+of virtue or an example of sanctity.
+
+Ferdinando's relations with Francesco and Bianca were as bad as could
+be. His arrogance and extortions rendered his presence at the Florentine
+court unwelcome and even dangerous. At Castello and Poggio a Caiano, on
+the other hand, he was an honoured guest, and, for lack of lovers, his
+young stepmother was not displeased by his attentions. Cosimo kept her
+strictly in seclusion, and she had not the courage, or, be it said, the
+impudence of her stepdaughter, the Duchess of Bracciano. The loves of
+the Cardinal and Cammilla were in secret and unprovocative; indeed, the
+Grand Duke encouraged the intrigue, as being "for Cammilla's good."
+
+Here was a pretty state of affairs. One son, Piero, the seducer of his
+mistress, Eleanora degli Albizzi, the other, Ferdinando, the lover of
+his wife! It would be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to exonerate
+Cosimo from the blame of Cammilla's unfaithfulness. If she sinned, she
+did so helplessly.
+
+Alas, that she listened not only to the amorous vows of Ferdinando, but
+also gave credence to his views concerning the Grand Duke and Grand
+Duchess in Florence. She knew, of course, that there was no love lost
+between herself and them; and she was quite ready to entertain the evil
+insinuations which the late Duchess Giovanna had ventilated with
+reference to Bianca.
+
+This cabal was perfectly well known to the Grand Duke Cosimo, but he let
+matters take their course; all he cared for was the embraces of his
+attractive wife and the flatteries of his hypocritical son. The death of
+Duchess Giovanna threw Ferdinando and Cammilla more than ever into one
+another's arms. What, and if Francesco and Bianca died without male
+heir! Why, on the death of Cosimo, Ferdinando and Cammilla might succeed
+to the Grand Ducal throne. This was the temptation which the Cardinal
+placed, like a young bud, in Cammilla's bosom. She was but human--very
+human; she had been slighted by the non-allowance of rank as Grand
+Duchess. Perhaps Destiny had still that distinction in reserve. She
+would wait.
+
+The pathos of Cammilla's life deepened during the last four years of
+Grand Duke Cosimo's life. He became a constant sufferer with many
+infirmities. The strenuous life he had lived, with its exercise of
+lustful love and lurid hate, tried to the breaking point his iron
+constitution. Gout was his direst torment, a malady productive of
+ill-humour at its worst, and poor Cammilla, lonely wife, nurse,
+companion, had none to share his impatience.
+
+Her own health gave way under the strain, and her indisposition pointed
+to apoplexy and to mental trouble. But deliverance came at last. On 20th
+April 1574, Cosimo breathed his last at Poggio a Caiano, in his
+fifty-fifth year. By his death-bed there watched only his chastened wife
+and his sanctimonious son. Of his other surviving children,
+Isabella--once his favourite--had suffered for sixteen years the
+misunderstandings and the heartburnings which her heartless
+marriage-contract had imposed; she was estranged from him and from
+Cammilla, and from the Cardinal. Piero was a wastrel, the exponent of
+his father's worst passions--Piero, "_Il Scandalezzatore_" as he was
+rightly called. Francesco had borne ten years' embarrassment as
+quasi-ruler of the State, subject to ceaseless cautions and
+contradictions: he was, in no sensuous or homicidal sense, his father's
+son. All three stayed markedly away from Poggio a Caiano.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Almost the first act of the new Sovereign was the enclosure of his
+father's young widow in a convent! He placed her first with the
+Benedictine nuns of the Vergine dell' Annunziata delle Murate, and then
+in the noble sanctuary of Santa Monica, not with her poor cousin
+Eleanora degli Albizzi away at Foligno!
+
+This certainly appears to the ordinary reader of romances a cruel and
+unjustifiable act, but to the student of diplomatic expediency, it was a
+foregone conclusion. The security of Francesco's rule depended entirely
+upon the suppression of dynastic intrigues. The person of Ferdinando was
+unassailable; as a Prince of the Church he had prerogatives which could
+not be removed by any temporal sovereign. All that Francesco could do
+was to forbid his presence upon Tuscan territory, and this he did.
+
+It does not appear that the unhappy Cammilla de' Medici was harshly
+used; indeed her residence within the convent was made as agreeable as
+possible, and she had the privilege of receiving visitors, other than
+political. Madonna Costanza de' Pazzi and eight other noble ladies were
+attached to her suite, with five Gentlemen of Honour and several
+domestics.
+
+Cavaliere Antonio de' Martelli pleaded in vain his right as father of
+Cammilla to take her and her child back under the parental roof. The
+Grand Duke was immovable in his resolution, he counselled the father to
+let the matter rest, and gave him and Madonna Fiammetta free access to
+their daughter, but, on no account, was she to visit them.
+
+As in the case of Eleanora degli Albizzi, an inventory of jewellery and
+other treasures was made, and whilst Cammilla was permitted to retain
+certain articles, such objects as were regarded as the property of the
+reigning Grand Duchess were transferred to the _Guardaroba_ of Bianca.
+Apparently Francesco determined that no action of his against his
+father's widow should be construed into a menace against his Government.
+
+Writing to the Grand Duke, on 7th August 1574, soon after Cammilla's
+reception, the Very Reverend Abbess of Santa Monica humbly thanked his
+Serene Highness "for the generous treatment of the young widow, and begs
+remembrance of his good offices for her and for the convent generally."
+
+Trustees were appointed, under the presidency of Messer Roberto de'
+Adimari, the Chancellor of the Monte de' Pieta, for the administration
+of the one hundred and four thousand gold florins--the fortune left by
+Duke Cosimo to the Lady Cammilla, which produced an annual income of
+four thousand eight hundred gold florins a year, equal to about L2000.
+
+Cammilla settled down as best she could to a life of leisured ease--a
+lonesome woman, a prisoner under close observation. News of the outside
+world she had, and when the report of the horrors of the year 1576
+reached her, she was prostrated with grief. Indeed, her time seems to
+have been spent with repining, weeping and sickness--a piteous existence
+for a young woman of twenty-seven.
+
+At length Cammilla braced herself to bear her disappointments, her
+trials, her imprisonment, with fortitude, and, like the good woman she
+really was, she set to work to occupy her time, and that of her suite,
+in useful and interesting occupations. Gardening and the care of flowers
+attracted her, and soon the cloisters of the convent were converted into
+bowers of roses and myrtles.
+
+Her ladies and the nuns also, she encouraged in all elegant
+handicrafts--silk-embroidery, lace-making, and other stitchery. The
+results of their industry procured immediate custom, and the noble
+cloths and lustrous silks of Santa Monica, with the Lady Cammilla's
+initials attached, became famous far and near. These objects consisted
+of pillow-cases, screens, portieres, decorative panels, banners,
+scarves, cushions, handkerchiefs, bodices and various other details of
+feminine attire, with rich vestments for the clergy, and sumptuous
+altar-cloths.
+
+The Grand Duchess Bianca, who, with characteristic sweetness and
+generosity, had all along sympathised with poor Lady Cammilla, was the
+best customer of the convent industries, and, moreover, she frequently
+visited the gentle prisoner, and showed her many charming attentions.
+For two Medici brides, also, Cammilla superintended the preparation of
+trousseaux--her own daughter Virginia, Duke Cosimo's child, and the
+Grand Duke's eldest daughter, Maria, who married King Henry IV. of
+France.
+
+Another sort of employment found in the Lady Cammilla an earnest and
+skilful directress, namely, the manufacture of sweetmeats, preserves,
+compotes, pastries, and every sort of delectable confectionery. Perfumes
+and liqueurs--usually the piquant produce of monasteries--were also
+cunningly extracted by Cammilla's subtle formulas. These elegant
+specialities she gave away to old friends and visitors--enclosed in
+delicate little glass and porcelain bottles and jars of her own design.
+
+The fame of the Lady Cammilla's skill and patronage reached foreign
+courts, and notable visitors to Florence did not fail to pay their
+courtesies to the great lady of the convent. Two of these, the
+Archpriest Monsignore Simone Fortuna, confessor of the Duke of Urbino,
+and Cavaliere Ercole Cortile, the ambassador of Ferrara, have recorded
+their visits and their pleasure at seeing "La Serena Signora" in genial
+company and philanthropically employed. The wily priest added, with
+sanctimonious admiration for female beauty: "La Martelli is as
+fascinating as ever!"
+
+Still, liberty is liberty, and captivity--even when made as attractive
+and as unoppressive as possible--is still captivity. The Lady Cammilla
+never left the confines of her convent for twelve long years, and not
+till 4th February 1586 was she allowed a _conge_. Then a sumptuous
+cavalcade, with splendid sedan-chairs, halted at the main portal of
+Santa Monica, and out of one stepped the Grand Duchess Bianca, in
+gorgeous State robes. She had come to escort in person the Lady
+Cammilla, with every mark of respect and honour, to the marriage of her
+daughter, Virginia de' Medici!
+
+The young girl was just eighteen, passably old for a sixteenth-century
+noble bride! In 1575, she had been assigned as the consort in prospect
+of Cavaliere Mario Sforza, General of the army of the Grand Duke
+Francesco. The match, however, was broken off, when Cardinal Alessandro
+Sforza died, and left an immense fortune, but not to his nephew Mario,
+as had been expected; and so Mario proved to be too poor a suitor for
+the girl's hand.
+
+Mario, on his side, had cooled much in his ardour for Virginia. Reports
+of the Cardinal de' Medici's--Ferdinando's--familiarities, not only with
+the mother, but with the daughter also, were rife in Florence and in
+Rome. Sufficient grounds there were for him to accept the cancellation
+of the proposal with equanimity. The Marchese, for so he had been
+created, was not a whit more virtuous than the men of his day, but the
+sensuous are always the harshest judges of their kind!
+
+No, Virginia was, after all, married to Don Cesare d'Este, Duke of
+Modena. She had by the way, been promised, in 1581, to Francesco Sforza
+di Santa Fiora, but he changed his mind and renounced the
+world--conventionally of course--to accept the Cardinal's red hat and
+privileges from the hands of Pope Gregory XIII. So constantly were
+natural human instincts dulled by the contrariety of fashion in those
+degenerate days!
+
+Of Virginia's marriage Torquato Tasso, the Grand Duchess Bianca's
+enamoured poet-laureate, sang:
+
+"Cio che morte rallenta
+Amore restringa!"
+
+Virginia died in 1615--some said she was poisoned by her husband--the
+last of a degraded race. _Sic transit gloria Medici!_
+
+The ceremonial of the nuptials was as splendid as a sumptuous Court
+could make it, and as became the union of a princess of the House of
+Medici with an ambitious foreign Sovereign. But whilst men and women
+gossiped delightedly about the charms of the beauteous young bride and
+the gallant bearing of the groom, every tongue expressed wonderment at
+the gracious, stately figure of the Lady Cammilla. The chorus of popular
+applause was hushed, however, when the pathos of her story struck
+sorrowful chords in every heart.
+
+Upon the obverse of the medals struck for the Duke Cosimo for their
+wedding, twelve years before, the Signora is represented as a
+finely-developed woman, with the proud profile of a true daughter of
+Florence, a high brow, a shapely nose, full cheeks, and a dimpled chin.
+Her attire is rich, she wears costly jewels, and her hair is tastefully
+coiffured.
+
+What Cammilla's feelings were, she only knew, and she told them to no
+one; she bore herself loftily, and made no one her confidante. After the
+solemnity and festivities she betook herself once more--she had no other
+choice--to her convent prison, the poorer for the loss of her cherished
+child, the richer in the estimation of all good people.
+
+Henceforth, her inclusion among the Religious was to be more rigorous,
+and she never expected to be seen again in Florence: dolorous indeed
+must have been that parting with the world she loved, but so little
+knew. She viewed the coming years with apprehension and hopelessness.
+She had not reached the measure of her destiny, but for that,
+mercifully, she had not very long to wait, and yet there was to be
+another slight rift in the clouds of misery.
+
+From time to time Cammilla had suffered from fainting fits and attacks
+of hysteria, but after her separation from Virginia, these increased
+greatly in frequency and intensity. Skilful medical treatment was of no
+avail, and at length her doctors appealed to the Grand Duke for some
+relaxation of her imprisonment. Freedom from restraint and the benefit
+of urgently needed change, they knew, would work wonders in the way of
+recovery.
+
+Don Francesco was immovable to all such representations; he had over and
+over again declined to reverse or modify his decision. His fully
+justified fear of the Cardinal's intrigues acted as a negative magnet to
+all his best propositions. He and she were bound together, he felt sure,
+in schemes for his own undoing, and Bianca's too.
+
+The Lady Cammilla's life became at last intolerable; sickness,
+suspicion, and discontent fastened their dire influences upon her. She
+neglected useful and ornamental pastimes, became morose and impatient,
+and gave way to fits of frenzied desperation. The Abbess, greatly
+alarmed, took counsel with her spiritual advisers, who judged that the
+unhappy lady was losing her reason, and, perchance, her soul. Her
+condition became so critical that in April 1587 the Tuscan ambassador in
+Rome applied to the Pope for permission for the chaplain of the convent
+to celebrate a Mass for the exorcism of the poor lady!
+
+In October of that year the fell schemes of Cardinal Ferdinando had, at
+last, their fruition, and the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess died together
+at Poggio a Caiano, victims of his jealousy and hate. He obtained at
+last what he had striven for so unscrupulously for twenty years--the
+succession to the Tuscan throne.
+
+Be it, however, in justice told, with respect to the Lady Cammilla, for,
+when he had spurned the dead body of the Grand Duchess, and
+hypocritically sad, had followed the remains of his poisoned brother to
+San Lorenzo, he went right off to the convent of Santa Monica, and
+acquainted her personally with the fact of delivery from a living tomb.
+
+They had only met very occasionally during the last few years, and she
+had changed greatly--perhaps he had, too. Her terrible trials, her
+bodily sicknesses, and her mental derangements had made ineffaceable
+marks in the erstwhile beauteous girl, and Cammilla de' Medici was no
+longer possible as the wife of the renegade Cardinal. Marriage was out
+of the question for her; indeed, her very existence was at stake, and
+all that Ferdinando could do was to alleviate the sufferings of his
+_innamorata_, and to cheer her declining days.
+
+Many years before, Ferdinando had purchased a piece of ground at the
+confluence of the Arno and Pesa, and, upon it, he built the Villa
+Ambrogiana, which he furnished in lavish style, boasting that "it will
+be handy when I come into my own!" This estate, with a sufficient
+household, he made over to the Lady Cammilla, for her own free use.
+Before, however, she took up her residence, Ferdinando, now, of course,
+Grand Duke of Tuscany, placed at her disposal a country villa in the Val
+d'Ema, to which the suffering Signora was taken, in the hope that the
+fresh air and pleasant outlook would assist the recovery of her health
+and spirits.
+
+She improved wonderfully in every way--the fact that she was again her
+own mistress and free to come and go at will, fortified her immensely,
+and she determined to devote the residue of her life to the interests of
+Ferdinando. Called upon, at his succession to the throne, to renounce
+his spiritual character--it was a character, indeed, which ill-fitted
+him--the new Grand Duke devoted himself to the duties of his high
+station. The Lady Cammilla, who had been his confidante in days gone by,
+was still retained as counseller and guide. Marriage was the most urgent
+necessity of the Grand Duke for the procreation of legitimate heirs.
+
+He was surrounded by heirs-presumptive and aspirants to the throne--Don
+Antonio, his brother's adopted son; Don Giovanni, his father's
+legitimatised son by Eleanora degli Albizzi; his brother Piero, and any
+one of his bastard sons, and several other scions of the house. The Lady
+Cammilla entered heartily into all her stepson's ideas, and quickly,
+though doubtlessly regretfully, agreed with him that a brilliant foreign
+alliance was an absolute necessity.
+
+Together they passed in review the names of all the eligible princesses
+in Europe, and at last their choice fell upon Princess Christina, the
+young daughter of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, and nephew of Queen
+Caterina de' Medici. She was received in Florence with joy, and married
+to the Grand Duke in 1589. The Lady Cammilla graced the nuptials with
+her presence, laying aside the dark-hued garments of sorrow which she
+had assumed and worn so long.
+
+That was the last time Cammilla was seen in public; she retired first to
+her villa on the Arno, and then, seeing that the symptoms of illness
+were returning, she voluntarily retired once more into what had been her
+prison and her home--the convent of Santa Monica, where she breathed her
+last on the 30th of May 1590, at the early age of forty-five, to the
+unutterable sorrow of the devoted ladies of her suite and her faithful
+attendants. In the _Libri de' Morti_ (1577-1591) we read under that
+date: "La Signora Cammilla d'il Serenissimo Gran Duca Cosimo de' Medici,
+despositata in San Lorenzo." Some say she died imbecile.
+
+Upon the reverse of one medal, which Cosimo had struck in honour of
+their nuptials, was cut around the heraldic emblazonment of an oak tree
+and a dragon, her legend: "_Uno avulso non deficit alter aureus_." This
+may be the epitome of her life's history, and upon it one may moralise
+at will; and certainly readers of the "Tragedy of Cammilla de' Martelli"
+will admit that a spoilt life is as great a catastrophe as a violent
+death.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It requires no great stretch of the imagination to picture the morals
+and the manners of society in Tuscany during the last half of the
+sixteenth century. The superabundance of private riches and the
+enervation of idle leisure destroyed the framework of domestic economy;
+"_Di fare il Signore_!"--to play the gentleman--was the current mode.
+Everyone strove to surpass his neighbours in luxury and extravagance.
+
+The example of the Court was felt in every grade of life: marital
+unfaithfulness, personal spleen, and family feuds divided every
+household. The worst of human passions ran riot, and life became a
+pandemonium, wherein the sharp poignard, the poison phial, and the
+strangling rope, played their part at the dastardly will of their
+owners.
+
+Fair Florence was still--as she will ever be--"The City of the Lily";
+but the blue and silver emblematic _giglio_--the modestly unfolding
+fragrant iris of the unsophisticated countryside, drooped before the
+flaming, passionate tiger-lily of the formal garden of debauchery, with
+its pungent odour and its secretive, incurled scarlet petals--splashed
+with the blacks and yellows of crime and greed!
+
+                             "Nature ever
+Finding discordant fortune, like all seed
+Out of its proper climate, thrives but ill:
+But were the world content to work,
+And work on the foundation Nature lays,
+It would not lack of excellence." ...
+
+IL PARADISO, _Canto viii_.
+
+
+
+A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+_Anecdota Letteraria_. 4 vols. Florence. 1773.
+
+Bocchi, F., _Le Bellezze della Citta di Firenze_. Florence. 1591.
+
+Corsini, B., _Lorenzino de' Medici_. Florence. 1890.
+
+Cronacci, F., _Lorenzo de' Medici_. Florence. 1760.
+
+Dumas, A., _Une Annee a Florence_. 2 vols. Paris. 1841.
+
+Dumas, A., _Les Galeries de Florence_. Paris. 1842.
+
+Fabroni, A., _Vie de Laurent de Medicis_. Paris. 1791.
+
+Ferrai, L.A., _Lorenzino de' Medici_. Florence. 1891.
+
+Ferruccio, M., _Lorenzino de' Medici_. Florence. 1890.
+
+Galetti, P. _Poesie di Don Francisco de' Medici e Bianca Cappello_.
+  Florence. 1894.
+
+Guerrazzi, F.D., _Isabella d'Orsini_. Florence. 1847.
+
+Hyett, F.A., _Florence: Her History and Art_. London. 1903.
+
+Landucci, L., _Diario Fiorentino_--1400-1526. Florence. 1883.
+
+Lecluse, E.J. de, _Florence et ses Vicissitudes_. Paris. 1837.
+
+Levantini, P.G., _Lucrezia de' Tornabuoni_. Florence. 1888.
+
+Litta, P., _Famiglie Celebri Italiani_. 11 vols. Milan. 1819.
+
+Macchiavelli, N., _Le Istorie Fiorentine_. Florence. 1888.
+
+Muentz, E., _Florence et La Toscane_. Paris. 1901.
+
+Napier, H.E., _Florentine History_. 6 vols. London. 1846.
+
+Nestor, J., _Histoire des Homme Celebre de la Maison de Medicis_.
+  Paris. 1564.
+
+Odorici, P., _Bianca Cappello_. Florence. 1860.
+
+Perrens, F.T., _La Civilisation Florentine_. Paris. 1893.
+  Do.          _Histoire de Florence_. 6 vols. Paris. 1877.
+  Do.          _Histoire de Florence_--1434-1531. 3 vols. Paris. 1888.
+
+Rastrelli, M., _Storia di Alessandro de' Medici_. 2 vols. Florence. 1781.
+
+Reumont, Alf. de, _Lorenzo de' Medici_. 2 vols. Paris. 1876.
+
+Ross, Janet, _Florentine Palaces and their Stories_. London.
+  1905.
+
+Roscoe, W., _Lorenzo il Magnifico_. London. 1847.
+
+San Severino, G.R., _Historie de la Vie de Bianca Cappello_.
+  Milan. 1790.
+
+Saltini, G.E., _Tragedie Medicee_. Florence. 1898.
+
+Siefenkies, J.P.L., _Life of Bianca Cappello_. London. 1787.
+
+Staley, R., _The Guilds of Florence_. London. 1906.
+
+Tenhove, N., _Memoirs of the House of Medici_. 2 vols. London.
+  1797.
+
+Trollope, T.A., _History of the Commonwealth of Florence_. 4
+  vols. London. 1865.
+
+Valon, N., _La Vie de Laurent de Medici_. Paris. 1761.
+
+Varchi, B., _Storia Fiorentina_. 3 vols. Florence. 1838.
+
+Varillas, A., [Greek: "Anechdota Etsrouriacha"]. 1686.
+
+Villari, P., _Life and Times of Niccolo Macchiavelli_. 2 vols.
+  Florence. 1895
+
+Yriarte, C., _La Vie d'un Patricien_. 1884.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Abbioso, Bishop
+Acciaiuoli, Agnolo
+    "       Donato
+Adrian VI., Pope
+Albizzi, Family of
+    "    Constanza
+    "    Eleanora
+    "    Luigi
+    "    Nannina
+Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara
+Ambrogiana, Villa of
+Antinori, Bernardino
+    "     Filippo
+
+
+B
+
+Bandino, Bernardo
+Barga, Antonio da
+Baroncelli, Villa of
+Bentivoglio, Count Ulisse
+Boscoli, Pietro P.
+Bracciolini, Giacopo
+Brivio, Francesco
+Buonaventuri, Constanza
+    "         Giovanni, B.
+    "         Pietro
+    "         Zenobio
+Buonromeo, Carlo
+    "      Giovanni
+
+
+C
+
+Cafaggiuolo, Villa of
+Cappello, Bartolommeo
+Capponi, Bernardo
+    "    Piero
+Castello, Villa of
+Cavalcanti, Antonio
+Cerreto Guidi, Villa of
+Cesare, d'Este, Duke of Modena
+Charles V., Emperor
+Charles VIII., King of France
+Cibo, Cardinal
+Colonna, Giulia Gonzaga
+Contrari, Creole
+Corsi, Amerigo
+"Cosa di Cosimo"
+   "  di Francesco"
+   "  della Lussuria"
+
+
+D
+
+Dei, Benedetto
+Delle Murate, Convent of
+Domenico, Giovanni
+
+
+E
+
+Ercole II., Duke of Ferrara
+
+
+F
+
+Florence, _Ammoniti_
+    "     "Il governo d'un solo"
+    "     "Tyrant of"
+    "     hot-bed of crime
+    "     first of modern states
+    "     office of Gonfaloniere
+    "     Giustizia abolished
+    "     "A monster"
+    "     fortress of San Giovanni
+    "     tyrannicide studies
+    "     violent deaths in
+    "     patronage of Cosimo I.
+    "     Cappella degli Spagnuoli
+    "     Accademia della Crusca
+    "         "     delle Elevati
+    "     training of children in
+    "     "Cicisbeo"
+    "     "Partiti"
+    "     "The Three Graces"
+    "     "City of Assassins"
+Fondi, Castle of
+Francis I., King of France
+Franzesi, Napoleone
+
+
+G
+
+Gaci, Alessandro
+Gianfigliazzi, Bongiano
+Ginori, Caterina
+   "    Francesco
+Giovanni da Perugia
+Guicciardini, Francesco
+Guicciardini, Luigi
+Gregory XIII., Pope
+
+
+H
+
+Henry II., King of France
+
+
+J
+
+Julius II., Pope
+   "   III, Pope
+
+
+L
+
+Lando, Michaele, "Ciompi" rising
+"La Simonetta"
+
+
+M
+
+Macchiavelli, Niccolo
+Madrigals, Francesco de' Medici's
+Maffei, Frate Antonio
+Malatesti, Family of
+    "      Jacopo
+    "      Lamberto
+    "      Leonida
+    "      Malatesta
+Martelli, Family of
+    "     Antonio
+    "     Baccio, Admiral
+    "     Cammilla (_see_ Medici)
+    "     Domenico
+    "     Maria
+    "     Violante
+Maximilian, Emperor
+Medici, Alamanno
+   "    Alessandro, First Duke of Florence
+   "    Alfonsina d'Orsini
+   "    Antonio, supposititious son of Bianca Cappello
+   "    Ardingo
+   "    Averardo I.
+   "       "     II.
+   "       "     III., "Bicci"
+   "    Bianca Cappello-Buonaventuri
+   "    Bianca, daughter of Piero "il Gottoso"
+   "    Bonagiunto
+   "    Cammilla de' Martelli
+   "    Caterina, Queen of France
+   "    Chiarissimo I.
+   "        "       II.
+   "        "       III.
+   "    Clarice d'Orsini
+   "    Clarice, wife of Filippo negli Strozzi
+   "    Contessina (de' Bardi)
+   "    Cosimo, "Il Padre della Patria"
+   "    Cosimo I., First Grand Duke of Tuscany
+   "    Cristina of Lorraine
+   "    Eleonora de' Toledo
+   "    Eleanora de' Garzia
+   "    Ferdinando, son of Cosimo I., Cardinal
+   "    Filippo or Lippo
+   "    Filippo, son of Grand Duke Francesco
+   "    Francesco, Second Grand Duke of Tuscany
+   "    Garzia, son of Cosimo I.
+   "    Gianbuono
+   "    Giovanna of Austria
+   "    Giovanni, First Tragedy
+   "        "     son of Averardo III.
+   "        "     son of Cosimo "Il Padre della Patria" (_ see_ Chart)
+   "        "     "Il Popolano"
+   "        "     son of "Il Magnifico"
+   "        "     "delle Bande Nere"
+   "        "     son of Cosimo I., Cardinal
+   "        "     son of Eleonora degli Albizzi
+   "        "     Second "Grand" Medici
+   "        "     Pope Leo X.
+   "    Giuliano, "Il Pensieroso"
+   "        "     son of "Il Magnifico," Duke of Nemours
+   "        "     brother of Lorenzino
+   "    Giulio, Pope Clement VII.
+   "    Ippolito, Cardinal
+   "    Isabella Romola, daughter of Cosimo I.
+   "    "La Bia"
+   "    Laudomia, daughter of Pierfrancesco II.
+   "    Lorenzo, son of Giovanni, "Bicci"
+   "       "     "Il Magnifico"
+   "       "     Duke of Urbino
+   "       "     "Il Terribile"
+   "    Luigia,, daughter of "Il Magnifico"
+   "    Lucrezia, de' Tornabuoni
+   "       "      daughter of "Il Magnifico"
+   "       "      daughter of Cosimo I.
+   "    Maddalena, daughter of "Il Magnifico"
+   "    Maddalena, daughter of Pierfrancesco II.
+   "    Margaret of Austria
+   "    Maria Lucrezia, daughter of Cosimo I.
+   "    Maria Lucrezia, Queen of France
+   "    Palace of Via Larga
+   "    Palace of Pitti
+   "    Pierfrancesco II.
+   "    Piero, "Il Gottoso"
+   "      "    son of "Il Magnifico"
+   "      "    son of Cosimo I.
+   "    Salvestro I.
+   "        "     First "Grand" Medici
+   "    Tommaso, Court Chamberlain
+   "    Virginia, daughter of Cosimo I.
+Montemurlo, battle of
+Montesicco, Condottiere G.B. da
+Mugello, valley of
+
+
+N
+
+Neroni, Giovanni
+Nori, Francesco
+
+
+O
+
+Orsini, Family of
+   "    Alfonsina (_see_ Medici)
+   "    Clarice (_see_ Medici)
+   "    Paolo Giordano, Duke of Bracciano
+   "    Rinaldo, Archbishop
+   "    Roberto
+   "    Troilo
+Orte Oricellari
+
+
+P
+
+Pandolfini, Agnolo
+Panciatichi, Carlo
+Passerini, Cardinal Silvio de'
+Paul II., Pope
+  "  III., Pope
+  "  IV., Pope
+Pazzi, Family of
+  "    Andrea
+  "    Antonio I.
+  "       "    II.
+  "       "    III.
+  "    Constanza
+  "    Francesco
+  "    Giacopo
+  "    Giovanni
+  "    Guglielmo
+  "    Piero
+  "    Renato
+  "    Wronging of the
+  "    "Ordinamenti di Giustizia" and the
+Pellegrina, daughter of Bianca Cappello
+Perugino, Giovanni
+Petrucci, Cesare de'
+Philip, King of Spain
+Pitti, Gianozzo
+Pius IV., Pope
+Platonic Academy
+Poggio a Caiano, Villa of
+Poliziano, Agnolo
+Portinari, Beatrice
+Poviano, Frate Stefano
+Prato, sack of
+Pratolino, Villa of
+Pucci, Giovanni
+
+
+R
+
+Renata, Duchess of Ferrara
+Riari, Antonio
+  "    Caterina
+  "    Girolamo, Count
+  "    Piero, Cardinal
+Ricci, Cassandra
+Riccio, Pierfrancesco
+Ridolfi, Antonio
+   "     Piero
+   "     Rosso
+Rome, sack of
+
+
+S
+
+Salviati, Family of
+   "      Francesco, Archbishop
+   "      Giacomo
+   "      Giacopo
+   "      Giacopo di Giacopo
+   "      Maria
+   "      Pietro
+Sansoni, Raffaele, Cardinal
+Santa Monica, Convent of
+San Onofrio, Convent of
+Savonarola, Frate G.
+Sforza, Almeni, Cosimo I.'s secretary
+   "    Caterina
+   "    Galeazzo Maria, Duke of Milan
+Sixtus IV., Pope
+Sixtus VI., Pope
+Soderini, Family of
+   "      Dianora (de' Tornabuoni)
+   "      Francesco
+   "      Maria
+   "      Niccolo
+   "      Piero
+   "      Tommaso
+Strozzi, Alessandra (de' Machingi)
+   "     Filippo
+   "     Roberto
+Stufa, Agnolo della
+   "   Luigi
+   "   Sismondo
+
+
+T
+
+Tana, Villa della
+Tasso, Torquato
+"The Golden Rose"
+Torello, Lelio
+Tornabuoni, Giovanni de'
+    "       Lorenzo de'
+    "       Lucrezia (_see_ Medici)
+    "       Dianora (_see_ Soderini)
+Tovallaccino, Michaele
+Tyrants, families of
+"Tyrant of Tyrants"
+
+
+U
+
+Urbino, Federigo, Duke of
+
+
+V
+
+Varchi, Benedetto
+Vespucci, Marco
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Tragedies of the Medici, by Edgcumbe Staley
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